A consultant arrives on the U.S.S. Cerritos to run drills that require the lower deckers and bridge crew to swap duties.

If ever any episode of Lower Decks was a Star Trek fan’s dream, this is the one. There’s just so many callouts to previous episodes that you could spend all day singling them out, but the joy is in experiencing them first-hand.

After the Cerritos leaves the lower deckers on a spacewalk for six hours (they were responding to an emergency call), the whole crew are subjected to evaluations to measure their competency. The twist is that the ensigns will be tested on command scenarios while the bridge crew are given mundane tasks.

And so we watch the individual lower decks team take part in holodeck recreations of The Naked Time (not what you expect), Mirror, Mirror, First Contact, The Wrath of Khan and more. Some are just throwaway lines, while Boimler’s Borg Encounter features a special guest star. Ultimately, both sides pull together and have a greater appreciation of the other’s role on the ship.

Verdict: I am Excretus of Borg! Not the most subtle of episodes, this reminds us of the wealth of stories in the Star Trek canon, any of which can be treated to a playful tease. 8/10

Nick Joy