Summary
Last week’s episode ofStar Trek: Lower Decks’fifth season marked the halfway point of the show’s final season. AsStar Trekfans prepare to say goodbye to their favorite Lower Deckers, everyone’s curious about how their story will wrap up, and a close look at the titles of the season’s remaining episodes gives some interesting clues.
Lower Deckshas offered Trekkies a view of theStar Trekuniverse they’ve rarely seen. Inspired by an episode ofStar Trek: The Next Generationof the same name,Lower Deckssought to show what it was like to be on a Federation starship that wasn’t out saving the galaxy, crewed by regular members of Starfleet, not its superstars. The show also set itself apart by making its main characters the little people on the ship, aka the Lower Deckers, not the bridge crew. The result has been a hilarious, heartwarming story about growing up in Starfleet that is thoroughlyStar Trekin a completely different way than previous series in the franchise.
Since the final season is only halfway through, fans don’t have details about how the Lower Deckers' stories will end quite yet. But the titles of two of the final five episodes, recently added toIMDB, hint that the Lower Deckers are headed to places they’ve never been before. Episode 8, “Upper Decks” and the final episode, “The New Next Generation,” seem to imply that the Lower Deckers' days as Lieutenants Jr. Grade are limited, and maybe their time on the Cerritos is as well.
From Lower Decks to Upper Decks
One of the things that makesLower Decksso endearing, and hilarious, is its focus on four awkward,bumbling Lower Deckers. Instead of watching eminently competent Starfleet veterans weave their way through complicated scenarios,Lower Decksshows the everyday drama of starship repairs, holodeck clean up duty, and D-list away missions where everything that can go wrong does go wrong. Instead of watching how space exploration spurs personal growth in mature adults,Lower Decksshows how inexperienced, naive young adults become the confident, capable, dignified officers every otherStar Trekshow has featured.
Lower Deckers to Upper Deckers is a perfect metaphor for the journey fans have watched Becket Mariner, Bradward Boimler, Sam Rutherford, and D’Vana Tendi undertake in thepast four seasons. Together, the foursome has gone from insecure ensigns muddling through each of their assignments to proficient Lieutenants Jr. Grade, (mostly) confident in their skills and trusted by the other members of their crew. And in the spirit ofStar Trek, they’ve done so by loving and supporting each other through every challenge.
The episode title “Upper Decks” suggests that in this final season, fans will get to see the culmination of all their efforts. This could come in the form of promotions to full Lieutenants and more complex assignments. Ending the show with the Lower Deckers literally moving out of the lower decks onto theupper decks of the ship, and metaphorically, into their futures, would be the perfect way to wrap up their stories.
The New Next Generation
WhenTNGpremiered, it represented more than a return of the beloved franchise to the airwaves. It was symbolic ofGene Roddenberry’s vision of the futureliving on. It embodied the idea that the “mission to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before” was bigger than one crew. It represented the original crew of the Enterprise passing the baton to, literally, the next generation of space explorers.
The title of theLower Decksfinale seems to be a nod to this tradition of succession. “The New Next Generation” may be a hint that the Lower Deckers, who may not be Lower Deckers by the finale, are headed off to more prestigious postings on other starships. They could become members of one of those crews that the franchise has always followed – the ones out there saving the galaxy.
No matter where they’re headed, the Lower Deckers are the people who will carry the ideals of the Federation into the future, and it looks likeStar Trekfans will get to watch as the baton gets passed to them.
New episodes ofStar Trek: Lower Decksair every Thursday on Paramount+ with the series finale available on Thursday, December 19th.
