Star Trek: Lower Decks: The Promotion
It’s a small thing—a single pip added on their uniform collars, and a title change from Ensign to Lieutenant Jr. Grade. But Lower Decks opening its fourth season with this long-awaited recognition of how far its characters had come over the show was not just vital for that recognition, it also unlocked a season of stories that let the show push them in fascinating directions as they learned to grapple with even the slightest bit of new authority. In a show that had felt reticent to change too much in prior seasons, it was a moment for the show to begin closing one chapter and starting another.
