Star Trek: SPOILER Leaves Starfleet

Starfleet just lost an officer in the latest episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks. (SPOILERS follow for the Star Trek: Lower Decks episode “Trusted Sources.”) In the new Star Trek: Lower Decks episode, Capt. Freeman is launching a new second contact initiative. Starfleet decides to send a reporter from the Federation to the Cerritos to chronicle the event. Freeman panics, worrying about her reputation and that of her ship and crew. She decided to put the ship nearly on lockdown and only allow select crewmembers to talk to the reporter. All others, including the lower deckers, are to make themselves scarce.

Mariner isn’t having it. She goes behind the captain’s back to meet with the journalist. When the reporter presents Freeman with all of the unflattering information she’s gathered while aboard the Cerritos, and Freeman soon after discovers Mariner’s meeting with the journalist, the captain assumes Mariner sabotaged the whole thing. Freeman has Mariner reassigned to Starbase 80, and it doesn’t take long there for Mariner to resign from Starfleet entirely.

However, it turns out that Mariner had only positive things to say about working under her mother’s command. It was Freeman’s handpicked interviewees who let slip the less flattering details about their adventures. We spoke to Dawnn Lewis, who voices Freeman, about what this means for Freeman and Mariner’s relationship.

“I was a teenager with a mom that I didn’t always see eye to eye with, and the distance between us when I left home and went away to college actually improved our relationship,” Lewis said. “And right away, we saw each other differently, we spoke to each other differently, we engaged with each other differently. The difference with the scenario between Captain Freeman and Mariner is that, yes, we have come quite a distance from where we first started, continuously biting each other’s heads off. We now speak to each other differently, better, we interact better, we are more supportive of each other. So when I push the button and jump to conclusions and her knee-jerk reaction is to be, rightfully so, wounded and hurt and exit Starfleet, it doesn’t feel like it’s because things are about to be better or we’re making these choices in order to continue to grow our relationship.

“So there’s a real deep sense of regret and discomfort, particularly for Capt. Freeman, as the exit is made that way. So I would imagine her next course is going to be, ‘What can I do to heal this? I really messed up. I can’t even blame where we are now on her. This is all me, and what can I do to make this right?’ Which causes her to ask herself some questions about herself and her style of not only leading but of parenting.”

Star Trek: Lower Decks is streaming now on Paramount+. The season finale debuts on October 27th.