9 Ups & 1 Down From Star Trek: Lower Decks 5.3 — The Best Exotic Nanite Hotel

Before the contemporary (Discovery and onwards) era, Star Trek had made allegorical forays into queerness, but, allegorically, queerness was always the 'problem' of the plot. The magnitude of the change, as represented here by Lower Decks, cannot be overstated.

In Best Exotic Nanite Hotel, the fact that the relationship of the plot is between two women is precisely not even beside the point, as no one (on screen) would think to make it. The point is the relationship (or, rather, the break-up) like for anybody else. This isn’t (just) representation. It is (our) existence, rendered.

By that same measure — that of the (ex-)couple — I might have been tempted to give a DOWN to both Jennifer and Mariner trying to sort out the personal whilst on the job. Mariner was awfully hasty in phaser-charging that energy cell in order to escape the "snuggle-fluff," after all.

That kind of situation is hardly unique within Star Trek, however. Like Risa for a certain Klingon and Trill, the setting itself was conducive to arguments. And, as a piece of situational comedy in the present episode, it worked rather well. Never has "babe" been said more passive aggressively. Never has a fake-out from a former lover been more fun!