Even Star Trek Klingons Can End Up Like Kirk & Picard

Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 5, Episode 4 – “A Farewell To Farms”

Star Trek: Lower Decks shows how even Klingons can share an unhappy 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 alternate Star Trek timelines. One dimensional portal opened up in Klingon space, which led Lieutenants Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome) and Bradward Boimler (Jack Quaid) to the Klingon homeworld, Q’onoS.

Star Trek movies and TV shows are mainly about Starfleet Officers seeking out strange new worlds and meeting new lifeforms, 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 where 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 Can End Up Like Kirk & Picard

Retirement Is Hard For Klingons And Starfleet

Star Trek: Lower Decks season 5, episode 4, “A Farewell To Farms” centers on Ma’ah (Jon Curry), a former Klingon lower decker-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 on Qo’noS, where he lives with his brother, Malor (Sam Witwer). Ma’ah has given up on his dream of being a captain after he killed his corrupt superior officer in Star Trek: Lower Decks season 2, episode 9, “wej Duj.”

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Luckily, Ma’ah befriended Lt. Beckett Mariner at the end of Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4. With Lt. Brad Boimler along to provide his expertise on Klingon culture, Ma’ah, Malor, and the two USS Cerritos Lieutenants manage to complete the torturous Klingon rituals necessary to restore Ma’ah’s command and honor. Star Trek: Lower Decks delivers a fascinating deep-dive into what happens when a Klingon is forced to retire before his time, and Ma’ah’s predicament has parallels to Captain Kirk and Admiral Picard’s retirements.

Star Trek Captains Often Have Unhappy Retirements

Peace And Quiet Doesn’t Suit Captains Of The Enterprise

Neither Captain Kirk nor Admiral Picard found peace in retirement. Kirk stepped away from Starfleet after the events of Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Jim moved into a mountain cabin and found a new love named Antonia. Yet the pull of outer space adventure was too great, and the restless Kirk returned to Starfleet. Star Trek: Picard revealed Admiral Picard quit Starfleet in protest and spent 14 years bitterly sequestered at Chateau Picard, his family vineyeard 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. Meanwhile, Earth is a utopia that bores Kirk and Picard, who thrive on exploration and adventure. For her part, Admiral Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) chose to retire to an Indiana farm at the end of Star Trek: Prodigy season 2, but Janeway was called back to action. However, retirement seemed to suit Janeway, at least for the short time she got 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 Federation, with a Chancellor, High Council, and various great Houses jockeying for power and influence, but it is still a bureaucracy. The Klingons have rigid codes of conduct and harsher rules than Starfleet, and powerful Klingons can hold the fates of lower ranked officers like Ma’ah of Star Trek: Lower Decks in their hands. In turn, Starfleet Officers who briefly serve aboard Klingon ships are usually glad to go back to the comforts and routine of a Federation starship.

Boimler looking sad at a padd in Star Trek: Lower Decks

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Just as Captains Kirk and Picard are happiest exploring strange new worlds, most Klingons want to gain honor and prove their prowess in battle. As such, being robbed of the chance for glory and forced to raise Targs on their 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 ways back to their first, best destinies in Starfleet, Star Trek: Lower Decks‘ Mariner and Boimler helped Ma’ah to become a Klingon Captain again – on his own terms.