Below Deck with Lower Decks: You've Gotta Fight For Your Rite

Wow. Time flies when you're having fun, eh? This new season of is just cruising along at warp speed!

On this week's episode, we're jumping bat'leth first into the vast realm of Klingon rituals! For a race of warriors, the Klingons sure do have a lot of rituals. You name it, there's probably a ceremony or blood oath or rite of passage or endurance or pain to cover it. Keeping track of them all might be a full-time job all its own, but it just so happens that one of our favorite Lower Deckers, Beckett Mariner, not only has some game in this department but also isn't afraid to flash that knowledge when it comes to helping a Klingon friend. She also knows when to bring in a ringer.

Such is the case here, when she brings Boimler along with her to Qo'noS, the Klingon homeworld, to help her friend, Ma'ah. You may recall the last time we saw him, in the fourth-season episode "," when Mariner found him marooned on the planet Sherbal V after his crew betrayed and mutinied against him. Mariner helped him retake his command — you know, in that special way only Klingons do — but it apparently wasn't enough to redeem him in the eyes of the High Council. Stripped of his rank and command, Ma'ah now spends his days toiling on a farm.

But not for long, if Mariner and Boims have anything to say about it! They remind Ma'ah that he can attempt to regain his command, to say nothing of his honor, by invoking the Ritual of J'ethurgh, which requires the Council to hear him out and reassess his transgressions. According to the walking, talking database that is Lieutenant Boimler, the ritual was last invoked 300 years previously, when a Klingon captain named Jokor was accidentally added to another ship's crew via a completely different sacrament, the Rite of Forced Conscription.

Everything's better with a Klingon ritual or two, you know.

The first time we ever got to see any sort of real Klingon ritual came in "," a first-season of , when we watch as Worf and other Klingons observe a "death ritual" in which they stare into the eyes of a recently deceased Klingon to confirm their death before unleashing a deep bellow toward the sky. This last part is intended as a warning to those residing in Sto-vo-kor, the afterlife as described in Klingon mythology, that a Klingon warrior's arrival is imminent.

In "," from TNG's second season, Worf undertakes another ritual, the Rite of Ascension. This two-part ceremony confirms that a Klingon has reached maturity (known as the "Age of Inclusion") and is ready to be recognized as a warrior. Serving as the lone Klingon in Starfleet, far away from his people and homeworld, completing the second part of the ritual proved problematic, but his shipmates — Data, Geordi La Forge, and Dr. Katherine Pulaski — found a way for Worf to complete the ceremony using the Enterprise's holodeck.

As for Ma'ah and retaking his command, enduring the Ritual of J'ethurgh tests him as well as his human friends, with Mariner and Beckett joining him in the Rite of Unending Pain! This ceremony requires them along with Malor, Ma'ah's brother, to walk a gauntlet of Klingon warriors wielding painstiks. With each step, the foursome is struck by the sticks which deliver an electrical charge. Every step forward calls for the pain inflicted to double, testing even Boimler's previously demonstrated and pretty disturbing bonkers levels of pain tolerance. What is it with that guy, anyway?

Oh, and remember that Rite of Forced Conscription I mentioned earlier? That wasn't an accident, you know, but rather a sneaky example of Chekhov's gun…. or, "Chekov’s phaser,: if you prefer. To find out what I mean, you'll just have to tune in to this week’s episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks!