The Delta Flyers - Equilibrium

Episode Date: December 3, 2024

The Delta Flyers is hosted by Garrett Wang, Robert Duncan McNeill, Terry Farrell & Armin Shimerman. In each podcast release, they will recap and discuss an episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. This week’s episode, Equilibrium, is hosted by Garrett Wang, Robert Duncan McNeill, & Terry Farrell.Equilibrium: While experimenting with a keyboard, the musically untrained Dax inexplicably plays a melody she seems to remember from somewhere. We want to thank everyone who makes this podcast possible, starting with our Production Managers Megan Elise & Rebecca McNeill.Additionally, we could not make this podcast available without our Executive Producers:Stephanie Baker, Jason M Okun, Luz R., Marie Burgoyne, Kris Hansen, Chris Knapp, Janet K Harlow, Rich Gross, Mary Jac Greer, Mike Gu, Tara Polen, Carrie Roberts, Tom Paynter, AJC, Nicholaus Russell, Lisa Robinson, Alex Mednis, Holly Schmitt, James H. Morrow, Roxane Ray, Andrew Duncan, David Buck, Tim Neumark, Randy Hawke, Ian Ramsey, Feroza Mehta, Jonathan Brooks, Matt Norris, Izzy Jaffer, Jan Hanford, Francesca Garibaldi, Thomas Irvin, Jonathan Capps, & Sean T.Our Co-Executive Producers:Liz Scott, Sab Ewell, Sarah A Gubbins, Utopia Science Fiction Magazine, Courtney Lucas, Elaine Ferguson, Captain Jeremiah Brown, E & John, Deike Hoffmann, Anna Post, Shannyn Bourke, Lee Lisle, Sarah Thompson, Holly Smith, Amy Tudor, Mark G Hamilton, KMB, Dominic Burgess, Mary Burch, Sandra Stengel, Normandy Madden, Joseph Michael Kuhlman, Darryl Cheng, Elizabeth Stanton, Tim Beach, Victor Ling, Shambhavi Kadam, Tae Phoenix, Donna Runyon, Nicholas Albano, Danie Crofoot, Steve Lugo, Rob Traverse, Penny Liu, Stephanie Lee, David Smith, Stacy Davis, Heath K., Andrew Cano, & Kevin HarlowAnd our Producers:Philipp Havrilla, James Amey, Patrick Carlin, Jake Barrett, Ann Harding, Trip Lives, Samantha Weddle, Paul Johnston, Carole Patterson, Warren Stine, Jocelyn Pina, Chad Awkerman, AJ Provance, Claire Deans, Maxine Soloway, Barbara Beck, Heidi McLellan, Brianna Kloss, Dat Cao, Stephen Riegner, Debra Defelice, Alexander Ray, Vikki Williams, Cindy Ring, Alicia Kulp, Kelly Brown, Jason Wang, Gabriel Dominic Girgis, Shanyn Behn, Maria Rosell, Heather Choe, Michael Bucklin, Lisa Klink, Dominique Weidle, Justin Weir, Jesse Bailey, Mike Chow, Matt Edmonds, Miki T, Heather Selig, Crystal Powell, Rachel Shapiro, Stephanie Aves, Seth Carlson, Amy Rambacher, Jessica B, E.G. Galano, Annie Davey, Mark Lacey, Jeremy Gaskin, Charlie Faulkner, Estelle Keller, Carmen Puente, Greg Kenzo Wickstrom, Lauren Rivers, Jennifer B, Dean Chew, Mars DeVore, Robert Allen Stifflerf, PJ Pick, Preston M, Rebecca Leary, Ryan Mahieu, Andrew Cook-Feltz, Karen Galleski, Zackery Voss, Loretta Reyes, Timothy McMichens, Dawn Colleen Smith, Cassandra Girard, Andrea Wilson, Willow Whitcomb, Mo, Leslie Ford, & Douglas Lawrence-Plant, Daniel Chu, Scott Bowling, Ed Jarot, & James VanhaerentsThank you for your support!This Podcast is recorded under a SAG-AFTRA agreement.“Our creations are protected by copyright, trademark, and trade secret laws. Some examples of our creations are the text we use, artwork we create, audio, and video we produce and post. You may not use, reproduce, or distribute our creations unless we give you permission. If you have any questions, you can email us at [e-mail] Sponsors:* Check out Mint Mobile: https://mintmobile.com/TDFSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-delta-flyers/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Greetings, everyone. Welcome to the Delta Flyers' Journey Through the Wormhole with Quark, Dax, and their good friends, Tom and Harry. Join us as we make our way through episodes of Star Trek Deep Space Nine. Your hosts for today are my fellow Trek actors, Terry Farrell, Robert Duncan McNeil and myself, Gerard Wong. For the complete and exciting version of this podcast, check out patreon.com forward slash the Delta Flyers and sign up to become a patron today.

Hey, guys. Hey. Hi. Woo! How are you guys doing? Pretty good. I just got off the treadmill. I just got, so I'm so proud of you.

You know. Yeah, where did you go today? Costa Rica. I ran in Costa Rica. Amazing. On your treadmill. That is. I wish my house was big enough to have one of those.

I love it. It's got this screen, and I have my favorite coach. Tommy Rives is his name. And I love him. Tommy Ribbs? Rives. Yeah, I think he's got a longer last name. With a B?

But he calls him, he refers to himself as Rives. Oh, V as in Victor, not B as a boy. Okay, I've had Ribs. Tommy Ribs. Okay. Rives. Yeah, that's a, that's a gangster. That's a mafia guy.

Tommy Rips. Tommy ribs. He's got all of this like coaching and it's like life inspiring. It's not just the run on the treadmill. It's like, you know, metaphors about life. Life lessons like we give on this podcast. Yeah, he's great. I love him.

Wow. I used to have the best spinning coach. I can't remember his name now, but he was at Equinox in. A little sand. Yeah. But in that Marina del Rey area. And he, too, was like super inspirational and just, you know, really made you feel like you could do anything. And I think that is the most important part of a coach, inspiring you.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, coaches and trainers, it just, there's some that are amazing and those are the ones that you gravitate towards. And so you guys have had some good ones. Yeah, I'd like them back again. Speaking of inspiring moments, we're going to have some birthdays right now. Yay. Inspire some people to celebrate great birthdays.

Yes, it's Sagittarius time, which is my sign. This is my birthday month as well. First of all, we have Sandra Stengel on December 4th. So happy birthday to Sandra. Happy birthday. Happy birthday, Sandra. Happy birthday, Sandra. And we have Maria Roselle December.

Number six, happy birthday, Maria. Happy birthday, Maria. Happy birthday, Maria. Let's jump into our poetry synopsis for this episode. Yes. I love this art creative part of our show. Yes. When we get kind of literary and intellectual and all of that.

I feel very. I feel like I should have a glass of one. wine as I read this poem. Okay. Let's imagine you're holding a glass of wine. Okay. Here we go. You should have like a smoking jacket and a pipe as well.

Yes. Yes. I like that big fireplace. Yeah. Exactly. Now that you have this image in your mind, our dear listeners and viewers, Robbie will now begin his limerick for equilibrium. Dax is acting a bit bizarre.

It's the grumpiest we've seen her by far. They go back to Trill, use some investigative skill, and learn everything inside you makes you who you truly are. Very nice. Very nice. Thank you. Wow.

With that fireplace behind you, crackling and everything. Thank you. Yes, I like it. Do you need a glass of wine? I have a very nice pinnair noir. Oh, nice. Great choice.

I'm going there. Thank you. Very big glass. But I too in front of a fireplace, which I like very much. Big cozy chair. My feet are on the heart. Yes. Nice. Okay. To loathe part of you obscures your whole view. Keep all of you warm in winter, stops the self from splinter. All of you needs love, accept yourself as hand in glove.

Oh, nice. Was that okay? Oh, it's so good. Yeah. All right, haiku time. Do you want a glass of wine, Garrett? I'm going to have a glass of dessert. wine, a little something sweet, actually. Oh, nice. And instead of a drinking, a smoking jacket, I'm wearing like a turtleneck sweater, like a really poofy, comfy turtleneck sweater. And I'm also lounging in front of my fireplace. And you hear the crackling, I'm drinking my dessert wine, and here is my haiku for equilibrium. Dax keeps hearing tunes.

Elucinations won't stop. Geran acknowledged Wow Very nice Thank you Yeah the turtle neck Was the right choice

Yes I do agree Thank you so much All right Shall we talk about guest stars Right now These do Okay These do

Uh Lisa Baines As Dr. Renhall Yeah A Juilliard person

Just like you Robbie That's funny I think I heard That name Around She went school yard.

Yeah, Lisa Baines. She was great. Right. She was born in 1955, so obviously ahead of you. And, you know, she was there earlier. So next up, we have Jeff Magnus McBride as Joran Ballard. Now. Wonderful magician.

Yes. Wonderful magician. Yes. He's not an actor. Oh, how funny. He's a magician. And he hosted myself and Sadegh, going to the the magic castle. I brought my step-sister and her new husband way back when. Yeah, that was the first

time he made sure we got in. He just showed up to get us in. And then he left. I haven't seen him since, but Bonnie Gordon, as we know and love, she hosted myself, John Billingsley and a couple other people. And it was so much fun. I love magic. I love the magic castle. Yeah, Michael and Marion Westmore told me they used to be members there. Really? Yes. I didn't even know you could be a member if you weren't a magician. I would have done that in a heartbeat when I lived in L.A., but I didn't know that.

I know. I think Bob is a member. Is he? Yeah. Of course he is. He got me in. He got me in when I went there the first time. But Jeff is not from Los Angeles.

Jeff is actually, Jeff lives in Las Vegas. So he started the McBride School of Madison. in Las Vegas, but it was Michael Pillar that saw his show. The origins of this episode are to be found in the magic show of Jeff Magnus McBride, who portrays Duran Ballar. Michael Pillar saw McBride's show, loved it, and commissioned Christopher Teague, a mutual friend of his and McBride, to draw up an outline for a story based on McBride's act.

McBride's show revolved around the use of masks and the repeated removal of what is seemingly a single mask, only to reveal another underneath, which is exactly what happens in the episode itself. Yeah. Yes. And I remember when I first watched that scene, I thought, God, this guy's like a magician. And then I did the research.

I go, he is a magician. So the person that was in the mass the entire time was Jeff, I'm assuming, right? It had to been him the entire time doing his mass stuff. Teague's story, Teague's story originally involved a kind of intergalactic circus coming to Deep Space 9 with a magician who was revealed to be a murderer. But nobody on the writing staff was keen on the idea. And maybe, you know, that's also the fault of Pillar saying, hey, let's just grab Christopher Teague, someone who's a mutual friend,

and let's have him do the outline. Well, when he came up with that idea, the writing staff said, René Ashavaria, then modified it to focus on Odo and a series of disturbing dreams that Odo was having before Ron Moore suggested switching the emphasis of the plot to Dax. Can I just say how much I love Ron. right now. Yes, yes, good old Ron Moore, because he felt that the mask were a good metaphor for the trill species in general. So I thought that was deep thinker. Oh, come on. Ron Moore is a, Ron Moore is literally a rock star when it comes to writing. Oh my gosh, she totally is. I almost cried

when I saw him in Vegas. But the bottom line is this is so random, Robbie. Yeah. It's so random. He saw the magician, said, hey, we got to do an episode of DS9 about this. And our mutual friend will write the outline. Of course, the story morphed and everything. But still, they cast him. They cast this magician as the guest star. Who does that? He was really great, and he was great to work with. Good. Yeah, super professional, very kind, obviously very generous,

taking myself and Sid to the castle. Just really nice person. Yeah. And Bonnie Gordon speaks very highly of him as well, because she works there. She's been working there for 11 years. And he still does magic there. I think he does.

I'm assuming he does. He wasn't the night that I was there, but yeah. Yeah. Well, he did do, Caesar's Palace used to have this whole magicians thing that they had going on where back in the 90s when I was frequenting Vegas quite a bit, there was a lot of magicians there at Caesar's Palace doing this. And he was one of the guys there too.

Oh, wow. Next up we have Nicholas Kaskoni as Timor. That is the guardian who is tending to the symbion. Now, Nicholas, that guest star, also played Ensign Davies in the TNG episode, Pen Pals. So he's already been on track before. And of course, last but not least, we have Harvey Vernon as Yolad Balar, the brother, the older gentleman that we see on the view screen. On the screen. Yeah, the older brother.

Or maybe he's the younger brother, who knows at this point, right? So the brother of Juran Balar. This is the first time we hear that Trills have a surname, like, you know, a last name, Balar, right, Geron Balar, Yulad Balar, and we don't really, because we hear Curzon Dax. We don't know Curzon's name. We don't know the last name. Did we say my last name?

Nope, we don't know your name. Isn't that weird? And I never thought we went to Trill. I didn't remember that. Right. This is also the first time showing the Trill homeworld on DS9. Another thing with the last name, strangely enough, they do. mention Esri's last name when

Esri does come on season 7. Really? His character has a surname, yeah. But nothing for Jedzia and nothing for Curzon. We never hear about that. Wow. The teleplay is by Renee, Neshabaria, and story by

Christopher Teague, the mutual friend of the magician and Michael Pillar. Yes. And directed by none other than Cliff Bull. Love Cliff. Love Cliff. Teddy Bear Man. Mm-hmm.

Why don't we jump into the episode itself? We're in Cisco's quarters right now, and guess what? He's, he's preparing a home-cooked meal. Oh, yes. Very, very rare. Isn't this sweet? The gang is there. Kear is there.

Jake is there. Odo's there. And, you know, he's, Odo's even helping. Yes. He's whisking. But he hands it to Odo because he's got to flip something. And Odo, Odo instead of whisking, he moves the bowl. Keep the whisker in one place.

It's so darn funny. Yeah. And it's so, it's so, you know, it makes sense because, let's face it, Odo doesn't eat. He's never cooked before. He doesn't know what a whisk is. But clearly he's into helping out Cisco. Cisco talks about he knows all this stuff because his dad had a restaurant, right? And we also learn for the very first time that he's from New Orleans.

We don't have any information geographically until this episode. He's from New Orleans. But Robbie, when he flipped that one piece of fish or meat, yes it wasn't flip like a pro it was kind of like some no it was very awkward yeah his dad was the pro yeah his dad was the pro i would buy that okay fine here's what i want to point out so rené obizement is doing this very funny bit with the the whisk is held still and he's moving the bowl around underneath so i went back to the script to see did they write that and here's what it says yeah otto says just because i don't need food commander

doesn't mean I'm not interested in its preparation. I'm fascinated by the humanoid preoccupation with eating. Cisco realizes he needs to turn the fish. Odo offers to take the stirring of the souffle over the stirring of the souffle. Right. Odo says, may I? Cisco, by all means, he hands in the bowl. Odo takes the whisk in hand and begins whipping tentatively.

That's all it says. Oh, so it was all Renee. It's a funny, funny bit. And it was Renee. Of course. Yeah, that's awesome. It was the best. From this scene, we also learned that Bashir is not a fan of beats for some reason. We don't know why.

He's terrified of them. Yes. Oh, my word. It's beyond me. I don't know why beats are such a, you know, get bad, such a bad rap. Yeah. A lot of people don't like them. I like Keith.

Yeah, I think beats are great. Dax does come in a little bit later. And she's had a long day in those upper pylons trying to get some new sensor relay online. but she notices something on the side there. And it looks like a futuristic keyboard. It's a Cassio keyboard. It's a Cassio keyboard. It looks like those old Cassio keyboard.

It's what it is. Mix with a Simon game or something. It's kind of, you know, it's rounded off. It's not rectangular. And she's like, oh, my goodness. And turns out it belongs to Jake. And Jake took lessons, but never really progress that far with it. So he doesn't mind that Dak starts, you know, tinkering with it.

But guess what? Dax ends up playing something that actually sounds quite professional. Which is weird because she says none of my host had any musical talent. You know, when Jake says, I don't have any musical talent. She's like, yeah, me neither. None of my host it. But then she starts playing. But she's drawn to it.

She's totally drawn to it. Yeah. To the point where she snaps. She snaps at Bashir. Yeah, she's like, but she decides to say something. She's like, quiet. Like that. He's like, oh, I'm leaving.

Yeah. He walks away. Pretty weird. Yeah. But that's the beginning of the weird behavior for Dax. Now we know something's up because she never snaps at anybody. Usually Dax cares about someone's feelings and Dax has had lifetime after lifetime of experience. So Dax is the most calm.

So to see Dax be so flippantly kind of almost dismissive, you know, of Bashir was a little shocking. So now we know something's up. And all of a sudden she's playing this tune and something is drawing her to this tune. and she keeps playing it and that's our basically our intro for the episode before we go to artists. Doesn't Cisco say dinner's ready

and everybody goes to dinner but she's like in this zone she's just playing this song. Yeah, it's taken over. She's obsessed with it. Yeah. I also have to say when you started playing, I went in my mind,

I'm like, oh no, because whenever they do music on Star Trek, it's so bad. Like the Klingon song, I hate the Kondon on our show. Like it's just, it's never. it just feels like they're trying to do amateurish tunes when they compose it.

I don't know. But your song was good. I was expecting a bad little riff. And I was like, oh, that's kind of pretty. Yeah, it was a pretty melody. Yeah. Can I read you guys something to deal with the music here? Yeah.

A little more context. Jay Chathaway composed the music for this episode, which was his favorite installment of the first three seasons of DS9. he commented. It was the show where it was revealed that one of Dax's former hosts was a composer. The music had to have a thematic quality for her to play it on a keyboard and hum several times. I was also able to develop this theme into the score for her nightmarish flashbacks. The time factor on that was, here's the show. We need a keyboard thing. We need it tomorrow. Under those circumstances. That sounds like them. I'll do several versions, though, In the case of equilibrium, they chose my first version. I thought that was an extremely well-written show and a great opportunity to have music as an integral part of the story. It didn't hurt that I personally worked with Terry Farrell, helping her to learn that tune. It took her only three attempts to get it under control.

She's very bright. I was really impressed. So that's what Jay Chathaway said about you. Thank you, Jay Chathaway. Wow. That's so nice. But they gave him a assignment that was due 24 hours later. And also the writers, they were still writing three to four days into this episode.

They were still churning out scenes. Really? Really? Into filming, Robbie. Wow. Which is the most behind they were up till this point, it seems. That's insane. Wow.

Wow. Yeah, it's not fun. No. No, that's hard on the writers. Yeah. And then for you to get changes, like literally in the makeup trailer, probably. You're like, ah, ha, ha, yeah, yeah. Well, it's not so bad when it's not techno babble. Right.

So believe me, the writers were way more stressed probably than you. And the producers. Yeah. For sure. Yeah. I mean, I was excited. It was about my character. Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. You know, finding out more about anybody's excited, any actor is excited to find out more about who they're playing. Yeah. Mm-hmm. But to your point, Robbie, the tune was not amateurish. It was not bad. It sounded great.

And he did it fast. You know what, and that's like what Michael Westmore had to deal with all the time, too. All the time. Last minute stuff, too. Tonight you've got to make up a new alien. Yeah. And tomorrow at 4 in the morning, you better wake up and be driving from Encino all the way to Hollywood with a new creation in your mind. Yeah.

Robbie, it's not that last minute now, right? I mean, this day and age of 10 episodes, it's not that last minute, no, any longer. Okay. No. But there's always something. something that's last minute or something that you've got to figure out on the day. But usually the makeup. Something that doesn't show up.

Oh, it didn't get delivered. Yeah. Yeah. Someone gets sick. Mm-hmm. All kinds of stuff. We're in the commander's office now. And there's a game of chess going on.

I love chess, by the way. So it's so nice to see Cisco and Dax playing. But guess what? Dax is humming the same tune that she played on the little Cassio keyboard in the prior scene. It's still in her mind to the point where even Cisco says, does, do you mind? I love how he whispers that, too. He's like, he's so annoyed.

I love Dave Rie's performance here. It's like trying to sit on it. He's like, do you mind? Yeah. She says, I didn't even realize it was doing it. It goes back to the game. She starts humming again. Yeah, she just, I can't help myself.

She keeps going. She keeps going. She's so distracted that she doesn't even realize that she's in check at this point. Yeah, I love that when he says, are you sure? Yeah, are you sure you want to make that much? move, yeah. Because it's so out of character for her, too. This is also just a little reminder.

The first time we played chess, it was because I asked Michael Pillar if we could, and they had the Star Trek chess set. The multi-laired one? Yes. And so we're playing this on the 20th century chessboard, right? Or whatever the original chessboard is. Did they tell you they were going to use the multi-layered one? originally and then they went to the standard

what we're used to? No, there was a scene and I don't remember what episode, but I think it was in the first season where we played, but when I asked if we could play, they had us play on the futuristic the next generation one. Yeah, the multi-layered one. And I don't

remember if there was a conversation, just that I remember in my conversation with Michael Pillar saying, well, why wouldn't we play on the, you know, the old version since I've been alive for 350 years. Right? That's a good reason why we would play on the chess set we know and love growing up. So, yeah. You actually influenced the episode in getting that right old school sit there. It's like the only thing that stands out to me that I requested for my character that got put in. Right. So that was like,

of course, feeling very proud of it. So thank you, Michael Pillar. Thank you, Michael Pillar. Yeah. It's interesting because in this scene, Dax doesn't understand where the night came from. And that's the move, the check move that happened. And Dax then accuses Cisco of actually making an illegal move and cheating and bringing up this fact that Curzon always suspected you were a cheat. So again, just not the typical behavior you're used to.

It's not my nature. No. No, you knock over the chessboard. Oh, my God. Yeah, yeah, throw all the pieces off, storming out. Whoa, very simple. Not normal. Yeah, I mean, I was waiting for you to actually throw the pieces at Cisco.

I'm like, thank God you didn't hit him in the head with that. Just taking that night and just, but you didn't do that. But still, very not what we're used to seeing from Dax. Yeah. Well, even in the next scene, we're in the Replomat. She's sitting there. Dax sitting by herself. Kira comes over to try to check on you.

She's just being really super nice. And you were, Dax is such a meany in this scene. Oh, my gosh. I am. Yeah. You think, Dax thinks she's taking Cisco's side and says, you know, tells her to leave. And she doesn't want to leave. She wants to see what's going on.

She really cares about you. And Kira stops you. You're like, okay, if you're not going to leave, I'll leave. You get up. Kira stops you. It kind of grabs you by the shoulders or the arm or something. Arm. Very testy moment.

I would say, though, if somebody's in a. angry space maybe don't don't don't touch him yeah yeah definitely do not grab them yeah yeah true well you yeah you tell her right off the bat get your hands off me before i do something i'll regret and then when she does you say well that's the first smart thing you've done since you've walked over here and i love this scene just because we're so used to one version of dax and to see terry be ultimately that mean and that cold is kind of cool because you pulled it off well. You scared the crap out of me.

You really did. I was deeply angry in that scene. Yes. I liked seeing that, that, like, surprising side of Dax. And in fact, not to spoiler alert anything that we'll talk about later, but I wish there was more of it. Like, pretty soon there's not much anger coming out anymore. Like, they kind of front load all this anger, and then it sort of goes away, which I think is a shame. And I'll, yeah, I'll talk about like in our missing scene bonus material.

Okay. My thoughts about that. But I love seeing this is my point. Yeah, I did too. We go to the promenade. Dax is walking along. It's a busy promenade, people everywhere. But then she kind of rounds a corner and suddenly nobody's there.

Yeah. Empty. And the music starts. And then she sees a masked figure up on the balcony, I think. Yeah. And she looks around and looks back up and it's magically gone. Ah, the Michigan. I see that's how good he is he's so good he's so good yeah he's not there and then she turns

around the other way he's right in front of her yeah magic moves does he do does he do a thing there or is that later yeah he does it in this scene in this scene he pulls one off and there's another one underneath and then yeah the weird mask guy is basically everywhere she's starting to freak out And then she turns around and suddenly quark bumps into her. And there's people everywhere. It's like a hallucination of some kind with this mass guy. Yeah. Yeah.

And I thought, because she had been so mad before with everybody, I thought, oh, quark is going to, she's going to, like, punch him or something. But you didn't seem to get, you were so thrown by the hallucination, I think. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I imagine she just didn't, I say I imagine. I did it.

That anger, when you don't, well, you don't know when you're feeling out of sorts and you don't know what it is that's making you feel that way, I can understand why she has this anger bubbling up inside of her because she doesn't even know how to explain how she's feeling. And that episode just then of seeing, having the hallucination with the magician, has i would imagine the fear or the anger gets more um recognized as fear now she's afraid like this is now this is deeply scary whatever something is makes you angry and you're frustrated it's covering up usually some kind of fear but in real life if someone's like maybe been disrespectful to you or that's how you're perceiving it it makes you angry but

underneath it it's that not fear of not being respected you know what I mean so there's fear underneath the anger or sadness underneath anger it generally there's something vulnerable that you don't want to look at or deal with and you cover it with anger until you understand it yeah I think that the word you use underneath it is so perfect for this episode because there's so much going on underneath the Dax that we know there's these old hosts that are starting to struggle. She doesn't know what's going on underneath. Yeah.

When you kind of get shaken out of it by Quark, and of all the times we've seen Quark being physically accosted, I really did think you were going to throw him across the problem. No, that's what I mean. I don't know. You were going to be like... Literally punt him, like an NFL punter. You're just going to kick him and just you'd fly across the promenon.

I was so glad you didn't... Thank goodness. He doesn't hurt Cork. I honestly think that the cork, though, is a safe person for her. That's true, because she's the only one that understands Fringy. So maybe that's the one group of aliens that she's comfortable with, right? And she likes them because she's always winning at that game. She's making a lot of money in there.

So I would love work. And they're friends. Yeah. They gamble together. That's right. Yeah. I mean, I'm sure her inner curzon adores cork. Yes.

Terry, did I tell you that I have officially jumped to Team Quark from Bashir? Did I let you know? No, you did not. He told this to, he told Armand this in the last episode we worked on. This is huge. Yeah, because that episode was, it was such a great character development episode for the House of Quark is the episode we're talking about. Yeah. Yeah, with a claim he basically shows a very valiant and courageous side of him.

So, yeah, he's a hero. Yeah, he's amazing. Yeah. Quirk. Team Quirk all the way. Okay. Well, I look forward to evolving to Team Dax. That will happen probably somewhere in the 16th. I'm very fickle. I jump around to everybody. No, you didn't jump quick. I've got time. I've got time to get to Team Dax. Yeah. So season five, look forward to that. Robbie will probably flip then. It's usually two seasons. He flips to somebody else.

Yeah. There it is. We go to the infirmary next, Bashir scanning Dax and then he leaves. Dax is there with Cisco. She apologizes the Cisco. Yeah. She just doesn't understand where this anger is coming from. Right. And she does say when she saw this mass figure, it seemed familiar, but she doesn't know why.

Kind of like the music, you know, she's having these things underneath that she's just not able to put together. Cisco asks Dax, have you ever had any of these type of hallucinations before and then have any of your hosts? have these hallucinations as well. So he was trying to dig into that. And Bashir goes, well, according to your file, the only major trauma the Dax symbiont has ever suffered was when Toreas Dax was injured in a shuttle accident. Tarias.

Oh, sorry. Tarias, Dax was injured in a shuttle accident. So Tarias was the host right before Kurson. He was the test pilot. Okay. Oh. That's why you pilot so good. Yeah.

That explains why you pilot so good. But it doesn't explain why Bashir pilot's so good. No, we have to have a conversation with him about that. Yes, everybody. Pilot licenses for everybody. But he was in a shuttle accident, right? So maybe he wasn't that great of a pilot if he was in an accident. Well, he was a test pilot.

Oh, he's a test pilot. Okay. Which is different. But this shuttle accident, because Tyraeus was the test shuttle pilot, put him in a coma for just around six months or so. That's a long time. It's a long time, but that's basically when he passed. He couldn't, the doctors couldn't keep up his isoboramine. He does say if it gets below 40%, that they're going to have to remove the symbiont and the host would die.

Yes. Well, that's what happened to Tyraeus, right? So it was removed and then placed. And it doesn't matter how many times we say isaboramine. We're still not going to know what it is. No. No, but it has something to do with the integration of the symbiont and the host. It's a chemical or a hormone or something.

A neurotransmitter that mediates the synaptic functions, right, between the host and the symbion. A star trek term. It does. But isoboramine sounds like an ingredient in a new type of laundry detergent. It does, doesn't it? It has new isoboramine in it. So it will get your clothes cleaner. Yeah.

We'd all buy it. Doesn't Bashir say her levels are now around 70% or something? Yeah, she's not in a good spot either. No, she's got about, if she's at 70, she's got 30% to go before they've got to remove her. Yeah, she's halfway to the removal level. But shear does say in this scene, her levels are around 70% and he thinks they need to take her to the Trill home world and have the Trill doctors look at her. And Cisco says, well, Curzon always wanted to do. show him the trill home world so now he's going to get a chance yeah so uh it looks like they've got a

good solution they're gonna fix fix her right up back on the old home world this is the first time we've seen the trill home world too by the correct yes yeah it's so brief that and inside buildings that i didn't even remember that we went there right yeah it wasn't like we turned it into a vacation which is weird because you know if you fly all the way to another planet you'd think Yeah. Maybe you should stay for a minute and check it out. Check it out. Go explore a little.

No, Dax is dying. They got to stay in the hospital. The exterior shots of the true home world were filmed at the Huntington Gardens in Pasadena. So there you go. I did notice when Cisco says, oh, Curzon always want to take me there. I'm excited. Let's go. Then we cut outside of DS9.

And the defiant comes out and turns and heads off to warp or something. And I was like, oh, yeah, let's take the warship for this medical journey. We're flying in luxury. Yeah, but it just doesn't make sense, though. Does it? They should take a runabout. Run about. Exactly.

No, but you know what? It's his new sports car, right? Yeah. It is. It goes faster. Yeah, faster, faster. Yeah, they need to get there fast. New.

It is. And we have to use it because it's new for season three. It looks cool. Yeah. It looks cool. It just looked like it was overkill. They wanted you to see it. Yeah.

Yes, they did. But logically speaking, it makes no sense because we are now worried about a Gem Hadar threat from the founders. And they've taken the one ship. Well, and the captain. Yes. Taking the captain, the doctor. That's how important Dax is.

But maybe we can go faster, faster in the defiant. Yes. And he's worried about my help. I'll buy that. Yes. I'll buy that. Yeah. It's worth the risk of leaving DS9 vulnerable because of the speed, right?

Cisco has a soft spot for me, so I take precedence over the Gem Hadar right now. If the entire station gets overtaken, it's fine. As long as we save Dax. As long as we save Dax, and he could drop me off and be back in a flash. He could. Yeah. You're right. Yeah.

All right. Well, we go on the bridge. There's Cisco in the captain's chair. I love this. I love this new Defiant. He's very worried about Chad Zia. Bashir comes over. They're both worried. Basically, it's just a little, you know, traveling moment of them just saying we have to make sure she's okay. They're both worried about her and we get to see the Defiant Bridge.

Also, Robbie, there's a bit of a remodel from when we first see the Defiant interior of the bridge. Yeah, they added some things, move things around. So this is the new interior for defiant from the last time. Well, last and the first time they introduced it. They show this is the interior. It's now different a little bit. It's Miles O'Brien. I'm sure he was. Oh, yeah. Well, they had to clean up after that last attack. Yeah, it was a mess after that battle. True. True. This next thing, though, I got to say, I, for, well, I don't remember doing most of this, so it was really fun to watch it. But when I go, I then go to Dr. Bashir's cabin in the middle of the night because I can't sleep. and I'm nervous.

It's a cute. And isn't it sweet? It is very cute. And then he says I can sleep there and with him in his room. But he was so sweet. He was like you can have the top or the bottom bunk like he thought that was a really sweet thing to do. And she's like, oh, no, no.

Yeah. He said, you can have the top bunk. Yeah. And then you're like, oh, I'm, she says Curzon fell out of a tree one time. So I can't, I can't sleep up top. Can I have the bottom? And then the cutest thing when he says, he's trying to talk to you, good night, hope you sleep well or something.

And you don't answer and he looks down and you're out. You're asleep. Passed out. I feel safe with him. I almost felt like this is a turning point for these two. Like now he's such a good friend that maybe Jedzia will see him in a romantic light because of how gentlemanly is, how sweet he is. I know.

I would inquish the top bunk, I mean, the bottom bunk to you. It just seems like, hey. And he's really matured over the last two years. He's not that, you know, cocky sort of awkward, awkward guy, whatever, you know, he's changed. Skirt chasing. Yes. So maybe these are the building blocks of a cool Dax doctor relationship. I do see a note at the end of the scene from Rebecca, which is very rare that Rebecca would put it.

Oh, I see this. Beshear says, is it too bright for you, Dax? Dax? And he looks down, she's asleep. Rebecca wrote, Robbie falls asleep that fast, too. So, yeah, I'm kind of like Dax. I guess I fall asleep pretty quick. Oh, I wish I was that way. Well, the next scene we have after Dax falls asleep very quickly,

is the next day she's in the hospital room. At the Symbiosis Commission. Yes, the Symbiosis Commission's bot. And Dax is filling in Bashir and Cisco about her exam that she's had. And our doctor, Renhall, comes in, and Renhall's excited to see Dax. She talks about Dax was the only initiative that successfully reapplied after being dropped from the program.

And Renhold meets Cisco and remembers that he was Curzon's friend, meets Bashir. And Dax asks if she's got to stay here for treatment. Renhall says, no, no, no, Bashir can finish it back at DS9. So it seems like they've solved his price. problem very quickly. And the doctor says, you know what? I just want to see you tomorrow for a follow up and lunch. I want to talk to you. So it feels like we're, you know, things are good. We're in the right path. Yeah. Yeah. Her isaboramine levels are improving. So yeah, things seem good. Yeah. And I think we go back to the bridge of the defiant next. And Dax is talking to Cisco and

Bashir, she wants to take him sightseeing. And Bashir says, No, no, no, no, no, you need to rest, doctor's orders. We do see a little anger pop out again in this moment. When she says, I can't sleep in the afternoon, that point, that's where... Yeah, it was just like when Bechir says, you know, lie down, close her eyes, try not to think, and she's heading to the door, you start to see that darkness a little bit, which pays off in the corridor in the next scene because she goes out in the corridor, the music's starting, she's hearing music, she's having this hallucin,

I think this time two trill men in uniforms burst through a door. They grab her. She's fighting them. And then she's holding one of them just about to punch one of those trill guards or something that she's hallucinating. When she hears Dax, Jedziah, and then it's Bashir. Whoa. Look at that. It's very excited about this scene.

We're so excited. Fireworks. Firework. Your excitement made your screen go crazy. So there you go. But, yeah, it's all a hallucination. And she's just about to punch Bashir in the face. Yes.

That would not be good because Bashir was very nice. He gave you the bunk. Dax is in a room next, hospital room, I guess. I keep referring to it as a hospital room, but it's the, it's the, what is the place called? Symbiosis commission. Yeah. So, yeah, she's in a room again, getting a checkup. Runhal's there again, says the isoboramine levels are increasing.

faster than she expected. So maybe that's what's causing the hallucinations. Like, it's too fast. Right. She's a little confused, too. Dax says the attackers wore symbiosis commission uniforms from 100 years ago. So it's very confusing. That's weird.

That makes no sense. Yeah. Yeah. And Renhal does say, well, you know, with seven lifetimes inside you, things can sometimes get jumbled up. Right. So she wants to continue the treatment. and see her again tomorrow.

Dr. Leaves. And Cisco says that they're analyzing the music, this tune that she keeps hearing and playing. And maybe if they can figure out where the song came from, that could help. I love that he's trying to help like that. That's really great. Yeah. Yeah. Very smart.

Very smart. Any clues to what's going on. And Dax is smart too because she says, well, let's go see the Guardians. And we've never heard about these guardians before, I don't think. No. Yeah. This is a new thing. Yeah.

Yeah, it's very cool. The guardians protect the symbiants before they are joined. But they care for them, basically, right? So they're unjoined trill who devoted their lives to the care of the symbionts. So they never will be joined in their own lifetime. So a little sad. Yeah. Well.

They're like monks, almost. They are. Yeah. So maybe from our perspective, it could feel bittersweet. But for them, it's calling. It's an honor. Yeah. Well, is it because in the next scene, you go into the caves, you go down, there's these milky ponds.

And then Timor, a guardian, comes in, tests the water. He doesn't even look at them. It was a little, I guess like a monk might just be in the zone. Yeah. When Bashir asks, you know, what do you do? Can I, he says something like, can I ask you what you're doing? And Timor goes, yes. And he goes, okay, what are you doing?

So funny bit. Timor doesn't even acknowledge them when he comes in. You know what is that? No, he doesn't even look at them. It's like, yeah. No. Yeah, same old, same all. But he's a little, Timor's funny because he's a little, he's not monk like, like I would have expected.

Right. He's a little, he's complaining a little. He's like, these guys. you know if it's not perfect then they get all cranky it sounds like he needs a vacation yeah he's working very hard maybe to get out of the cave

yeah because they asked if you lived in a cave right because they talk about the weather and he's like oh well that's something I haven't even seen in years like he just never gone outside it's like what yeah it's like the blue collar guy

that's stuck down you know working down in the caves and he's a little cranky that could be a spin-off show the reluctant guardian is what it is. He doesn't really want to be a guardian. I liked it. I thought it was very.

It's funny. It's definitely a comedian moment there. But he sees, he sees Dax and immediately knows something's up. Something's, you know. Well, he recognizes Dax, too. Yeah. He can tell something's off.

Yeah. She says, he asks what's wrong. And she says, what she's been having hallucinations. And he goes, you mean memories. He touches her belly. And he says,

whoa, things are really out of balance. it's not Dax so it must be the host he says and Cisco says oh Jadzia and he goes well it could be any of the hosts right yeah that was like a bum bum bum yeah and then he

leads you away as if you're a school child he was like give me your hand let us go to another classroom and we're going to homework you kind of walk into the cave like kids going off to school we're going to recess now It was very interesting. I just, I don't even know why he did that.

I guess it's because he cares for all the symbionts. He's going to lead you by your hand. Yeah. Back on the bridge of the Defiant, Dax comes back, says Timor thinks it's one of the previous hosts. So not Jad Zia, but she needs to go back and see Timor, the Guardian again tomorrow. Right.

Everybody keeps saying, come back tomorrow. Nobody's like dealing. Like, hmm, yeah. Let's take a day to think about this. Not dissimilar for maybe our health care. Yes, exactly. Cisco has the good news. The computer has identified the music.

You've been humming and playing on the Casio. And Dax is like, can I hear this? He's like, yes, of course. This piece was written by a trill named Duran Bilar, 86 years ago. They play the piece. And that's when, you know, but she was. asks, does this, does that name sound familiar? Durambola.

Dax says, like, no, I don't think so. Is there anything, an image like a picture or something? Yeah, picture of him. And Cisco goes, okay, let me look it up. And now we have this flashback. There's a man at a desk, an old guy. And then one of these mass guys, I started calling him the Phantom of the Opera. Yeah.

And Phantom of the Opera comes in. Yeah. And he stabs him in the neck with some silver thing. thingy. Yeah. Dax grabs the... No, you don't want to ever get stabbed, especially in the neck. That's...

Oh. No. So Phantom of the Opera says, look, he left me no choice. Dax says, who are you? Dax actually kind of, kind of... grabs him. Removes the mask. There's some weird vis effects, like, glowing thing that happens.

And then we see a face. And now we see Duran. It's the composer that she just saw... Yeah, it's Duran. And then out of the flag. Back or out of the hallucination, we're back on the Define Bridge and she starts shaking and it has a seizure, basically. I remember doing that. Yeah.

What do you remember? I was curious. Being kind of nervous about doing it and then just thinking, you just got to go all in. You just got to go all in. Did you research it at all? Well, you know what? I had a kid in my junior high who had epilepsy or something. Yes.

Oh, and you saw, you saw this kid have a seizure. Yes, in the middle class. I just remember thinking once you see that someone have a seizure because they have epilepsy. And back then it still had some stigma like there's something really wrong with you mentally rather than it's an imbalance in your chemical makeup. But it was really scary, really scary. And I don't think it's just being a young person watching it, that it's scary. It's scary to watch when you're helpless and there's nothing you can do to help the person do and you don't understand what it is exactly. Yeah.

I'm sure at the time we didn't know exactly. So, yes, I had that in my head. When you saw that, again, that is what imbibed your performance, right? I mean, you remembered what he did. Personal experience of watching it. Yeah. Yeah. And imagining.

It's interesting. I was looking at the original script for this sequence and it says in here when you first see the photo of the composer push in on Dax's recognition

and then it says a series of quick images in which each cut is punctuated by a strange jarring sound a symbient burrowing its way into an abdominal cavity a masked figure on the promenade,

Dax's face on the defiant bridge, a masked figure. And it has all this stuff that I don't remember that. That didn't happen. They didn't show that. It was described as this sort of stock. Like a montage of different things. Montagey things before you come into the room

where the guy gets killed in the mask figure. Right. And then it says her hand touches that guy's mask. Suddenly it shatters. The mass shatters, okay. Did it shatter? No. It felt like a Viz effect.

Yeah, like I said, it was a Viz effect. It glowed like really glowing blue, white light, and then boom, it went back down to his face. And it shows his face. It does say that. It's Joran, the composer we saw on the bridge monitor. And then it says, back in real time, Dax's body suddenly tenses, her eyes closed, her muscles start to tremble. She's going into some sort of seizure. Okay.

Yeah. Yeah. And then what it describes is what we saw. But it does use the word seizure. So that would make sense that you know, yeah, that you would be nervous to do it and try to find a memory to base it on. Yeah. It's just too overwhelming, right? Yeah. Yeah. She got overwhelmed. Yeah. Yeah. I like though that they used artistic license instead of, you know, how we might think of a mask shattering literally. But that they do that it's like. It's just like an artistic upgrade. What does this shatter look like when you're in space and it's a sci-fi show versus if the mask was shattering and it were just a hallucination on, say, a murder she wrote? Right. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah.

We go back into Dax's room. So I guess at the hospital place and things are getting worse. Rennel asks if Dax has been in the wormhole in Cisco. says, yes, she was recently. She was mapping out some of the wormhole, doing some work in there. Doctor says, maybe that's it. But if Dax's isoboramine levels don't come up, they're going to have to remove the symbionent. Yeah, they're down to 51%.

They're down to 51%. So we've got 11% more before the end of Dax, basically. Yeah. Scary proposition. Not good. And we go down in the symbionate caves. Cisco and Bashir go down to Timor, our grumpy guardian. to ask him for help but he's very different this time he's nervous um he says i didn't mean to

imply that i was sure of anything i don't know what's going on and cisco immediately is suspicious he's like did someone tell you not to get involved he doesn't really answer cisco wonders if one of dax's previous hosts had something to do with this composer bellar so they go to find out more about the composer yeah timor's not going to help him he's nothing he can do nothing's going to happen we go to the bridge on the defiant next Cisco and Bashir looking up this composer

Bashir says the file's been purged except for basically birth date and death date of death there's not anything there and so they decided to pull up Dax's records compare they find some dates line there

that he died the composer died the same day that Dax was put into Curzon, which is kind of an odd coincidence. They search music Academy records in this scene. This is definitely like a big

detective scene. They're doing a lot of detective moves in here. Yeah. Looking at the Music Academy records, they find another name with the same last name. They call him, call the guy that has the same last name. It's Geron Belar's brother, who's named

Yolod. And Yolod, and Yolod says that the official record say his brother was never joined. They say that he killed the doctor who recommended dropping him from the training. But Yorad says six months before that murder happened, his brother called him and seemed really different, kind of cold and confident and just didn't seem like himself. And his brother told him that he had been joined. And Yorad can't remember the name of the symbiont that they joined him with. but they thank him and this is where Cisco goes

I think I've got it Dax had been a host Dex, yes Dax had a host between Tarias, the test pilot guy and Kerson. And Kerson.

And Kerson. And the host that was between those two people was Geron Bellar for six months. So that's what what Cisco puts together in a really long scene.

as I was looking at the transcript and kind of going through it, it's longer than most scenes we do. Like that, they had to have done their homework and memorized these lines because it was a lot of words. Long day. Yeah. I think that's one of the complaints of the writers in the, when they saw the end product, they felt that they kind of veered away from a DACs episode and started being

focus, the focus became Bashir and Cisco trying to figure out. I agree, this who done it kind of a thing. And it was like, wait a minute, you give us all this backstory about trills and it's all a sudden, Dax is not even talked about. And they're all about, let's go here. The detective story. So, yeah, totally agree. That is, you do agree with that then.

Yeah. I really think like that anger we saw in the teaser and the opening of the show that kind of went away. Give it, keep going. Keep going. Let me attack someone in the, at the hospital. Yeah. Yeah.

Like him, like I'm becoming him. Yeah, he's taking over. It should have been like Jekyll and Hyde. That's the analogy that I was like, this could have been an amazing Jekyll and Hyde episode. Yeah. Where she goes, you know, off the rails and they're having to find her and she's murdering people. Who knows? I mean, it could have been gone in such a different direction that would have been Dax focused, Jadzia Dax focused.

And instead, that's funny. I do agree with the writers there. Yeah, because, and even in this scene, when they're talking to Yolad, his brother, Duran's brother, he says my brother had a horrible temper, you know, a really violent kind of temper. And we, instead of talking about it, show that to us. Show us, yes. Right? So it's a lot of exposition. Let Dax be vicious.

Yes. Yes. Show more of that. Because you were so good. those angry scenes like it was really give us more of that disarming yeah yeah yes please probably would have been good if I actually did hit Bashir or choke him to the point that someone had to pull me off of him yep yep not so I kill anybody right no don't kill anyone but get to the point of almost killing somebody I want to and you stop me yeah I think there was a whole different path

this could have gone down that would have been really fun for you and really interesting yeah and you know what don't you think that maybe they backed themselves into the corner by writing it while we were filming it there's not a lot of we can't take it back now right we've already established perspective if you don't have the whole story done and then implement rewrites that are and i do think that's major yeah i do think that is the reason why this episode sort of veers off its path is because they were so behind that you're right they rolled themselves into a corner. So I think you called it perfectly. So now we go back to Dax's room. I'm going to call it the hospital room. Sisko and Bashir arrive. They know the whole cover

up now. You know, the trills say that only a very rare trill can be joined. That's why they've got this whole system. They make it seem so special that not all of us trills can do it. Only a very select few. One in a thousand is the actual number. Yeah. But Robbie, before Cisco and Bashir enter, we do see Dr. Renhall. And she says the isoboramine levels are dropped to 40. Oh, that's right.

44%. It's time for, you know, a new host. Killer. It's time for the end of Dax, basically. She's just a little too. She's a little too quick to that. Yeah. Yeah.

Because I heard it was 40%. And she's, it's at 44. which is not, there's 4% left, but yet she's already to jump with the gun. She's like, it's time, it's time, let's go. Yeah, 15 minutes. Yeah, 15 minutes. We'll begin transferring the symbion in 15 minutes. Boy, you just barely made it out by the skin of your teeth. Love Cisco's opening line.

Tell Dr. Torvin to get himself a cup of Racta gino. Oh, that's right. And he was kind of walking in. He was walking in with like a flourish on that. He was, yeah. And just that line was the best, you know. Yeah. He won't be needed.

Yeah. Yeah, but Cisco does say, we know the whole cover up, we get it. You guys are saying that this is rare, but that's not true because you learned with Duran that there are more people that the host, you know, stayed, the host held the symbion for six months. Yeah. So it wasn't perfect. It wasn't a long-term thing.

Yeah. And how about when my symbion got stolen? We learned when John Glover came on the show. And his character basically held ransom on, I mean, he was going to take it. Yeah, he did take it. The symbion was in him. I had to let them take it, though, right? And I knew they were going to do something bad.

At any rate, we know from the character John Glover played that it isn't that they can't be joined. It's that they should not be joined because they're not mentally fit. That's very different than the trill not. the host being able to carry the symbion because any trill host can carry the best match. Yeah. This entire time that Cisco is interrogating or just bringing up all these facts to Dr. Renhall, Dr. Renhall is just playing ignorant. Like, no, I don't know what you're talking about.

But when she does finally give in, she says like, okay, well, here's the deal. Basically half, half of all Trill population is suitable for joining. And then she says, because of that, if that came out that almost everybody can join, now having an actual symbiont in you will end up becoming like, you know, people will be trading or people be buying it. Aggression will happen. People will be fighting over trying to get joined and it becomes a commodity. It's no longer that spiritual, you know, exclusive sort of VIP experience that that, that. what we thought it was, one in 1,000, half of the people. And this type of information released in the public, the troll home world would cause chaos. So she's just like completely like, I can't let this

out. Cisco basically says like if you do this, if you let her die, then I'm going to reveal your secret. Right. Yeah. He says, I resent having to watch my friend die just so that you can protect your secret. He goes, that's why you're, that's why you're willing to let Jetsia die. I'm not interested in exposing your secret doctor. All I care about is Jedzia. I thought that was very prime director, prime directive. He was like, look, I'm not going to, I'm not going to interfere in this. I'm just going to, I'm going to let this, you know, the right thing to do is to tell everybody,

but I'm not going to do that. I'm going to go with your ruse, your cover up, your whatever, which is wrong. It's ethically wrong, but he's not going to mess up the prime directive. It's not his battle to fight either. He just wants to make sure that his friend's day. alive and get a science officer and friend back to the station. Right. Red Hall responds to that saying that what's not as simple as that, I mean, the other host,

that memory or that energy has to be acknowledged and brought into the fold, basically. And that may, it may not happen. It may, there might be some rejection. There may be, maybe something where Duran actually that host overpowers everything to do with Jazea so that it's a did. dangerous thing. And guess what? Sisko says she can handle it. Let's do this. Let's get right. He says, I think she can handle it, but she should be the one to decide. Correct. It's all her choice. Not our choice. And Judzi is a strong woman. And here also, here also is that

shadow self. Geran represents that shadow self of your, the dark side that you need to embrace about yourself and this is what's caused her so much she didn't even know it was there didn't know he was there but this dark side is now appearing in her yeah and she has to embrace it or it won't be assimilated into her whole being correct yeah correct also this geran guy represents the magician inside of you that you need to you need to allow that magician to come through so you can create magic in your own life. Oh, that's so pretty. I like it.

Yeah. I like it too. We all have these internal family systems, these different parts of ourselves, like magicians and like dark sides. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. And like in Buddhism, you're inviting your sorrow. You're inviting your jealousy or anger.

All parts of ourselves that we are, we just really don't like to admit to ourselves. They're there. But they're the parts of ourselves that need love. They need love and understanding and acceptance. And then once you do that, like you would for a best friend, and everybody's sitting at the table, all parts of yourself, then you're whole.

We go down to the symbion caves where the guardians are, and we see Jadzia entering a pool all white, being reborn. Can I just say something? Talk about it. Was it cold? No. The crew.

Yeah. I love my crew. They made sure it was warm water. Oh, yeah. And it was milky. It was a milk bath. Literally they bought a milk bath solution to put in the water. Oh, my gosh.

And that our skin would feel. Your skin was moisturized at the same time. So it was like a spa treatment. Yeah. It was. It was nice. I was very relaxed after that scene. I bet.

Some nice warm water. Very sweet. Well, Jadzia goes into the water, the milk bath. Lightning kind of happens around her, these little lightning charges. And then Duran appears from the water. They hug. I was nervous, though.

When Duran first came out, I was like, oh, my gosh, what's going to happen? But I just loved the way he played. he was like, you, did he say you know me? Yeah, yeah, you know who I am. And I felt like, oh, wow, perfect. Because the way he said that was sort of like, finally, I've been trying to get your attention this whole time that I've been there. And you know who I am.

And he was actually content and happy and not angry, you know, for the first time in his life, it seems. So I just, I love that moment for a person who's not an actor. He's a magician. He came in there. He had one line. And sometimes that one line's very hard to do. And then you said, you're a part of me. He reached out to it and nailed it.

And you just nussle him in right there. It was great. Yeah. Nice little hug. I was back to myself again. Yeah. Yeah. He disappears at the end of that scene.

That's right. That's what the milk bath does to him. Well, he came out of me, right? So then I'm not burdened by his anger. Correct. And then I accept him. So then I can accept him being a part of me. right so great scene you don't see him again because that I guess that he's absorbed into

yeah yeah but he does appear in a later episode of D-space 9 but he wasn't available so they cast somebody else so oh he was doing magic he was doing magic is important this beautiful moment in the milky bath takes us to Dax's quarters back on DS9 she's staring out of window So Cisco comes in. Dax says they don't need to check on her all the time. Cisco's been in there, but she has been in there 15 minutes ago. Everybody's checking on her. I'm fine.

I'm fine. She says, I just need some time to sort things out. And he agrees and leaves. And then she goes back to that little Cassio keyboard and plays her tune. I wonder if Jake let me borrow it or if I went and bought one. I think you just took it. It's yours now. It's yours.

you know, Dax always takes, you know, monoliths from monoliths. And I just steal like Cassio keyboard. Yeah. It's hers. I think Dax is a kleptomaniac. Dax just takes whatever she wants. No one cares. I think Dax has the best line in the whole episode here where she says, I'm glad I did it.

Because if you want to know who you are, it's important to know who you've been. And that to me was beautifully said. It is. Yeah. Good. And Cisco ends that scene with Good Night Old Man and Dax says, Benjamin. I'll see you in the morning. Lesson theme, moral of this episode, Robbie McNeil. My lesson is you need to integrate all the experiences you've had to truly be yourself. Okay. I think it's important for people to do that, you know, not deny the things that are sad or the things that you might have some shame.

about or like it's all part of you. Part of being human. Accept it. Yeah. Yeah. That's, I wrote, accept and love all parts of you. Yeah.

I think my lesson is in that final line that Dax says, if you want to know who you are, it's important to know who you've been, right? Yeah. And to accept the dark side and the light side because we are comprised of both. That's how every human being is. What is the winner of the Patreon poll theme and moral of this episode, Terry?

Well, the winner was submitted by Anne. Sometimes institutions are willing to go to extreme length to cover up the truth. Oh, that's a different perspective, but I like it. It is. I do too. Well, that's it, everybody. Thank you for tuning in to our recap and discussion of equilibrium. And thank you again to Terry for joining us. And for all of our Patreon patrons, please stay tuned for your bonus material and a little bit more, Terry.

There we go. All right. See you on the next episode. It'll be second skin with Terry again. So everyone else, stay tuned. You know, I'm going to be able to be.