“A Farewell To Farms”
Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 5, Episode 4 – Debuted Thursday, November 7, 2024
Written by Diana Tay
Directed by Megan Lloyd
A different kind of episode celebrates culture clashes, canon connections, and character comedy.
SPOILERS BELOW
RECAP
“This is going to be Klingon as hell.”
On a tranquil Qo’noS vineyard we revisit Ma’ah, stripped of command after the Che’Ta’ mutiny last season, his indignity amplified by the constant haranguing from his boisterous brother, Malor. After a bloodwine delivery to the “Warrior Pit” bar, he explains to the fetching K’elarra that a Klingon isn’t defined by his rank—until Mariner and Boimler barge in, disrupting the kooky Klingon flirting. Brad fanboys with some casual bar fighting as Beckett explains she is there to help get his captaincy back, invoking the fake bear-threatening Earth custom of the “Edict of Unreturned Favors,” payback for his help after both were stranded by Nick Locarno. As a lover of “Klingon bureaucratic minutia,” Brad suggests the Ritual of J’ethurgh to get through the recalcitrant Oversight Council. The good news is one of the three council members is Mariner’s old pal K’orin. Bad news, the leader Bargh is the brother of Dorg, who Ma’ah killed for his command. Awkward. Brad’s “smooth-headed worm mewling” works, so now they must face tests of endurance, strength and sacrifice… together. The four start with the “Rite of Unending Pain,” because you knew painsticks would come into this. Boimler’s smarts (and Malor’s bulk) get them through and Ma’ah’s brother is also useful for level two, taking down the biggest Targ ever seen. Still, Ma’ah is oddly checked out, and when the final challenge calls for a sacrifice, he eagerly offers himself up. These Klingon rituals don’t play around.
What, Paramount+ cancelled us!?
“Shouldn’t you be discovering new soups and stews?”
While all this is going on, the Cerritos is at Paxon IV, tasked to escort a couple of Klowahkan dignitaries home. Dr. Migleemo is stressing out over meeting his world’s greatest “scholars,” with Tendi and Rutherford backing him up. The snooty Sir Legnog and Madame Gonald arrive, and Capt. Freeman quickly ducks out before their epic rudeness incites a diplomatic incident. Yet Migleemo is star-struck by the renowned food critics. (Remember, his people are all foodies.) The ship’s counselor suggests a meal of the best the Cerritos has to offer to smooth things over, but the visiting dignitaries hate it and are outraged to learn it was replicated… shudder. They call Migleemo a “heretic” and performatively storm out. The group decides to try again by actually cooking for the “dramatic jerks.” Together they make a complicated “hogfish galantine,” which Migleemo’s palette determines is “as plorpful as those on Enara Prime,” which means it’s good, presumably. But again the critics gasp at the “blandness” and raise the stakes: Their guards arrest the good doctor, threating to banish his entire family from “The Great Seating Chart” for his culinary crime. And you thought the Klingons were rough.
Bird appetit!
“You play games with death, little warrior.”
On Qo’noS, Ma’ah reveals he has no desire to return to Bargh’s fleet. Boimler suggests a transfer and the two nice councilors will help make that happen. Reinvigorated, Ma’ah invokes the “Rite of “Rite of Forced Conscription” on Bargh kicking off a fight sequence with a variety of fun Klingon weapons. Ma’ah prevails and Bargh reinstates his captaincy, but then stabs him in the back (literally, because Klingon). But thanks to those backup organs, Ma’ah turns and kills the dishonorable leader. Klingon bureaucracy IS exciting! Mariner and K’orin reveal Ma’ah’s reinstatement was part of their secret plan to get around Bargh so she can do some space hole scanning. Sneaky. Meanwhile, the Cerritos is at Klowahka and Migleemo prepares for “Flavor Prison,” but Tendi has spotted a curious pattern in the scholars’ recent reviews. So as they praise the traditional greeting amuse-bouche, the Starfleeters reveal they swapped the oysters with manure and expose the critics as frauds. Caught, they admit they have been faking it since losing their sense of taste. Migleemo diagnoses them and the chastened pair accept the offer of therapy, even promising high-end catering. He truly is “a chef of the mind.” The stories converge on Qo’noS, where Boimler is excited the Cerritos replicators got a two-star review. More importantly, Mariner’s scanning found the space rifts aren’t natural, and “someone is making them.” Dun dun DUUNN! Boimler and Mariner leave the bickering brothers, now bonded as captain and first officer of a (soon to be) glorious space delivery truck.
No one was willing to go for Malor’s “pull my finger” gag.
REVIEW
Lower Decks once again takes a detour with an entertaining episode exploring different characters and their cultures, in this case Ma’ah and the Klingons along with Migleemo and the Klowahkans. This carries on a tradition started with the fantastic “wej Duj” in season 2, which first introduced Ma’ah as a sort of Klingon Boimler. It’s a bit on the nose that like Brad, he too has vineyard roots, which allowed the episode to evoke The Next Generation classic “Family,” right down to the relatable dynamic of the brothers who fight but are there for each other in the end. Ma’ah merited an update, especially after the key role he played in Mariner’s story in season 4, but in contrast to the Peanut Hamper-focused “A Mathematically Perfect Redemption” experiment of season 3, this episode was more balanced. While his story was the lesser of the two, Migleemo too has had his own growing arc through the series and his food-obsessed culture was rife for exploring. The key here is how the core four were still part of the story as backup dancers for Ma’ah and Migleemo, respectively. The resulting culture clashes allowed for much of the humor of the episode, which in the end is the most important thing for a comedy show.
That said, the season’s focus on character evolution was ever present, including Boimler’s growing “beard” of confidence and Mariner’s growing leadership, demonstrated by her hatching the whole Ma’ah captain plan to move along the bigger season arc. The different character focus of this episode made it more reliant on the guest stars with plenty of excellent performances, starting of course with always funny Paul F. Tompkins as Migleemo and Jon Curry as Ma’ah, the perfect Klingon straight man. But they had plenty of company, including the return of Discovery’s Mary Chieffo as the flirty K’elarra, a fun departure from her broodingly serious L’Rell. Perhaps the best of the guests was Sam Witwer doing double duty as the boisterous Klingon brother Malor and the snooty Klowahkan critic Legnog. He is an avowed fan who was reveling to play his parts (actually his second time in Star Trek). Also key to making this all work was the impressive production design, taking us to many new corners of the Klingon home world that was still full of familiar touches, starting off with a beautiful and unique opening credits sequence, along with a sublime version of the show’s main theme. And on top of that we got our first visit to Klowahka, complete with bird cage complexes and flying restaurants.
I love it when the meal stares back.
“Farewell to Farms” is a bit of an indulgence for Lower Decks, with many gags only landing if you get the inside baseball references, like Tendi recalling making Migleemo “fight that giant Orion” in season 4. But as we head deeper into the fifth and final season, such things are allowable and rewarding for loyal viewers. And any Trek fan could appreciate the send-up of Klingon culture, ripe territory for the “You guys have a lot of rituals” type of satire. But it all clearly comes from a place of love. The visit to Qo’noS was chock full of elements of Klingon lore, with insider stuff sprinkled in like the Klingon acid punk band. And on the other side, the show is growing its own lore, expanding on Migleemo’s backstory and species (and giving them a name, finally) as the episode gorged on skewering foodie culture.
And even with all that going all, things all tied together briefly at the end as the season continues to have just the lightest of touches on the growing mystery behind the “space holes” opening up around the quadrant. Now we know they are deliberate, so fire up your Memory Alphas to pick the obscure canon connection that is surely behind this season’s plot arc.
Ooh, free knife.
Final thoughts
A risky episode paid off, striking the right balance with plenty of laughs and lore. It does feel like they are trying to cram as much stuff as they can into every episode, knowing this is the final season, but the pacing keeps things going smoothly, leaving plenty to pick up on a second viewing.
That’s what you get for calling that a “beard.”
RANDOM BITS
- Episode title is play off A Farewell to Arms, Earnest Hemingway’s classic novel about World War I.
- Colton Dunn, who voiced Bargh, also voiced Bargh’s dead brother Dorg.
- Another returning Klingon voice was provided by Jess Harnell, who first appeared as K’orin in the second episode of the series, “Envoys.”
- The Oversight councilor Enaj was voiced by comedian Dulcé Sloan. Earlier this year she revealed it was a dream for her to play a Klingon on Lower Decks.
- Gillian Vigman again had no lines as Dr. T’Ana, but she did voice the Klowahkan critic Madame Gonald.
- Mariner bribes Malor with a thousand Klingon darseks, another example of how their post-scarcity future (explored in episode 502 “Shades of Green”) isn’t really money-free.
- Migleemo first revealed his species developed warp travel to explore “strange new meals” in the season 4 episode “Parth Ferenngi’s Heart Place.”
Take that back, I sound nothing like L’Rell.
Easter eggs and more to come
We will take a deeper dive into “Experience Bij” and all the Easter eggs and canon connections this weekend. And we will discuss this episode on Friday’s All Access Podcast.
New episodes of Star Trek: Lower Decks premiere on Thursdays, streaming on Paramount+ in the U.S., Canada, Latin America, and Europe. Lower Decks also airs on Thursdays in Canada on CTV Sci-Fi Channel.
Keep up with all the news and reviews from the new Star Trek Universe on TV at TrekMovie.com.
NOTE: Article updated to correct voice actor roles.
