Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 4, Episode 6 - "Parth Ferengi's Heart Place"
Summary
- Key Takeaways:
- Captain Pike's secret negotiation tactic of understanding others' perspectives is effective, as shown in both Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and Star Trek: Lower Decks.
- Captain Freeman applies Pike's tactic when negotiating with the Ferengi Alliance, recognizing their cultural values and respecting them.
- The principle of empathy is emphasized in Star Trek, allowing adversaries to become allies, and Pike and Freeman exemplify this by fostering understanding with different cultures for the benefit of the Federation.
Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) has a secret negotiation tactic in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds that's so effective, it still works over a century later in Star Trek: Lower Decks, when Captain Carol Freeman (Dawnn Lewis) uses it with the Ferengi. In Strange New Worlds season 1, episode 5 "Spock Amok", the R'ongovians are determining whether to ally themselves with the Klingons, Romulans, or the United Federation of Planets. Admiral Robert April (Adrian Holmes) explains their delegation matches the Tellarites' rudeness, and Pike notices they prioritize logic when speaking with Vulcans like Mr. Spock (Ethan Peck) and T'Pring (Gia Sandhu). Pike, then, becomes the template by which the R'ongovian Captain Vasso L'Gaelia (Ron Kennell) comes to understand humans.
Pike realizes that the R'ongovians' changing behavior isn't due to them being fickle. They're a culture characterized by empathy, and their shifting attitudes depending on who they're talking to is representative of the value they place on understanding others' points of view. The key to bringing the R'ongovians into the Federation is to meet them with an amount of understanding equal to their own. Fortunately, empathy makes Pike a great Starfleet captain, and his secret trick is to put himself into the R'ongovians' shoes by explaining the reasons they shouldn't join the Federation. It's an atypical tactic for Starfleet, but Vasso is grateful for the understanding, and the R'ongovians sign with the Federation.
Captain Pike's Federation Trick Works in Star Trek: Lower Decks
Captain Pike's secret tactic still works in the 24th century, when Captain Carol Freeman shows that respect for a different culture is key to negotiating alliances. In Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4, episode 6, "Parth Ferengi's Heart Place", Freeman is responsible for approving the Federation application of a markedly different Ferengi Alliance, in negotiations with Grand Nagus Rom (Max Grodénchik) and First Clerk Leeta (Chase Masterson). Admiral Vassery (Fred Tatasciore), overseeing the negotiation, is entrenched in his own perspective, so gives up a lot in the spirit of cooperation, but Freeman can see the Ferengi capitalist values reflected in Rom's attempts to coerce the Federation into giving up their resources for nothing, and she's not having it.
Because Freeman recognizes the elements of Ferengi culture in play, she can respect it enough to use the same tactic Pike did with the R'ongovians. Grand Nagus Rom and his wife Leeta have made some inroads towards a more equitable Ferengi society, but the cultural divide between them and the Federation is still wide. After living on Deep Space Nine, Rom knows how to meet the Federation on their terms, by asking not for latinum, but for the things that do have value to them, like access to starships and trade routes. In turn, Freeman meets the Ferengi on their terms, even when it seems to conflict with Starfleet values. She stipulates the Ferengi have to recruit Q'onoS, the Klingon homeworld, to access Federation benefits without membership, and the risk pays off with the reward of Rom's respect.
Could Freeman Use Pike's Trick on Other Star Trek Villains?
Captain Pike's secret trick of seeing the other party's point of view worked on relative unknowns the R'ongovians, and on former Federation antagonists the Ferengi, but could it work on long-standing enemies of the Federation? The Klingons remain as independent as ever, so Rom is right to balk at Freeman's revised contract. However, Freeman's own Cerritos is home to one of Starfleet's first Orions, Lt. D'Vana Tendi (Noël Wells). Freeman actively encouraged Tendi to return home specifically to foster ties between the Orions and the Federation, so it's possible she's hoping to gain a greater understanding of what Federation membership would mean from their point of view. Freeman could easily be the one to open that conversation with the largely misunderstood Orions.
Star Trek has long touted the principle of empathy in order to turn adversaries into allies, and in the cases of Pike and Freeman, it's that principle that allows the Federation to ally with more member worlds. In Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, the R'ongovians are relatively unknown to Pike, but through careful observation, he recognizes what they value, and embodies it to earn their respect. Whether she's aware of it or not, Freeman uses the same tactic with the Ferengi in Star Trek: Lower Decks. Ironically, going against what's expected for Starfleet officers becomes exactly what is needed in those moments to bring in more allies to the Federation, and foster that kind of radical empathy among its member races.
Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4 streams Thursdays on Paramount+.