Why T'Lyn Is Star Trek: Lower Decks' Most Important Addition To Season 4
The second-season "Star Trek: Lower Decks" episode "wej Duj" (October 7, 2021) had a high concept. Rather than merely follow the usual lower-ranking officers on board the U.S.S. Cerritos, it split its time three ways, looking at ensigns on the Cerritos, on the Klingon ship the IKS Che'Ta', and on the Vulcan ship, the Sh'val. The Vulcan ensign (or the Vulcan military's equivalent) was T'Lyn (Gabrielle Ruiz), an officer considered by her superiors to be feisty and emotional. The joke of "wej Duj," of course, is that T'Lyn is just as stone-faced and stoic as her Vulcan counterparts, she merely reacts to crises using instinct sometimes, rather than logic all of the time.
Fast-forward to the current fourth season of "Lower Decks," and T'Lyn is now serving on board the Cerritos as a provisional officer. She now spends most of her time with Lieutenants Mariner (Tawny Newsome), Boimler (Jack Quaid), Rutherford (Eugene Cordero), and Tendi (Noël Wells). Fans of "Lower Decks" know that the four core characters are raucous, crass, emotional, and given to fits of illogic. T'Lyn doesn't appear to be happy. Well, she's a Vulcan, so maybe "happy" isn't the right word. But she's certainly not content and often uncomfortable. Indeed, in the most recent episode of "Lower Decks," called "Empathological Fallacies," T'Lyn reveals to Mariner that she was assigned to the Cerritos as punishment for her actions in "wej Duj." Regardless, Mariner, Tendi, Rutherford, and Boimler have all accepted T'Lyn as a new friend that they josh with and care about.
Ultimately, "Lower Decks" is about workplace friendships, and T'Lyn has proven to be a valuable addition to the show, balancing the characters' usual rowdiness. In a recent interview with the website TrekMovie, supervising director Barry Kelly got specific about T'Lyn's additions to the show.
What T'Lyn adds
In terms of mere comedic function, Kelly noted, T'Lyn is a perfect addition to a series like "Lower Decks." Each one of the main characters is broad or over-the-top in some way. Mariner is a party kid, Boimler is an ambitious wannabe, Rutherford is a gleeful honor student, and Tendi is a wide-eyed, kitten-loving innocent. The dynamic between the four of them is well-established, but they do lack something vital: a straight man. And who better to be a straight man than a Vulcan? Kelly said:
"Once we started doing scenes with her amongst the lower decks crew I was like, 'Oh, this is why you have a Vulcan on board because it immediately makes everything like 10% funnier.' Having them crack jokes and then having this one person in the room not laughing, not reacting, it makes it so much funnier. She doesn't get it or she gets it and she doesn't think it's funny."
Indeed, when someone cracks wise in front of T'Lyn, her reaction is to analyze the joke and inevitably express distaste for their jocularity. Luckily, because the other characters are so good-natured, they take her annoyance in stride. As such, T'Lyn never comes across as a pill or a cynic. She's just the less jokey member of the gang. At the end of "Empathological Fallacies," Mariner joins T'Lyn at a table in the mess hall, sitting with a cocktail. She offers T'Lyn her favorite drink, a room-temperature glass of water. T'Lyn's taste may be comedically bland, but Mariner doesn't make light of it. There is, even in a small moment like that, an element of respect.
Logic vs. camaraderie
Kelly noted that T'Lyn offers a miniature crash course in joke writing. It's one thing to write a joke, it's another to write a joke and then write various reactions to it. Not everyone has the same sense of humor, and T'Lyn has none whatsoever. In a jokey environment like the Cerritos, that's invaluable. Kelly said:
"What I have learned from comedy writers and actors I've worked with is that you want to see everybody in a shot because when a joke lands you want to see how everybody reacts to it. And just adding that one element of a Vulcan just not laughing is so funny. She's a wonderful addition and adds that one little degree of texture that makes every joke funnier and makes every interaction a little better between the crew."
The hope is that T'Lyn will encourage her fellow cremates to be more emotionally strong, logical, and cool under pressure, while Mariner and Co. teach T'Lyn a little bit about the value of living passionately, operating by instinct, and weathering crises through warm camaraderie.
And camaraderie may be the code word to understand all of "Lower Decks." This is a show about mutual respect achieved via one's tenacity in working a really crappy job. T'Lyn kind of hates being on the Cerritos and isn't amused by the constant incompetence and tomfoolery. But ... well, after a while she actually begins to come around. She finds that she has been accepted. Her mind opens a little. T'Lyn will never laugh or overeat or do anything illogical, but she understands.
And that's so "Star Trek."