History Recap / StarTrekLowerDecksS4E08Caves

** One of the few military tropes ''Star Trek'' usually gets right -- the chain of command -- is violated in (of all people) Boimler's story. He is assigned to an away team with Levy, who as a full Lieutenant is the ''ranking officer'', but Boimler is on point for the entire mission (though this could be attributed to Levy's conspiracy theories making him seem a bit unreliable as a leader, since Boimler claims that this is the reason Levy hasn't been able to get promoted to Lt. Commander for an entire decade). By contrast, Mariner's story takes full advantage of her (as a Lieutenant Junior Grade) being the ranking officer amidst the Ensigns from Delta Shift.

* HealingFactor: The carnivorous moss regrows almost instantly when parts of it are vaporized.

-->'''Boimler:''' Look, I know you're some sort of "outside-the-box" math genius, but do you know why you've been stuck at the same rank for, like, ''a decade''?! No wild unfounded theories on that? Huh?! Well, it's because you're insufferable. Wolf 359 was a tragedy, Q exists, Picard isn't some hologram, and ''Voyager's'' EMH ''is''. Ugh! You know who benefits from being stuck in a cave? ''Everyone''! Because they don't have to deal with ''you''.

* TheCuckoolanderWasRight: Steve Levy's paranoid conspiracies turn out to be right for once when the Vendorians turn out to be behind him and Boimler being trapped in a cave as a morality test. All the others, not so much.

** Outside of the flashback plots, two of Levy’s theories he believes the Vendorians are behind are the idea that warp speed damages subspace, which was the plot of the infamous ''TNG'' episode "Force of Nature", and the Klingon Civil War, which was the Season 4 finale-Season 5 opener "Redemption". The Vendorians deny their involvement in that one.

* PlantAliens: The moss that group is sent to study is revealed to be sentient, once the group agrees to be his friend, the moss allows them to scan him while they continue to tell more cave stories.

* PlantAlien: The moss that group is sent to study is revealed to be sentient, once the group agrees to be his friend, the moss allows them to scan him while they continue to tell more cave stories.

* MisterSeahorse: Rutherford gives birth thanks to Thusa having the ability to transfer her consciousness into others and quickly grow a new body.

* ArtShift: When the ''Cerritos'' is shown off in Tendi's flashback, the lighting on the ship is the same as it was during Season One.

* FireForgedFriends: Mariner's story reveals that she was leader of a [[SitcomArchNemesis Delta Shift]] away team, and learns how she was maybe too rough on them and they become closer friends.

* StrongFamilyResemblance: When Mariner starts aging she looks remarkably similar to her mother, same grey hair stripe and all.

* RecycledSet: The episode is mostly LeaningOnTheFourthWall with regards to the franchise trope of episodes where characters get stuck in caves, providing a ClosedCircle for characters to interact. A ProductionNickname during the TNG-era for the studio with the cave set was dubbed "Planet Hell." Despite being animation, all four caves in this episode are largely identical with a minor cosmetic redress, which Mariner mentions at the start that all caves are the same.

** Tendi depicts characters being stuck in an enclosed space and growing bonds.

* RecycledSet: The episode is mostly LeaningOnTheFourthWall with regards to the franchise trope of episodes where characters get stuck in caves, providing a ClosedCircle for characters to interact. A ProductionNickname during the TNG-era for the studio with the cave set was dubbed "Planet Hell." Despite being animation, all four caves in this episode are largely identical with a minor cosmetic redress.

* CallBack: In addition to ''Star Trek''[='s=] use of caves as a budget-saving device, each plotline sends up other frequent franchise tropes:
** Boimler's adventure involves the SecretTestOfCharacter.
** Mariner's involves a broken shuttle that needs to be repaired, plus the RapidAging and FountainOfYouth aspects.
** Rutherford's involves MonsterIsAMommy. ''Star Trek'' has also used MisterSeahorse before.
** Tendi depicts characters being stuck in an enclosed space and growing bonds.

* {{Deconstruction}}: Of the ConspiracyTheorist. While previous appearances play Levy's antics up for laughs, this time they prove to be a source of frustration-- Levy annoys Boimler with the thought of Vendorians being on the planet they were on despite being in a different quadrant, and when Boimler finds a possible way out, Levy blows it up. Then you find out that Levy's been stuck at his rank for around a decade and no one can stand him.

* PassedOverPromotion: It is revealed that Levy's career has been stalled out at Lieutenant for over a decade, because (as Boimler points out) nobody wants to see a raving ConspiracyTheorist in an actual command position.

** One of the few military tropes ''Star Trek'' usually gets right -- the chain of command -- is violated in (of all people) Boimler's story. He is assigned to an away team with Levy, who as a full Lieutenant is the ''ranking officer'', but Boimler is on point for the entire mission (though this could be attributed to Levy's conspiracy theories making him seem a bit unreliable as a leader, since Boimler claims that this is the reason Levy hasn't been able to get promoted to Lt. Commander for an entire decade[[note]]And the way he started crying after Boimler's rant is not a sign of great leadership skills[[/note]]). By contrast, Mariner's story takes full advantage of her (as a Lieutenant Junior Grade) being the ranking officer amidst the Ensigns from Delta Shift.

** The group grow more and more jealous over their insane cave stories, leading the Vendorians to work to fix their friendship.

** One of the few military tropes ''Star Trek'' usually gets right -- the chain of command -- is violated in (of all people) Boimler's story. He is assigned to an away team with Levy, who as a full Lieutenant is the ''ranking officer'', but Boimler is on point for the entire mission (though this could be attributed to Levy's conspiracy theories making him seem a bit unreliable as a leader, since Boimler claims that this is the reason Levy hasn't been able to get promoted to Lt. Commander for an entire decade). By contrast, Mariner's story takes full advantage of her (as a Lieutenant Junior Grade) being the ranking officer amidst the Ensigns from Delta Shift.

* {{Deconstruction}}: Of the ConspiracyTheorist. While previous appearances play Levy’s antics up for laughs, this time they prove to be a source of frustration-- Levy annoys Boimler with the thought of Vendorians being on the planet they were on despite being in a different quadrant, and when Boimler finds a possible way out, Levy blows it up. Then you find out that Levy's been stuck at his rank for around a decade and no one can stand him.

** Karavitus reveals in this episode that the reason Delta Shift is always so antagonistic towards Mariner and the others for seemingly no reason is that, despite getting the exact same kinds of jobs as Beta Shift, they feel like they barely get any kind of action or acknowledgement in comparison, since being on the Night Shift means that everybody else is asleep. Apparently, it’s so bad that she's only ever seen people like Captain Freeman and Ransom, who are regulars in the Beta Shifters' lives, about three to five times in total, and feels like they'll never get the opportunity to rank up like Mariner and her friends did because no one else on the ship even notices that they exist, leading to them lashing out at their Day Shift counterparts over this.

* NotNowKiddo: During the episode, Tendi attempts to talk about the time they were stuck in the turbolift. However, every time she does, Mariner blows her off because it wasn’t applicable to their current situation. It’s not until the moss speaks up and demands to hear the story that we see that it actually was.

* {{Deconstruction}}: Of the ConspiracyTheorist. While previous appearances play Levy’s antics up for laughs, this time they prove to be a source of frustration-- Levy annoys Boimler with the thought of Vendorians being on the planet they were on despite being in a different quadrant, and when Boimler finds a possible way out, Levy blows it up. Then you find out that Levy's been stuck at his rank for around a decade and no one can stand him.

** Karavitus reveals in this episode that the reason Delta Shift is always so antagonistic towards Mariner and the others for seemingly no reason is that, despite getting the exact same kinds of jobs as Beta Shift, they feel like they barely get any kind of action or acknowledgement in comparison, since being on the Night Shift means that everybody else is asleep. Apparently, it’s so bad that she's only ever seen people like Captain Freeman and Ransom, who are regulars in the Beta Shifters' lives, about three to five times in total, and feels like they'll never get the opportunity to rank up like Mariner and her friends did because no one else on the ship even notices that they exist, leading to them lashing out at their Day Shift counterparts over this.

* NotNowKiddo: During the episode, Tendi attempts to talk about the time they were stuck in the turbolift. However, every time she does, Mariner blows her off because it wasn’t applicable to their current situation. It’s not until the moss speaks up and demands to hear the story that we see that it actually was.

* MisterSeahorse: Rutherford gives birth thanks to the woman he and T'Ana were with having the ability to transfer her consciousness into others and quickly grow a new body.