Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 5 Episode 8 Review: Upper Decks

Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 5 Episode 8, “Upper Decks,” flips the narrative script, thrusting the senior officers of the U.S.S. Cerritos into the spotlight. It’s a delightful shakeup of the typical episodic format, although it feels a bit late in the game. 

Pumpkin Carving Party

“Upper Decks” cleverly cranks up the meta in its opening minutes, playing on the series-long running gag that all the interesting stuff happens to the lower deckers. I’ve always been intrigued by the idea of having an episode centered on the bridge crew. Thankfully, this outing knocks it out of the park. 

Even better, the five main storylines—Freeman, Ransom, T’Ana, Shaxs, and Billups—make sense, given these characters’ personalities. Naturally, Shaxs gets an intense PTSD-fueled episodic arc about his experience in the Battle of Tempasa. His plot is equal parts horror movie-inspired and full-throttle action. Fred Tatasciore is one of the best voice talents out there, and “Upper Decks” is a stellar showcase of his versatility. 

Unsurprisingly, T’Ana’s story is straight-up masochism that goes from zero to 100 in minutes. Gillian Vigman is another all-star voice artist. I can’t picture anyone else voicing our favorite Caitian. T’Ana also gets some killer one-liners in “Upper Decks.” Easily the most memorable is her interaction with a Clicket, in which she responds that she’s “set to kill” like the Clicket’s weapon. It has a badass, almost Western feel to it. 

Sousaphones and Compliments 

Ransom’s plot is simultaneously aligned with his character and somewhat unexpected. It’s indicative of how underestimated he is by the crew. Sure, he’s all about the gains, but Ransom is also quite intelligent. He intentionally stirs the pot with the lower deckers to get them to work together, even if it means they unite in their mutual hatred of him. 

Freeman’s arc provides some much-needed levity. It’s nice to see her deal with non-life-threatening tasks for a change (at least until the Clicket dilemma later on). While, to her, she’s tackling a “boring” daily checklist, for us, it’s a fun glimpse into her day-to-day as the captain. 

While watching Barnes play the sousaphone certainly falls under the “non-life-threatening” side of things, Billups’ adventure in “Upper Decks” is anything but that. Billups is interesting all on his own — he presents as a nerdy, awkward engineer who gets tummy aches from bagels (I know that game). However, when the chips are down, he transforms into a hero with courage in spades. These colors and layers make for a fascinating character. 

The Ship Doesn’t Fly Without Her Bridge Crew

“Upper Decks” is an entertaining, hilarious peek behind the curtain at the lives of the bridge crew. While our lower deckers were missed, it proves these characters can carry an episode on their own thanks to sharp, nuanced writing. Here’s hoping the senior officers will show up in something else Star Trek-related once Star Trek: Lower Decks (sobs) ends. 

Stray Observations: 

• Asking someone to stick their hand inside you and rearrange your guts sounds strangely intimate. Should we get HR involved?
• Of course Tendi knows more about Earth traditions than, you know, the Earthlings. The math checks out. 
• I didn’t have the sousaphone as a viable weapon on my 2024 bingo card, but Barnes proves it’s a combat must-have. 
• The Clickets are just like me — they can’t take a compliment. That’s a surefire way to defeat me. 
• As a Mythic Quest fan, I half-expected Meredith to yell “FIREBALL!” at any given moment. Charlotte Nicdao for the win. 
• The next episode is called “Fissure Quest,” so something tells me we’ll resolve that dimensional rift storyline. 
• If T’Lyn burned me as badly as she does at the end of the episode with that “Boom,” I’d simply cease to exist. 
• No soap flute playing this time, unfortunately, but pumpkin carving is a worthy substitute. 

What did you think of this episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Star Trek: Lower Decks drops new episodes every Thursday on Paramount+. 

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