The Delta Flyers - Ferengi Love Songs

Episode Date: April 28, 2026

The Delta Flyers is hosted by Garrett Wang, Robert Duncan McNeill, Terry Farrell, and Armin Shimerman. In each podcast release, they will recap and discuss an episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.This week’s episode, Ferengi Love Songs, is hosted by Garrett Wang, Robert Duncan McNeill, and Armin Shimerman.Ferengi Love Songs: Quark returns to Ferenginar for maternal comfort, finds his mother's lover is Grand Nagus Zek, and promptly uses their relationship to regain his license.We would like to thank everyone who makes this podcast possible, starting with our Production Managers, Megan Elise and 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, Sandra Stengel, AJC, Nicholaus Russell, Alex Mednis, Holly Schmitt, Nicki T, Roxane Ray, Andrew Duncan, Tim Neumark, Ian Ramsey, Feroza Mehta, Jenny Cordina, Izzy Jaffer, Francesca Garibaldi, Jonathan Capps, Chris Dellman, Sean T, Cindy Woodford, Tamara Evans, & Shawn RobbinsOur Co-Executive Producers:Liz Scott, Sarah A Gubbins, Utopia Science Fiction Magazine, Elaine Ferguson, Captain Jeremiah Brown, Deike Hoffmann, Anna Post, Cindy Ring, Lee Lisle, Holly Smith, Amy Tudor, Mark G Hamilton, KMB, Dominic Burgess, Normandy Madden, Joseph Michael Kuhlman, Darryl Cheng, Elizabeth Stanton, Tim Beach, Victor Ling, Shambhavi Kadam, David Wei Liu, Donna Runyon, Nicholas Albano, Randy Hawke, Penny Liu, Matt Norris, David Smith, Stacy Davis, Heath K., Ryan Mahieu, Andrew Cano, Robby Hill, Kevin Harlow, Chris Garis, Jeff Allen, & Londyn HenningAnd our Producers:Philipp Havrilla, James Amey, Jake Barrett, Ann Harding, Samantha Weddle, Paul Johnston, Carole Patterson, Warren Stine, Carl Murphy, Jocelyn Pina, Chad Awkerman, AJ Provance, Maxine Soloway, Heidi McLellan, E & John, Brianna Kloss, Dat Cao, Stephen Riegner, Debra Defelice, Alexander Ray, Kelly Brown, Sarah Thompson, Gabriel Dominic Girgis, Renee Wiley, Maria Rosell, Dominique Weidle, Jesse Bailey, Mike Chow, Matt Edmonds, Miki T, Heather Selig, Steph Davies, Stephanie Aves, Seth Carlson, Amy Rambacher, Jessica B, Annie Davey, Jason Eberl, Jeremy Gaskin, Sarah Dunnevant, Charlie Faulkner, Estelle Keller, Eddie Dawson, Lauren Rivers, Jennifer B, PJ Pick, Preston M, Rebecca Leary, SnazzyO, Karen Galleski, Jan Hanford, Katelynn Burmark, Cade Solsbery, Timothy McMichens, Cassandra Girard, Andrea Wilson, Slacktwaddle, Willow Whitcomb, Mo, Leslie Ford, Jim Poesl, Scott Bowling, Michael Jones, Ed Jarot, James Vanhaerent, Nick Cook-West, Kilian Trapp, Kit Marie Rackley, Gordon Watson, Andrew Golden, Damien O’Donnell, Michael Bourguignon, Luke Pacha, & Patricia WelschThank 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] Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Hello 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 host for today are my fellow Trek actors, Armin Sherman, Robert Duncan McNeil, and myself, Garrett Wong. I don't know why I slowly came into an accent. I don't either. Maybe it's the green behind Armin right now. We do have a message for all of you. We have some exciting news. We have new segments. New segments to our show.

This is our Patreon portion, though. Is that right? Yeah. In our Patreon portion, the Patreon members have kind of gotten together and suggested some great new ways that we can participate, that they can vote on things or add to the content and things that we can do. So, yeah, some of the things our Patreon member submitted poetry that we read, poems by our Patreon member. additional polls for for honorable mentions and for our existing polls. We've got production shoutouts, Quark's business sense, where Armin's going to give his take on how Quark could have profited from the episode.

We've got a pop quiz question for us that comes from our Patreon members. We talk about characters that aren't there, what they might be doing, and subcategories of rating the episode, acting, writing, directing, and overall. So a lot of new content and things to talk about in the bonus material. We encourage everybody to participate and vote in that. We'll see how popular those conversations and participation things are. And hopefully we'll keep them going if everybody, you know, likes it. Yes, we are implementing a lot of new content or types of content.

And so, you know, if we have a lot of submissions for certain things, we then know that's the most popular thing. They love it and we'll keep doing it. And things that don't get a lot of submissions, we're going to just take that out, you know. So we'll adjust according to what you guys love and what you want. So if it seems like we're throwing a lot at you, new stuff at you at once,

and if you're not someone who loves a lot of change, don't worry, it'll balance out in the end. So just make sure you guys participate in this because this is a chance for you to really be part of the show. Yeah. One of the nice things about going to conventions is always getting feedback from the people in front of the table. Yeah.

And this is like that, and I'm looking forward to that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's one thing I love about this podcast is the kind of community that it creates and the conversations that happen at conventions, through our Patreon Discord channel and on the Zooms and all that stuff. It's just a great community of people that love Star Trek and connect with each other.

And I love that. Yeah. And it's probably the... The same for both of you, but it makes me excited when a fan comes up and says, I just found the podcast. Oh, my God. They're so happy. And it makes me happy, too, because I can feel that energy is awesome. But even on the cruise, you're on, Armin.

I'm sure someone came up and talked to you about the podcast. Many people, many people came up to me and said how much they liked the podcast. And shout out to all those people and it was nice talking to them. Awesome. Yeah. Awesome. Well, we've got some birthdays for our Patreon members today. We do. A couple of birthdays to talk about, first of all, Matt Norris. On April 29th is Matt's birthday. So happy birthday, Matt. Happy birthday, Matt. N to the O, to the R-R-I-S. Happy birthday. Next up we have Snazzy-O. Snazzy O's birthday is May 1st. Big, big, happy birthday to Snazio. Snazzy-O, happy birthday-Bertie-O. Happy-O, birthday-O. Happy O, birthday-O, SNASIO.

Happy birthday. Poetry time from Robbins. Yeah, with a little limerick action. I've got a limerick. Limerico, here we go. Limerick-o us. In the end, Quark learned how to care. Having a conscience is what he would dare.

With a license restored, he got his reward, and Rahman Lita will make a beautiful pair. Golf nice. Very nice. Oh, thank you. Thank you very much. I love that. Here's my haiku-oh.

for this episode, Frangy Love Songs. What has Mugie done? Zeki is in the closet. Do not mess with love. Hmm. Nice. Zeki. Zeki, yes.

That's what she called him, right? Yes, that was her little pet name for him. Zeki, Zeki. So, etymology time. Etymology time. Yes, please. So I have. two words that I've done etymology on.

The first one, surprisingly, is Ferengi. Very surprised. Yes, Ferengi is not a made-up word. Ferengi is a word deprived from the Persian Ferengue or Ferengi, which historically referred to the German Franks, the Franks were a tribe in Germany. And it gradually came to mean any Western European white person, Christian, or general foreigner in parts of the Middle East, Southern Asia, and Ethiopia.

So the Islamic Guard in Iran, Americans are called, to the Islamic Guard in Iran, Americans are called Ferengi. Still, to this day. So, Armin, is this a slur? Is it a slur? I'm not sure it's a slur. I hadn't. My research didn't go that far.

Okay. But it does mean the other. It means not one of us. Totally. It means something outside. So as the term, the other means in English, I would imagine Ferengi is the same in Persian-speaking countries. Wow. And not just Persian-speaking countries, all the countries I mentioned a moment ago.

So it is a real word, and it means foreigner. And God bless the writers in TNG, because they created it, that they did this research in found this word. Well, thank you for that. My goodness. I can't believe that we've gotten this far into the series and not talked about the origin of that word. This is the first time. That's never been in a title, has it? Wow. Wow. So, wow. Now, I've always known this to some extent, but because it was in the title, I thought I'd share it. Wow. Wow. Now, there is another word in the title. Yes. Love. Yes. And it is from the old English, Loufell. and or from the high German luba.

And the two definitions that I have is that disposition or state of feeling with regard to a person which arising from recognition of attractive qualities from instincts of natural relationship or from sympathy manifests itself in solicitude for the welfare of the object and usually also in delight of his or her presence and desire for his or her approval. Now, the word that's a rather long, but understand it's from a dictionary, so it's not, it sounds like it's from a dictionary. And that word, love, was first used in the English language in 825. Wow. 825.

825. The second definition I have is viewed, love is viewed as an abstract quality or principle. And that definition, that definition of the word. was first used in 1050. So it's a rather old word in the English language. Wow. Yes. I like the original, you said Lufu was the English.

Yeah, Lufu is from Old English. Old English. Old English, Lufu. I like that. I lufu, the Delta Flyers podcast. I like using that word a lot. And if I remember the producers, the film the producers, I think one of the characters is German.

that's the German writer. And he does use the word lube. Luba, right? Luba. And that, so it's possible, it comes from the high German luba. Which is also interesting, Armin, because in Russian love is lublue. Lubliu means love. Yeah.

It's how you say love in Russian. So Luba, the German way of saying it is very similar. Maybe that is the origin of the Russian libelu. Could be. From a Germanic tribe. Who knows, right? Hmm. Yeah.

What is the, I wonder what the Latin word for love is. Beyond my research, sorry. Let me see if I can. Latin is Amor. Of course it is. Of course it is. Of course, yes. Amor.

Yes. Amor. Interesting. Okay. Amor would be the French derative as well. Amore. Italian Amore. Amore.

Oh, here we go. Wow. This is so crazy. We have a Patreon submitted poetry winner. Very excited. Oh, yeah. And Robbie's going to read it. Our first new.

Yes. Sorry, Robbie. Oh, yeah, there it is. Our patron. Okay. Here is our Patreon submitted poetry winner. Our first new category. Here we go.

This is submitted by Faroza Meta. It is a haiku. And Faroza wrote this poem. It goes like this. Never trust in love. Unless it multiple. multiplies bars of latinum. Ooh.

Very good for Rosa. Very good. Rosa. Good job, for Rosa. That was great, actually. It was actually very good. Yeah. Okay.

The Patreon submitted poetry honorable mention is a limerick, is a limerick submitted by Alex Ray. And I love that Robbie read the haiku and now I am reading the limerick. Here we go. With Vols on the Loose. Cork withdrawals. Lita is about to have new in-laws. Ishka helps Zek to think.

The frangy economy is brought to the brink. With just one episode between this and business as usual, our MVP is obviously Kitty Swink. Oh, nice, Alex. Nice. I love that we got Kitty in a... Yes, I will tell her she will be thrilled, really. she will be. Yes. With voles on the loose, Quark withdraws, Lita is about to have new in-laws.

Ishka helps Zek to think the Ferengi economy is brought to the brink. With just one episode between this and business as usual, our MVP is obviously Kitty Swink. There we go. A lot of fit into that last stanza, but I... Yeah. Listening to that point, I realize there is something, I mean, we talk about missing scenes, but there's a missing scene that I hadn't thought about. If Ram is so excited to tell quark about his engagement, wouldn't he have also told his mother yet that's now? Oh, my God. And they had her on set, too.

They could have totally used her. Oh, my goodness. I hadn't thought of that until I heard the poem just now. Yeah, that's a great point. Good call. And that is a missing scene. You're right. You are right.

Okay, so this episode is written by Iris Stephen Bear and Hans Bimler. Interestingly enough, the working title of this episode was how Quark acquired his groove back, which is in reference to the film how Stella got her groove back. That was the working title. This is this episode directed by Renee Obergerna. Yay. Did such a great job, I thought. He did.

He really did. We have guest stars. Cecily Adams as Ishka. Yes. So this is after Andrea Martin's departure. We had the lowdown on that from Armin. And I will give you some lowdown on Cecily as well. Okay, great.

Fabulous. But because of the issues with makeup, we all know that Andrea Martin did not continue as Ishka. Cessley Adams took over. Now, interestingly enough, I started doing some research on Cecily Adams. She's primarily a casting director. No. Yes. Yes.

I mean, that's one of her big things that she. She was the casting director of that 70s show. That's huge. Yeah, that's huge. Right. Robbie, she was the casting director of that 70 show, a huge show, and another show, too. Third Rock from the Sun. So these are huge, huge, big, big network shows.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's one of her careers, I suppose. As an actress, she filled in for this role and continued to fill in for this role after this. Married to Jim Beaver from Supernatural, was her husband, passed away, unfortunately, in 2004 to lung cancer. Too, too early. Yeah, much too early.

I think she was 46 at the time, something like that. She had just had a child, their first child. Wow. All right. They were neighbors of mine, Jim. Really? Yes. Yeah.

In Marina Del Rey in MDR? Wow. They lived down there back in the day. Did you interact with them back then? I did see them a bit, and I worked with Jim a couple of times. But I know Arm and you had a good relationship. Yeah, we had a very, very solid and it was a very close friendship. Yeah.

So because of that, when Cessley had the audition, she called me up and said, I had this audition to play your mom. I said, come on over to the house. So she came over. We worked on it for a couple of hours. And I was very pleased to find out that she got the role. Oh, wow. That's awesome. Oh, that's great.

You basically, it was a personal coaching session. It was a personal coaching. And to that, my wife, who knew I was getting ready for this episode, said that Cessaly was the finest acting coach she ever had. Really? Besides being a casting director, she was an acting coach. She helped people audition for sitcoms, which was her forte. And Kitty said, every time Cessaly coached her for sitcom audition, she got the role. Oh my goodness.

Now, we all know that's partly coincidence, but also just Cessley's knowledge of how to approach sitcom material. But also just she's literally a Jackie of all trades to be able to act well, to be able to cast well, to be able to coach well. Oh, my goodness. And she was extremely attentive mom while the baby was first. born and she'd wipe doorknobs on the house if people touched them so the baby wouldn't catch any germs but but a lovely lady and the relationship between her and wallace sean was genuine and real and they

they really loved working with each other so they had worked with each other before or no oh that was the first time it it became it became very obvious of their fondness for each other we we are very close friends We, Kitty and Cecily had a mutual friend that brought them together. And there was just this group of ladies that were very, very, very tight. Cessly and Kitty were both part of that group. It's just so sad to hear, you know, that's such an early age to pass. In your research, did you do any, was there anything about her genealogy? Do you know anything about that?

I did read it. Why don't you say it? Go ahead. So her father is Don Adams. Don Adams, the comic from O'Gon. Get Smart. Get smart. Get smart. The lead.

Yeah. And he came to visit one day on the set. I was not taken with Don Adams. He was very ugly to his daughter. Oh, no. Really? I'm sorry. That's sad to hear.

It was a very difficult relationship between father and daughter. Oh. Okay. We also have, of course, Max Gredenchik as Rahm, Chase Masterson, is Lita, Tiny Ron as Mejardu, Hamilton Camp as Lech, Jeffrey Combs, as Brunt, Wallace, Sean as Zek. And I'm sorry, Armin, I did not know if you wanted to say anything else regarding Cessaly, and I went on. So is anything else? No, I will probably say things about Cessley during the course of our podcast, but I do want to say something about Hamilton Camp. Of course.

Hamilton Camp is a was, because he's passed away. In fact, I have his memorial card over there on my shelf. I was an incredible comic performer, did a lot of brilliant performances, both on stage and on film. Hamilton and I and Mark Alimo all did a film prior to Star Trek, where Mark pretty much played a character that was like Galdicott, and I pretty much played a character that was close to Quark.

Oh. And Hamilton was very funny, and although his scene is rather short in this episode, he comes back in a future Ferengi episode and you will see his comic talents in that. Oh, wow. Okay. Very funny. And a name to reckon with in the theater at one time when I was a young man. Wow. What was the name of that film? It was called Arena. Arena. It was a science fiction movie about boxers.

Oh. And it took me to, we took all of us to Italy for two months where we all bonded. In fact, Mark Colimo and I were attached at the hip. It was a lovely time. And I got to know Hamilton as well, really very well. I'm going to watch that film. So this was, okay. It's not. It's really not very good. Really? Yeah, it's really quite bad. But it's not, but it is. And it's not just, it's not just a three of us. There's a, and I've forgotten her name, but a lady that also played a part that became very similar to the lead part that she played on Babylon 5. Oh, well, I definitely want Oh my goodness. What year was this?

1990? Something like that. Yeah. All right, let's dive into the episode. We start out on the promenade. Quark is pacing outside of his bar. He's very depressed in this scene. We learned voles have infested the bar and security's trying to kill them.

I felt bad for the poor voles because we've seen voles now. They're not little like mice or anything kind of rodents. They're big. they're like three times a size of a rat. They're huge. At least. Yeah. At least.

They're like a dog, like a medium sized dog. Yeah. Almost. Robbie, were you confused in the very beginning? The opening shot, it's of cork pacing.

And then you see some phaser shots behind a closed door. Okay. I thought my first- The bar is closed door. Right. The bar is closed, but I didn't think that. Outside the bar.

Right. I did not think that. I know where you're at and you're outside the bar. It's closed. but my first thought, the way it was shot, I thought that was a hollow suite. And someone was playing a, you know, they were playing a simulation in there.

And you were. I thought that too for a second. You did. Yeah, it wasn't oriented. Yeah, I wasn't oriented there as well. To where we were in the world. A big wide shot to open would have helped. So we could have seen quark pacing outside the bar and then cut into it.

I'm not trying to nitpick. I just want to just say that that's something that I was like, what is this? It just, I had to step back for a second to understand what was happening. And I noticed, Armin, in this, that you rubbed your lobes. Yes. No, I rub him the forehead.

His forehead, I guess. And I have something to say about that after you finish. Go ahead. I liked that. I liked that you were using the prosthetic in a way as if it were your anatomy in a way. I like that. And it doesn't happen often with alien. And I'll tell you why.

If you look at that shot, you can see the makeup moving. Yeah. Really? Yeah, I agree with you. It was a good choice. and I didn't know the makeup was moving because I couldn't see it. Yeah.

But you can see the makeup sort of moving. Shifting around on your head. Oh, that's a, I didn't notice it. I didn't catch it either. I like the action. I like, I wish they could have monitored that a little better so that you could do the action without the makeup, giving it away because I, and I didn't see it,

but I like the action. It was great. But Dax shows up. She tries to comfort him. He says, you know, it'll all be over soon. and he can get back to his life, but he says he hates his life. Aw.

What did you think of that scene, Armin? I like my performance. I actually, I'll start now. I wish there had been more of why he hated his life. I mean, in business as usual, which is the previous Ferengi episode, we find out that he's just come out even, that he's just paid off his debts,

but he's not really ahead. And now, of course, the Vols have infested the station, so he's losing money, and things are going badly. And I really thought that's a genuine concern that they could have dealt with more seriously and not comically. Well, it's funny that you bring that up, because I'll say globally for me, that was my only problem with this episode, is that there was not highs and lows of drama and comedy. It was all sort of played, shot. it was played as farce. And you've mentioned that before with the Ferengi, that they don't take them seriously.

The writers don't take them seriously or directors don't or whatever. And I saw it in this episode. That's my only complaint because I love the story. I love the performances, except that often some of the other actors, you were playing the heavier moments, but some of the other actors weren't.

And so it didn't have the same stakes. And it wasn't shot. You know, everybody was kind of playing Ferengis are, farce. And so the whole thing was played for comedy. And that's my only criticism of this episode. And it's a huge, huge criticism. And a valid one. And I watch this episode and cringed a lot of the time. Like you said, not at my own performance, not at my own performance. But it is a Ferengi episode. Therefore, I have to shoulder the responsibility. And the characters were playing it for farce. I'm sure that's the way Renee suggested that they do it,

especially to Cecily, who's brand new to the set. But even so, I cringed it a lot of this episode. Well, that's a shame. Because overall, I actually like this episode a lot. And if there had been those highs in the list, if moments had real stakes and drama and pathos and all of that, then I think I would have rated this a very high episode. I would have, you know, I didn't have a lot of criticisms,

but that is a big one that just continues. throughout. And I think the writers, it starts with the writing because it kind of leans into the silliness a little too much. Then I think the actors take that cue and run with it and amplify it, which is not helpful. And then if the director is not shooting both styles, the comedy moments as comedy and the drama moments as having stakes and emotion, then everybody's sort of amplifying each other and it's not helpful. And may I add to that. And really this episode doesn't bear all this this discussion. But may I add to that, the set design for the Ferengi living quarters for Zek's presence room, they were all enormously comical. It's something out of a ride out of Disneyland that

they look like. Which is a shame because the exterior for Ferengen are. Yeah, I love the exterior. I love the exterior. And I will talk about that later. But I love the exterior. But the interiors were what, really? That looks like it's a small world. It looks like it's a small world. Okay. Can I please interject? Yes. I am the dissenting opinion here.

I felt that there was more realism in these performances from the fricky than any other. I know you guys are, your eyes are getting big. But I don't have the same qualms that both of you have with this. And I think I were Stephen Bear also had qualms with it being a little too cartoonish. But I did not. I really enjoyed this episode a lot. I did too. As far as the interiors, as far as the interiors go, I don't think that is.

You can share that opinion. You guys can feel that it's to Disneyland or whatever, but I will then present to you, look at Ferengi clothing, how colorful it is. It's going to be as colorful inside the homes as well. So I have no issue with that either. So I'm the opposite of you, too. I did not feel that way whatsoever.

I'm not going to argue with you. To your point, yes, the Ferengi costumes are very colorful and lots of different colors. But look at Quark's bedroom. It's just one paint. It's just a wall with paint on it with little tiny doors. I understand the little tiny doors.

It's a gag that I got... It's a little overdone. Yeah. Even the Ferengi have to duck. Yeah, even the Ferengi have to duck. Poor Mayhardoo. Oh, poor Mayhardoo. My goodness.

I mean, you could see him. He's in pain when he goes through. Yeah. I wanted it to look like every other interior that I've seen. on any shot. I don't think they had the time to finish it in a way.

I think it was a rush job is what it was. So that felt half baked. It felt half baked. But overall, I don't have the same critique of this episode that you two do. So I'm sorry. With my critique, by the way,

I still really enjoyed it. Okay, okay. We'll see what the ratings are at the end of the hell. Well, we go to Cork's quarters next. He's still depressed. Rom comes in, though, to give him big news.

He and Lita are getting married. Quark doesn't want to live. We learn. And Rom, you know, comforts him a bit and says, there's one person that's always been there for you. They don't say her name, but we know he's talking about mom, talking about Moogie in the scene. So, Rom and Lita are getting married. Big news. Boy, that went fast. Yeah, that went fast. I mean, in a show where they gradually do everything, where the arcs gradually creep along until they flourish, which is the right way to do it. They're brilliant at that, knowing to just let enough information in

and let things grow. This relationship between Elita and Rom just appears out of nowhere. I'm happy for both of them. I'm happy for the characters. I'm happy for the actors. But it did seem to come out of nowhere. It did seem quick, but I feel like... There have been moments, yes, yes.

We've seen them in the bar association. We've seen them sort of look at each other lovingly. And the one with Bob Picardo, you know, we know that as well. It just came out of nowhere. But they've been setting it up. I mean, they've been giving us little morsels. They've absolutely love each other. Yeah, we haven't really seen it.

We know it's rare. So they like each other a lot. And then you have to assume off camera they've had lots of time. But we just haven't. Would have been nice to see those stories. Right. Because the romance growing from from just crush and infatuation to yes, let's get married. We sort of skipped over that part.

Yeah. Well, we go to Mugie's house. I did write down that it's raining there all the time. Why don't you guys have umbrellas and raincoats? No one ever. No, we have towels. They, you see the towels at the door? They pat themselves down with that.

Oh, I miss that. They're ready for that. Okay. But it's funny that you bring that up, Robbie, because my thought was, man, the Ferengi must have the best rain boots of all, like galoshes. You know, they must make superior rain gear. Yes. Cork comes in.

It goes right to Ishka, to Mugi, and he needs a hug. And I wrote down new actress because I'd forgotten that this happened. But yes, we talked about Cecily Adams. She's wonderful in this point. She is. She's very good. Question for you, Armin. Initially, when we had Andrea Martin, when we reviewed that episode, you were talking about

how disappointed you were in the makeup that they put on her, how horrible it looked, it just didn't look good. Do you approve of this makeup? No, this one you didn't like it? No, this one you didn't like it. No, the makeup on her and Zek is too much.

Okay. Yeah. It almost doesn't look Ferengi sometimes. It doesn't look real at all. You really have to, it doesn't look real at all. Right. I do agree with you, if they made Ferengi's age gracefully, that would have been much better.

Instead of literally everything is drooping off like a candle wax, just like that. Now, remember, Ferengi lived for a long time, but even so, make it somewhat natural. Yeah. So, yeah, that just only added to the farcical nature of the episode for me. Well, we go to the Replomat next. We see Rom is wearing a Bajoran earring on his... A big one. Yes, a very big one.

I love the wraparound shot starting on the earring and the ear from the profile. Renee is getting much bolder with his shot making, especially in this episode. I thought he did some wonderful shot design and staging. It was great. This was great. We see that Rom is learning about Bajoram customs. We learn that Lita wants a traditional wedding. But we also learned that Lita is not learning Ferengi traditions.

Miles brings it up. Miles says, you know, Rom, you're not a traditional Ferengi, and you start to see this land on Rom. They hadn't thought about it that way. but he's starting to feel like he's, you know, failing at something here, that he should be more Ferengi. Dax says he's the least Ferengi Ferengi she's ever met. I love that line. It's a great line.

The least fringi like Ferengi. I love that. Yes. Yeah. And it's, you know, it's meant to be a compliment. It's very Dax like to say that. It's a compliment. It's just how Rom takes it.

I found that good. I found that very good. Yeah. I feel like when, when Dax says, well, a traditional farangy would never marry a non-ferengi, because he couldn't trust her, that that was a little bit too much. I felt like that line when Dax is like basically saying, you can't trust Alita, you know, putting that in his head. Yeah, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's,

the series regulars doing it to the occurring character. Yeah, felt a little heavy handed to me in this scene, you know, that they were putting such clear suspicion in his mind and that they were unaware of it, I felt like that, I balked at that a little bit. Like, you would know that you're overstepping. You could sense it from him and you might try to, you know, correct your paranoia or something, but they didn't. And they're trying to be nice. They're trying to be nice. Yeah. Yeah. So we go to Ishka's house. We go to Moogie's house. Quark says he wants to stay until he feels better. She does bring up that they've never really gotten along, but she is his mother, so of course he can stay. He goes to lie down. And when he gets

in his room, he comments that Mugi took all his stuff down. Where's his action figures? Which I thought was very funny, the action figure reference, especially since you had an action figure at this point. Yeah, yeah. Marauder Mo. Yeah. Which immediately made me think of Robbie and Major Matt Mason, all the M words here. Marauder. Oh, Major Matt Mason was my favorite action. figure when I was a little kid. But look at the alliteration. Matt Mason, Marauder Moe, right? Yeah.

There you go. And Marauder Moe has a blue whip. Yes, as we see it later on. It's a plasma whip, right? Yeah. The least successful prop I am. It feels like they took another action, like two or three action figures and pulled them apart and put it back together into one sort of Frankenstein action figure later on.

All right. So he doesn't see Maraud or Mo, can't find his action figure. So he goes to throw his bag in the closet. I love how you open the door, toss the bag in. And Zach and Mayhard, too, are standing there. But you shut the door. And then you think of it as, did you see what you just thought you saw? It was very funny.

You open the door again. And it's Zach, it's the Grand Nagas and Mayhardu. Nagas says, you know, what are you doing here, Quark? You've been banned. get out of here so um and that's wrong uh uh you know i'm quibbling now but yeah i've been banned from doing business but yes there's no ban about visiting your mother yeah that's true that's true but he's desperate he's been busted he's desperate he's desperate he's destined yeah he's just trying to get you out of there anywhere he can i just imagine tiny ron on the other side of that um in the closet as he stands up he's taller

like he's taller than the actual set wall i'm sure he was i'm sure he was yeah it you could see sometimes where he's suffering. Oh, totally. Yeah. Yeah. How tall was he? I would say seven feet? Close.

He might be close to seven. Yeah. Yeah. He could be seven one. Wow. Yeah. Well, we go back into the main room. Cork thinks Mugie did something wrong, she's in trouble.

And then she calls for Zach off camera from the bedroom. Um, Zach comes in. He says that Mugie and him are in love. Cork says his head hurts. which I thought was funny. This is where Zeki comes out. Zeki, might as well come out. The pet name is, yeah.

The abbreviated name is there. Yeah, it's funny. Like, even this, like, creating the stakes, creating stakes and, you know, the danger that Quark might feel. When everything is intermixed with the comedy and the shots are all kind of in the wide sitcomy shots and the set looks flat like a sitcom set, you're right. We don't ever feel like there's highs and lows. I don't know how else to put it, but, you know, drama contrasting with the comedic moments.

That would have been a, I think. I think so. I think so. There are lots of conflicts that arise in this episode. And they are mentioned. They are dealt with briefly, and then they're forgotten. This is one of them. You know, the fact that Zex's hiding in the closet for the, because he doesn't want to be seen

by anybody who's at the door, it turns out to be quark. Everybody should be more aware of how delicate the situation is that their relationship is being discovered. Yeah. And, you know, it's no secret that Quark and Mugie don't get along. Yeah. And he's a Ferengi. You can't trust him.

Yeah. And they've literally just said it in the scene before when she says, I know we never got along. And so, yeah, there could have been some drama here that just got sort of glossed over. Yeah. And there's a number. This is some major ones that. Yes, there are. Really?

We didn't discuss that at all. Yeah. At the end of that scene, Zex says, you see Quark, your mother and I are in love. And I think we go out on Quark at the end of that coming back after the commercial in the old days. I liked the way that Renee transitioned back into the act. He had you sitting down onto a, you know, kind of reestablishing some geography with a little camera movement. You sit down and he pans over to reveal Mugie and Zek there. So Renee was doing some really like top notch, very subtle. subtle stuff, but it's the kind of directing that makes everything feel very smooth and elegant. And I just want to keep commenting on that because I thought this was the best directing that Renee had done. Even though I do think he missed some of these dramatic moments where he could have been in tighter.

And the writers didn't help him in that. That's what I'm saying. You can't shoot something that isn't on the page. Yeah. Yeah. But in terms of transition scenes or moments, he really knocked it out of the park. He knocked out of the park. Wow.

Yeah. very smart, very visually elegant, very thoughtful. I thought it was great. And the camera work, you know, I don't know, I want to guess that he and Jonathan West talked about some of these scenes. Renee had some ideas, but Jonathan, the operators, they all participated in kind of making these shots, these transitions really good. I think the camera department did a great job. But yeah, Moogie and Zeck tell their meet cute story. It was a Tongue championship. Zek was kind of struggling. He got some advice from Moogie.

Afterwards, he sent a thank you note. They corresponded, finally met. He was shocked to see that this was a woman that was giving him all this great advice. And they've been in love ever since. And Zex does say in the scene, though, don't tell anybody. And we get a lot of PDA in this scene. A ton of PDA. What is PDA?

Public displays of affection. Yes. A lot of kissing and canoodling. Canoodling. Canoodling. Yes. Snogging, as the Brits say. Snogging?

Yeah, there you go. A lot of sexual innuendo, too, between these two. Yeah. Armand, Loebkins is in this scene. So Ishka calls Zach Lobkins. Yeah, Loebkins. And earlier I said Zeki was an abbreviation of Zach, and that is incorrect it is the extension.

Extension of it, but the loving form of it, I suppose. Well, Zek leaves, and this is where I made a note about the low doors, these little circular doors that are so low. When Zek left, he had to duck underneath. Like, why wouldn't you make it Ferengi height and let other people deal with the hype problem? Yeah, it was ludicrous. I really dislike the set design. Usually those guys are phenomenal, but it's like, as you said, Garrett's an afterthought. And I wonder, do you remember in those sets, the Ferringy sets, if,

crew members hit their heads or people hit their heads? I bet they did. I don't remember any of them going through, but certainly I knew that I had to duck my head. And arguably, I am the tallest Ferengi, but mayer do, of course. Yeah. He must have, at the end of the day, he had to go home just soak in a hot tub with some Epson salts because he was so sore and everything, just trying to twist himself. Not only had to do that, but it's tough. He's in all. He's in all. these scenes, he never says a word really. He is part of the scene and he has to wear makeup. And I would say most of the time he's underappreciated that he was a real team player and my, my kudos to Tiny Ron for all the hard work that he did. On my second watch of this, I watched Tiny Ron in every scene,

just him. He's always acting. But he's still emoting. He's still acting. He's still doing his, he's staying involved and he's present. So kudos to him. I really felt that. You know, he stayed with it. I would guess that this is another episode where I worked at home. And I know that Tiny Ron, in episodes that he had no words in, he would come to our rehearsals and stay there all day. Wow. Wow.

That's incredible. That's devotion. That really is. I love it. Well, at the end of the scene when Zek leaves, we expect that he's going to be very upset about this, but he's not. He's thrilled. He's not just thrilled for Moogie.

He says he's thrilled for all of them. which I thought was very funny. He says, give you a hard time, you in Nagas? I couldn't be happier for all of us. He's thinking. He's thinking. Exactly. He's working at the chest moves.

He's still fringy. Yeah, he's still at heart. Yes. We go to Quarks. Miles and the team have gotten all the voles out. But Rahm needs an extra long lunch. He needs Lita to sign this waiver of property and profit. the WP&P.

Rom basically in the scene thinks he still needs some Ferengi things as part of this wedding. He needs to represent his Ferengi side a little bit. So this waiver of property and profit is going to be that. Miles is like, I don't think you should do that. And Rom says, no, it's not a problem at all. Lita loves me. You'll see. She'll sign it.

So this is basically a pre-nup agreement on steroids. Yeah. Yeah. Extreme agreement. But Rahm is very confident. He's like, oh, this is just a little, I'm going to check the box of Ferengi, get her to sign this thing, then I'll feel fine. I got some Ferengi in this. It doesn't even seem like he's that concerned about the money or the property at this point.

He just wants something Ferengi in it. And because Miles and Dax have put these thoughts into his head, he's in a sense he's protecting himself. You know, if she is sort of after my money, like my first wife was, I need to protect myself. Yeah. Do we know if his first wife was Ferengi or not? No, she had to be Ferengi. She had to be Ferengi. She had to be Ferengi.

That's true. Oh, that's right. We've seen mixed marriages on statute. You're right. Nog is 100% for Eni. Really question. Yes. Nog.

I forgot about Nog. Yeah. Yikes. We go to Rom's quarters next. I thought this was a good cut into the scene. Again, Renee doing smart stuff because we go off of Roms close up. You'll see, Chief. She'll sign.

it and we go right to a comedy cut of lita going are you crazy i'm not going to sign this very funny laughed out loud uh but lita says no she's not going to sign it and this is where rome brings up his first wife that she was just after his money and lita says no i'm not after your latinum i love you and he says well then prove it sign the thing and she goes no i'm not signing it he calls off the wedding over it. And I think he makes that move thinking she's going to sign it. But she says, absolutely, the marriage is off. You bet it is. And she walks out the door. So it's not looking good for this love story right now, is it? No, no. Bore guys. And boy, Chase, you know, she's had some scenes before, but this is a real story. I think for maybe the first time, maybe. I don't think so.

I don't think it's the first time. No. Yeah, Riza. But there was other episodes. The one with Picardo, actually, was a major stuff. Yeah, that's true. This one feels like the story is just all about her and Romm in a way that is leveling up from the story she's been a part of before. Yeah.

They are certainly interested in the lead of character and they're giving her more oomph. Yeah, it's great. And they do a Max and Chase. do a great job with the story. And this should have been the comedy sort of runner. And your story, Armin, should have been some comedy, but it should have had stakes. Yeah, that was the A story. It should have had stakes.

Yeah, and we'll get to a couple of places where I thought it could have had stakes in some of the story areas in your story where there's some real issues that could have been addressed. There's some real, very important issues that are glossed over. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. We go to Ishka's house, to Moogie's house. It's after dinner. I love this Sergio Leone shot with Quark in between the the nuzzling and the kissing and the, you know, Zek and Ishka in the foreground. Again, great visual eye. Renee's doing some clever stuff here. Quark asks Zek how his day was. And Zek takes a minute. He sort of pauses to try to think about it. So this is the first clue.

I didn't even clock it, honestly. Yeah, me neither. But he's trying to remember what he did that day. Talks about how he was very productive, that Archibite ore futures are continuing to increase. Bolians have agreed to allow the Fringy Gaming Commission to take over their operations. He goes through a list of his day. So, but it takes him.

He sort of has to think about it, which is a nice little, you know, planting the seed of his memory, starting to get a little fuzzy. cork kisses up to him in the scene and Zek finally says I'm not going to reverse the FCA decision they put it in place they're the ones that have to reverse it and Mookie agrees with him

and they take hands and head off to take a stroll with their hands going right over your head was so disrespectful it was a nice blocking detail but very disrespectful so the dinner earlier I guess I do like that one scene

where Cessaly like slurps up that tube grub. Mm-hmm. You remember that? It was just like, oh, yeah. Yeah. Good for you. I wonder what that was. Was it like pasta?

It looks like a little piece of pasta. Or a gummy, gummy, like a gummy worm. Gummy worm. A fake gummy worm. Fishing lure type of worm, whatever. Yeah. Oh, my God. It was so good.

We go to Quark's bedroom on Ferengenar. He hears a sound from inside the closet, opens the door. Before that, though, when he goes into the bedroom, off of Mugie and Zek with their hands going over your head and that sort of symmetrical framing that we saw them leaving, we cut to your back

as you head towards the bed and plop down and it's a reverse symmetrical framing. So Renee just did such a nice job and the camera department. I don't know whose ideas they were, but that transition from Zek and Mugie leaving to you walking in and plopping on the bed, beautifully done.

I just want to shout out to that. But yeah, you hear it. noise in the closet you pop up and brunt is in the closet this time and i noticed armin uh frangy have curvy clothes racks yeah yeah and i was just trying to think how does that work if you hang your clothes on it doesn't it's it wasn't thought out it was just isn't that a funny idea let's do that yeah it looked like whoville or something it looked very dr susy there's a lot of but it doesn't make sense you You put a hanger on the wreck and it's going to slide down the curvy part. And those clothes are heavy.

So yeah. Yes. Like you just lose all of that curvy part because the clothes are never going to stay there. Unless there's not just cut in there that you don't see. Yeah, maybe. Maybe. Maybe that's true. Brunt thinks the relationship is going to be a disaster for Ferengenar for everybody and tells Quark,

he's the perfect person to poison this relationship. Quirk thinks about it, but he's like, why should I help you? And Brunt offers him a. another license he'll reinstate his license or give him a new license and they make a deal and there's a funny handshake at the end yeah we had we started that not on this episode oh yeah there is uh i guess it's in business as usual uh well i think it was so so it's done already bam and then this you it's already the back and then you hit your chest i'm not so sure about the chest but maybe we ended up on the chest but but certainly was the back of the hand that that had been created in

business as usual. And I remember I asked you about that when we reviewed business as usual and you said you thought it. I thought it was Josh's idea. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It was great. I love the hand, you know, kind of sealing the deal. I thought it was great. Robbie, if we're on stage for a Voyager reunion thing when I walk up to you, I'm going to, I'm going to shake your hand like that. I'm going to do a back to my hand and see if anyone in the audience knows what we just did. The Ferengi High Five. The Frangie High Five. Backwards hand. But it's, it's, you can see. the antipathy between the two characters. I like that a lot. I like the fact that even though there's a deal being made, it's between two characters that don't find each other pleasant.

Yeah. I think you had some great actors to work with in this episode. I just think that the tone was not monitored, you know, with enough specificity throughout. They're all good actors. Yes, they're all good actors. They're all good, wonderful actors. And you can ask to do anything and they'll do it for you. What I learn in playing quark is less is more. Yeah. I learn that it's not just the character having an arc, it's the actor having an art learning do less, Armin, do less, do less, do less, be more serious.

And I've learned that over the course now of four or five years. The other actors are also recurring characters, but they haven't learned that lesson to the extent that I have. And so they're still thinking, which I tried to fight for seven years, they're still thinking Ferengi are comic characters and not really dealing with the reality of their situation. They are comic characters, but they're also real characters. And if you want them to exist on this show, especially this show, which is a gritty, dark show. And yes, comedy is needed to dispel some of that, but it still has to be rooted in reality. And I must say Jeff is good at that. He's good, but he still thinks of a brunt as a comic character. Yeah, I agree.

I think that the actors generally, when they're playing the Ferenghis, have been rewarded for the comedy. They've been rewarded and encouraged for finding quirky, broad, you know, choices, as opposed to no one has been on your team, Armand, going, hold on, let's make sure that we also don't miss the opportunities for grounding these moments with real depth or heart or complexity or stakes. And that was missing in this episode. All right. Next scene, we go into the chamber of petitioners. Zek is holding court there and Cork pays a visit.

Says how lucky Mugi is that Zek doesn't worry at all about the rumors about her. And Zach's like, wait, what, what are you talking about? What rumors? May I interrupt? Is this with the scene with Hamilton? Yes, the very beginning. Yes. Hamilton's got the first.

Let's not overlook Hamilton. Okay. It's not much of a scene, but it is Hamilton's first appearance. And I don't want to overlook Hamilton because I'm a big fan of his. Yeah, and it's literally, if you blink, you're going to miss him. He's the very beginning at the scene. And he basically exclaims, once again, Nagas, you have proven that you have the wisest lobes in all of phrenganar. Zex says, that's what they pay me for, and then

drops that little coin in a little slot, and that's all he has for this scene. That's it. That's his entire dialogue. That's it. Yeah. And yet he has guest star billing. Yeah. And he deserves it. He deserves it. Yeah. And then Quark comes in and says, I want to pay my respects. I love the fact that the writers, entomology-wise, pursued that phrase. I want to pay my respect. I didn't even think of that. And then the negus is like, well, pay them. So then pay them. I think that's grand.

I think that's taking the words literally what they mean. Yes. That's so funny. I didn't even pick that up. I wonder if the etymology of pay respects was like this. That's where it came from, going to royalty and offering up a gift so that, you know, the king or whoever would would. look out for you. Protect you. That was tradition in England, certainly. I don't know about other

countries, and I'm sure perhaps that it was in other countries, but during the Christmas vacation of the 12 days of Christmas, if you went to court and you saw the king, it was incumbent upon you to give the king a gift. And if you gave the king a gift that he or she liked, then they would reward you with some sort of compensation. There was a lot of thought that went into these Christmas gifts. They weren't just something you got at gimbals and wrapped. There was really a lot of thought. What would the king like or the queen like? And what can I do so that I have some advantage at court? Well, I love that they brought that into the scene and in a very clever and clean way. It was great. But yeah, so Quark says, I'm glad. I'm so happy for you guys. And it's great, Zek,

that you, you know, aren't worried about all those rumors. And it's like, wait, what rumors? And Quarks says, well, you know, that she hid money to fund a female revolution, basically. You go through, you kind of get there slower, but you basically are saying she's, you know, lying to you. You can't trust her. And she's going to basically have all the females overthrow all the men here. This is the first of the themes that were overlooked. I know where this is going over the course of many years.

But equal rights. Equal rights is a big issue. Exactly. I'm sorry that they didn't take more pains with that. And so that we see what the problem is for Zek, what is the problem for Ferengu society, giving women equal rights. We get lip service from Ishka and we get, you know,

but I really wanted to see this issue addressed just as many other social issues are addressed in Star Trek. This is an important issue. Don't make it just a comic episode. Give us some gravitas. Yeah, I agree. Well, Quark, you know, plants the seeds for the Nagas to start being paranoid and then seems satisfied and says, I'll see you at dinner.

And we see Zex wheels turning. So just like Miles and Dax did to ROM, Quark is doing this to try to undermine that relationship, get his license back. So, yeah, there's a bit of an echo there, which I think is. is interesting. We go back to Mugie's house. Quark is waiting for Ishka to return. He hears her approaching, sits down, puts a phaser up to his head. I love your Gone with the Wind performance in this. It was like Scarlett O'Hara. It was so good. Let me lay down here with a glass of lemonade. I seem to have the vapors. I'm about to have a faint spell right now.

So good. It is so funny. What did she say? What does the power cells aren't even charged? Yeah. She's not tricked by it at all. But I love that because she's your mom. All moms know their kids and she knows you so well.

Yeah. Yeah. This is one point where I went, wrong choice, I should have addressed that, not comically. When she said the power cells are not charged. Yeah.

I should have been. a little bit more real about that. But hey, yeah. I liked this scene. This is one that could have played. I mean, this is a familial scene. It's a domestic, you know, mom and son. This one could have played more comedy to me.

I didn't, I wasn't missing the heavier stuff. But definitely in the Zex scene, in the Brunt scene, and some of those scenes, there's high stakes there in big issues. Before we go any further, the women's rights, he says in the scene, And maybe you're about to get to it. Maybe I should let you do it about, you don't know what it's like not to have profit. She says, yeah, he says that she doesn't understand how it feels not to be able to earn profit. And she says, oh, she does.

I thought that was a great. And that's it. And I would have loved to have had a little bit more conversation about that. Yeah. So now, my son, do you see what the problem is? Oh, I never thought of it this way. There could have been just something more. Yeah, just even a few more lines would have unpacked it a little more.

It just, it felt like they literally just checked a box. We're going to mention this and move right on from it. But she does say that she will talk to the Nagas about Quark's license and to intercede on his behalf. And Quark is very happy and he happily skips out. I like you sort of skipping out. You did have to duck under that tiny door. We go to the promenade. Again, Renee and camera department, hats off a very bold oneer, long lens walk and talk with

three characters. We learned that Odo has locked up Martak in a holding cell. Warf is defending Martok. And then Cisco says to Odo, release him, and then turns to Worf and says, Warren Gow around to cool it, basically. And so all of that played in one long walk and talk. I thought it was great, beautifully staged and elegant. And remember, Renee's the director and he's in the scene. That's right, and he's in the scene. Well, that's where you need good planning with your camera team so that you're all, you know what they're shooting. And if you're going to be in front of the camera, you've got to know that your plan is, is, uh, is working. I thought this was a weird scene because if you remember, Cisco was so jazzed about having, um, Martock be the, you know,

the Klingon ambassador, basically, or, or the leader of the Klingon security detail that's assigned to the station. He was very into that. And then all of a sudden, his tone in this scene is like, okay, well, someone, someone else needs to replace him. Tell Gair on that. And so it's like, what? Because let's face it, the reason why he's in the holding cell is he threw one of his own soldiers off the balcony who didn't die. It wasn't really injured as a means of punishment for something that he did that wasn't, you know, up to smuff. Yeah, whatever.

He's being a cling on. But the bottom line is he's disciplining one of his own men. And so this whole scene to me was like, what is going on? So if I'm going to nitpick, it's going to be this scene. It's not anything else, to be honest. So, yeah, that was weird to me. That's all. Yeah, it seems inconsistence.

This goes point of P-O-V, yes. Yeah. But it is a good commander in the sense, I agree with you, Garrett. But it is a commander. He's rough with Wharf, and he turns around as equally as rough with Odo. That's a good commander. He's not showing sides. You're both in the wrong here.

Yeah. Yeah, he's very authoritative, tough. And then he hears the sobbing, the crying, they go around a pillar, and there's ROM working in a panel crying the whole time. And I thought it was, I thought it was very funny because Cisco's got empathy here. So he was tough on war, tough on Odo. And now he's very empathetic and soft with Rom. Which I like.

I do like that. I did too. I do like that. Rom says, the wedding's off. Cisco says, I'm sorry. And Rob says, don't be, these are tears of joy. That's when he really lets go. after he says, tears of joy,

which was very good on his part, I thought. This is the first time I picked up on a cowardly lion vibe from Max. He sounded a bit like the cowardly lion to me. From Wizard of Oz. Don't be. Yeah, I don't know. I imitate it, but I had

flashbacks of Bert Larr, the cowardly lion in the movie. It was great. Cisco says carry on. Ron continues crying. And then we get another beautiful. beautiful handoff from Cisco and Odo walking out up to the upper level with a oneer that hands off cranes up and turns into a 50-50. Wow. What a great transition. Great transition. That is the

best shot in the in the episode. That is so good. Yeah. Yeah. And then picking up, sorry, picking up on Lita and Kira walking, talking. Oh my God. What a great little scene right there. Written super well. I love this whole thing. And with Kira saying, no, no, no, no, no, no, to the very. Yes. And expertly played by Nana. Yes. Does not want to be part of a comic episode, rightfully so. She is a serious character.

She's not going to be led astray. She just plays it discreetly, low level, knows where the comedy is at the very end and saves it for the end. Kudos to Miss Visitor. Yeah, yeah. She did a great job. Basically, Lita is saying she hates... She's glad she canceled wedding.

Everything Lita says, Kira responds, no, you don't. No, you don't. No, you don't. And then at the very end, she says, have you? That's how I know you love him. Yeah, Lita says, have you even been listening to me? And Kira says, yes, I have.

That's how I know you love him. And Lita bursts into tears. Simple scene. Simple scene, but really expertly played by Nana. My only qualm is that she takes her hand and puts her around Lita's shoulder. I don't think that. That's the relationship between those two characters.

Okay. Interesting. Valid point. Yeah. But I love the transition. We go from one crying to another crying scene with Moogie. Yeah. Quark returns to Moogie's house, movies in tears.

Zek dumped her said that she was a scheming female who can't keep her clothes off. That's my. She can't keep her clothes off. It's, yeah, very funny. I love how the writers take phrases. that we're familiar with, like pay respects or can't keep your clothes on or whatever. And they put a spin on it. They did.

Yeah. Yeah. It's very, very fun. But at this point in the episode, this point in the series, I'm a little tired of this. The joke. The joke about women don't wear clothes. Since they're never going to show that to us. Yes.

We've got it. We got it. We don't need to be reminded of it. There are more interesting things, the women's rights thing. We're about to find out something else that I thought was really important that they skipped over. And I'll get to that when we get to it. But the idea that women are nude, okay, we've got it. That joke is stale now.

Very, in my mind, very, very stale. Yeah, I don't disagree. It feels like we've played the joke of it. And now you either have to stop talking about it or show it or show it. have it be a part of a story in a bigger, in a sharper way. And it's just not, yeah, it's still just a joke.

Armin, just a quick non-sequitur. I moderate, or I'm the emce of the Miss Star Trek universe pageant every year at DragonCon. We had a entrant. One of the pageant gals was a Ferengi lady. Started off with all nude, but censored signs around the top and privates, right? So supposedly nude. And the whole,

da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-na-na-na that the whole stripper burles song comes on and she's putting clothes on right in the page and people are just on the floor like the more clothes she puts on and everyone's laughing and oh my that's great that's great that's very clever very clever yes okay um muggy says this is a disaster and she does mention here for all of us is her last words which i think is interesting because she knows that zek is forgetful. We don't know as an audience yet, really, but she knows it's going to be a disaster for everybody, which I thought was a nice little detail. And it's also cool that she says for all of us and Quark says for all of us earlier. Yeah. Right? So there's a little bit of a parallel. Yeah. Yeah. Ishka leaves and Quirk goes to a compad. He calls Brunt, gives the good news,

and Cork gets his license back. So it seems like Quark's life is turning around and everything's good. I love the end of that because after Brunt's off the screen when transmission ends, Cork has that one line. He's like, I always was. And you see how much he hates Brunt in just that one line. So I like that a little bit. Yeah, I was rather proud of that as well. Oh, it was so good. So good. Yeah. It's the next morning. Quark has made breakfast. I like when Cork says, look, life goes on. There are other slugs in the sea. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Slugs in the sea. I like those details.

But he's made breakfast and she says, well, that's why I know you feel guilty because you, you know, you cook breakfast for us. She does say in the scene, I don't need you. I don't need anyone. And Quark starts to leave when the Nagus calls and says, I get to the Tower of Commerce right away. Quark's going to leave. But he does say to Mugie here, you know, I'll do all I can to straighten things out between the two of you. That's a promise. It's a lie.

I know. I didn't like that line. I wish he hadn't said that. Yeah. That's who he is. That's who he is. Yeah. But he was trying to catch himself for when she says, oh, I bet it's about me.

He goes, I doubt it. Oh, but then it could be either way. So I think it was really backtracking a little bit, trying to go extra more because he felt like I don't want her to lead on. I don't want her to catch on that I was the one behind all this. Yeah. Well, to cover both bases, he could have said, I'll do my best for you. He should not have said that's a promise. Right.

I'll do my best. Well, we go into the chamber for petitioners and Zach offers. Which is ugly. It's a redress of the same set. Yeah, it's obviously that. And there's nothing about it except curtains and a big chair. My God, we spend millions of dollars on sets. And this is the throne room, the presence room of the ruler of the empire.

And it looks like some room that a convention. has just made to turn it into, you know, some exhibit. Zek's chair was actually a redress of a chair that was built for Romulan captain in a prior episode. The whole thing felt like a redress. When you see curtains up like that, you know they were trying to save money. Yeah. Yeah, it's insulting. It's insulting.

Yeah, I agree. But Zek does offer Quirk a job as his first assistant. And he, that's a big deal. Big deal. Big deal. Yeah. That's a big deal. wants him to start right now.

And Quark goes to open the pad or his device to look at what's up for the day. But Zek can't remember his access code. And they go through a whole classic vaudeville bit about the access code and the numbers. And finally, Mayhardu just takes it, punches in the code. They talk about whatever the first petitioner is. Quark mentions his name, talks about some numbers. but Zek can't add up the numbers correctly. And this is all this forgetfulness with the access code,

can't remember the numbers. Then he can't even remember the petitioner's name. He gets very scattered and Cork is worried at the end of the scene. Very worried because this is the head of the empire. You know, it's time for the 25th Amendment. Yes, exactly. Well, Zek even says at the end about the guy, he goes, Who is he?

Do I even like him? Do I even like him? I like that line, that ending of that. Yeah, Wally's a wonderful actor. Yeah, a wonderful comic actor. What happens when the ruler of the empire is no longer cognitively able? You know, this is a serious matter. Yes, this is another topic like equal rights that has gravitas and has, yeah, it didn't feel like it.

And who is respond? If he's not capable, what happens? Is there a 25th Amendment? Does the FCA take him out? Do the people reelect Nagas? There's all kinds of things that we could have dealt with. Just briefly, this is a major thing. And in the next scene, we're going to find out even more.

But go ahead. Yeah. All right. Well, we're in ROM's quarters back at DS9. Rom is staring at his latinum, two piles of latinum. When the doorbell rings, Miles comes over. Basically, Rom wants to bribe Alita to sign the WP&P. He's going to give her half of his money up front.

When she signs it, they can get married. But when they get married, it comes back to him anyway. So it's kind of, it's not the greatest plan. Oh, Brian brings that up, right? He's the one that says, like, if this is, she can sign it, you can give that away. But once she signs that, it goes right back to you. So it's the same, you know, you're in the same predicament. And Mael says, she's never going to sign it.

Rahm mentions that he'd do anything to have her back in his arms. So here's a question. We have prenuptial agreements that's part of our. culture now. He's a Ferengi. Why not just sit down with her and work out a prenuptial agreement where she doesn't give everything back? There's a simple solution to this besides the one that they come up with.

It just needs two people to sit down and discuss it. But I think the thing that's never addressed directly is that what Rom is feeling is that you don't respect my farangi culture. That would have been a great. right scene. Yes, yes, yes. It's not even about this WP and P&P. It could be anything, but you're asking me to respect your culture and wear the earring and learn all these tales and do all this stuff. I need you to learn my culture. I love you. I want to have, you know, an equal relationship. And that could have dovetailed with equal rights. Exactly. Exactly. And it's even more, yeah, it's on a higher level

because I don't think she asked him to do the pejoran things. He took that on his own. He did. So, yeah, so he was like, I'm going to learn how to say this. I'm going to put the earring on. And then after I did all this to show you how much I love you, why don't you do something in return? But you're saying that earlier that she told him to do that?

He said to Dax and Miles that she wants a very traditional pejoran wedding. But the other stuff in terms of wearing the earring and reciting the stanzas of bejoran polio. I think that implied that. Is that part of it? I think that she wants a traditional Bajoran wedding. So that implies to me that she's asked him to learn some Bajoran stuff. Okay.

All right. Traditional to have that be part of their wedding. Why doesn't she offer to do something else? Okay, I won't sign the contract, but I will do this. I will do that. Yes. I won't sign the contract. You know, she doesn't seem that she's making any strides to make compromise.

Right. And again, it's not Lita's fault. It's not Chase's fault. It's that writers should have done that. Yeah, they should have. Well, we go out to the promenade. Lita is out there at a stand selling Jumja sticks and other snacks. Romm approaches tells Lita basically in this scene that he gave all of his profit to Kira for war orphans.

And Lita is just so impressed by this. She loves him. They kiss. She said, all we need is our love. And then she says, in my job with Quark. Right. And my salary from Quark. And my salary. Why hasn't Quark been

informed that the Vols are no longer there? Yeah. That happened a while ago. Right. A while ago. She does sell a Jum Jabar to mourn. And I notice if I were there, he would have pressed a pad to tell me he paid for that.

Right. But she just gives it to him. He doesn't even pay for it. And these are nitpicky things. The bigger things are the issues that we're talking about not being addressed. That's the big thing. But there is a bit of a continuity and logic bump because Odo said or somebody said earlier that the voles were done. That was taken care of.

Many scenes back. Yeah. So why isn't, yeah, why is she still outside doing a part-time job selling Jumjus sticks? The bar should be open. And why isn't there a brief message telling Quark to come back? Yeah. Now he's got a new problem. He's now the chief clerk.

And that's, that's. that's a scene also that's missing his decision. Do I go back? Do I not? I love my bar, but this is an incredible opportunity. And it's blown by. Yeah. He gives him the job and says, start right now. And that I get.

But there should have been a scene where, okay, do I stick with this job? And we're going to see that change. And more importantly, who gets the bar if I keep the first clip job? Mm-hmm. I can't give it to Rom. He doesn't want it. I can't give it to Nag. He doesn't want it.

Who gets the bar? Yeah. Hell. Pal gets the bar. Pell gets the bar. Your love. Give it to Dax. Yeah.

But that is overlooked. It's like, okay, who gets the bar? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We're back at Moogie's house. It's raining. Court comes in, dries himself off with a wall raincoat.

I see your note, Robbie. So you, Robbie's question is this, Armand. Why don't they have umbrellas? That's his question. Well, that's a good question. It's an excellent question. Yeah. You said it before, and I said they have towels.

But yes, an umbrella would be a good idea. Yeah, then you wouldn't need the towels inside the door. You wouldn't come in soaking wet. Well, you need the towels because we're not doing it in this episode, but there are other episodes. If you come into somebody's house and you take a towel, you have to pay for that towel. Oh. That's right.

I forgot about that. You got to put a little piece of latinum in to get the towel, the towel usage. So you need the towels in the sense to have an income or some income. But, but, yeah, nitpicks. Really, the big issue is the missing issues that they address. But keep going, because there's a big one coming up. All right. Well, Quark comes in, dries himself off, says he had a miserable day.

Mugie says she had a miserable day, too, that the economy is in free fall, we learn. And then this is when Quark puts it together, that Mugie was the brains keeping everything running, that Zek's memory is failing and Mugge was the hero here. And this is a scene where Mugge realizes that Quark set all this up for his license to get his license back. So they're both having kind of aha moments in the scene. She says she hopes he's happy, ruining Ferengenar's entire economy. That's the second big moment.

Yeah. That is missed. Theme that is missed. The entire Ferengi Empire, and it is an empire, has just gone south. Why do we not talk about that? What are the consequences of that? What's happening?

Ferengi around Ferengenar must have lost thousands. There's riots in the street. Why aren't people jumping off of the tower like they did in 1929? Why is this just mentioned and then forgotten? This is a huge, huge event. Yeah, it is a huge event. if Earth were suddenly overtaken and there was a gas that killed off all the people or whatever disaster you want to come up with, you wouldn't just skip over it.

Yeah. Yeah. It's kind of, it's literally, you know, tossed off when she says, well, I hope it was worth it. I hope it was worth it. In a comedic way, yes. When it's the entire economy, the culture, the economy, the foundations of Fringinan are, are about to collapse because Nagas is. getting some kind of memory loss disease that's very serious another topic that is not really addressed they don't even try it i i it's just so much farce and yet they bring up issues that in

any other episode i think that's my this is where all this angst is coming from this passion i apologize is that in any other episode this would be addressed yeah but it's a phryggy episode so we're not going to address it they've got blinders on with ferrisons on with ferrisons And they think Ferengis live in a very narrow lane and it's a comic lane. And they don't they don't look outside of that for the opportunities. And there's a lot of opportunities in this story. Yeah. Limited screen 43 minutes.

That's all they have. And they bid off more than they could chew. That's yes. Because the, because the deep topics are there. Depression, Alzheimer's. There's all kinds of stuff going on here. But they just don't. This could have been a two part episode really.

If we want to stretch it out, you know, it's just too much going on. Well, we go back to the Chamber of Petitioners. Cork is surrounded by pads. He's working away when Brunt arrives and says, you don't have to work so hard because the markets are going to stay closed today because of this disaster. And no specifics. We don't need that. It doesn't have to.

Just one specific. Give me a specific about why the markets are closed today. Except for the drop of 199 points, which in today's market is a blip. Yeah, exactly. But he does mention that the last time that the market was, it plummeted that much on Frenganar, the Grand Nagas that was in office then was assassinated right after that. And so was his first clerk.

And the first clerk, yes, excuse me. But was there any governmental outcome? Yes, they assassinated the leaders. Okay, the first clerk in the negus. But what else happened? What happened to the economy? You know, we're still saying years later, COVID has affected our economy.

To this day, there are repercussions because of COVID. So what happened on Ferengenar that they needed to close the stock market for one day? Yeah, all the things you talked about would have been great to refer to, some of those specifics. Well, Quark realizes in this scene that Brunt knew all about Zex's failing memory. He knew it all along. This was all part of a plan. And we see Jeffrey Combs walk over and sit down in the Grand Nagus chair. Yeah.

thinks he would make a great Grand Nagas in that recycled. His father would be proud. His father would be proud. His father would be proud. Didn't he say Daddy? Right there? Daddy would be proud or something like that. Yeah.

It's to Jeff's credit he can make all of that work. Yes. It's amazing. But Brunt thinks Quark says he couldn't have done it without him. And that's why he's going to let him keep his new business license and tells him, just forget about this. Go back to that little bar. of yours. Scurry on back.

Very derogatory. I mean, derogative way of saying this. Scurry on back to that little bar of yours. Just, yeah. Yeah, we go back to Moogie's house. Quirk returns. Mooghs looking at the markets. And she says that Quark should be back at DS9, celebrating his victory. He got what he wanted, got his license. And this is where Quark says that he's developing a human conscience.

And he talks a lot about that. Now, yeah. This is where I compliment the right. This speech about living with another culture, I thought was quite, quite brilliant. I agree. For me, was the high point of the episode for me. This is something they recognized. This is a theme that needed to be addressed, and here we're addressing it.

And the writers did a really good job on that speech. Well, he talks about developing a conscience, and he says, you know, Brunt wants to take over, and Brunt is not a negus. He says a, uh, uh, run to a Ferengi, but he's not a Nagas. And Nagas has to be better than that. His personal greed has to reflect the public's greed, which I thought was an interesting line. I do like that line though. And it's right. Yeah. It's right. The, the president of our country has to represent the feelings of the country. Of the nation. It has to do that. That's how they get elected and that's how they stay elected. Uh, it's a very cogent line. Yeah.

Yeah, I agree. Yeah, should reflect the people and not be self-focused. Right. Like brunt. Yeah. So, yeah, Quark and Ishka try to think about what they're going to do about it. We go to the Chamber of Petitioners where the Nagas and Quark have returned from this Inquisition. Basically, they did it.

They won. We skip over how they did it. The drama of, is it going to work? Like, there was a lot of great story in there, skipped right over it. Zek does admit that he's getting forgetful. Quark suggests Vulcan doctors that they're making some breakthroughs and Zach reluctantly agrees to go see them about his memory loss and he still wants Quark to be his first clerk and he says well I can of course but I have a better option for you to be your advisor your first clerk my advisor and he

brings in his advisor in a hooded cloak kind of thing and of course it's Moogie. Mugi is a proposed for his first clerk. And Moogie admits in this scene to Zach that she does believe in equal rights. She hopes someday he will too, but that she would never do anything to hurt him. There's no evil plan to, you know, hurt him or do any harm to him. Yeah, I thought that was very nicely addressed. Cork admits he stretched the truth a little bit with what he told Zach. Yeah, it's true love for Zek and Mugie.

They head off to dinner. Yeah, but they head off to dinner. enter too easily. I mean, there was a problem here. And again, equal rights is mentioned, but then is quickly forgotten and they're in love again. It just, I know, you're right. You're right, Garrett. It's, there's only 43 minutes. You're absolutely right. But maybe a line of saying, like, we still have some issues we need to iron out over dinner. Yeah, yeah. We don't have to be kissy-kissie. We're not loving doubley all over again. Yeah. Yeah. Why does Mayhar do hug you? you at the end? What's going on here? Quirk.

Because it's a happy ending. Oh, that's fine. Got it. We go to Quark's bedroom at Moogie's house. He's packing up his bag. Dinner is ready, we hear, when movie walks in, brings his action figures. Yeah, this is the Marauder Moe action figures.

Yes. And those action figures, bit of trivia, are actually redressed super patriot figures from the McFarlane spawn action figure line of the mid-90s. So, already pre-existing bodies with the armor where they threw fringy heads on top of them. And what's addressed is something that anybody who's a fan of any franchise knows that if you

take that action figures out of the box, they're worth immediately drop. So yes. So as Armin said, that line was written as a joke by Hans Bimler to Ira because Bimler is quoted as saying, Ira's one of those guys who buys all these toys and never opens them. And God forbid you should open one because it'll make it less fast. valuable. So he's making fun of Ira and how he operates with action figures. Good for us. Who collected, I remember Brian Fuller collected action figures. But he didn't have the box. He took them out of the box. They were all sitting in their all their glory without a box, though. So he devalued them. If Ira was to walk into Brian Fuller's office, he would go, he would be so aghast that he would probably pass out overseeing the loss of value.

And our original creator, Michael Pillar, was a huge baseball fan. And he had baseball cards that were very valuable that were out of their rappers. But incredible, he showed me some of them. Oh, my God, even I know who these people. Yeah. Yeah, he was a big baseball fan. Yeah, yes, he was. So Quark's got his action figures back.

When Mugie leaves, Brunt beams into the closet again. He threatens to tell everybody about Mugie, but Cork says Zex's ready to destroy him. If he tries, he's already planned for that. And then Brunt threatens Quark says he'll be watching him. It's going to keep an eye on him. And Brunt leaves. And we hear Muggy from the other room say the grubs are getting cold. Quark says...

No, not cold. They're not warm. Yeah, you're getting warm. You want them to be cold. That's right. Yes, your two grubs are getting warm. And Quark says, coming, Mugie. And instead of coming, he sits down to play with his action figure.

Reverts back to the 10-year-old quote. He sort of been a little bit during this episode. episode. Yes. Yes. Yes. Okay. All right. Then we did it. We did it. We did it. We did it. They did it. They did it. They did it. And I survived both of your nitpicking throughout this whole thing. I was sitting there. Even though, I enjoyed, I had fun watching this episode. Good. I just want to be clear. I really. I loved. I loved it. Sorry. Okay. Okay. All right. So let's, I understand where you're both coming from. Yeah. I'm just going to pose this question. Just pose this question. Yes. If they had done this to you. your characters? Would you be as sanguine? If they had made your characters idiots, idiots, would you have been sanguine? No, I would not have been happy about that. Okay.

But if they had written a whole comic episode for my character, I would have loved it because I never got that. I either got dry sort of informational or I got the romance or the action, but I never got the comedy and I always wanted. I did get comedy now and then, but I would have. wanted more of it. And it's weird because I think people when they watch, when fans watch Star Trek, depending on where they are in their lives, different things resonate with them. They just do. And this episode was fabulous for me. I and you'll see it from my rating. I needed it right now,

badly. It's it's kind of helping me stay sane in a way. Thank you for that, Gary. Okay. You're making me feel better. Good. Okay. All right. People need this episode. Yes. Yes. It's like medicine. Lesson, theme, moral, Robbie McNeil. lesson, I wrote down, look out for those you love and protect them, even if society doesn't protect them. That goes for Moogie. You know, she's different. Even Zeck, the people you love, look out for them.

Okay. That's a good one. My theme slash lesson slash more of this episode is that true wealth cannot be found in materialism. I'm just referring to the ROM and Lita relationship and the whole thing about possessions and pre-ups and all that. So that's my... Yeah, but even on the quark side, like, you know, ultimately, like the relationship, the happiness,

the true happiness for the Nagas and Mugi together, for even quark to feel his conscience that he's developing, you know, to feel right with himself. Yeah. I feel like it wasn't in saving the economy. Oh, that was a big motivator. But it was on a personal. a level most satisfying because they took care of each other. It wasn't found in material.

Yeah, it was more family and interpersonal relationships. That's where the value was. It wasn't about Latinum. So yeah, so I guess that that theme can be on both A and B. Stap line. Okay. So to that, reference to family, I wrote down the theme is rule of acquisition number six. Never allow family to stand in the way of opportunity. That's what I thought. And then I had another one. I found this great quote from Nietzsche. There's always some madness in love, but there's also some reason in madness. So that was what I thought.

Oh, I like that. I like that quote a lot. Yeah. All right. The Patreon poll winner for theme slash lesson slash more of this episode, as submitted by Madeline, more women are needed on the writing team. 100% yes please

all right madeline thank you for that thank you we have an honorable mention with some of our new content here this is new yeah yes our honorable mention for a theme moral an idea to take away

from this episode and that is submitted by Scott B that is don't betray your own mother okay thank you Scott. Thank you.

Lots of good lessons. Unless she stands in the way of opportunity. But you know what I find it interesting about all these lessons and themes, Armin? They're all over the map because they didn't kind of hone in on, there's a lot of lessons in this episode, but there's not one that they were focused on. And that's the misfire of this episode, I think.

Yeah, I couldn't agree more. But I've carved enough, but I couldn't agree with it. Yeah. And I will not cough this episode. All right, well, this is the end of our recap and discussion of this particular episode. For Ingey Love Songs, thank you to Armin as always whenever he joins us. Thank you, sir. You're welcome.

And join us next time when we will be recapping and discussing the episode, Soldiers of the Empire with Terry. Soldiers of the Empire with Terry. Interesting title. Yeah. For all of our Patreon patrons, please stay tuned. your bonus material. For everyone else, we'll see you next time. Bye. Bye-bye.