Review: Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 5 Episode 4 “A Farewell to Farms”
“A Farewell to Farms” features the welcome return of a previously seen Klingon character, while a lesser-known member of the Cerritos crew takes the delicious spotlight for a change.
The episode begins with an extended focus on the peaceful but restless farm life of Ma’ah (Jon Curry), the Klingon who Lower Decks fans might remember went from lower decker to captain to victim of mutiny throughout “wej Duj,” “Twovix,” and “The Inner Fight.” We welcomed, then, returning to this Klingon’s story. In “A Farewell to Farms,” Ma’ah is living the farm life with his brother, Malor, on Qo’noS, but his quest to return to captaincy is jumpstarted when he gets a visit from Beckett Mariner (Tawney Newsome), who is in the area and wants to meet up with her one-time comrade in arms.
Running into the Klingon brothers in the Warrior Pit, a Klingon bar, Mariner sees Ma’ah is down on his luck after being removed from the Klingon Defense Force and wants to help him return to the bridge of a Klingon ship. Brad Boimler (Jack Quaid), who is with Mariner on the pair’s mission to Klingon space, is willing to help, too, more so than usual due to an oversized sense of confidence the young, partially bearded man has.
To regain his honor, Ma’ah needs the approval of the Klingon Oversight Council, which will be difficult because the head of the council, Bargh, had a brother who Ma’ah killed to take command of his former posting. For this reason, Ma’ah has had his appeals to the council denied, but Boimler suggests Ma’ah invoke the Ritual of J’ethurgh, the first of what will be a few Klingon rituals referenced in his episode, to force his case to be heard. The Ritual of J’ethurgh requires the discharged captain and his chosen companions to suffer trials of endurance, strength, and sacrifice.
The test of endurance requires that Ma’ah and his fellow trial-goers pass a pain challenge, which they only complete thanks to smart thinking by Boimler. The second test sees the team capture a massive targ, no thanks to Ma’ah who is quickly knocked out of the fight. The final trial is one of sacrifice, as Ma’ah needs to offer either Boimler, Mariner, or Malor for sacrifice, which he honorably declines and offers to sacrifice himself instead. This way, Ma’ah reasons, he could take his honor to the grave and avoid meaningless death.
During a quick break before the sacrifice, Ma’ah shares with his companions that he actually doesn’t want to get his captaincy back because that would mean serving in Bargh’s fleet, which would be demoralizing. Boimler, for his part, suggests transferring to a different fleet, but that’s much easier said than done when it comes to the Klingon Defense Force. Luckily, Mariner has a plan: by invoking the ancient Rite of Forced Conscription against Bargh, Ma’ah, and Bargh must duel to determine if Bargh can join Ma’ah’s crew.
In the initial battle, Ma’ah and Bargh have seen Ma’ah conquer the other Klingon, which means Bargh can be the one Ma’ah has to sacrifice to complete the Ritual of J’ethurgh. It seems Ma’ah has won the day until Bargh stabs his challenger while the other Klingon’s back is turned, but the resilient Ma’ah, perhaps buoyed by his reignited passion to return to the stars, shrugs off the attack and kills Bargh.
“As much as it pains me to say it, both of you have proven your toDuj. You would make an excellent cha’Dlch.”
“Right back at you, man.”
“He said I’m a freakin’ cha’Dlch!”
– Ma’ah, Mariner, and Boimler.
With Ma’ah’s honor restored, the day is saved. After the battle, Mariner reveals she lied about her presence in Klingon space; she’s there to get scans of a dimensional tear, the kind we’ve seen throughout this season, and she needs help from a Klingon captain to make it happen. Ma’ah is indeed a captain again and enlists his brother to be the first officer of their two-man ship. After scanning the tear, Mariner discovers the tears appear to be artificial and not naturally occurring.
While Mariner and Boimler are in Klingon space, the Cerritos is at Praxon IV, where Dr. Migleemo (Paul F. Tompkins), the ship’s food-centric Klowahkan counselor, is nervously hosting two fellow Klowahkans, Sir Legnog, and Madame Gonald, well-known food critics who are hitching a ride back to the Klowahka homeworld. When the food critics arrive on the Cerritos, it’s apparent they are an insufferable bunch, but Dr. Migleemo is still in awe of them and tries to impress them with a well-prepared meal.
Despite attempts at creating killer replicated and cooked meals for the visiting critics, Legnog and Gonald are disgusted by Migleemo’s attempts at crafting culinary masterpieces. Adding insult to injury is that the critics disapprove of Migleemo’s position as ship counselor, as they think he should focus more on food.
After suffering a tasteless feast prepared by Migleemo, Legnog and Gonald arrest the heretic and plan on removing him and his entire family from the “great seating chart,” whatever in the world that is. It’s a bit of an extreme reaction, but Klowahkans are sensible about their food. Suspecting something is amiss with the critics’ warped sense of taste, D’Vana Tendi (Noel Wells) and Sam Rutherford (Eugene Cordero) inexplicably sneak some actual replicated manure into the next dish the critics eat; when the dish passes over well with them, it’s confirmation that the critics indeed lost their sense of taste. Migleemo, using his well-practiced knowledge of psychology, determines Legnog and Gonald were hiding their lack of taste to avoid embarrassment – after all, what is a Klowahkan without a sense of taste?
Taken together, “A Farewell to Farms” is, as Boimler would say excitedly, “Klingon as hell,” and we really enjoyed it. This episode is like Lower Deck’s love letter to those who appreciate Klingon culture; it strikes a perfect balance between honoring the rich, iconic elements of Klingon culture and delivering the irreverent humor Lower Decks is known for. The episode smartly provides fans with a satisfying return (and perhaps a conclusion) to Ma’ah’s journey, something we didn’t realize we wanted or needed.
We also appreciated this episode for its spotlight on Dr. Migleemo, who is perhaps this show’s least-used senior officer. Paul F. Tompkins reliably provides chuckles in “A Farewell to Farms” as this show makes full-throated fun of what has previously only been throwaway jokes about Klowahkans love of food. This episode is a case study of multiple Star Trek cultures.
Importantly, “A Farewell to Farms” also witnesses a critical development in this season’s overarching narrative. If the dimensional tears aren’t naturally occurring, who or what is creating them? We’ll just add this to our list of questions as we prepare for this season’s halfway point next week.
Stray Thoughts:
- This episode features an alternate opening title sequence, something this show employs on rare occasions to help spotlight certain characters. In this episode, the spotlight is on Ma’ah.
Alternate title sequences were employed previously in “A Mathematically Perfect Redemption,” where the subject of the opening sequence was Peanut Hamper. - K’orin, a member of the Klingon Oversight Council and Mariner’s old friend, was last seen in the season one episode “Envoys.”
- The use of painstiks to judge a Klingon’s endurance is also seen in the Rite of Ascension, something Worf experienced in “The Icarus Factor.”
- True to continuity, Klingon blood seen in this episode is pink, just like in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.
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