The latest "Lower Decks" episode, "Upper Decks", reveals what the command crew gets up to when Mariner, Boimler, Tendi, Rutherford, and T'Lyn aren't hogging all that main character energy.
So, as the lead quintet gets busy "mutilating gourds" for Halloween — everyone but T'Lyn would describe it as carving pumpkins — "Upper Decks" shows that the bridge crew doesn't just "fade into the background" when the junior officers are elsewhere. It turns out that alien invasions, potential engineering disasters, and metaphysical crises are all in an average day's work, in an outing that's also a clever nod to a 30-year-old episode of "The Next Generation".
Spoiler warning! Caution is advised if you're yet to watch this week's episode.
If the Lower Decks is about junior officers, why is this episode about the Cerritos' command crew?
The name of this episode, "Upper Decks", doesn't just reference this particular "Star Trek" show.
"Lower Decks" took its name from a classic episode of "The Next Generation", which — for one week only — put a quartet of ensigns under the spotlight. This episode flips the dynamics of that 30-year-old "TNG" story.
"Lower Decks" is unique among the armada of "Star Trek" TV shows in that it doesn't focus on the upper echelons of starship/space station management — this is the only TV show in the franchise where a story about bridge officers could be an anomaly.
What happened in the original "Lower Decks" episode of "The Next Generation"?
"Lower Decks" arrived in the second half of season seven, when "TNG"'s writers' room was willing and able to get a little more experimental.
In the cold open we met four ambitious young officers sharing a drink in the Enterprise's Ten Forward bar. Two of them we'd met before: Alyssa Ogawa (Patti Yasutake) was a semi-regular character in Sickbay, who'd go on to appear in big-screen outings "Generations" and "First Contact"; Sito Jaxa (Shannon Fill) had, along with Wesley Crusher, been involved in the Starfleet Academy stunt that got a fellow cadet killed in "TNG" episode "The First Duty". Completing the quartet were cocky Sam Lavelle (Dan Gauthier) and Vulcan engineer Taurik (Alexander Enberg).
Over the course of the episode, each of the ensigns worked closely with a member of the senior staff on different aspects of a mission so classified they couldn't discuss it with each other. It turned out that Joret Dal, the Cardassian that the Enterprise recovered from a damaged escape pod, was actually a Federation operative who needed to get back to Cardassia Prime.
Sito was then handpicked for the most dangerous mission of all. Because she came from Bajor — a planet that was occupied by the Cardassians for many years — she was the ideal candidate to pose as Joret Dal's prisoner. Unfortunately, Sito was killed as she tried to return to Federation space.
Her death had significant ramifications for Beckett Mariner's story arc in "Lower Decks" (the TV show). She and Beckett Mariner attended Starfleet Academy at the same time, and Mariner subsequently experienced survivor guilt after the loss. Her earlier desire to spend her entire career as an ensign was effectively a tribute to Sito, as that rank had been "good enough" for her friend.
Shannon Fill later reprised the role in a flashback in "Lower Decks" season 4 finale "Old Friends, New Planets".
Are the command crew's days as dominated by paperwork as Sam Rutherford makes out?
Mariner believes that, "without us Lower Deckers there'd be nothing to see", but the bridge officers have plenty to be dealing with — even when Mariner, Boimler, Tendi, Rutherford, and T'Lyn are sculpting pumpkins.
For example, Captain Carol Freeman's day involves: watching a sousaphone recital from an officer who's simultaneously evolved and de-evolved thanks to a mysterious virus (a reference to "The Next Generation" episode "Genesis"); attending a fertility event in which a male (not as human as he looks) member of the crew gives birth to a squid; watching a pretentious one-man show; averting a ship-wide invasion from a race of hostile insectoids; and being on time for an anniversary dinner with her husband.
"Perhaps our commanders are the leads of their own stories when we are not observing them," T'Lyn suggests at the end of the episode.
Do we learn anything about 24th-century management techniques?
Only that, as in the present day, everybody has a slightly different approach to getting the best out of their staff.
Chief Engineer Andarithio "Andy" Billups likes to lead by example, wholeheartedly throwing himself into his work to inspire others. "Everybody dies," he points out when his young apprentice asks about the dangers of the retro-fitted plasma canisters they've just discovered, "but it's the engineers who really get to live." (He also reminds the ensign that calling senior officers by their first names should be reserved for life-or-death situations — good advice.)
First Officer Jack Ransom, meanwhile, exploits the fact that everybody on board thinks he's a "doofus". So, as the bitter rivals of the Beta and Delta Shifts struggle to wrangle a herd of extremophile buhgoons (essentially floating space cows), he pauses the operation to lecture the ensigns on the benefits of exercise, while taking the opportunity to lift some weights — "Physical fitness clears the mind," after all.
Remarkably his strategy works, as the bickering teams are united by their mutual disdain for the clueless Ransom — they even finish the episode by arranging to meet for a drink.
Do the senior officers have demons to conquer?
In the case of Bajoran security chief Shaxs, those demons are literal — or perhaps metaphysical, depending on your point of view. He spends the episode confronting "an astral projection of my resolved rage from the [Cardassian] occupation" — in other words, a younger, angrier ghost version of himself — as he tries to regain control of his mind.
Chief medical officer T'Ana, meanwhile, has trouble dealing with constructive criticism, specifically that she's not great at managing her patients' pain — a problem for a doctor, especially one with such an irascible bedside manner. She spends the entire episode exploring the limits of her own extremely high threshold for pain.
What about that ship-wide invasion from a race of hostile insectoids?
They would be the Clickets, a species who previously crossed paths with the Cerritos in the season 1 episode "Veritas". They've turned up in the vicinity of Bhungar V to capture buhgoon, harvest the unique organ that gives the interstellar cattle a natural cloaking ability, "and maybe eat what's left, depending on texture and flavor." The Clickets believe that the ability to cloak will help them spread their influence through the Alpha Quadrant, but their dastardly plans are foiled by a mixture of good fortune and the quick thinking of Captain Freeman.
In the column labeled "Fortuitous", Shaxs confuses Clicket soldiers for the demons he's battling in his mind, a frazzled T'Ana leaps on the first Clicket she encounters, and Lt Bingston, instigator of the aforementioned dramatic monologue, stamps on a Clicket head as part of some kind of routine.
But, like all good commanding officers, Freeman has also done her homework, and remembers that Clickets have serious issues handling praise. A few strategically deployed compliments are enough to send the invaders on their way, and free up the captain for a romantic dinner in holodeck Paris.
New episodes of "Star Trek: Lower Decks" season 5 debut on Paramount Plus on Thursdays.
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