By [ad_1]
As Boimler begins to question why he joined Starfleet, he endures one of Star Trek’s oldest tropes in the latest episode of Lower Decks.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 2, Episode 2 “Kayshon, His Eyes Open,” streaming now on Paramount+.
The Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 1 finale concluded with Ensign Brad Boimler being promoted to Lieutenant and transferred to serve on the bridge crew for the U.S.S. Titan under Captain William Riker. And as Boimler’s time on the Titan comes to an end at the start of Lower Decks Season 2, the young Starfleet officer’s return to the U.S.S. Cerritos is caused by one of Star Trek‘s oldest plot tropes resurfacing: A transporter malfunction that accidentally creates a visibly more assertive duplicate that quickly proves to be more popular than the normal Boimler.
Boimler creating a duplicate of himself is foreshadowed earlier in Season 2’s second episode “Kayshon, His Eyes Open,” as Boimler reflects on Riker’s exploits, on the U.S.S. Enterprise. Boimler recounts to his crew mates that before being assigned to the Enterprise, Riker endured a transporter malfunction that created a duplicate of himself. Taking on the name Thomas Riker, this duplicate resurfaced in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as a more impulsive version of his counterpart, leading to his eventual capture. And shortly after sharing this story about their commanding officer, Boimler endures a similar fate as he escapes from the attacking Pakleds.
As the Pakleds break through Starfleet’s defenses as Boimler leads an undercover investigation on a mining colony, Boimler is able to contact the Titan in time to beam out his crew mates. However, as Boimler himself is being beamed out, the console he is working from is shot and explodes. The Titan seemingly beams back their bridge officer soon thereafter without any hiccups, only to be shocked when a duplicate Boimler approaches the starship on a shuttlecraft. Having experienced something similar before, Riker is more amused than concerned by the development but reveals that Starfleet will only allow one of them to serve on the Titan to avoid confusion. The more assertive Boimler opts to remain with Riker and takes on the name William while a dejected Brad Boimler returns to the Cerritos as an ensign.
The idea of transporter malfunctions creating duplicates stretches further back than Riker and Boimler’s own mishaps. One of the early episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series, “The Enemy Within,” had a strange mineral substance temporarily affecting the transporters on the Enterprise and causing Captain James T. Kirk to get his own violent duplicate roaming the ship’s halls. And in contrast to Boimler and Riker’s duplicates, Kirk and his duplicate needed to bond back together through the repaired transporter before both iterations of the captain die from the physical separation from one another.
Just as it took a familiar face from The Next Generation to take Brad Boimler off the Cerritos, it took a well-worn trope from the franchise to bring him back to his old ship and friends. And while the Titan is off on its usual, high-importance missions to keep the Federation safe, another version of Boimler is still out there, enjoying the promotion that the original had sought for much of his career while Brad Boimler has reaffirmed why he joined up with Starfleet in the first place, to be more of a scientist and explorer than a soldier, as cool as the constant space battles could be.
Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 2 is now streaming on Paramount+, with new episodes premiering every Thursday.
About The Author
[ad_2]
