8 Ups & 1 Down For Star Trek: Lower Decks 5.8: Upper Decks
4. UP — Ransom's R.E.M. Remedy
There's sleeping on the job, and there's sleeping on the job as part of your job. That is, at least, part of Ransom's unusual leadership style this week. Ransom? Unusual? What's next? Blue Orions? The point being — in amongst all the bravado, the weightlifting, and the 'mad gains,' the commander isn't the inattentive idiot he makes himself out to be. It's all a ruse… with (not-so-)dumbbells!
Ransom has had an odd journey this season. In The Best Exotic Nanite Hotel, you'd be forgiven for thinking he couldn't care less about the wellbeing of those he is responsible for. Boimler found that out the down-the-hard-slope way! A lot of the rest for Ransom has been talking about his quads and glutes. No change there!
Refreshing, then, to see this side of the first officer a bit more. His style might be a smidge unorthodox — i.e., pretending to take a nap in the middle of an alien invasion — but no one can argue it doesn't get results. He clearly does care about the Lower Deckers, too. Sometimes, it's just better to appear to be sleeping and let everyone think you're a Doofus, than to drop the dumbbells and remove all doubt.