2 Surprising Characters From The Multiverse May Have Swapped Places

Warning: spoilers ahead for Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 5, Episode 1, “Dos Cerritos.”With the fifth and final season of Star Trek: Lower Decks underway, the Season 5 premiere ends with a brilliant tease that could mean a permanent multiversal character change has been made. THE Star Trek: Lower Decks The Season 5 cast won’t be reuniting when the finale hits Paramount+ on December 19, 2024 — at least not in the current context. Therefore, if the change in question occurred, it would make sense for the show to reverse the process before the last episode. Otherwise, could be a huge turning point Lower decks and the general Star Trek canon.

There are many cases of multiversal adventures throughout the world. Star Trek timeline, although it is a science fiction trope that is still used much less than others. Starting with Star Trek: The Original Series Season 2 Episode 4 ‘Mirror, Mirror’ alternate reality episodes have been some of the franchise’s best offerings. While they can often be standalone adventures, recent occurrences have caused the Early Universe to experience the lasting impact of colliding with another reality – which could very well be the case with Lower decks.

Both versions of T’Lyn may have been switched in Star Trek: Lower Decks, season 5, episode 1

The moment shared by the Lower Decks crew may have a sneaky tone

Lower decks season 5 immediately throws audiences into a multiverse episode. The adventure isn’t the franchise’s usual approach, as alternate versions of the USS Cerritos crew exhibit a 0.237% quantum variation. Simply put – they are very, very similar. Due to their nearly identical nature, it can be tricky to tell the difference between two characters’ respective counterparts. At the end of the episode with the dimensional rift closed the Lower decks the crew is briefly shocked when T’Lyn says “Remarkable“ instead of his usual holophrastic expression of “Fascinating.” It may seem innocuous, but it could mean something big.

The moment is played out when T’Lyn allows herself to be influenced by her non-Vulcan crewmates, jokingly leading them to believe that she is not the original T’Lyn. After the revelation, they all laugh, but T’Lyn’s close-up can be interpreted two ways – she is pleased that her joke was well received or relieved that she covered up her mistake in saying “Remarkable” instead of “Fascinating.” In other words, the T’Lyn at the end of Lower decks season 1, episode 5, “Dos Cerritos” may actually be the other USS Cerritos’ version.

Lower Decks Quietly Sets Up T’Lyn’s Perfectly Undetectable Character Switch

Both T’Lyns are almost impossible to tell apart

Both T’Lyns are nearly indistinguishable, and the only notable visual clue is that their uniforms are a slightly different shade of blue. Thus, unlike characters like Rutherford and Shax – whose counterparts are noticeably different – T’Lyns’ trading locations would be difficult to detect with the naked eye. “Dos Cerritos” capitalizes on this by presenting a tense plot where the Prime Mariner is unwittingly (and unsuccessfully) swapped with his alternate self. However, this could all have been a narrative diversion into a secret T’Lyn exchange.

The aforementioned final scene of the episode is the biggest piece of evidence to support this theory. At the beginning of the episode, the T’Lyns have a brief exchange that reveals their respective preferences in word usage “Fascinating” and “Remarkable.” Why Vulcans are generally not great liarsIt is not unreasonable to believe that alternative T’Lyn made a genuine mistake when she said “Remarkable” instead of “Fascinating” and was forced to rely on her error to hide the subterfuge.

Star Trek: Lower Decks Final Season Doesn’t Need to Swap T’Lyn Back

Other Star Trek characters crossed over to other realities and stayed there

If the T’Lyns truly switched places, Lower decks it doesn’t need to return them to their original universes before the end – or even return them at all. While the twist may be revealed in future episodes, it may not have been a non-consensual deal like the Beckett/Becky swap attempt. Instead of, Both T’Lyns may have quietly agreed to trade realities out of pure intellectual interest. Vulcans don’t tend to form emotional attachments in the same way as other species, so it would be easier for each of them to settle into their new homes for a long period of time.

Star Trek has a precedent for allowing characters to permanently cross over into other realities. The most prominent example is Michelle Yeoh’s Philippa Georgiou, whose mirror universe quickly became an important part of the Star Trek: Discoverythe story. Similarly, Leonard Nimoy’s Spock remained in JJ Abram’s 2009 Kelvin Timeline Star Trek film onwards. Then, Star Trek: Lower Decks Allowing the other T’Lyn to stay wouldn’t be new.