‘Star Trek: Lower Decks’ Recap – ‘Room for Growth’

Written by Shae Rufe

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 304 of ‘Star Trek: Lower Decks’. To revisit the previous episode, click here.
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There’s never a dull moment on the Cerritos, and when the captain gets possessed by a cursed mask, and turns most of the ship into a temple, well, Engineering takes the brunt of it. Stressed and stretched thin, the entire Engineering department has been working for an entire week straight. That’s when Captain Freeman takes them to a spa ship, the Dove, for some much-needed relaxation. With rooms full of puppies, kittens, specialized mud rooms, mani/pedi’s, and so much more. There isn’t a single way to not relax at the Dove.
 
Except, Engineers are kind of bad at relaxing. Or rather, conventional versions of relaxing. The Dove tailors every experience to each individual on the ship, hoping to enhance and customize a one-of-a-kind experience for each person. A bracelet helps indicate what stress levels the wearer is at. And the entire Cerritos Engineering crew is at yellow, which isn’t the worst, but it’s not great. Unfortunately for them, they are not vibing with the Dove’s version of relaxing. Many are working on secret projects during massages or making schematics in the sand raking room. It’s enough to drive the captain insane, pushing her stress from yellow, to red, to black!
 
If they can’t get her stress to calm down, the Dove will have no other choice but to contact Starfleet medical and have her sent back to earth. Meaning, she’d be away from the Cerritos. That’s not something Billups and the Engineering team are willing to let happen. In true Engineering fashion, they build a machine to alleviate the captain’s stress. It’s like spending a month at the Dove in only a matter of seconds. Thankfully for everyone, especially their captain, the Machine works! The captain and the Engineering team are relaxed and all’s well that ends well.

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On the Cerritos, however, things are a bit more complicated. See, four private rooms have opened up on Deck One, and everyone is going mad about it. This would mean privacy, and above all, not being stuck in the overcrowded lower decks. Every crew member in there is entered into a lottery and chosen at random. Only, Tendi overhears three Delta shift workers plotting to rig the lottery, so they win. They just have to make it to the terminal and change the settings to ensure they’re the only ones who win.
 
Boimler, Tendi, and Mariner set out to do the same exact thing, since all’s fair in private room lottery. The path they take through the ship is more than harrowing by exposing Boimler and Mariner to toxic gas, and Boimler gets caught in a gravity death spin, and so on. Still, it’s fun. And by the time they reach the entry point to the terminal, Delta shift has caught up. The door only opens once every hour, so they all sit and swap stories and bond for an hour. It seems like they all might just be friends, but Delta betrays them and makes it through the door before they can.
 
Jokes on them, however, because our team still makes it to the terminal first, going through a route not on the maps. This is when they discover that instead of four rooms on Deck One, it’s one room on Deck Four. Not wanting to be split up, the team decides not to rig the lottery in their favor, and instead puts Delta shift into the database. Sadly, their attempt at revenge fails, and instead of splitting up, Delta shift splits the room 4 ways. Which is what Mariner, Tendi, Boims, and Rutherford could have done too. Oh well, maybe next time?

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