To be fair, not everything is played for laughs - I’d say pretty much every season finale gets moderately serious. I also think the Orion world building was top notch.

I enjoyed the crossover before I watched Lower Decks and still enjoy it, but I also feel like the way the characters were written at times reduced them to their basic archetype without the character development they would have had at that point in Lower Decks. I mean, it somewhat makes sense - probably a good idea to assume not everyone had watched Lower Decks and give an idea of who these people are - but I wonder if it could have been executed a bit better on that front.

Suffice it to say, I think late Lower Decks itself actually contains better examples of their “toned-down” real selves.