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Mariner repurposes Boimler’s holodeck program to cast herself as the villain in a “lower decks”-style movie: Crisis Point.
The Memory Alpha plot summary for “Crisis Point”:
On the surface of a planet, a huge statue of a rat alien is toppled by a group of lizard-aliens with the help of Ensign Beckett Mariner, who proudly exclaims that they will no longer be subject to “rat oppression”. The leader, who is in shackles, protests, saying that the lizard aliens are not oppressed as Mariner claims, and that they’re only raised for food. Mariner says that the lizard aliens should be free to do what they want, and tells the rat alien leader that once Captain Carol Freeman arrives, she will only support what Mariner has done, despite her normally being disappointed in Mariner. Freeman beams down, and tells Mariner to stand down. She says that due to the Prime Directive, Starfleet is forbidden to interfere in the politics of the planet, and that they are free to determine their future without their help. Mariner is angered by this, and begins to badmouth Freeman’s decision. Freeman takes her aside and tells her that she should have brought the issue of the rats eating the lizards to her attention, rather than act on her own accord. Mariner gets even more frustrated with this response, and Freeman warns her that if she weren’t her daughter, she would have been kicked off the USS Cerritos. Mariner just continues to argue that because she’s her daughter, she treats her like a “bitch” all the time.
On the Cerritos, Mariner sits in Dr. Migleemo’s office. Migleemo notes that Mariner’s file is full of insubordination, and Mariner simply expresses frustration at being in counseling, preferring to be in the brig. Migleemo says that Freeman wants them to meet weekly, and that he hopes they can find a way to make her a better officer that Freeman knows Mariner can be. Mariner once more protests that she’d rather be in the brig, and Migleemo says that Mariner needs an outlet for her rage, and suggests attempting to make paella.
The Cerritos arrives at Idlocana VI, and Boimler informs Freeman that the planet’s selenium rings are disrupting the sensors of the ship. Shaxs then detects a hostile ship decloaking, and Freeman orders for the shields to be raised. At that time, a vessel which aappears to be a an advanced Klingon Bird-of-Prey decloaks, and hails the Cerritos. Onscreen, Mariner is seen in the attire of a space marauder. She introduces herself to the bridge crew as “Vindicta: vengeance personified”, playing her role in an over-the-top maniacal persona. She also introduces her henchmen, played by Tendi and Rutherford: Tendi is playing herself as a stereotypical Orion warrior queen, with a deep heritage of piracy, and Rutherford is playing a cyborg named Bionic 5. What would have been Boimler’s role is instead being played by someone named Shempo, who is little more than a submissive version of Boimler.
Recovering from the crash, Freeman orders a complete evacuation of any surviving crew on the Cerritos, and says that she will keep ship functions online for as long as possible. As she wishes the crew well, Mariner confronts her and taunts her for faking her loving captain role, to which Freeman angrily says she is not faking.
In this episode of the podcast, Wes and Clay discuss “Crisis Point” and why Mariner is the heart and soul of Lower Decks. Plus! The guys talk about the walking-back of Boimler, sneaky marijuana references, and balancing Star Trek and cynicism.