If you’re seeking an intelligent overview of Lower Decks, the series and the final season, there are multiple Substacks you can check out, starting with Adam Kotsko.

I’m not going to provide that here. That’s because I watched the show, from beginning to end, through the eyes of my nearly 12-year-old daughter (although she was much younger when we started). Her joy is what I will take from this show. Not the meta-textual gags, the slapstick, or the moments when the show brilliantly added texture to Star Trek lore.

It’s not that my critical eye switched off; I liked some episodes more than others. And, if I’m being honest, I found Mariner’s rebellious phase in season four to be repetitive, needless and dull. If I keep that honesty going, I did cock an eyebrow at a whole season centred on multiversal fissures—including jokes about how the Enterprise would frequently come across these bastards and their cousins: temporal and sub-space fissures. In terms of Star Trek satire, it felt like the Lower Decks writers were plucking from the lowest of low fruits.**

But. I also didn’t care. Honestly, I didn’t. I decided going with the flow alongside my daughter was far more enjoyable. There’s a delight in laughing at that opening sequence/theme every single time (especially this season with its addition of V’ger and the Tholian webb and the big hand from that episode with the Greek Gods*, a joke that keeps on giving with the introduction of Cerritos crewmember and demigod Olly,—her Dad is alien Zeus!). And there’s a delight in watching the Lower Deckers—Mariner, Boimler, Tendi, Rutherford and T’Lyn***—grow and adapt over five years without losing those essential aspects that make them so loveable and frustrating in equal measure. And, finally, there’s a delight in recognising that Lower Decks is a love letter, not a piss take, of all things that makes Star Trek a show I’ve long loved and adored, going back to the time I sat with my Dad and watched The Original Series episode, Friday’s Child. (I remember that****and very little else from early childhood).

Because for all the nostalgia, Easter eggs, terrific gags, outlandish ideas, and memorable characters (including the best bridge crew in the fleet), Lower Decks is the show I watched with my daughter, and that’s what I love most.

*Yes, I know it’s alien Apollo.

**That they have enormous fun with the fissures almost makes it OK.

***OK, OK, three and half seasons for T’Lyn. Stop being sooooo pedantic!

****I also remember Carlton winning back-to-back Grand Finals in ‘81 and ‘82. And I remember the first time Doctor Who frightened the shit out of me—it was a very early 80s rerun of Genesis of the Daleks.