History Deconstruction / StarTrekLowerDecks

** The episode also shows why PercussiveTherapy has fallen out of favour in recent years; Mariner is clearly heading towards an extremely unhealthy place by acting out her aggression on the rest of the crew, something that Tendi points out after the fight with Holo-Shaxs. In fact, her actual breakthrough doesn't come about until she's denied her chance to kill the Holo-Freeman by the MirrorMatch with her holo-self and undergoes some literal self-reflection.

!!Season 1

** We find out the root cause of Mariner's many issues, neuroses, and the self-destructive cycle she has been trying to escape from all season, but is starting to slip back into: [[TheChainsofCommanding her unwillingness to let someone under her command die]]. She lost her best friend to an espionage missions shortly before the outbreak of the Dominion War, and all of that compounded trauma has made her unwilling to be placed into a situation where she might have to make a sacrifice of someone she cares about.

* "[[Recap/StarTrekLowerDecksS3E05Reflections Reflections]]" deconstructs the Star Trek cliche plot of "scientist on a remote outpost who gets killed so Starfleet is sent to investigate what happened". Turns out there's a lot of mutual hatred between Starfleet and freelance scientists like the Independent Archeologists Guild.

!!''WesternAnimation/StarTrekLowerDecks''
* The series takes a look at how [[{{Deconstruction}} horrifying and traumatizing]] some of the events that happens in a typical weekly ''Star Trek'' show by presenting them from the perspective of your typical low-level grunt or RedShirt. This includes opening a story with a ZombieApocalypse on the U.S.S. ''Cerritos.'' [[PlayingWithATrope Played With]] as the protagonists are, with the exception of Boimler, [[SeenItAll entirely unfazed by this]].

** The episode as a whole deconstructs ScottyTime, or "buffer time" as the ''Cerritos'' lower-deckers call it, in showing why it exists and what the consequences are for trying to curtail it. When Captain Freeman first hears that the crew are in the habit of padding their work estimates, she assumes they're being slackers -- and she's right, to a degree. But the other side to that coin is how buffer time is also protective against overwork and burnout, and removing it damages morale and leaves the crew with nothing left when there's an emergency that ''actually'' requires them to work their hardest. You can't run the crew at 100% indefinitely any more than you can the ship. To Freeman's credit, she subjects herself and the senior staff to the same punishing schedule, which makes it that much easier for her to reach the conclusion that buffer time, in moderation, actually improves the efficiency of the crew.

* "[[Recap/StarTrekLowerDecksS3E10TheStarsAtNight The Stars At Night]]" deconstructs the series' frequent use of the InsaneAdmiral trope. Turns out, LimitedAdvancementOpportunities are responsible for so many flag officers falling into this trap, as it's difficult to stand out from the crowd when you've reached that level of seniority, an especially bitter pill for an amoral egomaniac like Buenamigo to swallow.

* The series takes a look at how horrifying and traumatizing some of the events that happens in a typical weekly ''Star Trek'' show by presenting them from the perspective of your typical low-level grunt or RedShirt. This includes opening a story with a ZombieApocalypse on the U.S.S. ''Cerritos.'' [[PlayingWithATrope Played With]] as the protagonists are, with the exception of Boimler, [[SeenItAll entirely unfazed by this]].

** The episode deconstructs how many series have the ship waltz in, fix the problem of the episode, then waltz away. The ''Cerritos'' returns to [[Recap/StarTrekS1E21TheReturnOfTheArchons Beta III]] to find the Betans are back to worshipping Landru ''again'' and later learns that the Pakleds, who were only seen as a joke when they [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS2E17SamaritanSnare first appeared]] in ''TNG'', had become much more dangerous in the interim, destroying the ''Solvang'' (a fellow ''California''-class ship) and tearing the ''Cerritos'' apart [[spoiler:before the ''Titan'' arrives to save the day.]]
** On a more meta level, those same points are a deconstruction of the episodic nature of pre-''Discovery'' Star Trek series. The end of the episode doesn't mean the problem is solved, ''permanently.'' You need to regularly maintain the solution, and work on it constantly. As Mariner herself says at the end of the episode:
---> '''Mariner:''' You can't expect people to keep making the right choices a generation down the road.

* "[[Recap/StarTrekLowerDecksS3E05Reflections Reflections]]"
** The episode deconstructs the Star Trek cliche plot of "scientist on a remote outpost who gets killed so Starfleet is sent to investigate what happened". Turns out there's a lot of mutual hatred between Starfleet and freelance scientists like the Independent Archeologists Guild.

** The episode deconstructs the DeathIsCheap trope as applied to main characters on ''Star Trek'' by showing that resurrection happens so often that most of the crew is just indifferent to it by this point. It also reveals that, even though the officers returned to life ''look'' surprisingly well-adjusted given what's happened to them, it's only because they're trying to spare the crew from the terrible, traumatizing secret of what is ''[[CosmicHorror actually]]'' involved in death and resurrection.

* "[[Recap/StarTrekLowerDecksS1E03TemporalEdict Temoral Edict]]"

** The episode deconstructs the DeathIsCheap trope as applied to main characters on ''Star Trek'' by showing that resurrection happens so often that most of the crew is just indifferent to it by this point. It also reveals that, even though the officers returned to life ''look'' surprisingly well-adjusted given what's happened to them, it's only because they're trying to spare the crew from the terrible, traumatizing secret of what is ''[[CosmicHorror actually]]'' involved in death and resurrection.
** The episode also deconstructs EntitledBastard. Its how literally everyone sees Beckett Mariner. From random criminals she's dealt with, ALL of Starfleet, even a holographic simulation of a Cardassian interrogator. This a woman who has a respected and connected Admiral for a father and a glory hound captain for a mother. Whenever Mariner gets in trouble, whatever punishment stops at demotion and the brig. Both of which she loves. Any more of that would reflect poorly on her parents, which they can't have. Beckett herself is ambivalent at this and doesn't see it as a problem. As while she won't ask for special treatment, Mariner won't turn it down either. Something even close friends of Mariner have contempt for.

* "[[Recap/StarTrekLowerDecksS2E01StrangeEnergies]]"

* "[Recap/StarTrekLowerDecksS2E1StrangeEnergies]]"

** The episode deconstructs the DeathIsCheap trope as applied to main characters on ''Star Trek'' by showing that resurrection happens so often that most of the crew is just indifferent to it by this point. It also reveals that, even though the officers returned to life ''look'' surprisingly well-adjusted given what's happened to them, it's only because they're trying to spare the crew from the terrible, traumatizing secret of what is ''[[CosmicHorror actually]]'' involved in death and resurrection.

---> '''Mariner:''' You can't expect people to keep making the right choices a generation down the road.

** On a more meta level, those same points are a deconstruction of the episodic nature of pre-''[=DS9=]'' Star Trek series. The end of the episode doesn't mean the problem is solved, ''permanently.'' You need to regularly maintain the solution, and work on it constantly. As Mariner herself says at the end of the episode:

* The series takes a look at how horrifying and traumatizing some of the events that happens in a typical weekly ''Star Trek'' show by presenting them from the perspective of your typical low-level grunt or RedShirt. This includes opening a story with a ZombieApocalypse on the U.S.S. ''Cerritos.'' [[PlayingWithATrope Played With]] as the protagonists are, with the exception of Boimler, entirely unfazed by this.

** The episode deconstructs how many series have the ship waltz in, fix the problem of the episode, then waltz away. The ''Cerritos'' returns to [[Recap/StarTrekS1E21TheReturnOfTheArchons Beta III]] to find the Betans are back to worshipping Landru ''again'' and later learns that the Pakleds, who were only seen as a joke when they [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS2E17SamaritanSnare first appeared]] in ''TNG'', had become much more dangerous in the interim, destroying a fellow ''California''-class ship and tearing the ''Cerritos'' apart [[spoiler:before the ''Titan'' arrives to save the day.]]

---> '''Mariner:''' You can't expect people to keep making the right choices in the next generation onwards...

** The episode deconstructs how many series have the ship waltz in, fix the problem of the episode, then waltz away. The ''Cerritos'' ends up returning to Beta III to find the Betans are back to worshipping Landru ''again'' and later learn that the Pakled, who were only seen as a joke when they first appeared in ''TNG'', had become much more dangerous in the interm, destroying a fellow ''California''-class ship and tearing the ''Cerritos'' apart [[spoiler:before the ''Titan'' arrives to save the day.]]
** On a more Meta level, those same points are a deconstruction of the episodic nature of Pre-''[=DS9=]'' Star Trek series. The end of the episode doesn't mean the problem is solved, ''permanently.'' You need to regularly maintain the solution, and work on it constantly. As Mariner herself says at the end of the episode:
---> '''Mariner:''' "''You can't expect people to keep making the right choices in the next generation onwards...''"