Star Trek: Lower Decks wrapped up last week, but even though she doesn’t have any more work voicing Mariner, Tawny Newsome is still part of the family. She is a writer for the new Star Trek: Starfleet Academy series currently in production, and she is developing a live-action Star Trek comedy with Justin Simien. She is now talking a bit more about that latter project as well as her hopes for more Lower Decks.
Comedy show is evolving… but won’t mess with Trek
The surprise announcement of the live-action Star Trek comedy was made during the Star Trek Universe panel in July at San Diego Comic-Con. We have only had a few tidbits since, including Newsome and Simien saying the show (which has yet to get a greenlight) was in part inspired by one-off comedy episodes of Deep Space Nine. The show has yet to get a greenlight, but last month Newsome said she had been told to “keep writing,” and in a new interview with Variety, she said she was on her way to another writing session with Simien, noting “we’re changing so much as we go.” Newsome also gave an update on how the show is being developed and evolving:
“Having so much support with Secret Hideout and the studio just being like, ‘We love Trek, let’s take it in this new direction’ has been as good as development can go. But finding a way to do Trek in a workplace comedy-type tone — it’s new. Lower Decks proved that we can do it in half hour. We can do it very big and fun and funny and still make it feel like Trek. But animation just gives you some tonal permissions that we’re figuring out for live action. Justin and I are die-hard Trekkies. We are not trying to mess with the Trek of it all, but we’re also hardcore comedy people. The sanctity of the workplace comedy is really important to me too, so making sure both of those things can really live together is my primary concern. That means that the premise that everyone heard at Comic-Con may be shifting a little bit.”
Justin Simien and Tawny Newsome (Sarah Coulter/Paramount+)
A resort… but not Risa
After the Comic-Con panel, CBS Studios confirmed a show was in development for Paramount+ and even provided the following official logline: “Federation outsiders serving a gleaming resort planet find out their day-to-day exploits are being broadcast to the entire quadrant.” It has been speculated the “resort planet” setting was Risa, featured (or referenced) in many episodes of the franchise, including Lower Decks. However, Newsome confirmed this isn’t the case, telling Variety:
“It was never Risa, but it is still an outside-of-the-Federation world that we’re dealing with. I think it’s going to answer some questions about what non-Federation [worlds] look like. That’s an area of canon we haven’t explored a ton. But it’s clay being currently molded.”
As the show will focus on “Federation outsiders,” it also seems a good bet that if Newsome herself plays a regular character, it won’t be her Lower Decks role of Starfleet officer Becket Mariner, which she played in live-action in the second season crossover episode of Strange New Worlds, “Those Old Scientists.” We will have to wait to see if the show ever gets a greenlight to find out for sure.
Tawny Newsome as Mariner and Jack Quaid as Boimler appearing in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, streaming on Paramount+, 2023. Photo Cr: Michael Gibson/Paramount+
Ready for more… including more Lower Decks
In her Variety interview, Newsome talked about her life with Star Trek over the last five years and how that has helped her move from just being a fan to acting in Trek to writing for the franchise:
“It’s just deepened my fandom. In 2019, when I booked Lower Decks, I was like, ‘Oh, I’m a pretty big Star Trek fan.’ I knew some random deep cuts, but I had not seen every single episode of everything, and a lot of things I’d only seen once. Getting that job and wanting to understand every single reference pointed me towards re-watching and deep diving. It just rounded out my fandom in a way that I think only comes if you have an extreme, hyper-fixation quality to your personality, which I do, and/or you’re being paid for it, which I am. That combination of elements has made it so that I’ve built a pretty exhaustive understanding of the world. There’s still stuff that I don’t know super, super well, but I know who to text within the franchise to immediately get an answer. That means I can make, I can just like, keep making more in this world.”
And Newsome made it clear she and others who worked on the show, are ready for more Lower Decks:
“As far as the people creating [Lower Decks], we all would love to do that. I don’t know who writes the check for that, so I don’t know if they think it’s possible. But Mike has stories upon stories in him for these characters. He could do 10 more seasons. He is not done. None of us are done. Me, Jack, Eugene and Noël and not to mention the rest of our bridge crew and our recurring characters. Everybody’s like, “Yep, sign me up. We’ll be the next Futurama. We’ll come back in 10 years, whatever you want.” So we’re all game. I would love a movie. I’d love a live-action movie, because we need to see Noël and Jerry and Eugene in human form — human-ish form.”
This idea of Lower Decks living on in the future is certainly something that has potential. There is precedent for shows coming back, including, as noted by Newsome, the animated sci-fi comedy Futurama. In his new TrekMovie interview, Lower Decks creator and showrunner Mike McMahan said after taking some time to “regroup” and after the dust settles a bit with Paramount, he plans “to make a hard push to get to do whatever we can get—more episodes, a movie, a live-action spinoff? Who knows?”
L to R Jerry O’Connell as Jack Ransom, Fred Tatasciore as Lieutenant Shaxs, Dawnn Lewis as Captain Carol Freeman, Jack Quaid as Brad Boimler and Tawny Newsome as Beckett Mariner in the series finale (Paramount+)
Keep up with news about the Star Trek Universe at TrekMovie.com.
Good. I’ve wanted a civilian show for years. And a non-UFP show would likely do that.
I would also love to see a serious civilian show that takes place on earth.
Earth is boring. Minus the Dominion war, all problems were solved there.
You got that little planet in Omicron Delta, surely there’s a planet New Las Vegas somewhere?
Some of us have been asking for a look at broader Federation life for a while now. Nice to see someone listened….
Remember that episode of Saturday Night Live that merged The Love Boat with Star Trek The Next Generation?
Out of sight…
Ha! Now *this* response is genuinely funny….
Heh, thanks.
HAHA, The only time Stewart hosted SNL after the finale of TNG. The Love boat/Enterprise was sold by Stewart at aution!
Nice, heh.
LOL yup yup. And it was during a time when SNL had one of it’s best cast rostrers.
Definitely.
‘set a course…for love..’
😆
Enough with the comedy already, Paramount. Please. When are you going to make Star Trek again?
If they want to remain perpetually fixated on the whole “Federation outsider” thing, then fine, but why does it need to be only comedies and musicals and gimmicks?
I’m sick of the “Star Trek needs to be funny” idea. Funny on occasion is fine, but…just enough already. Humour is a seasoning.
Nearly six decades of Trek.One Musical. Not even an hour long either.
I may be the only one that thinks this, but that musical ep of SNW was the beginning of the end for that series. I no longer care about any new live Trek in the slightest after that. Musicals might as well be the same as breaking the 4th wall. They completely take you out of the story. No matter ho wmuch you try to make an in universe reason for them. Kurtzman is the death of Trek 2.0 after Abrams.
I thought it was great
Welp to each their own I guess.
It was both the musical and Lower Decks crossover episode that broke the show for me.
Yeah I didn’t love that one either. But I have to somewhat give animation crossovers a pass since TOS had TAS and has since become canon
We had a decade where they thought Star Trek could only be overly dark epic action movies. I’m glad they’re embracing more varied tones. Though I do think SNW tipped a little too heavily into comedy while Lower Decks was also airing, overall I’m glad they’re mixing it up.
100%
Comedy is not Star Trek. It’s great in small doses, but not a show that is a comedy first against the backdrop of an established serious sci-fi series.
“sTaR tReK iS nOt sUpPoseD tO bE fUNnY!!!1”
Has anyone who used this argument actually WATCHED the Original Series?!
Comedy has been part of Trek since the beginning!
A smattering of comedic lines and moments here and there. It was never a comedy series until Lower Decks. What Star Trek series before Lower Decks ever fell into the comedy genre? I’ll wait.
Deep Space Nine. In significant number of Quark’s episodes. Mooooogie!
Those were only comedic moments. DS9 was not a comedy show.
Lemme guess: Tachyon Anomaly would say HAMLET is a comedy because of Polonius and the witty banter between Hamlet and Rosenkrantz.
Lets hope when Paramount gets bought out Kurtzman gets fired and then maybe we will have a chance.
I don’t really want the man fired, but he could use some boundaries or guidelines for his playground. I think it is more on the person at Paramount who is greenlighting his show ideas.
I for one would love to see a Star Trek series that takes place on a Federation colony that is just starting out.
Star Trek has often been compared to Westerns (“Wagon Train to the Stars”), but DS9 already did the frontier town stuff with the barkeep, the schoolmarm, the natives, etc.
It would be interesting to find some other trope — from Westerns or other genres — that could be applied to a colony setting.
eh – the schoolmarm was like 3 episodes but the overall point is taken
Thanks, heh.
Paramount has been in real danger of killing the Star Trek goose that lays the golden eggs for several years now. This is a major, major misstep for the franchise, and frankly the step that’s likely to kill it, possibly for good, and certainly for years to come.
Star Trek has never, ever, been a “workplace comedy” and the two mix like oil and water. I have no inkling at all to see Gen Z Ensign Plucky match wits with stuffy Captain Bad Boss.
I’m delighted that Tawny Awesome is a Star Trek fan. It doesn’t follow that she’s the person to helm the franchise, and my inner William Buckley says there are fans at any random convention who could write better than she.
Paramount’s corporate leadership need to nix this idea quick, and its shareholders should pressure them to do so.
How can you call this a “serious, serious misstep” without having seen a single second of footage or a script?
And Lower Decks IS a workplace comedy.
It’s also decent Trek. So there’s that….
For the same reason I can say nuclear war is A Bad Thing without actually having been in one.
That’s not answer, which I’m taking as you not being able to offer one. Says a great deal about you.
The idea is dumb. That’s how you know it’s a misstep.
Seriously, do you think shareholders give one shit about this particular franchise? Warren Buffet got out a while back. It’s Taylor Sheridan that’s paying the bills at the moment; Trek just fills in the programming schedule. If Trek has an ace up it’s sleeve at the moment, it’s Michelle Yeoh. If Section 31 does well internationally, that’s what the future of Trek looks like, not CGI reanimations of dead or near dead actors that were in their prime almost three quarters of a century ago.
If Tawny Newsome can produce reasonably priced content that attracts an audience, she’ll get her contract. That’s the actual bottom line here….
PREACH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
“This is a major, major misstep for the franchise, and frankly the step that’s likely to kill it, possibly for good”
Since you’ve not watched it, that’s an over-the-top statement. But the fact that you said “possibly for good” pushed your comment into the realm of absurdity.
Welcome to fandom.
Yes! This is exciting! I have been waiting for a comedy set in this universe since Belushi did the SNL spoof!
This could quickly become very disliked only because Lower Decks was so good and so loved. Hopefully it won’t get cancelled before it finds it feet.
That’s great news. The UFP is a pretty boring place except for Risa and all it’s free S*x.
Please stop giving us what we don’t want.
We?? Is there a Luke Skywalker in your pocket?
I’m really into this idea BECAUSE it sounds so different.
And I remember (if others apparently don’t anymore) that one of the biggest complaints about Berman Trek wss it was all feeling soooooo bland and all the same. That he was afraid to do anything truly different with it. But now, surprise, surprise, the complaints today are these new shows amd movies don’t feel like Berman Trek ENOUGH and that ‘real’ Star Trek died after 2005.
People basically complained Star Trek was just feeling too much like comfort food for a long time and now we have shows like SNW and Picard season 3 for being praised for feeling like exactly that.
Now I know there is nuance to that and many are reacting to the comedy aspects of the idea. It’s not just trying something different and experimental but people just don’t want ‘comedy Trek’.
And if LDS died a quick death after season 1 then we probably wouldn’t be getting this at all. But its success (and the fact fans are pushing for more of it) tells them if they succeeded once on a questionable premise, they can do it again.
In other words, being experimental paid off by introducing something so left field and want to do it again. That’s a positive IMO.
We just have to hope it creates the same love as that show did IF it gets the green light.
But I’m personally very intrigued by it.
I’m not against Star Trek going to different places besides Starfleet, but they seem to be stuck on comedy and the variety show format now.
Remember that episode of DS9 when Ezri went home so she could help locate Chief O’brien who had gone missing while trying to locate the widow of Bilby from the Orion syndicate? Her family owned a mining operation or something. Anyway, I had always thought a setting like that would make for an interesting series that doesn’t take place in Federation utopia.
It could be an adult oriented drama instead of a comedy. It could also employ the usual sci-fi elements Trek is known for minus the magic serums that give people pointed ears and strange hairstyles.
Yeah that’s fair. As I said I di think the biggest issue is the comedic angle more than anything.
I do think majority of fans just want Starfleet officers on a ship staring down some anomaly, especially since every new show takes place on a starship. That’s why I’m looking forward to SFA and this possible show.
If this show gets picked up it does sound like the first non-starfleet based show although Prodigy was pretty close to that, at least in the first season.
I am open to it being a comedy but because I like most of the comedic stories in Star Trek. TVH is my fourth favorite movie and you know how much I love LDS. My favorite episodes in SNW were mostly the comedic ones. I think TOS is still my favorite episode in the series.
So for me since I obviously gravitate to that genre I’m pretty open with this idea.
But yeah I also feel I’m in the minority (what else is new ;)). I have no issues with your idea either. I want adult dramas too obviously.
And I’m not sure why there is this angle to make the newer stuff more comedic. I know partly dir to LDS obviously but maybe because the SNW comedic episodes have been a big hit too. Section 31 isn’t a comedy but that was something I was hoping for a very serious tone and it (oddly) feels the opposite, at least based on the trailers. SFA could be a more serious show too but I have my doubts as that as well. And yeah Newsome is writing that show too.
It is interesting how the new era started so seriously/darker with Discovery and then Picard but now it’s much lighter and comedic stuff lately.
Perhaps it’s partly a reaction to how poorly some of those more dark or self-serious elements of DIS and PIC (s1 and s2) were received that have pushed the other Trek into more fun, four-quadrant elements? LDS, SNW, PRO, and PIC S3 (despite the dark parts) were all received very well. Shame that outside of SNW, they aren’t (currently) continuing.
Also a great point. I think the problem with Picard and Discovery early seasons is they tried waaay too hard to feel edgy and dark. To this day I still can’t watch the scene where Icheb was tortured on Picard. It was too graphic and didn’t remotely feel it fit in the TNG universe.
And they had MU Georgiou on first season of Discovery eating her slaves who were sentient species. And people wonder why so many fans hate this character lol.
So it’s really not surprising when fans took to shows like LDS and SNW because they were fun and light again (and actually about exploration). They wanted something much less heavy and grim those other shows were offering even if others liked them.
But yes maybe the pendulum is now swinging too much the other way and Trek is now feeling overly comedic and light with broad comedies and musicals. Could you imagine Picard or Discovery doing a musical when they started? Yeah, me neither lol.
“To this day I still can’t watch the scene where Icheb was tortured on Picard.”
Don’t feast your eyes on the character of Gloucester in KING LEAR….
As Am I.
Well said!
“There’s still stuff that I don’t know super, super well, but I know who to text within the franchise to immediately get an answer. That means I can make, I can just like, keep making more in this world.”
Far be it for me on Christmas Eve to question what fandom really means to Ms. Newsome but I am pretty sure it means that you were invested enough over a period of time to know more than the average fan. Enough not to have to “text” someone. Memory Alpha is actually pretty decent. Maybe I am nitpicking. Her answer was all about her. That is my issue with her and a lot of this new “talent” they keep trotting out. They are narcissists and its all about them. All about their causes and their beliefs and their identities.Its I said this and I did this. How much they get paid and blah blah. Michelle Paradise turned Discovery into Greys Anatomy is space. You may as well get Shonda Rimes to write Trek if thats what you wanted.
What happened to this being about generations of fans who love Star Trek in all of its incarnations. You have DS9 loyalists (like me), Next Gen loyalists, Voyager, and Enterprise etc.
I watched Picard Season 3 for the last two days now and after watching it and seeing what Terry Matalas did, I can’t believe that an executive at Paramount did not offer him the job of creating, writing, and producing Star Trek Legacy. They tried to recruit Jeri Ryan for something and if you notice her response she said that it was not what the fans wanted.
Notice how she focused on the fans. The paying customers who buy the subscriptions, the DVDs, the IDW comics, the toys, go to conventions. All of that finds its way back into the pockets of paramount and the talent.
Star Trek Legacy could be Yellowstone for Paramount and I said it before and I will say it again, if they greenlight this Tawney Newsome foolishness, they do so at their own peril. Star Wars as a brand has taken a 10 year beating that I don’t think they will ever recover from.
The only things I like from the “Kurtzman era” of Trek is Picard Season 3 and Strange New Worlds (Thank the Maker that Akiva Goldsman is around. You need an adult in the room). I was cool with Lower Decks. I was not a regular watcher but I thought it was alright.
When are you going to give the fans what they want as opposed to something wrapped up in your politics and your idenitiy. We want good stories that are compelling and honor the best of what Star Trek used to be. Discovery did not honor the best of Star Trek. Star Trek will never be Star Wars.
I care about a good story. If a character is trans or non binary, I have no problem with that. Cool. Just give me a good story. The best of Star Trek is good storytelling.
Alex Kirtzman is not a serious person if he even considers this show. A legacy show would be massive and it would draw generations. Bring back Jeri Ryan and the supporting cast from Picard. Throw in Levar Burton, his daughter, Raffi, Picard’s son Jack and hell go get Katie Sackoff and make her a descendent of the Kirk Family.
Leslie Headland (Creator of Star Wars: The Acolyte) said that she was a “fan” of all the Star Wars and the Acolyte was an unmitigated disaster. Star Wars unwatchable right now.
I agree with much of what you said at the beginning but disagree with the Akiva praise.
SNW started ok but then began pulling me out of their universe with the “big swings” and they are promising even bigger swings in season 3. I almost expect the characters to start talking to the camera before the series is over. I would much rather they return to the show they were doing in season 1.
I would love to see Katee Sackoff play a bad ass starship captain in a Trek show. Maybe even a show of her own. No comedies though. I couldn’t even hate watch Lower Decks. That is how much I do not enjoy Star Trek being turned into a comedy.
Even though I like this idea, I can not remotely understand how this is a better idea than Legacy? That’s still the biggest head scratcher for me personally.
It is weird because Legacy feels like an automatic home run and even if people like this show, I still don’t think it will be as popular as Legacy.
The only theory I have is money. That’s literally it. It’s certainly not about trying to avoid more 25th Star Trek or that they are afraid it will only appeal to old fans. Everything about this show sounds like it’s being made specifically for old fans. Newsome in another interview said she want the show in the Picard era because it can be like Lower Decks and bring back a lot of 24th century characters/actors back but as their real ages
So why this over Legacy other than they estimate this will be a much cheaper show to make, especially if its a half hour show. Not say ing it will but it’s a comedy so it could be.
Maybe it has something to do with Terry Matalas himself. Nothing sounds like there was any bad blood anywhere. And he delivered a season with a much lowered budget from the first season which probably racked up the highest views of any NuTrek show and it got both critical and audience acclaim. Seems like this is the guy you want to keep around as long as possible.
Talking about someone making it all about themselves. Tawny isn’t bragging and making it all about herself, she is saying she knows she doesn’t know everything (if it is wrapped in a little humble brag) and knows that she should reach out to others for help and more info when needed. Better than other writers who don’t know Trek at all and aren’t willing to reach out for help.
As for things “wrapped in politics and identity”, that is largely a Discovery thing. I think they felt it part of their mission as the flagship show at the time to highlight identity, at least identities that were underrepresented in the 90s era of Trek (regardless of how much some of that Trek’s producers did or did not make the effort). That said, identity is a core part of humanity and is always been and always will be a part of Trek (think Spock as a half-human, half-Vulcan trying to find his place in the universe), it’s just that some Trek is a little more subtle than DIS (read: most Trek) about it and most is more successful in being good Trek (in my opinion). If you can handle that being a part of Trek, then you should be fine.
I have disliked a lot of DIS and PIC s1 and s2, but have also found some things to like about each. No singular product has really been totally antithetical to Trek (in my opinion), outside of “Into Darkness”, though there are many individual elements of DIS and PIC that I feel are (Mirror Georgiou as a hero, S31 as heroes, Klingon torture/sex, gratuitous and pointless eyeball ripping, “cool” violent mobsters, “cool” violent Romulan commandos, “cool” violent incestuous Romulan siblings, “cool” violent Ferengi mobsters, “cool” violent Klingon mumblemouths, “cool” violent Orion mobsters, basically anything the creators think is cool because it is dark and edgy but is actually just boring and pointless). And I am glad they seem (I hope) to be getting away from those elements (hoping the S31 movie is the last gasp of that kind of gritty, dark, overly self-serious Trek).
But I am totally on board with Legacy being as close to a guaranteed home run for Trek that we will likely ever see. It is baffling to me that the Suits at Paramount passed on that idea; but then again the powers that be at Paramount (and the various other controlling entities going into the past) have never really cared about Trek all that much (nor understood it) except for maybe brief moments in the early 90s where TNG was the biggest thing in syndication, or maybe for 5 seconds in 2009 when JJ’s new Star Trek movie looked like it could herald a new Star Wars/MCU-sized franchise revival. We can only hope (as Mike Mcmahan is saying) that as the new Paramount ownership is ironed out, and finances get a little more solid that someone in charge there will come to their senses and figure out the potential money maker they have on their hands.
In the meantime, I am willing and interested to see what new concepts Paramount is willing to play with. And I won’t ever stop hoping for revivals of Legacy, PRO, or LDS. And may SNW live long and prosper.
There were no idenitities underreprestend in the 90s era of Star Trek. That is just not true. The underrepresented narrative is just false. It is not true and the current gatekeepers of the franchise use it as a camaflogue to hide their poor storymaking decisions and their lack of vision. (See Star Wars the Acolyte as a recent example of this Hubris)
There were stories about same gender loving beings. Next Gen did an episode about a race of basically Androgynous people, one of whom Riker slept with. Not to mention all the amazing non-canon content written by writers like Peter David and Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens.
The current gatekeepers of Star Trek suffer from cultural amnesia when it comes to the franchise they inherited.
They are leaving money of the table with their creative decisions. Star Trek Legacy would have been like Yellowstone for them. That academy show is going to tank. Nobody asked for it. Like nobody.
I’m curious to see what they mean by comedy. Is it going to feel like a Star Trek series where all of the episodes are comedic, like the DS9 stuff that inspired it? Or is it going to feel like The Office in the Star Trek universe where the tone and style is incongrous with other live action entries?
Lower Decks took a wrecking ball to Trek. It made clowns out of Starfleet officers, turned a show with a serious tone that tackled serious issues, and used comedy in small doses and, when appreciated, into a joke. It was a disgrace, and I’m glad it’s gone.
I cringe when I hear what is in store with a live-action “The Office” version of Trek. There is a lot of room to make good comedy outside of Star Trek; when they need to turn Trek into something it never was or intended to be, it is beyond me. Just horrible.
In addition to that, it wasn’t even particularly funny.
True – The odd one-off episodes of TNG, VOY, or DS9 that had a strong comedic tone were much funnier.
I really dislike what Lower Decks did to Trek.
It’s much more effective when there are the occasional comedic episodes, or even just comedic moments. The 90s Treks did it well (‘Little Green Men’, Trials and Tribble-ations’, ‘Deja Q’), X-Files did it quite effectively as well (‘Jose Chung’s From Outer Space’, ‘War of the Coprophages’, the chocolate box monologue from ‘Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man’), and Stargate certainly had it’s funny moments, usually courtesy of Colonel Jack O’Neil.
When Lower Decks was announced, I had hoped it was going to be like Futurama. Funny, but memorable and clever. Instead Lower Decks was just goofy, stupid, and for some reason each episode was determined to make endless references to previous Star Trek episodes.
I stopped watching after two seasons.
+1 to both Michael William and Frost UK.
I am so looking forward to this /s
There is something in this article that hits the nail on the head bout why “Nu-Trek” is such a failure.
Here they are talking about developing a whole new show from a one-off DS9 episode.
WTF!!! the one-off was the one-off, why would anyone want to take a one-off and develop a whole new show around it? The people making what they call Star Trek are approaching everything from the wrong point of view every single time, they do not have a clue what Star Trek really is about, it is just a big budget TV experiment for them to do as much weird sh*t as they can and stick the name Star Trek in front of it.
How much more of this fake Trek are we going to have to endure before we get some quality producers, writers etc that can make the show meaningful again
The bigger point is that the episode that inspired this live comedy spinoff — DS9 “Let He Who is Without Sin” — was one of the worst of the entire series.
Agreed it was a relatively bad episode. I don’t think this comedy show will see the light of day. My hope is that the new owners will push out Kurtzman and find new leadership for Star Trek. Alex Kurtzman is a by product of Bad Robot. Bad Robot has damaged two major sci-fi franchieses. JJ Abrams is a fake fan. When he reenacted the death scene from Wrath of Khan, I was done with him. Bad Robot needs to go away.
Yeah, that’s fair, it wasn’t a particularly good episode.