‘Star Trek: Lower Decks’ Recap: ‘Upper Decks’

12/6/2024

Written by John Edward Betancourt

The Bridge Crew Prepares for One Epic Day in Episode 508 of ‘Star Trek: Lower Decks’ – ‘Upper Decks’. (Photo Courtesy of Paramount+.)

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 508 of ‘Star Trek: Lower Decks’. To revisit the previous episode, click here.

It really is quite amazing, how Star Trek: Lower Decks on Paramount+ came to life. For in essence, it is an expansion upon a bold episode that Star Trek: The Next Generation put forth. Since ‘Lower Decks’ really did the impossible and took the time to explore what the lives of junior officers were like aboard the Enterprise-D and that was so rich a concept that Lower Decks creator Mike McMahan has been able to give this concept five seasons of storytelling and he even expanded upon it further by using that episode and its sorrowful ending as the grounding point for Lieutenant Beckett Mariner’s emotional journey, making it a pivotal tale that is top of mind today for one particular reason.

In that, since Mike McMahan is clearly a fan of the franchise through and through and knows how to bookend stories in a magnificent manner, since there’s been a lot of TNG-era follow up on the series… he and his writing staff used this week’s episode as an opportunity to pay homage to the story that gave rise to this one. By simply flipping the script in the same manner as that episode to shift the focus of the story… to the bridge crew of the U.S.S. Cerritos. For they have always been the secondary characters here, and while we do know them, there are elements of who they are and what makes them tick that haven’t been present in the series. So, it was quite nice to have ‘Upper Decks’ focus on the bridge crew and explore them and their world.

Wherein we came to learn… about the management style that some of the bridge crew employ. For instance, Chief Engineer Billups loves to immerse himself in chaos to feel progress. As evidenced by how a simple power relay repair turned into hours of madness that he reveled in. Not to mention we learned that Commander Ransom uses a unique brand of leadership concepts to get the crew where they need to be. In that, he’s all about being seen as the villain to have the crew unite against him in disdain to accomplish goals. Because he knows that sometimes a commander can play that role no problem, and well… it was quite impactful here to say the least and really did offer up solutions to a grand problem.

The Lower Deckers Enjoy a Little Downtime in Episode 508 of ‘Star Trek: Lower Decks’ – ‘Upper Decks’. (Photo Courtesy of Paramount+.)

Plus, we also learned… that some of the bridge crew have some demons to combat. Since Dr. T’Ana uh… well she loves pain. No two ways about it, and if she can use that to get about her day and help with issues, she absolutely will. Which led to some bonkers moments and some great one-liners from the good doctor, and it turned out that Shaxs has a lot of unresolved rage from the Cardassian Occupation of Bajor. To the point where he sometimes needs to work through violent memories to quell his PTSD. Which may change with a little therapy, but it was fascinating to learn this duo have some emotional wounds to heal, and hopefully they will. Since everyone deserves that piece.

But truly, the centerpiece of this adventure revolved around Captain Freeman. Since we were able to see how much the crew means to her, since she spent a lot of her day taking part in their interests and their wins, which was lovely to see play out. Plus, we also discovered she is quite the romantic, since she was looking forward to a long call with her husband and she also… is truly a capable captain. One that keeps a cool head in a crisis and knows when to deliver a critical blow. As evidenced by how she handled the infiltration of the Cerritos by some very sassy aliens that could not handle compliments, and she has of course, assembled one hell of a bridge crew. Since they too, used their immense skill set to repel the invaders and keep the Cerritos and her crew, safe.

All of which made for a perfect tribute episode to The Next Generation, and was as funny as can be. Because it really did let the bridge crew get goofy and bring the jokes, but this was also a bittersweet tale as well. Because in many ways, by paying tribute to the source material in this manner, the series has indeed come full circle, and this feels akin to the beginning of a farewell to the show. Which is appropriate for certain because this is it. There are only two episodes left after this delightful adventure with the bridge crew, and it is fitting and wondrous that we got to spend some quality time with them before we bid farewell to this fine crew in a couple of weeks. Until next time.

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