Moopsy! The second episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4, “I Have No Bones Yet I Must Flee,” was written by Aaron Burdette and directed by Megan Lloyd.
A Romulan ship de-cloaks somewhere in space. A pair of crewmembers clean up the torture room after some Remans have been tortured. One of them hints she’s betraying the captain. But then the other says his plans to betray the captain will come to fruition first. The pair begin to argue but are interrupted by an alert.
On the bridge, the captain complains that Reman juice never comes out. They come across the same mysterious ship from the last scene of “Twovix.” The pattern established there repeats here. The mysterious ship emits a beam of light. Afterward, what appears to be debris from the Romulan ship is left behind.
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“I Have No Bones Yet I Must Flee”
On the USS Cerritos, Shaxs (Fred Tatasciore) and Jack Ransom (Jerry O’Connell) work out in familiar outfits. Newly promoted Lieutenant Junior Grade Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome) enters and overhears Ransom’s comments. Ransom says he has Mariner “right where he wants her” and that she “won’t be his problem for long.” Mariner leaves unseen. Ransom turns the conversation to hot fudge sundaes.
In the former Beta Shift sleeping quarters, Lt. J-Gs Bradward Boimler (Jack Quaid) and D’Vana Tendi (Noël Wells) place their Easter egg-laden personal belongings into crates. Meanwhile, Ensign Samanthan Rutherford (Eugene Cordero) looks on. Mariner arrives and climbs into her bunk. Boimler tries and fails not to get emotional about leaving the bunk. He admits he’ll miss the dent on the ceiling from all the times he wanged his head during a red alert.
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Tendi asks if Mariner needs help packing. Mariner says Ransom is just going to knock her back down to ensign anyway. She says she overheard him talking about it with Shaxs. Mariner says superior officers think reducing her rank when she speaks her mind is a learning experience. She further says that if Ransom is just waiting for her to mess up, she’ll become extra insubordinate to control her own fate.
Tendi and Boimler bid farewell to Rutherford. Rutherford resolves to get a promotion so he can join them. He says he just has to do some amazing engineering and wonders how hard it can be. Boimler wishes he could have Rutherford’s confidence. Tendi teases him about the dent as they leave. The lights dim on the Beta Shift ensign sleeping bay.
Yosemite II
Mariner arrives in the shuttle bay, still wearing her workout gear. Ransom says it’s Ensign Gary’s first away mission. Mariner declines to change into her uniform. She refers to Ransom as “Jack” and uses slang like “menage” for “menagerie.” Mariner explains to Gary that a couple of humans were accidentally scooped up by the menagerie, so Starfleet has been sent to retrieve them.
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Frightened, Gary says he didn’t realize it would be dangerous. Ransom assures him it isn’t and says weapons aren’t allowed on the station. Mariner explains to Gary that she and Ransom are equals. Ransom is obviously annoyed.
Elsewhere on the Cerritos, Boimler enters his assigned quarters. A blinding red light from the ship’s nacelle fills the room. Meanwhile, Mariner recklessly pilots the shuttle into the station’s docking bay. She, Ransom and Gary are greeted by Narj. Narj admits the humans will be missed, as they were a popular attraction.
Mariner continues to give Narj a hard time. She asks if the Moopsy deserves to be imprisoned. Narj says the Moopsy is a favorite. When Narj gets defensive, Ransom says that while Mariner is a firebrand, he trusts her with his life.
Narj’s Menage
In Cerritos Engineering, Tendi tells Rutherford that a promotion can sometimes take years to achieve. Rutherford says he has something up his sleeve. He approaches Andy Billups (Paul Scheer) and displays an update to the warp manifold that decreases vibration by a factor of .05. But Billups reveals that a few minutes earlier, the new guy, Ensign Livick, just reduced the vibration by .06. A crowd of officers surround Livick and chant his name.
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Meanwhile, in his quarters, Boimler has donned protective goggles. In Engineering, Billups fires up Livick’s protocol. This causes Boimler to be further blinded in his quarters despite the goggles.
In the menage, Narj panics when he realizes the Moopsy is free. Mariner asks what’s wrong with his cuddliest prisoner being free. Narj says the Moopsy drinks bones. The Moopsy demonstrates this by drinking the bones of two Pyrithian Swamp Gobblers. Narj, Ransom, Gary and Mariner flee. The Moopsy flops along behind them.
On the Cerritos, Rutherford has increased the power output of the Tucker Tubes by seven pico cochranes. Billups says he hopes this protocol will work on the Billups Tube, a third tube just invented by Livick. Rutherford hisses Livick’s name as he leaves Engineering.
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Robin Hood
Elsewhere on the Cerritos, Shaxs shows Boimler to his new room, which is next to the holodeck. After dropping off a crate, Shaxs meets Doctor T’Ana (Gillian Vigman) in the hallway outside, and they enter the holodeck next door. Soon, Boimler can overhear their violent Robin Hood-themed sex games. He moves to the other side of the room. However, the room is sandwiched between two holodeck rooms. Now, he can overhear Captain Carol Freeman (Dawnn Lewis) scatting as she’s holo-inaugurated as President of Starfleet. He moves to the center of the room but can still hear the sounds of both holodecks.
On the station, Mariner, Ransom, Narj and Gary flee from the pursuing Moopsy. They lock themselves in a room, and the Moopsy begins throwing itself at the door. Ransom and Mariner begin to argue. He accuses her of releasing the Moopsy. Mariner accuses Ransom of sabotaging her. She reveals she overheard Ransom in the gym. Ransom says he meant she’s not going to be his problem because, unlike her previous commanding officers, he won’t be manipulated into demoting her. Mariner asks why she would do that. Ransom says he doesn’t know but won’t be party to it.
Gary accuses Narj of releasing the Moopsy. Ransom postulates this could allow Narj to keep the humans after the Moopsy took care of the Starfleet team. He further postulates that Narj has no bones. Narj is offended and says he’s ossified. Suddenly, the Moopsy opens a panel above Narj. It falls onto his shoulder and chugs him. The three Starfleet officers flee and close the Moopsy in the room. But then they realize it’s the control room. The Moopsy traipses over the controls, and the station begins to fall.
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Moopsy!
Boimler has resorted to bunking in a Jefferies Tube on the Cerritos. He’s interrupted by Rutherford. Rutherford says he’s there because he’s found a way to increase heat conduction by a few nano joules. Boimler reveals that Livick just came through to make the same adjustment. Rutherford says Livick should leave some minor improvements for everyone else and crawls away.
Meanwhile, the station falls toward the planet. Gary begins to panic and blames Ransom and Mariner. Mariner offers to serve as sacrificial bait. Ransom has the idea of having Mariner punch his teeth out and using them to lure the Moopsy. Mariner begins to punch Ransom in the mouth repeatedly. Outside the room, the Moopsy grows excited. Gary laments that he should have been an outpost scientist as he’s showered in teeth.
On the Cerritos, Tendi tells Rutherford he doesn’t have to work so hard. Rutherford says he’s sped up the replicators by nine whole femtoseconds. As Rutherford attempts to show the improvement to Billups, Billups says it will have to wait until after Livick’s promotion ceremony. Rutherford is distraught. As his superior officer, Tendi orders him to stand at attention. She says they’ll be friends no matter their respective ranks. Tendi is pleased at having given her first order.
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Promoted
Rutherford says he shouldn’t have turned down all those promotions. Tendi asks him to elaborate. He reveals he has been offered and rejected promotions for many previous serious events. Rutherford says he turned them down because he didn’t want his own room away from Tendi.
Tendi asks if he can get one of the promotions now. He says you have to earn Engineering promotions. Tendi asks Billups if Rutherford can be promoted for the events of the season 2 finale, “First First Contact.” Billups grants the promotion and throws Tendi and Rutherford the pip. Livick curses both Rutherford and Tendi.
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On the station, the Moopsy gobbles up the trail of Ransom’s teeth. This leads back to its enclosure. Mariner closes it back in. Meanwhile, Gary and Ransom stabilize the station. Mariner wonders how the Moopsy escaped to begin with. She notices the umbrella painted on the side of the human enclosure is upside down. When the umbrella panel falls off, the Moopsy cage swings open again. They realize the humans allowed the Moopsy to escape.
The Most Dangerous Game
In Mariner’s log, she records that the humans set the Moopsy free. They wanted to use the Moopsy to kill Narj so they could retain the station and profit off themselves as exhibits. Mariner notes that humans are the worst. The Cerritos subsequently abandoned the humans at the menage until someone else has time to pick them up in the indeterminate future.
In sickbay, T’Ana sets Ransom up with new teeth. Ransom and Mariner make peace. Mariner agrees to cool it on the reign of terror. Ransom says she’ll be a great officer one day.
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Elsewhere on the Cerritos, Rutherford and Boimler walk toward their new shared room. Boimler is horrified to find it again filled with nacelle light. However, Rutherford easily adjusts the viewports so the light is normal. Then he tells Boimler to stomp on any sparks he sees as he begins tinkering with a project on the floor. Boimler screams in reaction to a spark and wangs his head, creating a new bunk dent. “You know what? This is already starting to feel like home,” says Boimler.
New episodes of Star Trek: Lower Decks are available for streaming on Paramount+ on Thursdays.
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