“Upper Decks” Takes ‘Lower Decks’ to the First Frontier
After five seasons of focusing on the lower deckers, “Upper Decks” finally shows us what the senior staff gets up to.
“Lower Decks” is both the name of our lovely cartoon series AND the title of a classic Star Trek: The Next Generation episode. The concept for that episode is to spend one story focusing on the ensigns instead of command. The results are great. So great that now we have five seasons of a show where that’s the whole concept.
It’s not surprising that, in its final season, LD chooses to flip the script just as TNG does but in the opposite direction. What is surprising, however, is the execution.
“Lower Decks” is a powerful story which touches on multiple young crewmembers, but focuses its drama on Sito Jaxa, a young Bajoran woman with a black mark on her record. The story focuses on her desire to make up for past mistakes but ultimately ends in her death. This moment permanently changes the way the rest of the Lower Deckers view their place on the ship.
“Upper Decks” is a story where the senior staff kind of goof up, but still ultimately save the day. And while Star Trek: Lower Decks is a comedy first, we expect an emotional core to its stories, especially in these final episodes.
Unfortunately, while “Upper Decks” sets up that story, it lacks pay off.
To Boldly Recap “Upper Decks”
It’s al hands on deck for the senior staff. Commander Billups has to fix ship-destroying problem sin engineering. Dr. T’Ana attempts to cause herself action figure level battle damage so she gains better of understanding of pain management. Ransom wrangles ensigns who, in turn, wrangle space cows. And Captain Freeman keeps up on the entire crew.
Also, Security Chief Shaxs fights the specter of his rage from the Cardassian occupation of Bajor. And, of course, the Clickits, an alien race of bug people who hate compliments, try to take over the ship. Well, they want the space cows to steal their cloaking ability—and they kind of need the Cerritos to make that happen.
In the end, Billups nearly dies saving the engine core but pulls it out with the help of his best ensign. Dr. T’Ana experiences enough pain to change her tune. Ransom tricks the Lower Deckers into working together by being bad at his job. Shaxs fights of the Clickits while in a kind of fugue state.
And Captain Freeman ‘s support of the crew makes them able to manage everything. In the end she gets a romantic anniversary dinner with her husband.
That All Sounds Nice
You know what? “Upper Decks” is nice! By around the fourth time through, I did succumb to its charms. Getting to see how Freeman, Ransom, Billups, T’Ana, and Shaxs handle things through their own lens has its charms. However, it’s still a frustrating episode because it spreads itself way too thin.
The T’Ana, Billups, and Ransom arcs do not have a lot of meat on their respective bones. And this is a flaw of the 24 minute format. That’s not enough time to do everything.
Ultimately, the best of “Upper Decks” involves Freeman. It should also involve Shaxs, but it doesn’t. Having Freeman’s emotional labor pay off as her crew coming together to save the day is good storytelling. It reminds us why Freeman is a good captain.
Shaxs, on the other hand, has a great story concept that comes up sadly short. Here we have a man still trapped by his own grief from the Cardassian occupation of Bajor. There’s a chance to show some consequences for that. Instead, the plot involves Shaxs defeating the Clickits when he thinks he is fighting his own demons. It all just happens to work out.
And then Dr. Migleemo suggests therapy and Shaxs says yes! I know Star Trek: Lower Decks is a comedy, but this feels comedy that works against the character, not with him. And that’s a shame.
“Upper Decks” Doesn’t Meet Lower Decks
I’m going to call out one more thing and then we can just be happy with the fun that is seeing Ransom sleep his way to victory. In the TNG episode “Lower Decks” part of the fun is seeing how ensigns view the senior staff—which is to say wildly out of character.
Getting an ensign’s eye view of our usual heroes gives us insight into how people in-universe see this world. What bums me out about “Upper Decks” is that the lower decks squad is barely in it. We don’t get to see them through the eyes of the senior staff. And that feels like a missed opportunity.
“Upper Decks” is still fun! There could’ve been a whole show about the Cerritos senior staff and it would’ve been good. But if “Upper Decks” proves anything, it’s that seeing things from the Lower Decks perspective is better.
A fun one-off experiment, “Upper Decks” just needed more time.
