By the time Gene Roddenberry launched TNG in 1987, Star Trek's creator had crystallized the utopian ideals he wanted his show to adhere to. Star Trek: Lower Decks is set in the 24th century in the same era as Star Trek: The Next Generation. Star Trek: Lower Decks season 2 continues the USS Cerritos' mission of Second Contact while Mariner sorts through her issues with her mother, Captain Carol Freeman (Dawnn Lewis), and the fact that her best friend, Ensign Brad Boimler (Jack Quaid), suddenly transferred to Captain Will Riker's (Jonathan Frakes) USS Titan. In Star Trek: Lower Decks' season 2 premiere, Ensign Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome) cracks a joke that rebukes one of Gene Roddenberry's ironclad rules about Star Trek: that the crew of the Starship Enterprise isn't supposed to have interpersonal conflict.
Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 2, Episode 1 - 'Strange Energies'.
