"Grounded" – Further to the second season's cliffhanger in which Capt. Carol Freeman has been arrested for allegedly blowing up the Pakled Planet, Mariner and her friends sneak aboard the impounded Cerritos in search of evidence that can clear her name. This outrageous episode features the mating drive of a swarm of glowing, space-dwelling creatures, the hijacking of a theme park ride based on Zefram Cochrane's historic first warp flight (complete with James Cromwell's return to the role he played in Star Trek: First Contact), and Mariner's most severe punishment yet: having to report to Jack Ransom if she wants to stay in Starfleet.
"The Least Dangerous Game" – Sensing that he needs to take more risks if he's going to get ahead in Starfleet, Boimler takes a vow to say yes to any new experience on offer. So, he blithely agrees to be the prey for a terrifying, visiting alien whose idea of fun is hunting people down. Meanwhile, Ransom decides to let engineers Rutherford and Billups handle the diplomatic part of a planetary mission while he and Mariner try to repair a busted orbital lift. Close scrapes with death all around. Recurring DS9 cast member J.G. Hertzler makes a voice appearance as the emcee of a role-play game called "Bat'leths and BiHnuchs."
"Mining the Mind's Mines" – The lower deckers battle feelings of inferiority when they team with a group of low-ranking crewman from another California-class ship. Their assignment is to dispose of a minefield that fashions its victims' destruction from their own thoughts and desires. But when stuff starts to go wrong, the two crews have to pull together and solve a puzzle that threatens Starfleet. Sometime TNG guest Susan Gibney returns as a mirage of warp engineer Leah Brahms.
"Room for Growth" – Capt. Freeman orders the stressed-out engineering dept. to do a spa, but relaxation just isn't in their makeup. The result brings Freeman's stress levels into the red. Meanwhile, the lower deckers compete against another shift to crawl through the bowels of the ship and cheat in a lottery for upper-deck quarters.
"Reflections" – As an evil personality takes over his implants, Rutherford finds himself relegated to a helpless reflection in shiny surfaces. He challenges his alter ego to a contest of building and racing a hotrod spacecraft. Meanwhile, Boimler and Mariner are forced to represent Starfleet at a job fair where they take a lot of flak from other participants.
"Hear All, Trust Nothing" – During a visit to DS9, trade negotiations with a Gamma quadrant race hit a snag and Quark is right in the middle of it. Meanwhile, an Orion officer tags along with Tendi and Rutherford, creating awkwardness with his ideas of their piratical culture's values, while Mariner suffers through a girls' night with her girlfriend, Jen. Reprising their DS9 roles are Armin Shimerman as Quark and Nana Visitor as Kira.
"A Mathematically Perfect Redemption" – Exocomp deserter Peanut Hamper returns, finding love and acceptance on a planet of winged people. But her rehabilitation can't last, what with the nasty Drookmani looking for the bird people's ancient, abandoned technology and Peanut Hamper herself proving to have as yet unsuspected character flaws. Frequent Trek guests J.G. Hertzler and Jeffrey Combs both put in voice appearances.
"Crisis Point 2: Paradoxus" – Boimler creates an interactive holodeck movie, but after he learns about a personal loss, he goes off the script. Meanwhile, Tendi has a great time sticking to the original plot of the movie, possibly setting her up for a new career direction. George Takei guest-stars as a dream-sequence version of Sulu.
"Trusted Sources" – During a follow-up visit to a pair of planets last visited in Season 1 of TNG, Freeman faces embarrassment in the media and takes it out on Mariner. Meanwhile, the Cerritos get into a bind on one of the planets and have to be saved by an experimental, unmanned starship.
The Stars at Night – The previous episode's fallout threatens the future of the California Class (Cerritos & Co.), while Mariner quits Starfleet and goes on a tomb raider adventure with an ex-officer turned archaeological adventurer whom she met back in "Reflections." The assumption that a starship controlled by an A.I. can never turn evil turns out about how anyone would expect after seeing, say, The Mitchells vs. the Machines.
This season is loaded with laughs, eye candy and cameos by characters Star Trek fans will remember fondly from bygone generations of Trek. It teases a new addition to the Cerritos crew and a new threat in the season to come, all while maintaining continuity with previous seasons through recurring characters and continuing story arcs. And it provides the perfect blend of sci-fi and comedy, focusing its point of view on where many fans are coming from – always dreaming of being part of a Star Trek crew but conscious of their own inadequacy; venerating the Trek canon while honest enough to laugh at its most ridiculous aspects. (It also adds its own share of ridiculousness to the franchise, such as a winged, humanoid-avian race that can, somehow, have abs.) In the end, I relish knowing a fourth season is in the making.
Shall I give this season Three Scenes That Made It For Me? All right, then: (1) The pleasure Mariner takes in phaser-stunning all of Jen's friends. (2) When a nervous flyer gets his first taste of warp speed, and decides to take a replica of Zefram Cochrane's Phoenix on a joy ride around the solar system. (3) Peanut Hamper realizes what she's in for after arriving at the Self-Aware Megalomaniacal Computer Storage unit.
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