WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 1, Episode 9, "Crisis Point," now streaming on CBS All Access.
In the latest episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks, "Crisis Point," Brad Boimler loads a very special program into the U.S.S. Cerritos' holodeck. Boimler has an interview coming up with Captain Freeman, where he hopes to be selected for a workshop in diplomacy. His program recreates a full simulation of the Cerritos and its crew members, and Boimler intends on using it to learn everything about the Captain before his actual interview.
The program is created from Starfleet's own files on each individual aboard the ship, which means it recreates the crew members perfectly. But while Boimler intends to use this to better his chances for his interview, he ends up learning the biggest secret aboard the Cerritos.
Although Boimler loads his holodeck program in order to prepare for his interview with Captain Freeman, he is quickly hijacked by Mariner, who uses the simulation to drop herself and her fellow Ensigns in the middle of an explosive Star Trek film. As a result, Tendi, Rutherford and Mariner take on new cinematic roles as part of the simulation, while Boimler tries his best to remain himself and get the answers he so desperately needs for his interview.
It's only when the Crisis Point movie reaches its conclusion -- when Mariner gets the revelation she needs -- that the simulation comes to an end. But Boimler heads back into his program by himself one last time, and it's there that he hears the simulated Captain Freeman reveal that Beckett Mariner is her daughter.
Boimler is left completely shocked by the news because, as it turns out, no one aboard the Cerritos knows the Captain and Mariner are related. At the end of the first episode of the series, viewers learned of this familial bond, but it was never openly spoken of by the rest of the crew throughout the rest of the season. However, only now has it become clear that it was because no one knew about it.
Now, Boimler has learned the truth, and he doesn't handle it extremely well. The programmed version of the Captain says she would fire and possibly court-martial anyone who knew of this relationship and this, understandably, freaks him out. As a result, Boimler can barely hold it together during his interview, and he ends up tanking. For the moment, Boimler keeps the secret to himself, but it's bound to change his relationship with Mariner. This is a huge revelation for him to stumble upon, especially as the series heads into its season finale next week.
Streaming on CBS All Access, Star Trek: Lower Decks stars Tawny Newsome as Ensign Beckett Mariner, Eugene Cordero as Ensign Rutherford, Jack Quaid as Ensign Brad Boimler, Noël Wells as Ensign Tendi, Dawnn Lewis as Captain Carol Freeman, Jerry O'Connell as Commander Jack Ransom, Gillian Vigman as Doctor T'Ana and Fred Tatasciore as Lieutenant Shaxs.