Captain Boimler: Star Trek Just Set Up The Future Of Jack Quaid’s Starfleet Hero

Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 4 Finale – “Old Friends, New Planets”

Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4’s finale showed Lieutenant Brad Boimler’s (Jack Quaid) perfect future as Captain Boimler. Lower Decks season 4’s conclusion, “Old Friends, New Planets,” saw the USS Cerritos commit an insurrection from Starfleet in order to rescue Lieutenant Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome), who was trapped in the Detrion System by disgraced ex-Starfleet Cadet Nicholas Locarno (Robert Duncan McNeill). Locarno was Lower Decks season 4’s big bad, and Nick tried to style himself as the leader of an armada called Nova Fleet by using a stolen Ferengi Genesis Device as insurance.

Ensign Brad Boimler began Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4 still riding high from his life-changing experience of meeting Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) and the crew of the USS Enterprise in the 23rd century. Boimler and Mariner time traveled in Lower Decks’ crossover with Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2, where they met their heroes Captain Pike, Lt. Spock (Ethan Peck), Number One (Rebecca Romijn), and Ensign Nyota Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding). Boimler actually concocted his way back to the 24th century by figuring out how to reactivate a time portal and, despite his screw-ups, Bradward made a positive impression on Captain Pike. As someone who dreams of commanding a starship, Boimler was inspired by his time in “the golden age of exploration,” and his heroics saving the USS Voyager garnered Brad a promotion to Lieutenant, junior grade, in Lower Decks season 4’s premiere, “Twovix.”

Lower Decks Just Showed Boimler’s Future As Captain

Boimler’s first command of the USS Cerritos was a big success.

Lieutenant Brad Boimler became Acting Captain Boimler in Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4’s finale, and he succeeded magnificently in his first taste of starship command. Boimler took over the bridge of the Cerritos so that Captain Carol Freeman (Dawnn Lewis) could personally lead Mariner’s rescue mission aboard her Captain’s Yacht. Boimler’s mission was to use the Cerritos’ tractor beam to tow a massive Orion battleship and hurl it into Nick Locarno’s Trynar Shield. The gambit worked and broke the shield down long enough for Freeman’s Captain’s Yacht to slip through and save Mariner.

Boimler dreamed about becoming a starship captain ever since he was inspired to join Starfleet by a recruitment poster featuring Number One and her motto, “Ad Astra Per Aspera,” as Bradward revealed in the Strange New Worlds crossover. Boimler has role-played as a starship captain on the holodeck, but Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4 finale let him command for real. Despite Brad’s overeager ways, desire to please, and his neurotic tendencies, he has a palpable love and encyclopedic knowledge of Starfleet. Boimler is destined to be a starship captain one day, and he shows signs of being a great one.

T’Lyn Is The Perfect Spock To Boimler’s Captain Kirk

A great starship Captain needs a Vulcan First Officer.

It was apparent in Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4 that Lt. Brad Boimler gels very nicely with the USS Cerritos’ new Vulcan, Lieutenant T’Lyn (Gabrielle Ruiz), and together, they display vibes reminiscent of Spock (Leonard Nimoy) and Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) in Star Trek: The Original Series. In Lower Decks season 4’s finale, T’Lyn slid smoothly into the Spock role at the right hand of Acting Captain Boimler.

Lt. T’Lyn has been a brilliant addition to Star Trek: Lower Decks, and she chose to remain aboard the Cerritos in the season 4 finale. T’Lyn is on her own journey of reassessing herself as a Vulcan among the loud and excitable Starfleet Officers of the Cerritos, and it’s evident she is an ideal balance for Brad Boimler. One can only guess what Boimler and T’Lyn’s futures will be in Star Trek: Lower Decks, but if Captain Boimler ever commands a starship, T’Lyn would be a logical choice to be his First Officer.

Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4 is available to stream on Paramount+.