#random speculation

Spencer's original plan was to use the Progenitor virus to make his eugenics fantasy a reality but the derivate viruses Umbrella and its various off-shoots developed never quite succeeded. They either destroyed the subjects' cognitive abilities, killed too many people, were unstable, or just made a necrotic mess. There is a running theme were combining the virus with either a parasite or suitable anti-bodies gets you closer to something useful like the G-virus, Nemesis, Dr Marcus' leech copy or someone like Albert Wesker or Alexia Ashford. I'm guessing that someone connected to Umbrella (like Spencer or Dr Bailey) is trying to finally complete the Progenitor Project, and they need Grace's blood (which may contain the Daylight anti-bodies from her mom Alyssa) to do so. There are hints in Re5 that Las Plagas may have a similar origin as the Progenitor virus so perhaps that's the other ingredient that's needed (and that could connect to Leon who is a Plagas survivor). I have no idea if the mold has any connection to all this - Miranda did use the cadou parasite to control the mold - so perhaps she gave Spencer the idea to try combining the two .

*This is important because Murderbot is not going through a typical robot-becomes-more-human kind of arc. Any humanness it adopts is out of necessity rather than personal choice, and even as it develops preferences and grows in comfort with personal expression down the line, it is always in the context that it is not human and doesn't wish to become so. This is easy to communicate in text form and harder to illustrate in a visual medium when the character looks human and will be increasingly acting so as well.

Imo the ep will mostly focus on the fukufuku fight, Aya will end the vampirism, Fyodor will escape (may or may not take Sigma along setting up a more proactive arc for him) and the final part will be skk setting up the next arc which will hopefully include the Clocktower and Verlaine. Especially sinc both have been left in Meursault and Chuuya can easily be captured there for government reasons now that he has raided a govt facility and murdered so many people.

They weren't there before Armageddon. They died or were different people. And we know when he rebooted reality Adam changed a few things. I think maybe he put Nina and Maggie there on purpose.

It'd be cool if the show somehow avoids the ALL CAPS DARK ONE SPEAKING trope in the the books and instead reveals the Dark One is simply a jellyfish-esque black hole which has nothing except devouring instincts like a mindless grub. Which would also explain why Lanfear, an (astro?)physicist was the one who tapped into it first.

I wonder how old Beckett Mariner is on Lower Decks? She was on DS9 during the Dominion War, and at least one of her Academy classmates is a Captain now. Kirk, at least in his own time, made Captain faster than anyone before, IIRC he was 28. We can probably safely assume Mariner is close in age to her classmate who is probably at least 30. Reasonably quick for the Captains Chair, not quite legendary  promotion speed, but likely accelerated due to Dominion War casualties. The only lower decker who might be older than her, at least in culturally equivalent terms, would be Rutherford. He worked with Admiral Buenamigo when the latter was a Commander and looked visibly younger than he does in present time scenes in Lower Decks. I'd put Rutherford as about as old as Mariner, with a possible couple years plus or minus. There's a chance Tendi is chronologically older or younger than her friends, but she's probably the cultural equivalent of a human in their late teens and early 20s, but I don't think her age was stated nor do we know enough about Orion aging in general to guess at a chronological age. She does have some training and/or experience in the criminal side of Orion culture, so she also may well have not joined Starfleet until several years after she was eligible. I wonder who sponsored her as a non Federation citizen? Or if there was a colony of Orions she was part of that was part of the Federation? Then there's Boimler, who probably started his time in the Academy as early as possible, which for humans is 16(1). It’s a four year program. He may have had some specialty specific training after the Academy, so he’s probably 21 at the start of the series. Maybe 22. He could be even younger if there are any waiver programs to allow 14 or 15 year olds to start, or any sort of special courses or increased course loads that would allow him to graduate early. He’s the type to do all that stuff. He’s the youngest in culturally equivalent terms, though of course due to lack of info on Tendis age or Orion aging generally, there is as much of chance she’s chronologically the youngest as there is that she’s the oldest. So my guesses would be about 30 for Mariner and Rutherford, 20 or 21 for Boimler, and the Orion equivalent of a human 21 to maybe 24(to account for her piracy experience/training) for Tendi. Boimler is basically the little kid whos trying desperately to prove himself. (1) - https://www.startrek.com/database_article/starfleet-academy

im not asking for that to be the end of their potential conflict, for Ed to instantly forgive him if that were to happen. but in terms of coming to the table to talk, I can’t think of a better way to make an entrance then that.