T'Lyn's Most Logical Observations

First introduced in the second season of Star Trek: Lower Decks' penultimate episode, "wej Duj," as a lower decker aboard the Vulcan Sh'vhal ship, T'Lyn stood out as a character who is unapologetically Vulcan while simultaneously ostracized by her peers for being resolute in her convictions and embracing her "gut feelings," believing she's acting out of control.

At the end of the third season, T'Lyn transfers to the U.S.S. Cerritos where she joins Ensign Tendi in the Senior Science Officer Training Program. Speaking on the Vulcan science officer's inclusion in the fourth season and her arrival on the Cerritos, series creator and showrunner Mike McMahan revealed, “T’Lyn is so great to have because she adds this dryness, this comedic sort of deadpan-ness. The other Lower Deckers are all pretty loud; they’re all big. Then having that moment of deflation where T’Lyn can then say something cutting and funny or incisive… I just love that a Vulcan can just explicitly say what’s happening. It’s like walking right up to the fourth wall, but not quite doing that that I love.”

In celebration of actress Gabrielle Ruiz's birthday, we're spotlighting our favorite T'Lyn one-liners!

"wej Duj"

A great insult is when the recipient isn't so sure they had just been insulted.

While her peers see T'Lyn's actions monitoring anomalous energies in a system outside of scanning range as erratic and rebellious, the Vulcan science officer wishes they understood that there is far they could be learning and achieving outside of their redundant duties. Reminding them with a quote from Spock, "Logic is the beginning of wisdom, not the end."

It's her personal projects that saves the Sh'Vhal when they come across the Pakleds and Klingons attacking the Cerritos. While her captain acknowledges and commends her for her programs, he however cannot encourage her impulsive behavior, believing her to be a liability. Luckily for her (and us), instead of removing her from duty and sending her back to Vulcan, he instead sought reassignment for her on a Starfleet vessel.

"Twovix"

In the fourth season opener, the Cerritos ensigns assist a caretaker who is restoring the U.S.S. Voyager. Chaos ensues when the transporter pad begins merging different crewmembers into single hybrid entities. In a moment of quick thinking, T'Lyn energizes all the hybrids to the Brig, creating one massive lifeform. Working together with Tendi, the two science officers are able to isolate the crew's personality traits and begin separating each officer. For their efforts, they're promote to lieutenant junior grade officers.

"In the Cradle of Vexilon"

T'Lyn accompanies Boimler as he leads his first away mission on the planet Corazonia. Upon witnessing Boimler hype himself up and then addressing the attending ensigns on the away team, T'Lyn shares her assessment with him. We all need a friend who reminds us what's truly at stake, especially when we don't realize the task at hand is much more serious than we thought.

"Something Borrowed, Something Green"

In an effort to document Orion culture for the Vulcan High Council, T'Lyn and Mariner accompany T'Lyn on her trip back home to Orion for her sister's wedding. Their girl's trip goes sideways when Tendi's sister D'Vana is kidnapped ahead of her wedding ceremony.

As they search for any leads on D'Vana's whereabouts, Tendi's role as a prime in her family's Orion syndicate and her past as the Mistress of the Winter Constellations comes to light. Worried that these revelations will color her friends' perceptions of her, Mariner and T'Lyn assure her that it hasn't, and that she can choose who she wants to be. Mostly, they're in awe that someone so excitable could command such unexpected gravitas.

Additionally, T'Lyn tosses her observations and PADD out of a flying vessel when she realizes how much of Tendi's past makes her uncomfortable. Speaking to that moment, McMahan previously shared, “I love that T’Lyn is both clinical but is careful about people’s emotions even though she’s not expressing them. That’s really touching. It’s not her bag, but she respects it, and that feels really Starfleet to me.”

"Empathalogical Fallacies"

When the Cerritos plays host to some Betazoid diplomats, emotions end up going haywire all over the ship. T'Lyn theorizes, due to their age, that one of the diplomats may be experiencing Zanthi fever.

However, it turns out that it's T'Lyn herself who is projecting her strong emotions to everyone on the ship upon learning she's suffering from symptoms of Bendii Syndrome, which magnified her frustrations when she couldn't reach her old captain on the Sh'Vhal. Ashamed as she was relieved from duty on her last post for being "too emotional," Mariner reminds her that the Vulcan ambassador Sarek too suffered from Bendii Syndrome and he was Vulcan as a mother[bleep]er. There is nothing more Vulcan than Bendii Syndrome.