9 Ups & NO Downs From Star Trek: Lower Decks 5.7 — Fully Dilated

3. UP — Soap Opera

Star Trek Lower Decks Fully Dilated Mariner Soap Flute
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Completing our temporally-temporarily marooned trio in Fully Dilated was Beckett Mariner. Initially unsure of what to do with herself beyond just bashing Snell on the head with a broom (rightly so!), the lieutenant eventually decided on having her own Captain-Picard-Kataan-probe-style adventure on Dilmer III.

Naturally, nothing went quite to plan. One accidental poke in the eye with her antennae landed Mariner back in her old haunt — jail — for a couple of months in spite of herself. There, her 'Ressikan flute' might well have been made out of soap, but at least she gave Frère Jacques (if not variations on like Picard and Commander Daren) a good go. She did make friends, too. Just don't mention the murderers!

Mariner also continued to delight, and to do important work, as a queer character this episode. Some of the best representation is casual conversation. Her "I had months to try to find a friend, a husband, a wife, a job, or learn a flute" to fellow inmates was purposefully incidental, perfectly by-the-by. It couldn't have been more essential in the normalisation of LGBTQIA+ relationships.

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Jack has been a content creator for TrekCulture since 2022, and a Star Trek fan for as long as he can remember. He has authored over 170 articles, including one of TrekCulture's longest, and has appeared several times on the TrekCulture podcast. He holds a first-class honours degree in French from the University of Sussex, a master's with distinction in Language, Culture and History: French and Francophone Studies and a PhD in French from University College London (UCL). He has previously worked in the field of translation. His interests extend to science-fiction television and film more widely. His favourite series is Star Trek: Voyager, followed closely by Stargate SG-1.