History Recap / StarTrekLowerDecksS2E03WellAlwaysHaveTomParis

* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: No one on the ''Cerritos'' except Rutherford and Lt. Cody react to Shaxs coming BackFromTheDead. Even Boimler and Mariner don't think that it's that big of a deal. This could be seen as a TakeThatUs on incidents where main cast ''Star Trek'' characters come back from the dead.

* AnythingThatMoves: After falling hard for Tendi's cousin, Mariner confirms that she's dated bad boys, bad girls, bad gender-nonbinary babes, ruthless alien masterminds, and bad [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS1E1411001001 Bynars]].

'''Bridge Ensign''': None.\\

* AirVentEscape: Boimler heads into the Jefferies tubes to bypass the doors, which refuse to recognize him.

* {{Technobabble}}: Boimler clarifies that Tom Paris "turning into a salamander" was nothing more than a "celerity-induced accelerated somatic mutation rate."
** Doubles as a GeniusBonus, since the above translates as "high speed caused him to rapidly change shape"... which is accurate to the episode in question!

Mariner and Tendi team up for a mission to retrieve an heirloom for Dr. T'Ana. Meanwhile, the ''Cerritos'' is visited by Lieutenant Tom Paris of the U.S.S. ''[[Series/StarTrekVoyager Voyager]]'', much to the excitement of Boimler, who is hoping to meet him. And Rutherford is haunted by the mystery of Lt. Shaxs, who is BackFromTheDead.

** Rutherford is desperate to find out how Shaxs came back from the dead, even after the Lt. warns him that it will break his brain and change his entire perception of the universe. Turns out that he wasn't exaggerating…

** Some of the neon signs visible on Qualor 2 are advertisements for [[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Quark's Bar and the Vic Fontaine lounge]].

* GotMeDoingIt: Mariner is initially dismisses Boimler's explanation that referring to ‘’Voyager'' as simply "VOY" saves time. But while discussing how bridge crew members always somehow come BackFromTheDead she says "VOY" herself and admits Boimler was right, it does save a ton of time.

** The episode's title is a play on the [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration TNG]] episode "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS1E23WellAlwaysHaveParis We'll Always Have Paris]]".

Mariner and Tendi team up for a mission to retrieve an heirloom for Dr. T'Ana. Meanwhile, the Cerritos is visited by Lieutenant Tom Paris of the U.S.S. ''[[Series/StarTrekVoyager Voyager]]'', much to the excitement of Boimler, who is hoping to meet him. And Rutherford is haunted by the mystery of Lt. Shaxs, who is BackFromTheDead.

* AllForNothing: All the time and effort Beckett and Tendi went to trying to fix T'Ana's broken Caitian libido post was for nothing, as the doctor was [[KidsPreferBoxes more interested in the box]] it was shipped in.

* AnythingThatMoves: After falling hard for Tendi's cousin, Mariner confirms that she's dated bad boys, bad girls, bad gender nonbinary babes, ruthless alien masterminds, and bad [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS1E1411001001 Bynars]].

** Rutherford is desperate to find out how Shaxs came back from the dead, even after the Lt. warns him it will break his brain and change his entire perception of the universe. Turns out he wasn't exaggerating…
** Boimler is desperate to meet Lt. Tom Paris. But when he finally reaches the bridge, he's such a mess Paris thinks he's a Kazon warrior and beats the crap out of him. (On the other hand, Boimler thinks that the black eye is ''better'' than an autograph, and Tom took him out for drinks to apologize.)

* ButtMonkey: Poor Boimler in spades. The computer refuses to recognize him, he's nearly killed multiple times in the Jefferies tubes and when he finally catches up to Tom Paris, he attacks him on the spot, mistaking him for a Kazon in his disheveled, filthy state. At least Paris offers to get him a drink after the misunderstanding.

** One of the undead Shaxses in Rutherford's NightmareSequence is dressed like Professor Moriarty (''[[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration TNG]]'': "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS2E3ElementaryDearData Elementary, Dear Data]]"). Another claims he was revived by a microscopic civilization (like the Terratins from "[[Recap/StarTrekTheAnimatedSeriesS1E11TheTerratinIncident The Terratin Incident]]"). Yet another exclaims "What was the deal with [[Series/StarTrekEnterprise T'Pol's]] hair for that one year?"
** Boimler squees over Tom Paris, citing his favourite holodeck programs "Fair Haven" and "The Adventures of Captain Proton". Mariner also mentions the time he [[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS2E15Threshold turned into a salamander]].

* ADayInTheLimelight: This is the first time we see what Tendi's life was like before Starfleet, along with some more of her personal interests and the foundation of her insecurities.

** Tendi ''really'' suffers from this due to the fact that most humans just think of Orions as thieves and pirates. It doesn't help that Tendi's fear of losing friends causes that stereotype to flourish.
** Mariner has to disguise herself as an Orion when she goes to meet Tendi's relatives, because Tendi warns her she'll be killed for being a human.

* HereWeGoAgain: Boimler has finally fixed the problem locking him out of every room, only for the brig door to seemingly refuse him access. Tendi then points out it's just a slitted wall panel, and Boimler admits he may have a concussion from Paris thrashing him earlier.
* HeroWorship: Boimler is a huge Tom Paris fanboy, along with the rest of the ''Voyager'' crew.

* LastNameBasis: This is given a lampshade when Mariner is shocked to hear Tendi's first name, having never heard her first name over the course of their duties and just assumed she had OnlyOneName like Odo.

* LimitedAdvancementOpportunities: ''Lieutenant'' Tom Paris, who spent seven years in the Delta Quadrant and lived to tell the tale, has only advanced from Lieutenant ''junior grade'' since the last episode of ''Voyager'' (about 2 years) -- despite Captain Janeway having canonically been promoted to Vice Admiral within a year of arriving home. Of course, jokes abound that she was KickedUpstairs, which you wouldn't do to a lieutenant. ''VOY'' was also notorious for how Ensign Harry Kim was treated as a senior officer despite ''his'' lack of promotion. And lastly, Paris's demotion for gross insubordination, not to mention his criminal record, could realistically put a damper on his career.

** ''Star Trek'''s sliding doors inspired the automatic ones we take for granted at supermarkets today, but on-set they were partially operated by hand to avoid distractions during scenes, and the blooper reels are [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPHkeQ58_pQ full]] of actors running into them because they didn't open properly or closed too early. This "feature" of their operation becomes canonized as part of Boimler's travails, in that the doors open in response to specific people rather than motion-detection or another automatic mechanism.

* MySpeciesDothProtestTooMuch: Tendi finally resorts to being a stereotypical Orion pirate woman to try and get her cousin to fix the libido post and is clearly embarrassed by it the entire time.

* TheseAreThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow: The secret of Shaxs's resurrection is something the rest of the bridge crew wants to keep secret, because it's so horrible it fundamentally changes your view of reality.
* ThrowTheDogABone: Boimler is treated like an intruder by the ship, nearly killed twice in his trip through the Jefferies tubes, and finally gets the crap beaten out of him by Tom Paris because he looks like a Kazon after the ordeal. On the plus side, he's actually happy to have been beaten up by ''the'' Tom Paris and gets to have drinks with him as an apology.
* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: No one on the ''Cerritos'' except Rutherford and Lt. Cody react to Shaxs coming BackFromTheDead. Even Boimler and Mariner don't think it's that big of a deal. This could be seen as a TakeThatUs on incidents where main cast ''Star Trek'' characters come back from the dead.

** One of the undead Shaxses in Rutherford's NightmareSequence is dressed like Abraham Lincoln (''[[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries TOS]]'': "[[Recap/StarTrekS3E22TheSavageCurtain The Savage Curtain]]"). Another claims he was revived by a microscopic civilization (like the Terratins from "[[Recap/StarTrekTheAnimatedSeriesS1E11TheTerratinIncident The Terratin Incident]]"). Yet another exclaims "What was the deal with [[Series/StarTrekEnterprise T'Pol's]] hair for that one year?"

* {{Squick}}: Beckett is appropriately disgusted when she realizes the "statue" she was playing around with is a Caitian Libido Post. A well-worn, very old libido post... that she was handling without gloves.

** Rutherford is desperate to find out how Shaxs came back from the dead, even after the Lt. warns him it will break his brain and change his entire perception of the universe. Turns out he wasn't exaggerating...

* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: Tendi picks Mariner to accompany her and they openly discuss how previous episodes always have Tendi hanging out with Rutherford and Mariner with Boimler, then stating that going on a mission together is "long overdue."

* StatusQuoIsGod: While it was fairly obvious that Lt. (Jr. Grade) Boimler would return to the ''Cerritos'', it's not explained why, when he does, he's demoted back to Ensign.

* {{Squick}}: Beckett is appropriately disgusted when she realizes the "statue" she was playing around with is a Caitian Libido Post. A well-worn, very old libido post...that she was handling without gloves.

* LimitedAdvancementOpportunities: ''Lieutenant'' Tom Paris, who spent seven years in the Delta Quadrant and lived to tell the tale, has only advanced from Lieutenant ''junior grade'' since the last episode of ''Voyager'' (about 2 years) -- despite Captain Janeway having canonically been promoted to Admiral. Of course, jokes abound that she was KickedUpstairs, which you wouldn't do to a lieutenant. (''VOY'' was also notorious for how Ensign Harry Kim was treated as a senior officer despite ''his'' lack of promotion.) Then again, Paris was demoted once while on ''Voyager'' for gross insubordination, so that record (plus his criminal record) could put a damper on his career.

* {{Technobabble}}: Boimler clarifies that Tom Paris "turning into a salamander" was nothing more than a "celerity-induced accelerate somatic mutation rate."

* LimitedAdvancementOpportunities: ''Lieutenant'' Tom Paris, who spent seven years in the Delta Quadrant and lived to tell the tale, has only advanced from Lieutenant ''junior grade'' since the last episode of ''Voyager'' (about 2 years) -- despite Captain Janeway having canonically been promoted to Admiral. Of course, jokes abound that she was KickedUpstairs, which you wouldn't do to a lieutenant. (''VOY'' was also notorious for how Ensign Harry Kim was treated as a senior officer despite ''his'' lack of promotion.)

* LimitedAdvancementOpportunities: ''Lieutenant'' Tom Paris, who spent seven years in the Delta Quadrant and lived to tell the tale, has only advanced from Lieutenant ''junior grade'' since the last episode of ''Voyager'' -- despite Captain Janeway having canonically been promoted to Admiral. Of course, jokes abound that she was KickedUpstairs, which you wouldn't do to a lieutenant. (''VOY'' was also notorious for how Ensign Harry Kim was treated as a senior officer despite ''his'' lack of promotion.)