STAR TREK: LOWER DECKS
SEASON 3, EPISODE 8
SEASON 3, EPISODE 8
Crisis Point II: Paradoxus
Series: Star Trek: Lower Decks - (2020 - 2024)Season: 3
Episode #: 8
Original Airdate: October 13th, 2022
Writer(s): Ben Rodgers
Director(s): Michael Mullen
Guest Stars
George Takei as Captain Hikaru Sulu
Fred Tatasciore as the Kzinti Ensign
Jessica McKenna as Ensign Barnes
Carl Tart as Ltjg. Kayshon
Mary Holland as Helena Gibson
Seth Morris as the Illustor
Leonardo Nam as an Australian Street Punk
Ben Rodgers as Lt. Cmdr. Steve Stevens
Ben Rodgers as Knicknac
Alice Wetterlund as the Melponar Triplets
Stardate: Unknown
Synopsis
The U.S.S. Cerritos is in the midst of battle with a Romulan ship. Suddenly, a team of Romulans beam on board to steal a technological wonder, and then the Romulans move in for the kill… only to be thwarted by the heroic crew of the U.S.S. Wayfarer, led by Captain Boimler! Or rather, Captain Dagger. Because this is, in fact, a holodeck simulation created by Boimler, who’s excited to share his action-packed holo-movie with Mariner, Tendi, and Rutherford. They’re all playing intrepid Wayfarer bridge crew members out to stop a dastardly plot. The stolen tech is a time travel device called the “chrono-gami,” and of course it’s up to the crew to get it back before terrible things happen!
Right before they’re about to dive into the action, Boimler is summoned by Ransom. He returns moments later looking notably disturbed, though he claims the meeting was menial. Mariner seems to notice something is wrong when Boimler fails to engage his character’s love interest, the improbably attractive designer of the chrono-gami who explains that the Romulans can use the device to change history.
The bridge crews of both the Wayfarer (Boimler, Mariner, Tendi, and Rutherford) and the Cerritos (Freeman, Shaxs, Ransom, T’Ana) track the Romulans to a desert planet, populated by computer-generated alien. Boimler appears disinterested until a cloaked man claims that “Kityha,” an all-knowing figure who resides on a forbidden moon, can reveal the meaning of life. Much to Mariner’s dismay, he’s drawn into the mystic’s ramblings while the rest of the crew goes off to pursues the Romulans, with Tendi as acting captain. After all, Boimler insists, the holodeck contains an adaptive program, which he believes could reveal answers about the meaning of life.
Tendi leads a thrilling pursuit of the Romulans but is too late to stop them from opening a portal to the past. So, of course, she leads the team (which now just consists of Rutherford and holo-versions of the Cerritos bridge crew) into the portal as well. The portal leads to a slime-covered world during an “algae crisis,” with a giant sentient octopus at the center of it all. As Tendi explains that the algae could wipe out every living creature, Rutherford takes a giant bite of a sandwich. Turns out, he’d gone out for a snack. Tendi is frustrated that he’s not taking the program seriously.
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Mariner tries to convince Boimler to return to the main story, but Boimler asks the mystic how to get to Kityha. The mystic reveals a literal meaning to “back story” by revealing a map on his literal back (of saggy old-man skin). All the while, an odd alien called Knickknack seems to have taken a liking to Boimler and follows him around. Irritated, Mariner storms out of the program. Later, she has a meeting with Ransom, who is impressed that she’s managed to stay out of trouble. Ransom then asks how Boimler is doing—turns out, Boimler’s transporter clone, William, died in a freak accident on board the U.S.S. Titan.
Meanwhile, Tendi and Rutherford’s adventures have taken them to an aquarium in late 20th century Sydney, where the Romulans are apparently after one of the sentient octopus’ ancestors. Some punks try to mess with the crew, which quickly dispatches them. Rutherford is excited to steal the punks’ clothes and play dress up, ignoring Tendi’s urgent requests to go after the Romulans.
Mariner reenters the program to find that Boimler’s story has led him to the brig—he’d tried to lead a crew of mystics in search of Kityha, but they turned against him. Mariner asks why Boimler didn’t tell her about William, and Boimler says he hasn’t processed it yet. It turns out, he’s been distracted by the random and meaningless nature of William’s death. Knickknack appears to break them out, and the three of them retake the ship. After knocking out the mystic, Boimler discovers that folding his skin reveals a different kind of map to Kityha.
Tendi and Rutherford are now at the founding of the Federation. For some reason, there’s a bomb, which Rutherford casually diffuses while Tendi tries to hold off the bad guys. Holo-T’Ana is killed, which seems to hit Tendi hard considering it’s all a program. Rutherford asks why she’s so upset, and Tendi exclaims that she’s afraid no one would believe in her as a real captain—and reveals she wants to be one someday. Rutherford excitedly says she’d be a great captain. He follows her lead as she finishes the movie by time traveling back to the Romulans’ original attack on the Cerritos but swapping the chrono-gami for the bomb, blowing up the enemy ship and saving the day.
Boimler and Mariner make it to the forbidden moon and find Kityha, a giant rock creature that spews inspirational quotes. Boimler keeps asking it for real answers, hoping the holodeck has somehow programmed some truth into it, growing increasingly panicked as it continues to speak nonsense. He then crawls into the creature, where he finds a plaque that shows that “Kityha” is short for Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, the site of the Wright Brothers’ first flight… a reveal that makes literally no sense.
Boimler blacks out then comes to at a farm in Idaho, which appears to belong to Kirk. However, it’s Captain Sulu who is tending to the horses in the barn. Sulu advises Boimler not to worry so much about the meaning of things, because it will keep him from finding joy. Boimler comes to in sick bay—turns out, he’d become dehydrated and passed out in the holodeck.
It seems all’s well that ends well as Boimler accepts William’s death and Tendi and Rutherford talk about how much fun they had, and how glad they are that there wasn’t some dark cliffhanger…
… which of course leads to a dark cliffhanger, where William is shown waking up in an unknown part of space and joining Section 31.
Trailer
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