Everybody loves Grampa Joe’s Creole restaurant and it is certainly something that made me extremely happy to see. The third and most recent season of Lower Decks is here, soon enough I’ll have to find something else to talk about in 9 weeks unless we somehow get a surprise drop of season 4 in that time. I doubt it. Though let’s get to talking about Chris Kula’s third episode “Grounded.”

After Carol was arrested for acts of terrorism against the Pakled people by blowing up their planet (Pakled Planet) the crew of the Cerritos was grounded until further notice. After Mariner had a heart-to-heart with her mother, finally connecting to show understanding and care for each other, you can tell she’s holding it together. She has only broken several hundred TVs and smashed a couple of thousand plant pots. With everyone grounded, we get to see what everyone looks like out of uniform and what they do when they are not in space.

Samanthan wears a very 80s/early 90s jumper and I love how horrible it looks as he and Tendi hang out at Sisko’s. The aforementioned Mariner breaks stuff and looks great, and Bradward dresses like Julian, ignoring sexual advances by Leanne who’s covered in juices from Brad’s family vineyard. I’ll be the perv and help Leanne, Mandolina, and Genevieve get naked. We can all do that together preferably on some hay or by a bed. I don’t mind being canceled as long as I get to clean off all those juices. You are a young man of age and they are attractive women, stop being prudish about it and live your life.

Under the fantastic advice of Beckett, the lower deckers are reassembled like those people that took out Grimace’s cousin over some stones and plot to free Captain Freeman. The only trouble is, they need evidence. Evidence that is on the Cerritos which is in a dry dock and they don’t know exactly where or how to get there. Cue Rutherford being the engineer that knows where and maybe a how. The trouble is, some of that how includes knocking out a lovely old man who offers Werther’s Originals and mends transporters all day long.

Is “Grounded” a brilliant episode that is, for lack of a better term, groundbreaking? No. Is it maybe the best of Kula’s work alongside “Kayshon, His Eyes Open?” Yeah, it is about there on the scale of best episodes to worst. I think what puts “Grounded” over the edge for me is the references and wrapping up of the Pakled story arc. Make no mistake, like all ratings and ranked lists, my preferences are superficial and should mean as much to you as someone’s tweets.

There is a lot going on between stealing rocket rides, threatening to harm a lovely old man, pregnant aliens saving the day by giving birth, and the charges being dropped on Freeman. That last bit is due to the Pakleds themselves plotting the whole thing and faking the single piece of evidence showing Freeman transporting the bomb. See, this is what I was on about last season with Brad being away and the crew feeling as if they were disjointed. We spent too much time trying to get back to normal for the type of show Lower Decks happens to be. A quick hard reset, and we’re back on the road.

Ultimately, it is difficult to say “Grounded” is a great episode, the likes of which we only see in episodes 10, 10, and 10 of each season. Oh and 5 this season which I’m probably going to give a sextillion out of 10 for obvious reasons. Putting a nice little bow on a simple small story like the Pakleds does enough for me when there are fun references and character developments throughout. Sure, it isn’t bold and basically does Alien again after Brad gets upset at a Ferengi-made Klingon-based D&D resulting in him being hunted by a Scooby Doo villain for sport, but it is fun.

Phenixx Gaming is everywhere you are. Follow us on Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.

Also, if you’d like to join the Phenixx Gaming team, check out our recruitment article for details on working with us.

Phenixx Gaming is proud to be a Humble Partner! Purchases made through our affiliate links support our writers and charity!

Star Trek: Lower Decks "Grounded"

8

Score

8.0/10

Pros

• Why do we need a bridge?
• Lots of references and tying bows.
• Let me be the letch!
• Soundtrack.

Cons

• Gavin. Just Gavin.