Review: “Bottoms 4×02 – I Run Even If I Have No Bones”

Lower Decks episode 2 brings us a new version of the zoo this time around – and some other things we take a look at in our spoiler review.

There was a double feature at the beginning of season four. The second episode is titled “Run away, even if I have no bones” – at least if you follow the German subtitles again. In Paramount’s overview there is instead a more direct translation: “There are no bones, but you still have to escape.” Well, you can choose the right title again, apparently…

Is it artificial intelligence or not?

In the beginning, the suspense continues from the first episode. There, an unknown attacker shot down a Klingon ship. The Klingons are portrayed quite accurately (powerfully but honorably).

In a way, this also applies to the Romulans in the beginning, who are also planning on their ship. As is usual with Lower Decks, it’s a bit over the top again, but it fits the context better than the previous episode.

These Romulans are also in awe. Is it the same ship or another ship? Will there be some sort of common thread in this season? we will see. I’m afraid Badgeys Revenge has been teased at the end of Season 3, but unfortunately I’m not in the mood for that at all…

In the space zoo

This episode also scores points with some Easter eggs. Mariner, Ransom, and a newbie go to the zoo. This is of course a reference to TAS, for example, but also to The Cage. Crew members of the Enterprise ended up in a space zoo there as well.

The people here are a little wiser and now know that the people don’t belong there, which is why Cerritos has to pick them up too. The premise is immediately reversed, because this time the away team becomes the chasers.

Before that, Mariner can consider her promotion again. Because Ransom and Shax are talking about it, which I noticed. Funnily enough, this scene is a reference to TNG, as Diana and Beverly are also training there in weird-looking suits.

As is usual in Lower Decks, Mariner gets everything wrong and wants to sabotage the mission and get demoted back to it. Ransom just wants to awaken the best in her. Over the course of the episode, the two talk to each other, which works very well considering their past. The typical red-shirted banner is rather annoying, but it’s good that he’s at least alive.

So you can see that you can still incorporate character moments into humorous scenes, but this has always (mostly) worked well with Lower Decks anyway.

In the zoo itself, of course, there are many Easter eggs in the form of creatures seen in previous episodes. There are quite a few here too, so you can spot the usual basement references.

However, the main monster is the cute Moopsy, who soon turns out to be a dangerous consuming monster. This may not be new either, but at least it’s fun to watch the characters escape.

The fact that the station doesn’t break down that easily and you literally have to “clean Ransom’s face” is probably a very good thing, but that can be overlooked in the context of the episode. The magic of the basements works here too (or precisely because of) these exaggerations.

By the way, the two imprisoned people turned out to be real criminals in the end – and thus definitely deserved their punishment.

Luxury neighborhood search

Of course there is a subplot on Cerritos. Because Boimler’s squad, which has just been promoted to lieutenant, is looking for places.

Here too, it was very difficult for me that he ended up in an area where he was almost blind. Eventually, this was taken into account again by Rutherford, who activated the filter. But I’ve asked myself before, why it wasn’t just done, and Boimler in particular should have known.

Of course, this leads to some funny scenes when Boimler takes up residence near the holodeck and notices a lot of stuff there. Or resort to Jefferies tubes. He takes his collection with him, which is fairly typical of Baumler.

On the other hand, there was no need to compete for Rutherford, because even Billups should know by now that he had enough potential. So it seems like Livik is just an unnecessary disruptor who only exists because of the script. At least there’s a nice personal scene between Tendi and Rutherford at the end (will there be more to come?) and a promotion for Rutherford.

Here too, we were able to develop new dialects, which, as mentioned earlier, were much needed.