Lower Decks has as much (more even) blatant fan service as Picard season 3, although because it is a comedy I find it more forgivable and less grating than I did in the other show.
Agree with your agreement here. If I unloaded my feelings about all the fanboy moments in Terry’s Picard, it would actually be unpleasant to read…so I won’t. How about I just say that you’re super right about Sito Jaxa, too. I thought the connection to that episode was very sweet, and really enjoyed hearing Mariner talk about how much the Dominion War sucked, too. It made sense to me that she’d be more comfortable getting that out with a stranger than her friends, at least when I think about the guys I was in the Navy with.
“Robbie McDunc”? Really? 1
I thought that was a well-executed fake-out, and enjoyed the heck out of it. I thought it really made the B-plot work–Freeman is very rarely at her best when around Mariner, which means we see her screw up a lot, so I was very happy to get a reminder that she’s the sort of officer Starfleet would give a command to.
“Robbie McDunc”? Really? 2
1: see 2.
2: it's a question worth repeating.