The penultimate episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks’ final season is set to drop on Thursday the 12th. The episode is entitled “Fissure Quest,” alluding to some major reveals about the quantam fissures the crew of the U.S.S. Cerritos has been encountering all season.
The promo images for the episode as well as the IMDB page reveal that fans will finally get to see the gaggle of Harry Kims and find out what they’re up to. And an exclusive clip given to Game Rant by Paramount+, hints at the potential for a big reveal.
Watch the Exclusive Clip
This exclusive clip from “Fissure Quest,” the ninth episode of Lower Decks’ final season, shows the Lower Deckers at their favorite booth at the Cerritos’ bar. Lieuntenant Junior Grade Rutherford is having trouble with his Occulus, the cybernetic implant that enhances his vision, improves his cognitive processing, and unfortunately, changes his behavior sometimes.
As a refresher, Rutherford got the implant as part of an effort to wipe his memory after he worked on an illegal project during his time at Starfleet Academy. The implant is also prone to weird malfunctions, often at very inconvenient times, which is exactly what happens in “Fissure Quest.” His Occulus suddenly shoots a burst of plasma across the table, nearly taking out Lieutenant Junior Grade Boimler. He ducks just in time to ensure only his hair is singed.
After Boimler assures his friends he’s fine, Mariner makes an offhand comment about not killing Boimler since he’s the only Boimler they have left.
Will William Boimler Return?
Diehard Lower Decks fans will probably guess that her comment is a reference to William Boimler, the transporter clone of Bradward Boimler. Way back in season 3, Bradward Boimler found out that William Boimler had died when neurocine gas leaked into his quarters aboard the U.S.S. Titan.
But fans know that isn’t really what happened. William Boimler was actually recruited by the Starfleet Black Ops division, Section 31. The organization faked his death, launched his body into space inside a torpedo, retrieved the torpedo, and revived him. William Boimler then received his special black combadge, the kind worn only by Section 31 operatives, and that was the last fans saw of him.
Since fans found out that this is the final season of Lower Decks, they’ve been speculating about whether William Boimler’s story will get a proper ending and whether Bradward will find out his clone is actually alive. Fans on Reddit have come up with numerous theories about how William Boimler could plausibly return, ranging from William being tied to what’s happening with the quantam fissures to William Boimler swapping with Bradward Boimler in the Prime Universe.
The subtle reference to Boimler’s transporter clone could be a hint that he is, in fact, returning in the penultimate episode. Or it could just be the kind of random callback that Star Trek: Lower Decks makes all the time. To find out for sure, fans will have to tune in to the second to last episode, which releases on Paramount+ tomorrow, December 12th.