The scene near the end of Lower Decks season 4 where Mariner confides in Ma'ah why she's so disillusioned with Starfleet is one of my favorite scenes in Star Trek; maybe in all of television. Not only is it a very emotional scene on its own but it's such a perfect capstone to Mariner's character arc because it contextualizes and explains everything that's happened up until that point.
She acts like she hates Starfleet and everything is stupid, but she is also an incredible officer and the two things seem to be in conflict. Every time people think she's a model Starfleet officer she finds a way to sandbag herself.
She knows all the Starfleet regulations, but claims it's only because "there's a ton that let you slack off." She has an encyclopedic knowledge of alien cultures and starship operations but casually attributes it to just being experienced. She acts like she doesn't take her duties seriously but never fails to carry them out. When asked why she doesn't just quit Starfleet and go home she deflects by saying Earth is boring.
And then after her confession to Ma'ah everything makes sense. Because deep down Mariner does love Starfleet, and she does share its ideals and believe in its mission. But she struggles to reconcile that with the fact that Starfleet got her friend killed. Starfleet is where she saw the horrors of the Dominion War. Starfleet is where she had to bury her friends time and time again. Every time she's promoted she's reminded how she might be ordering people to their deaths.
It's an incredible moment in an incredible character arc. Please let Tawny Newsome do whatever she wants forever.
