We laughed and laughed and … Star Trek: Lower Decks S5, E1-3, Shrinking S2, E3-5 and Frasier S2, E7-8 + further thoughts on E6 (reviews)

(courtesy IMP Awards)

STAR TREK: LOWER DECKS S5, E1-3

How marvellous is this animated Star Trek show? It’s cleverly written, managing to adroitly balance sparklingly full characterisation, imaginative plots and balancing affectionate parody of the franchise with some serious sci-fi cred.

The only downer in this whole heady mix of wonderfulness is that season five heralds the final batch of episodes of the show, and while Star Trek shows used to be given a reasonably standard seven seasons to do their rich storytelling thing, it seems the more restrained days of the streaming ascendancy has lamentably pegged that back to five.

Still, mournful though we may about Lower Decks‘ impending demise, it’s hard to stay too gloomy for too long with episodes that are hilarious, not sporadically but pretty much consistently.

“Dos Cerritos”, “Shades of Green” and “The Best Exotic Nanite Hotel” all exemplify what is so good about Lower Decks starting with a show that, for all its gag and willingness to skewer and parody, is first and foremost about community and belonging.

The four people at the heart of the show – Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome), Brad Boimler (Jack Quaid), D’Vana Tendi (Noël Wells) and Sam Rutherford (Eugene Cordero) might be slowly rising up the ranks, with all the wrestling with dreams, hopes and ambitions that entails, but what matters most to them, and by extension us, is that they have each other.

For all of the loopy, silly but also inherently adventures they go, Lower Decks is primarily about life in Starfleet from the perspective of people not in the upper echelons of command and it’s that us vs them idea that still percolates through the show, at turns humourous and others quite touching.

The show is also a treasure trove of references to Star Trek lore and as eagle-eyes Twitter aka X user Jörg Hillebrand (@gaghyogi49) brilliantly demonstrates, Lower Decks is dedicated to folding trivia and lore about the franchise into its storylines as possible.

It’s always been one of the great drivers of the show, and unless you are a super fan, you will likely miss many of the references, but the fact that they are there underscores how much of a love letter to the franchise the show is.

It’s also proved that you can be silly and goofy and still put together a damn fine piece of sci-fi storytelling, and that laughs and gag doesn’t preclude a story reaching into your soul.

These three finely wrought episodes are a golden start to the final season of Lower Decks, and while they could make you sad we’re losing it, let’s rather be glad we had this most clever, heartfelt and funny shows at all.

Star Trek: Lower Decks streams on Paramount+

SHRINKING S2, E3-4

The idea of healing and forgiveness is a powerful one. People have been repeatedly told that with enough time and hard work and expert therapy, that the trauma of the past can be set aside and a new path forged free from the emotional baggage of the past. That, if you have really worked hard at dealing with your broken past self (which, let’s face it, remains to more or less potent strength in the present), you can find a release, a chance to move forward. And while that is often true with the right therapist, what often gets left off is how incredibly hard it is to undertake such a journey. Definitely worthwhile, but without question, arduous and taxing.

In these three episodes, Shrinking, Bill Lawrence & Jason Segel & Brett Goldstein, the latter two of whom star in the show, gets down to work in the the therapeutic trenches demonstrating how people want and need healing, and will sometimes ignore their therapists to make it happen faster – it doesn’t necessarily happen that way, as Alice (Lukita Maxwell) who, along with her father and series lead, therapist Jimmy (Jason Segal), who’s still grieving the loss of her mum at the hands of a drunk driver, discovers powerfully and poignantly – and how the true to true healing is an unexpectedly bumpy one.

While the show retains its ready, often goofy wit, full of snappy, funny dialogue, all delivered by performers with superb comic timing – MVP here is Jessica Williams, who plays Jimmy’s colleague (and friend) at the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Center under senior therapist Paul (Harrison Ford) and who’s gift for buoyantly sassy wordplay is a gift – it also makes clear that it’s happy to welcome conflict and pain into its short but brilliantly well-used 35-minute or so storylines.

Without delving too much into spoiler territory, Jimmy ends up at odds with BFF Brian (Michael Urie), who is on his own journey to a new life of parenthood with husband Charlie (Devin Kawaoka), Gaby, with whom he inadvisedly slept, and rude but heartfelt neighbour and friend, Liz (Christa Miller) who makes a fairly sizable error judgement with friend and business partner, Sean (Luke Tennie), with each relationship demonstrating how hard it is to walk the path to healing and how easily you can become massively waylaid, many times by the landmine of your own issues.

Shrinking handles all of these conflicts with real sensitivity and tenderness, and while the show is undeniably funny, it is also adept at letting its characters sit in their pain and vulnerability, such as what happens when Alice, against Paul’s orders, goes to meet her mother’s clearly distressed killer (played with understated power by Brett Goldstein).

It doesn’t rush things – mostly; the scenes that wrap up the storyline of domestic violence survivor, Grace (Heidi Gardner), does feel a little too eager to get her on the path to happiness and a healed future – and much of its charm is somehow balancing a goofy sensibility with some really heart-wrenching story elements.

It’s a sitcom at heart but a brilliantly well-written one that, in these three episodes, in particular, beautifully explores healing and forgiveness in ways that are comedically rich and emotionally resonant – case in point too is Paul meeting up with ex Susan (Kelly Bishop), years after he cheated on her and ended his marriage – and which make you laugh, and importantly, make you feel, and help you understand that healing is possible, but not easily and only with a lot of work that involves putting aside yourself and prioritising the welfare of others as much as your own.

Shrinking streams on AppleTV+

FRASIER S2, E7-8

Frasier is back!

You may be thinking “little late to the party there, Mr. Reviewer” (and yes, that might be my legal name; who knows?) since we’re well into the second season of the revival known loosely as Frasier 2023, and it’s pretty clear the much-loved character, played by Kelsey Grammer since his first appearance in 1984 in Cheers‘ third season, is well and truly back on our screens.

But what’s exciting in the second season of the Frasier sequel, which has been quite enjoyable in its own not-quite-living-up-to-its-illustrious-predecessor’s way, is how much closer to the spirit and indeed narrative buoyancy of the first Frasier iteration these two episodes bring the new sitcom kid on the block.

This is on brilliant display in episode six (see the original review), “Cape Cod”, where everyone – Frasier, son Freddy (Jake Cutmore-Scott), Eve (Jess Salgueiro), Niles and Daphne’s son David (Anders Keith) and Roz Doyle (Peri Gilpin), Frasier’s old radio producer and close friend and her daughter (Greer Grammer) – decamp to a beach house for the weekend.

What begins as an attempt by Frasier and Roz to kindle love between Freddy and Eve, when the latter announces she’s ready to date again, soon becomes a roaring slice of classic Frasier farce when Freddy and Eve think that there are sparks flying between Frasier and Roz and resolve to get them together.

Neither part, of course, knows what the other is doing, and so begins an hilarious laugh-out-loud comedy of errors, complicated even further by David trying to attract Alice’s attention while she is trying to attract Freddy’s.

It may not quite reach the dizzying of classic farcical episodes of Frasier, but it comes so very close and for perhaps the first time since this admittedly very good sequel debuted, laughs flowed often and loudly.

This corker of an episode ushers in two tautly written episodes, “My Brilliant Sister”, which sees Professor Olivia Finch (Toks Olagundoye) desperately trying to impress her competitive sister, Monica (Yvette Nicole Brown) with her super handsome and successful fake boyfriend and Frasier bedeviled by excess hubris when he sets out to impress a famous reclusive writer that no one really knows by sight.

It’s classic wonderful farce that draws energy both from the ever-more farcical situation and the great, gaping flaws in Frasier’s character, and it works an absolute treat as does “Thank You, Mr. Crane” which sees Frasier return to Seattle and to KACL radio where Roz is now in charge of things.

It may not be as strong as the two episodes preceding it, but where it lacks serious comedic oomph (though it’s not without it thanks to a cameo from one of Frasier’s old call-in patients which doesn’t quite go to plan), it makes up for it with the sheer nostalgia of seeing Bulldog (Dan Butler), now out and proud, and Gil Chesterton (Edward Hibbert) doing their thing again.

The episode is smartly written, serving up some nostalgia but not becoming hostage to it, and while we get to KACL and Café Nervosa, the episode is far more concerned with Frasier’s relationships with these people than simply throwing on some rose-coloured glasses and looking back for the sake of it.

It’s a joy seeing the promise of season 1 finds its fulfilment in season 2 and it whets the appetite for the final two episodes of the season, which finishes up, happily enough, with “Christmas”.

Frasier 2023 streams on Paramount+

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