Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 4 Episode 7 Review: A Few Badgeys More
Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 4 Episode 7, “A Few Badgeys More,” is a fast-paced, exciting episode as three computerized villains return to cause problems for the Cerritos crew. It also ties a few loose narrative ends in a spectacular fashion. We get a nice resolution to the mystery ship arc, building on the momentum established in last week’s episode and the ones before it.
First things first: Jack McBrayer is the perfect voice for Badgey. Perhaps the overly friendly tone can easily fall to the other, more sinister side. It’s such a fine line. McBrayer gets to showcase his vocal versatility in “A Few Badgeys More” with the creation of Goodgey and Logic-y. You can tell he has a blast, especially getting to lean into the melodrama of Badgey’s villainous story.
RUTHERFORD: I can’t let Badgey boop my friends to death.
Meanwhile, we see the return of Peanut Hamper and AGIMUS as they take the route of character development. But first, AGIMUS kidnaps Boimler and Tendi and becomes the dictator of a planet. While the outing certainly provides solid redemption plots for both Peanut Hamper and AGIMUS, perfectly voiced by Kether Donohue and Jeffrey Combs, it leaves the door open for potential bad guy exploits down the line.
Star Trek: Lower Decks continues to have fun with its character pairings. We get Mariner/Rutherford and Boimler/Tendi this time, and it’s a delight. Mariner refusing to let Rutherford sacrifice himself, which he’s done several times, is touching. Watching to see who vibes well together is always interesting, and so far, the show hasn’t failed to provide entertaining character dynamics. Of course, hats off to our four main voice actors for always knocking it out of the park.
“A Few Badgeys More” utilizes the show’s innate, breathless zaniness to its fullest potential. Having Badgey as the villain behind all the alien vessel disappearances makes total sense. The series has methodically constructed this overarching seasonal narrative and wrapped it up in a satisfying manner.
MARINER: Badgey? If you didn’t really just accidentally turn into an omniscient god, you have to tell us.
We rarely get connective tissue like this between episodes, at least not in previous seasons. Star Trek: Lower Decks takes big creative swings in general this season, but this particular facet is done well. That said, I’m curious to see what the writers do with the final three episodes now that this threat has been neutralized.
Is this the last we’ll see of Badgey? Perhaps the show could give us a Badgey-centric episode as he creates a new universe à la Peanut Hamper’s solo outing in Season 3. Regardless, if this is the end of Badgey’s time in this series, it’s a damn great one.
“A Few Badgeys More” certainly tackles the dangers of AI, making it especially relevant given the rise of AI in our world. This might be one of Star Trek: Lower Decks‘ most socially resonant installments in that regard. We could easily have a Badgey in our future (although with less “booping”).
RUTHERFORD: Bye, Badgey! Good luck being everything!
Overall, “A Few Badgeys More” is one of the season’s strongest episodes thus far, delivering a heaping helping of action, character development/resolution for three villains, a resolution for the mystery vessel arc, and a dose of the show’s signature heart. It’s a compelling addition to a solid fourth season. Cerritos Strong, y’all.
Stray Observations:
- The Cosmic Koala is back, folks. As Badgey departs to create a universe, we see good ole CK peeking out from the top of an ascension plane. Is Badgey an omniscient god? It sure as heck looks like it.
- We got another mention of the Black Mountain this week. We first saw it in Star Trek: Lower Decks‘ “In the Cradle of Vexilon” when Boimler briefly died. Of course, the series has made multiple mentions of the Black Mountain in past episodes (Season 2’s “We’ll Always Have Tom Paris” and Season 3’s “Mining the Mind’s Mines”).
- I may or may not have giggled and kicked my feet when Rutherford relies on Tendi’s words of encouragement as motivation to eliminate the Badgey threat. It’s not much, but I’ll take all the Tendiford crumbs I can get.
- We need a Lord Tyrannikillicus origin story. How did he wind up at the Daystrom Institute? At least he’s seizing personal growth now instead of innocent people.
- Rutherford trying to use his grappler to take the apple out of Boimler’s hand feels like the futurized version of William Tell shooting an apple off his son’s head.
- RIP, Logic-y. He would’ve been BFFs with T’Lyn.
- Kenneth Parcell, why are you so evil? I didn’t know you had it in you.
- The episode title feels like a nod to For a Few Dollars More.
What did you think of this episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
Critic Rating:
User Rating:
Star Trek: Lower Decks streams new episodes every Thursday on Paramount+.
Follow us on Twitter and 
Instagram!
Want more from Tell-Tale TV? Subscribe to our newsletter here!
Melody McCune
Melody loves TV. Maybe too much. Besides being a Senior Writer for Tell-Tale TV, she's the Managing Editor for Geek Girl Authority, an Independent Contractor for Sideshow Collectibles, and a Senior Writer for Eulalie Magazine. Additionally, she has bylines in Culturess, Widget, and inkMend on Medium. To top it all off, she's a critic for Rotten Tomatoes and CherryPicks.