Star Trek: Lower Decks gave Jack Quaid's Bradward Boimler another pip, and if the previous episode wasn't enough evidence he's getting in his head about his recent promotion, this exclusive clip from "Empathalogical Fallacies" seen above will drive the point home. Boimler is, as he tends to do, getting obsessed over the idea that he has to memorize the names of every member of the Cerritos. Rutherford is concerned about his friend and secretly calls Shax about "The Program."
What precisely that program is, we don't know. What we do know is that there is a trio of Betazoids on the ship, and the Cerritos crew is putting on a party for them. As is often the case in this franchise, and likely every upcoming Trek series in the future, there's trouble that sparks up while the visitors are on the ship. As for who is to blame, the synopsis seemingly points a finger at the Star Trek series' guests:
A trio of Betazoids cause chaos on the Cerritos.
How much trouble could three Betazoids cause? I'll leave that for the episode to answer because I'm way more invested in hearing about this mysterious program involving Shax. Since the series' beginning, he's been one of Star Trek: Lower Decks' more mysterious and enigmatic characters, so him receiving more screen time in Season 4 will be a real treat.
Amidst whatever chaos awaits the Starfleet crew in "Empathalogical Fallacies," there's still one big looming mystery floating through space and destroying every ship that it comes in contact with. As for what's on the way, and presumably on an eventual crash course with the Cerritos, we still aren't any closer to answers, though I do hope we get some soon. I guess it wouldn't hurt to have Boimler feel a bit more secure in his promotion as Lieutenant, junior grade, assuming that's something that will ever be a possibility.
The stakes in Star Trek: Lower Decks feel bigger than ever, so I guess that crossover with Strange New Worlds rubbed off on it in more ways than one. That shouldn't be a surprise given the way the series is made to emulate the live-action shows that the stakes would eventually even with the humor. We're still missing the f-bombs that the live-action shows let fly, but many fans have expressed they don't necessarily need swearing in Star Trek for it to be successful.
Catch the premiere of Star Trek: Lower Decks' "Empathalogical Fallacies" with a Paramount+ subscription this Thursday. If you're a Trek fan and don't currently have a subscription to check out the vast library of shows and movies available for fans to watch whenever they want, then I truly have to question your logic in the same way a stunned Vulcan would.
