Old Friends, New Planets
Spoiler
Nick Locarno reveals to Mariner that he's created an independent fleet of alien ships he's calling Nova Fleet, named after Nova Squad from his academy days. Somehow, he has control of an entire solar system, the Detrion system, which is protected by a Trynar shield (no idea how it surrounds the entire solar system or how one rouge former Starfleet cadet had the resources for all of this). As insurance, he's also got a bootleg Ferengi Genesis Device (I don't buy that the Federation would have allowed those specs to leak out). He announces to the entire Alpha Quadrant that all the Lower Deckers should mutiny and join his fleet, at which point Mariner takes the Genesis device and a Steamrunner-class ship, but remains trapped in the Detrion system by the shield.
Meanwhile, the Cerritos crew negotiates with the Orions for a battleship capable of breaking through the shield, because Starfleet is dealing with politics and will take too much time to address the situation itself. They end up having to agree to hand over Tendi to her sister once they've dealt with the situation. Mariner gets stuck between a level 7 ion storm (which the writers seemed to forget and call it a nebula later, even reenacting the Mutara nebula scenes from Wrath of Khan) and the Nova Fleet and ends up flying into the nebula to hide, and when she runs out of options, activates the Genesis Device. The Cerritos rams the Orion ship into the shield to temporarily disable a portion of it, allowing the captains yacht to get through and save Mariner. Locarno attempts to deactivate the Genesis Device, but the Ferengi have a paywall on disabling the countdown, so it explodes, creating a new M class planet Starfleet names Locarno (since Locarno's atoms were part of what created the planet).
Meanwhile, the Cerritos crew negotiates with the Orions for a battleship capable of breaking through the shield, because Starfleet is dealing with politics and will take too much time to address the situation itself. They end up having to agree to hand over Tendi to her sister once they've dealt with the situation. Mariner gets stuck between a level 7 ion storm (which the writers seemed to forget and call it a nebula later, even reenacting the Mutara nebula scenes from Wrath of Khan) and the Nova Fleet and ends up flying into the nebula to hide, and when she runs out of options, activates the Genesis Device. The Cerritos rams the Orion ship into the shield to temporarily disable a portion of it, allowing the captains yacht to get through and save Mariner. Locarno attempts to deactivate the Genesis Device, but the Ferengi have a paywall on disabling the countdown, so it explodes, creating a new M class planet Starfleet names Locarno (since Locarno's atoms were part of what created the planet).
Spoiler
Nothing about Locarno being the main villain, with this much power, makes sense to me. How would he, a disgraced former Starfleet cadet, have the resources to control a whole solar system, and put a force field around the entire thing? A solar system is HUGE. I doubt even Starfleet has the resources to forcefield off an entire solar system. Not to mention, he apparently built his own starship and a space station single handedly. And he convinced several alien crews to mutiny against their captains and join him, all because they're under appreciated lower deckers? I just don't see a Romulan or Klingon crew in-particular deciding to mutiny on that little of a reason.
Not a fan of the idea that Genesis Device technology is apparently common enough for there to be a bootleg version the Ferengi built.
I did like that we got a flashback, showing the members of Nova Squad (except for Jean Hajar) while still planning on performing the Kolvoord Starburst maneuver, with Shannon Fill and Wil Wheaton reprising their roles. This is also the first time we actually see Josh, prior to his death during the failed maneuver. It's a neat scene, establishing some history between Mainer and the ill-fated Nova Squad members. But honestly, if they were going to have Locarno be the big villain of the season, and tied to Mariner, I think they should have had more of this throughout the season, rather than just these last two episodes of the season.
They acknowledged Locarno looking like Tom Paris... sort of. Rutherford points out they have the same face, but Boimler claims he doesn't see it.
Not a fan of the idea that Genesis Device technology is apparently common enough for there to be a bootleg version the Ferengi built.
I did like that we got a flashback, showing the members of Nova Squad (except for Jean Hajar) while still planning on performing the Kolvoord Starburst maneuver, with Shannon Fill and Wil Wheaton reprising their roles. This is also the first time we actually see Josh, prior to his death during the failed maneuver. It's a neat scene, establishing some history between Mainer and the ill-fated Nova Squad members. But honestly, if they were going to have Locarno be the big villain of the season, and tied to Mariner, I think they should have had more of this throughout the season, rather than just these last two episodes of the season.
They acknowledged Locarno looking like Tom Paris... sort of. Rutherford points out they have the same face, but Boimler claims he doesn't see it.