Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Lower Decks, season 5, episode 4 – “A Farewell To Farms”
Star Trek: Lower Decks shows how even the Klingons can share an unfortunate fate that befell Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and Admiral Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart). In its fifth and final season on Paramount+ Star Trek: Lower Decks sees the USS Cerritos investigating quantum fissures in space that lead to alternatives Star Trek timelines. A one-dimensional portal opened in Klingon space, which led to Lieutenants Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome) and Bradward Boimler (Jack Quaid) for the Klingon homeworld of Q’onoS.
Star Trek movies and TV shows are mostly about Starfleet officers searching for strange new worlds and encounters with new life forms, as well as representing the United Federation of Planets in an increasingly complicated galaxy. However, Star Trek also tells stories about what happens to characters at the end of their Starfleet careers or circumstances in which they are forced to leave Starfleet. But it’s not often that Star Trek shows What happens to Klingons who fall out of favor with the Klingon Defense Forces?.
Star Trek: Lower Decks Shows Klingons Could End Up Like Kirk and Picard
Retirement is hard for Klingons and Starfleet
Star Trek: Lower DecksSeason 5, Episode 4, ‘A Farewell To Farms’ centers on Ma’ah (Jon Curry), a former lower-deck Klingon captain turned captain who has since been forced to retire from the Klingon Defense Forces in disgrace. A dejected Ma’ah returned to his family’s Targ farm in Qo’noSwhere he lives with his brother, Malor (Sam Witwer). Ma’ah gave up his dream of being a captain after killing his corrupt superior officer in Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 2, episode 9, “wej Duj”.
Fortunately, Ma’ah befriended Lieutenant Beckett Mariner at the end of Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4. With Lieutenant Brad Boimler along to provide his expertise in Klingon culture, Ma’ah, Malor, and the two lieutenants of the USS Cerritos manage to complete the torturous Klingon rituals necessary to restore Ma’ah’s command and honor. Star Trek: Lower Decks offers a fascinating dive into what happens when a Klingon is forced into retirement before his time, and Ma’ah’s situation has parallels to the retirements of Captain Kirk and Admiral Picard.
Star Trek captains often have unhappy retirements
Peace and quiet don’t suit Enterprise captains
Neither Captain Kirk nor Admiral Picard found peace in retirement. Kirk stepped away from Starfleet after the events of Star Trek: the movie. Jim moved to a mountain cabin and found a new love named Antonia. However, the lure of outer space adventure was too great, and the restless Kirk returned to Starfleet. Star Trek: Picard revealed that Admiral Picard left Starfleet in protest and spent 14 years bitterly sequestered at Chateau Picard, his family’s vineyard in LaBarre, France. Jean-Luc also returned to space to save the galaxy.
Retirement seemed to suit Janeway.
Captain Kirk and Admiral Picard spent their adult lives in outer space, where they made a difference as captains of the USS Enterprise. About that, Earth is a utopia that bores Kirk and Picard, who thrive on exploration and adventure. In turn, Admiral Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) chose to retire to a farm in Indiana at the end of Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2, but Janeway was called back into action. However, retirement seemed to suit Janeway, at least for the short time she had to enjoy it.
Klingons deal with bureaucracy just like Starfleet
It’s not easy serving in the Klingon Empire
The Klingon Empire is structured very differently from the Federationwith a Chancellor, a High Council and several great Houses vying for power and influence, but it is still a bureaucracy. The Klingons have strict codes of conduct and harsher rules than Starfleet, and the powerful Klingons can control the fates of lower-ranking officers like Ma’ah de Star Trek: Lower Decks in your hands. In turn, Starfleet Officers who serve briefly aboard Klingon ships are generally happy to return to the comfort and routine of a Federation starship.
Just as Captains Kirk and Picard are happiest exploring strange new worlds, most Klingons wish to gain honor and prove their prowess in battle. As such, being deprived of the chance at glory and forced to raise Targs on your farms like Ma’ah was is a fate worse than a one-way trip to Sto-vo-kor. But just as Kirk, Picard and Janeway found their way back to their first and best destinations in Starfleet, Star Trek: Lower Decks‘ Mariner and Boimler helped Ma’ah become a Klingon captain again – on his own terms.