I find myself coming back to this scene a lot. First of all, it's hilarious. The timing is great and Boimler continuously screwing up the rules of time travel is perfect for his character, an obsessive rule follower who just can't help himself. Ortegas's reaction is so great and I love how she is the one Enterprise officer who seems to really like Boimler and Mariner as they are.
But the other thing I love about this episode is how Boimler and Mariner are proxies for the audience. Their visit to the Enterprise feels like what might happen if we visited the Enterprise.
First, they're fans! They love TOS and know everything about it(/them), down to the type of tricorders they used. Boimler wants to touch everything. He idolizes Pike, Spock and Una and Mariner is awestruck by Uhura.
Second, however, is the piece that has me really gaining an affinity for Lower Decks (beyond just really enjoying it) that I hadn't appreciated in its animated form because, even though it's canon, it still doesn't seem serious. And that is that the crew of the Cerritos are often fuckups. They're a bit out of their element on the Enterprise.
So much of Star Trek is typified by hyper-competence. The crews of the various ships the shows focus on are incredibly good at their jobs - and that's one of the great things about the shows! It's inspiring to see people calmly and confidently going about their duties. Not so much the Cerritos crew. Mariner is, of course, a badass, but she's an ensign on a California class ship for a reason. So is Boimler. They're not stupid. In fact, they're the ones who figure out how to get themselves back to the future. But they're so much less perfect than the officers on the Enterprise. In the very first episode Chapel confidently says "I know I'm good at my job." And she is. They all are.
The reason I love this scene (and the whole episode) so much is it's so relatable. I certainly don't consider myself a fuckup, I'm reasonably good at a reasonable number of things, but I have definitely fucked up before. Seeing Boimler and Mariner bumble around the Enterprise is inspiring in a different way. Because, despite their flaws, despite the many mistakes they make, they're still in Starfleet. They're still out there making history.
In a lot of ways, telling people you don't have to be hyper-competent to make a difference is more inspiring than giving them an ideal to aspire to.
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