Star Trek Hilariously Proves Promoting Harry Kim Is A Danger To The Multiverse

Warning: Spoilers ahead for Star Trek: Lower Decks season 5, episode 9, "Fissure Quest."Star Trek: Lower Decks' final season not only brings back Garrett Wang back to the role of Star Trek: Voyager's Ensign Harry Kim, but the character's meta return also humorously acknowledges one of the biggest controversies about the USS Voyager's Chief of Operations. Despite playing Harry Kim in all seven seasons of Star Trek: Voyager, Wang's character never managed to progress beyond the rank of ensign. There were several explanations and theories for why this was the case, but despite numerous occasions where Harry should have been promoted in Star Trek: Voyager, it never happened.

To rub salt in Harry's figurative wound, other members of the Star Trek: Voyager cast did move up through the ranks as the show went on, making Ensign Kim's treatment seem even more unfair. The franchise has never openly addressed or acknowledged this narrative blind spot in any meaningful way, so Star Trek: Lower Decks season 5, episode 9, "Fissure Quest," is the first time Wang has been afforded any significant level of catharsis regarding how his character was handled. Interestingly, the animated comedy makes the amusing suggestion that it's a relief Harry was never promoted.

Star Trek: Lower Decks Hilariously Shows Harry Kim Being Promoted Is A Threat To The Multiverse

Lt. Harry Kim becomes the villain in "Fissure Quest"

Garrett Wang voices several iterations of Harry Kim in "Fissure Quest," but the most prominent version of the character is the one with a second rank rip, which signifies his position as a Starfleet Lieutenant. Although Lt. Kim does initially seem every inch the levelheaded and loyal officer as his live-action counterpart, leading an unwilling group of multiversal Harry Kims proves that Wang's character could always have been one bad day away from becoming the villain.

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"Fissure Quest" isn't necessarily suggesting that every Harry Kim would become a threat to reality once they were promoted beyond the rank of ensign. The episode doesn't besmirch the name of Wang's character in general. Instead, it's just that specific version of Harry Kim who snapped as a result of being overlooked for promotion for far too long, and then going rogue once ascending to lieutenant. Given the size of Star Trek's multiverse, it's not surprising that such a Kim would exist, as pretty much anything is possible.

Was Star Trek: Lower Decks' Lt. Harry Kim From The Prime Universe's Voyager?

Lower Decks uses an alternate (but similar) Harry Kim as the "Fissure Quest" antagonist

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The Anaximander's crew consists almost entirely of Star Trek characters from realities outside the Prime Universe - other than Jack Quaid's Captain William Boimler. So, although Lt. Kim's uniform and combadge design align with those of Wang's most famous version of the character, it's very unlikely that "Fissure Quest" uses the Prime Harry as the story's villain, or that he's even in the episode at all. Making such a beloved Star Trek: Voyager character like Harry Kim into a canonical bad guy would be an incredibly bold move, and one that is, in all likelihood, avoided in Star Trek: Lower Decks.

Paramount+'s Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 5 Release Schedule Episode Title Release Date (2024) 1 "Dos Cerritos" October 22 2 "Shades of Green" October 22 3 "The Best Exotic Nanite Hotel" October 31 4 "A Farewell to Farms" November 7 5 "Star Base 80?" November 14 6 "Of Gods and Angels" November 21 7 "Fully Dilated" November 28 8 "Upper Decks" December 5 9 "Fissure Quest" December 12 10 "The New Next Generation" December 19