We Have to Talk About the Best Moment in This Week’s Lower Decks

There’s a batch to emotion successful this week’s episode of Lower Decks. The penultimate occurrence of the amusement acceptable the signifier for what could beryllium 1 of the all-time large conclusions to a Star Trek show, 1 packed with imaginable crossed the committee to present a rousing rejoinder to a batch of what has made the amusement truthful bully crossed these 5 seasons. But adjacent if the amusement someway manages to whiff it close astatine the last frontier, I volition everlastingly beryllium grateful for what this week’s occurrence gave my queer small heart.

“Fissure Quest” instantly hits you with a boatload of Trek geekery, whether it’s really wrong the storytelling of Lower Decks itself (the instrumentality of Boimler’s transporter duplicate William, who’s present a Section 31 operative captaining his ain starship connected a reality-hopping ngo to prevention the multiverse!) oregon wrong the chaotic cameos it conscionable drops retired of nowhere. William’s unit of multiversal Trek characters includes a veritable service of ensigns Harry Kim (plus 1 lieutenant, each voiced by Voyager‘s Garrett Wang), a mentation of Curzon Dax from Deep Space Nine, wherever the Dax symbiont had yet to beryllium passed connected to Jadzia arsenic it would beryllium successful the prime Trek timeline, and different alternate successful the signifier of Enterprise‘s T’Pol (Jolene Blalock making a uncommon instrumentality to acting and an adjacent rarer instrumentality to Star Trek astatine large) who got her blessed ending with Trip.

But the biggest astonishment for maine astatine slightest were William’s aesculapian officers: an Elim Garak from a world wherever helium joined Starfleet and enactment those tailoring hands to country work, and a Medical Hologram of Julian Bashir, presumably from a world wherever the events of Deep Space Nine‘s “Doctor Bashir, I Presume” really played retired well. That’s already delightful enough, particularly arsenic some Andrew Robinson and Alexander Siddig instrumentality to reprise their respective characters for the archetypal clip connected TV successful decades. But it’s besides delightful for however William introduces them successful his log: they’re married. At agelong last, adjacent if it’s alternate versions of them, determination exists a portion of Star Trek TV that has Garak and Bashir arsenic husbands.

© Paramount

Deep Space Nine fans person long-shipped the plain, elemental tailor and DS9’s CMO—the chemistry of their narration connected the amusement was electrical from the infinitesimal Julian and Garak met, the allure of the enigma successful Garak’s past and Bashir’s all-too-eager curiosity providing premier worldly for fans to work a queer interpretation into. Although Deep Space Nine ne'er textually went there, adjacent arsenic it brushed up against the then-perceived-taboo of queer relationships successful different areas, determination was ever thing successful the duo that sparked that romanticist chemistry. It’s 1 that some Robinson and Siddig person been anxious to enactment themselves since Deep Space Nine concluded, discussing the narration astatine instrumentality conventions and however they’d both, astatine times, tried to propulsion their performances arsenic if determination was the imaginable for thing betwixt the 2 there, adjacent if the substance would yet ne'er spell that far. Robinson adjacent went connected to constitute several Star Trek novels astir Garak, touching connected the character’s queerness—even if not explicitly with Bashir.

Lower Decks could’ve conscionable near it astatine that. “Fissure Quest” surely has capable going connected that it could’ve taken the triumph of calling Garak and Bashir husbands and moving connected with its myriad different concerns, but alternatively it gives the mates abstraction to actually be a couple. They get clip to interact and beryllium tender with each other. Hell, they arguably get 1 of sweetest affectional arcs of the episode, playing with its wider musings connected the conception of the multiverse to declaratively underline that careless of what differing realities they travel from, and wherever they yet settee aft their ngo is over, their location is wrong each other. It’s besides perfectly Garak and Bashir successful that this decision comes aft the erstwhile spends overmuch of the occurrence arguing with the second astir whether oregon not they’ll unrecorded successful his beingness oregon Julian’s—because, arsenic Garak lovingly tells his hubby successful the climax, he’s ever loved arguing with him.

It conscionable makes everything I’ve seen successful these characters since watching DS9 arsenic a queer teen myself really portion of Star Trek successful immoderate tiny way, aft years of wondering what could’ve been. For each the involvement successful its ain past Star Trek has had successful its streaming renaissance—from the allure of aesthetic and structural nostalgia successful bid similar Strange New Worlds, to Picard‘s continuation of The Next Generation‘s stories and characters, to Lower Decks‘ ain nerdy emotion of what Star Trek is some wrong and without its text—the thought of it utilizing that to springiness queer fans the mates that ne'er was (even if it’s not “our” Garak and Bashir) for a little infinitesimal was thing I ne'er expected, fto unsocial arsenic Lower Decks stared down the phaser-tip of its ain end. There’s a batch I’m grateful the amusement did implicit its 5 seasons, but careless of however it comes to an extremity adjacent week, I’ll ever beryllium gladsome it gave a small of itself to 1 of Deep Space Nine‘s champion relationships, and did it queer justness it ever deserved.

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