"How Star Trek: Lower Decks' Mariner Became My New Favorite Character" The issue with Beckett Mariner

 "hides her true potential and caring nature."

Mariner is garbage. OP is projecting onto her because of a "label" coding, that's where this appeal is coming from, not the writing, but what box Mariner fits into.

Self-destruction hurts you, vs sabotage of everyone else & being a burden and hardly ever taking accountability for it.

Chops boimer's leg in the first sequence of the series, tho while drunk, she never apologized for it. Episode 1. This "caring" Mariner

If the show had competent writing she'd be held accountable for what she does wrong from jump, thus having nuance.

If she was a horrible person on purpose & kept getting in trouble and suffering consequences, thus suffering on two different fronts. OP's arguments might actually hold some weight & Mariner would've been the best character in Lower Decks.

She's self-destructing & suffering punishments in isolation because she doesn't want to end up in a dark place

But if she doesn't suffer consequences & just domineers & treats everyone (Boimer) like trash, and just gets away with it- it doesn't work.

Then this tragic backdrop is vapid, it only holds weight if she's acting the way she is and suffering for it, kinda like how the show kicks Boimers ass 24/7-- thats how you get empathy from the audience and thats how the narrative can work.

But only if she suffers consequences & gets put through hell, like Boimer. If she just does what she wants most of the time, it doesn't work.

If Mariner's level of insufferable is acceptable representation of ADHD Coding or whatever, we really need to raise the bar of what we think is good characterization. this aint it

Order A Man To Hand His Child Over To The State? Not While I’m His Captain

being a parent doesn't mean you have the best interest for children, sometimes the worst policies regarding children come from parents. The ego & selfishness to spawn a child for no one's sake but your own doesn't give you authority to make laws regarding children & single people have no say-- As if your reasons to even have a baby were so noble to begin with. "You don't have a child, I do" is not the flex people think it is. It's a poor attempt to shut someone down with the same energy you tapped into to decide have the baby in the first place: Ego, ego, thy name is Ego. People really need to check themselves. Children are not a social status for your image nor a token of accomplishment for your fragile sense of existential worth because you couldn't actually achieve a legacy in life through work. They are the casualties of our passing "wants" & materialism mentality. And the "State" reaps the benefits of the spawning cattle, ready to put the baby through every red-tape process, system and eventually wring them dry of their life-clock in the workforce. Gov. will start dictating what you say, what you see, and they will come for your kids. Not a fan of Star Trek, but this shit was ahead of it's time.

2:12 Boom, that's what most people are missing. This obligatory sense of duty, that's what's missing from a lot of people calling themselves parents. People do it just because they can, just because they want a new toy called a "baby" to spice things up, and the kid just becomes part of the routine. The missing element is duty, and necessity.