In its last episode, Star Trek: Lower Decks offers up a new vision of the multiverse.
This article contains full spoilers for the finale ofStar Trek: Lower Decks.
To explore strange new worlds.
To seek out new life and new civilizations.
To boldly go where no one has gone before.
These words have always captured the central mission of not just the USSEnterprise, but alsoStar Trekitself.
As a product of the 1960s, it made sense thatThe Original Serieswould see space as the final frontier.
But like most things Boimler does, theres a bit of overstatement in his observation.
Quantum realities arent a whole new frontier, becauseStar Treks been going to alternate worlds since the 1960s.
Those are just explicit, in-cannon examples.
But is that a good thing?
Im so sick of the f___ing multiverse, he shouts in the penultimate episode, Fissure Quest.
According to him, the multiverse is just filled with stuff we know, albeit with surface level differences.
If theres any show guilty of too many references, itsLower Decks.
Throughout its five seasons, the series has gotten a lot of mileage out of call backs.
The show is a treasure trove for nerds who like to understand references.
Even better, the series applied that logic to legacy characters.
For the uninitiated, Nick Locarno was played by Robert Duncan McNeil in theTNGepisode The First Duty.
McNeil returned to the franchise inStar Trek: Voyager, this time as Lt. Tom Paris.
Now, actors have played multiple characters inTrekbefore (just ask Jeffery Combs!
The same could be said of most of the legacy characters thatLower Deckshas brought back.
Time and again,Lower Deckshas shown that multiverses dont need to be an empty gimmick.
They can be a genuine tool to build character and explore complex themes.
However, the title also points toward a possibility for the future ofStar Trek.
Lower Decksproved that references and callbacks can have meaning, as long as they put theme and character first.
A few Boimler freak outs might help too.
All five seasons of Star Trek: Lower Decks are streaming on Paramount+.
