Marinler

Marinler is the het ship between Brad Boimler and Beckett Mariner from the Star Trek: Lower Decks fandom.

Season 1
Episode 1 established the characters pre-series status with Mariner while inebriated and thus not inhibited being very friendly if teasing to Boimler about his recording of captain's log, for his part Boimler seemed to have kept quiet about Mariner wounding him with a contraband blade while drunk, even if during the episode Boimler does accept captain Freeman's mission to spy on Mariner for any offenses his ultimate choice to not report anything to the captain, based on Mariner taking his side even when furious with him, laid the foundations for their much more intimate and close relationship they will enjoy during the series.

Episode 5 "Cupid's Errant Arrow" saw Mariner being extremely paranoid about Boimler's new girlfriend, while the text of the episode motivates her erratic behavior as being related to past trauma with a friend of hers, this particular episode is rife with themes of jealousy and romance, Barb Brinson the new girlfriend in question was deliberately paralleled with Mariner at the climax of the episode with Barb's paranoia being explicitly romantic, the episode ends with Boimler and Mariner walking off-screen together with Mariner commenting positively on Boimler's worth as a romantic partner.

Episode 9 "Crisis Point" saw Boimler discover Mariner's secret, that she is captain Freeman's daughter information they both decided not to share with the rest of the crew, nearly immediately afterwards Boimler had a personal interview with the captain, sensing his distress the captain encouraged him to say the first thing on his Mind which Brad revealed was Mariner, fearing her secret was out Freeman interrogated him further with an erratic and stressed Boimler blurting out he found Mariner both "hot" and "nasty" before running away in terror.

Episode 10 "No Small Parts" ended with Boimler on a new ship, receiving an angry call from Mariner which could be best described as a "rant from the ex-girlfriend".

Season 2
Mariner's first scene in the premier of this season dealt with her feeling abandoned by Boimler, with her specifically choosing to not save a holographic Boimler in a simulation, her lamenting she now spends all of her time with her mother now which doesn't feel the same, the holographic Boimler trying to find excuses for his real life counterpart "maybe you intimidate him" which arguably apply more if they were talking about a romantic relationship than a friendship.

In Episode 2 of this season "Kayshon, His Eyes Open", Jet who is sent in to replace Boimler is constantly compared to Boimler by Mariner, despite the eventual understanding Jet and Mariner come to and the sexual tension between the two, Jet recognizes that Mariner would rather have Boimler in his place once Brad is back on the ship and gracefully bows out. Boimler's part of the episode arguably sees him lose his dream job on the Titan with an interesting lack of bemoaning on his part with the most probable explanation that he at least is back with his friends especially Mariner since the whole scene of his return focuses strictly on him and Mariner.

Episode 5 contains the strongest hints towards Marinler, perhaps paralleling the episode 5 from the previous episode, besides the two of them being assumed to be a couple again Mariner's plan to sneak into the after party is literally just to be Boimler's date (Boimler getting in through pretending to be his clone who serves on the Titan) the emotional high point of their plot this episode is when Boimler chooses to spend his night with Mariner and apologize for his departure to the Titan instead of attending the party where he hoped to advance his career.

Episode 7 sees Mariner outright inviting Boimler to eat together once they would have arrived on Earth and in the main plot her working behind the scenes in an good intentioned but overly-controlling manner to make sure Boimler does not get put in more danger than he can handle, this episode which also sees a blatant theme of sexuality (albeit in the Billups plot) features a fight between Boimler and Mariner with the two of them in suggestive poses at time.

Quotes
"I try not to feel anything around Brad."

- Beckett Mariner to Barbara Brinson, Cupid's Errant Arrow

"You really think I'd buy you guys are best friends?"

- Barbara Brinson to Beckett Mariner, Cupid's Errant Arrow

"Yeah, I mean he is a dork, for sure. But he's my dork."

- Beckett Mariner about Brad Boimler, Cupid's Errant Arrow

"You can pose as your clone, and I can be your plus-one!"

- Mariner to Boimler, An Embarrassment of Dooplers

"Of course I do [have feelings]. I just don't show them to everyone. I don't know why I make an exception for you."

- Mariner to Beckett Boimler, An Embarrassment of Dooplers

Fanon
Marinler is by far the most popular ship in the Lower Decks fandom, with nearly 100 works on AO3 as of February 2022. Their dynamic is often compared to Spirk, even in-universe with Mariner seeing herself as a "Kirk-style free spirit".

Fandom
FAN FICTION