The Delta Flyers - In the Cards

Episode Date: June 9, 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, In the Cards, is hosted by Garrett Wang, Robert Duncan McNeill, and Armin Shimerman. In the Cards: Jake and Nog’s quest for a Willie Mays baseball card lands them in a scientist’s mad experiment, and a Jem’Hadar interrogation room. 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,Tom Paynter, Sandra Stengel, AJC, Nicholaus Russell, Alex Mednis, Holly Schmitt, David Wei Liu, Roxane Ray, Tim Neumark, Ian Ramsey, Feroza Mehta, Jenny Cordina, Ryan Mahieu, Izzy Jaffer, Francesca Garibaldi, Jonathan Capps, Chris Dellman, Sean T, Cindy Woodford, Tamara Evans, Shawn Robbins, & Francis Our Co-Executive Producers:Liz Scott, Sarah A Gubbins, Trip Lives, 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, Donna Runyon, Nicholas Albano, Andrew Duncan, Randy Hawke, Penny Liu, Matt Norris, David Smith, Heath K., Andrew Cano, Robby Hill, Kevin Harlow, 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, Brian King, 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, Jay Furness, 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, & 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] Sponsors:* Check out Progressive: https://www.progressive.com* Check out Quince and use my code quince.com/tdf for a great deal: https://www.quince.comAdvertising 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 Terry Farrell, Armin Schimmerman, Robert Duncan McNeil, and myself, Garrett Wong. For the complete and exciting version of this podcast, please check out Patreon.com forward slash the Delta Flyers and sign up to become a patron today. You won't regret it. Do it now. Do it now. We dare you. We dare you. How are you both? Good. We're fine. We're fine. We're about to take off for a minor trip. And then a little bit later on in the month, we go off to across the pond to Europe.

I love to hear about your travel adventures. Oh, thank you. We're about to visit Amsterdam for the first time and visit the city and surrounding areas and see the tulips. See the tulips. Yeah. Oh, that sounds great. Typically, when people ask me, what are your favorite cities outside of the U.S.? I say there's three. I say Prague, so Praha, Czech Republic. I say Reykjavik, Iceland, and I always say Amsterdam, Netherlands. That is the one city I've been to more than any other city in Europe other than in Germany, probably.

So I love it. More than London? Yes, probably. Yeah, maybe. Yeah. London probably more now that I think of it. Yeah, there's a lot of London stuff. But still, you're going to have a great trip, Armin. You and Kitty are going to just love it. And the tulips, oh my gosh, so beautiful. We're looking forward to it. We'll take a lot of pictures.

Perfect. Yeah, I've never been to Amsterdam. I've been to the airport. Yes, the airport. Skiphole? You've been to Skiphole. I've changed planes in the airport. It's a beautiful airport. Do you remember that airport? It was very well done. The architecture, very modern. I think you can get a lot of stuff done there. I mean, I think you can even... Great shopping. Yeah, great shopping. Such a gorgeous canal city.

It's so amazing to be in like the Venice of Western Europe, I guess, you know. I've already reserved a trip on the canals at night so we can see the lights of Amsterdam. Oh, perfect. Yeah, that's beautiful. Oh, great. Great, great idea. Yeah, great. Go have fun.

All right. Well, we've got some birthdays this week to talk about. On June 7th, that is. the day that we must celebrate James Amy. Happy birthday, James. James, very happy birthday. Happy birthday, James. And James, you know what else? Jesse Bailey shares your birthday on June 7th, so happy birthday to Jesse. Jesse, congratulations. Happy birthday. Happy birthday. J.B. Next up, we have Gabriel, Dominic Gyrgyz. Happy birthday. June 8th. That's your day. Happy birthday, Gabriel. Happy returns. Happy birthday. Happy birthday. Happy birthday, Gabriel. Happy birthday, Gabriel.

And on June 13th, it is Cindy Woodford's birthday. So happy, happy birthday, Cindy. Cindy, a very happy, loud, happy birthday. Happy birthday, Cindy! Here we go with a limerick. I'm not sure about this limerick. You know, I've been kind of cocky lately. Oh, feeling good.

Wait a minute. You're feeling... Oh, no. We'll see. You tell me. Okay, okay. And I never read it. I don't even look at it.

I just, because it's already in our little notes. So I'm just look away. Go. All right. Here's my limerick for In the Cards. Cisco's moping was getting quite old. A baseball card more precious than gold. Jake hunted with his heart and Nog played it quite smart.

In the end, smiles for all they uphold. How could you not like that one? Come on, man. It's lovely. And indeed, we don't need to do any more of a recap on this episode because Robbie has encapsulated the entire episode in those four or five lines. I try not to do the plot. No, you just dropped the mic.

That was the plot, Robbie. That was the A and the B story. You just did everything. You dropped the mic on that one. It was all over the place for me, but it's okay. I'll take it. Well, you know, Armin and I are going to thank you because this is the end of our podcast. Thank you so much for the recap and discussion, everybody.

Bye. Okay. Here is my haiku for this. episode in the cards. Depression sets in. Jake and Nog trade for Willie. Cisco smiles at last. Very good. Again, but you got the whole plot right there. What's the whole plot? Did you like Jake and Nog trade for Willie? I thought so. I do. I do. Absolutely. That's my star stands about my star verse right there, my star line right there. Okay, Armand, what do you have for us? In the cards, three words.

So, I'll start with in. In comes from Old English. In Middle English, the word was shortened often to I. So I apostrophe. Old English, In. Middle English, I. And of course, in modern English, it's in. In ancient times, N is expressing also motion or direction

from a point outside to one within limit. It was first used in 700 AD in the Oxford English Dictionary in occupies nearly two pages of description. And if anyone has never gone into the Oxford English dictionary, all the definitions are microscopically small. So for a word to take up that much space in the dictionary, there's a lot of stuff to be said about the word I and with two letters in it. Okay.

The second word I'm looking at is card. It's an altered word from the French cart. The definition is one of a pack or set of small oblong pieces of pasteboard used in playing games of chance and skill. It's combined first use, that is meaning the first time was used either in English or in French was in 1400. The last word I'm looking at is the. And the only thing I have to say about the is it is the. most frequently used word in the English language. Wow, I didn't know that. Wow. I did look up the saying in the cards. So the saying is an English, an old English saying, but it comes from

tarot cards. And the saying was on the cards, not in the cards. And still is in England. So if you're you know, British or European or whatever, on the cards is a familiar. phrase, but in the cards is very, I think, American. And it's about tarot cards. It's about predicting the future. Yeah. It's not about like a card game, which is what I thought it was about, like having good luck in a card game, but it's not. It's about in the cards is predicting your future. It's in the cards. It's in the future. Yeah. Perfect sense. I wish I had done that. Thank you for doing that. What is a synonym, Robbie, for a saying, like in the cards? What are my, trying to, it's in the side of my brain or the back of my brain.

Adage. Okay. Adage. That's one. Is idiom fit too? No. Idiom is different. Idiom is the way you put words together as opposed to a saying or a saw.

But adage would be the other synonym for sure. The old adage. In the cards. Okay. Yeah. I just thought that there's something else and that I cannot find in my brain to say. But I felt there was one other way of saying it. It's just not on the cards for you.

It's just not. cards for you to think of it. And it's not it, your brain either. It's not it, your brain. It's not it, my brain. Okay. Our Patreon submitted poetry winner. This is rhyming couplets that are submitted by Amy T.

Here we go with some poetry from our Patreon family. Kayaking in the holo suite for a power cell. Kukalaka cling on opera and a speech will do well. With that, the baseball card is finally scored. and now our cells are no longer bored. Very nice. I like scored. That's grand.

I know. I like Kukalaka. You got Kukalaka. She got Kukalaka. In there. Good job, Amy. All right. Story by Trulibar Clark and Scott Neal.

Teleplay by Ronald D. Moore, directed by Michael Dorn. This is his freshman effort. Yes. Wow. Very first time. I thought he directed on TNG, and I am incorrect on that. No. This was his first.

This is his first, first time. Great job for a first time. Oh, yeah. Directing. Very good, very good job. I agree. He's a hard worker. He's a hard worker.

And he has directed quite a bit since. Nice. Okay. Good for him. Yeah, and you would know that. You were on set with him, so during this episode. Not just on set. In fact, he just finished directing a movie.

Oh, nice. That you were in? No, no, no, no. Shot in England. Oh, nice. Oh, that's great. Good for him. A script that he wrote, he starred in.

and directed. Wow. Wow. I heard about that project that Michael was doing and I'm excited to hear more about it as he puts it together. Yeah. It's fictional or kind of non-fiction? It's, it's about Michael's passion, which is aviation. Oh, perfect. And Marina is in it as well. Good for him. Yeah, I look for him. Well, this directing job, I thought was absolutely solid. Okay, guest stars, Jeffrey Holmes as Wayune. Our friend, Brian Markinson, he was so different in the this role compared to Durst what he did with us on Voyager. I didn't even know. I was like, God, that guy looks a lot like Brian.

That's what I said initially. Oh, my God. That's so funny. Because his face, he just did different things. I don't know. Everything with his mask was different. And I thought I wasn't entirely sure if it was him, Robbie. I have to say this. This is terrible for me to say.

But he reminded me of a young Armand Shimmerman is what he. Wow. I thought, wow. Interesting. It's like looking at myself and my youth. Oh, my goodness. And not just the one. Well, look, but his approach to acting was very similar to the way I approach it.

I used to approach acting. Wow. Brian is a good friend of mine. In fact, I was just texting with him last week. He just finished doing a play called Franklin Land about Benjamin Franklin, where he plays Benjamin Franklin. Oh, I love it. And he does remind me a lot of you, Armin, in terms of the kind of acting, just his approach

to acting. He went to NYU. Yeah, he's in NYU. grad, but he was a New York guy for years. And does he do a lot of theater? I got the feeling that he did. Yeah, he teaches acting as well. Aaron Eisenberg is Nong, Chase Masterson as Lida. And of course, a special guest star would be Louise Fletcher back again as Kai Wynn. I think it's funny that we had Lita in this episode, but no Rom. I'm going to have to validate it that Rom snores so badly that Lita couldn't take it. So she said, you got to sleep in your own quarters. Because

they're waiting until the wedding. They're waiting. waiting until it's official. I thought they were already hitched. They're not hitched. I think so, too. I think they are hitched. They're hitched, Robbie. They're married.

They got engaged. We saw that, but have we seen the wedding? No, but I think the assumption is they got, that it happened. And again, it's odd, but you called it right. It's odd that he's not in this episode at all. Yeah, it's odd. He's not in this episode. A little bit of trivia here.

Yeah. So this episode was conceived as a bottle show, as Ronald D. Moore explains. We had a very simple premise for a show. Jake and Nog chase a card around the station, trying to give it to Cisco. That's really just where we started. We figured we could do the show right before the season finale, and it would be fun and funny and contained and cheap. So that was this episode.

So that's why ROM isn't in it. Cheap. They were going for cheap. Yes. Fine. The next bit of trivia. In the original version of the teleplay, Elias Geiger was trying to resurrect his dead. wife using just her ear to genetically recreate her.

Renee Eschervaria pointed out that the reason that wouldn't work was because Geiger is not supposed to be a character to be taken seriously. But if he's trying to get back his wife, the audience is going to want him to succeed. Bear then proposed that Geiger should be trying to achieve something that initially sounds very interesting and plausible, but quickly begins to sound crazy. did. Yes, I did. It did. And I thought Brian played that beautifully. Like you thought he had real gravitas and stakes. And then once you start to hear his theories, you kind of go, oh, this guy's nuts. Yeah. He's a little cuckoo. Yeah. Well, I'll be perfectly honest. I didn't think that it was that

nuts even once he went into in depth. I go, that could work, actually. This is science fiction. That could work. Yeah. So it didn't blow me. I wasn't, I wasn't, I gasped by it. Okay. Ronald D. Moore commented, quote, basically, we reverse the normal structure in this show so that the A story is the comedy and the B story is serious. And of course, we're talking about the whole Kai Wynn, the Dominion, treaty, possibly, armistice, whether they're going to sign some, you know, non-aggression pact. It's a fun show, end quote. Yeah, I thought it was fun. Another bit of trivia. Terry Farrell does not appear in this episode. I know. Crazy. Shocking. Everybody's got an episode. You've had one or two, Armin, that you haven't been.

I'm surprised. You gave us the list of the episodes where people don't appear. I was surprised I had that many where I didn't appear. Interesting. I always thought maybe it was one, but obviously I was wrong. I guess I was busy doing other things. You know what I used to do when I wasn't used? Yeah. There was always an extra head in the makeup trailer of one of my old heads. Yeah. I would take the head. I would go to the second AD and said, and I eventually would be used that day. But if I was called in hours before, I would put the head on the second AD and say, here, you wear this until I'm called. Until I'm called. Good for you. I mean, it's funny because if I'm being honest, as an actor, I would get really frustrated. As a producer, and I'm not saying

this is a good attitude. Yeah. But often things change during the day. And I have I found myself saying to actors sometimes, you're getting paid for the whole day. We're not paying you by the hour. We paid you for the whole day. So I'm sorry, we didn't expect this or this or this, but we've got to make the day. So it's funny how my perspective has changed.

I know. Because I was so, you know, righteous or defensive when I was an actor, but now on the other side, I see all the variables. But I do try to communicate. That's the difference that I think, because I was an actor. Yeah.

I do want to communicate and say, hey, here's where we're at. We expected to be here. I'm really sorry that you're waiting. Here's the new estimate of where we think we're going to be. You've experienced it from the actor's side. So now you can talk to them about it. But it's true on Voyager, and I'm sure the same on DS9 for Armand, we had the two first 80s that would go back and forth, right?

So it was Jerry Fleck and Adele. Jerry was a master. Like when he called you in, if it was will notify. at one o'clock he'll call you at one he'd tell you exactly to it within 10 minutes of i mean he was so good with timing did you ever work with jerry fleck no i know he is i didn't work with him okay not that i remember anyway yeah we only had one a first ad we had several first ades but we we didn't use them in tandem oh until until one quit uh and then was replaced by the next it was always just one ad oh who did you have lew yeah lou rice and on rare occasions when lou was sick or

unavailable than they would bump the second AD up to the first AD. And Lou, Lou was the AD all the way to the end to the final episode. I believe so. Yeah. Lou's great. I worked with Lou on different shows quite a few times. He's awesome. All right.

So this episode starts off in Cisco's quarters, a very somber group. Oh my gosh. They're bummed out. Basically, everybody's talking about, you know, how they're worried about this war starting, the Dominion War kind of thing. Nogg is moving around the room. I did like when he tries to, he reaches for a bottle of scotch. Miles gives him a stink eye.

He's like, no, sorry. And I'm not sure whether he was reaching for a drink for himself. Or clearing. Actually, what I thought was he wanted to pour. That's what I thought it was too. And then they gave him the stink eye. Yeah. At least there was movement.

At least the dog was moving around the table. Everybody else is just sitting there. There's a lot of sitting in this episode. There's a lot of sitting in this episode. There is a lot of sitting. That's true, especially compared to the last episode, which we talked about that just had movement constantly. It's such a sort of very aggressive storytelling in terms of the blocking, the energy, the tone, all of that. Yeah.

It has to start this way, though, because everyone's super bummed out and just their energy is. And even Odo gives that status support. He says, he says that the percentage of thefts on the station of medical supplies, food rations, has jumped 75%. That's huge. The last time that Odo had seen such an increase in thefts was right before the Kardashians were forced to leave the station, to abandon the station. So now it just sets the tone. Everybody's very worried. People have already laughed. O'Brien says, you know, thanks for dinner. They're going to turn in. Cisco says, good night to everyone. One of my favorite things in this whole scene is you finally reveal Wharf. And he's literally standing.

standing up by the wall with his notes up to this like artifact, this piece of art on the wall. It was just the strangest. He's the director of the episode. Yes. Is it possible? Yes. And I don't remember the shot well enough. But is it possible that he excused everybody and just did a single on himself?

Yes. I think he did. I think he isolated himself. On purpose. On purpose. Yes. On purpose. He could direct the rest of the scene.

and then he could just shoot a single of himself. But he literally has noticed up against this piece of art. And Cisco's like, Mr. Wharf, you've been paroled. Turns, he's like, oh, thank you. Thank you. Good night. It was just very funny to me. What's even funnier to me is that after watching this episode,

I don't even remember him in the first scene. So even that little bit and bit, that's how minuscule he made his initial, his first scene for this episode. But he just said, I'm not even going to be part of this. I'm going to be. And then you laughing at that, I'm laughing at the fact I don't even remember him in this scene. He was, it was like he was trying to hide behind this, this sculpture on the wall. And he was just like frozen.

Like my dog, like if my dog's in trouble. Yeah. And the dog just sort of sits staring at the wall and won't look at you. That was war. And if the ex is not in the room, he has no one to talk to. Yes, exactly. Oh, funny, Robbie. It's my favorite part of the whole scene.

Yes, yes. Anyway, so they're dismissed. We do hear a crewwoman. Who is that? I thought it was Nana. I thought it was Kira. I know we'd just seen her, but you don't have to be an opposite. It didn't sound like...

It did sound like... It did sound like Nana to me. Yeah, but the line. We just received a message from Bayjoice, sir. I know. She would say, sir, to... Oh, absolutely. Yeah, absolutely.

Okay. Robin was Nana's stand and maybe it was Robin. Usually they would have loop group. So loop group does any kind of... Random hubba, hubba stuff. That's right. And every now and then they would throw a line like this to someone in loop group. They might have two or three people record it.

And then when they get to the mix, pick the best one. It doesn't make sense for it to be in a knob, but that's who I thought I heard. Interesting. Robbie, random question. Does loop group get residual payments at all? Yes. Yes. Oh, my God.

Yes. But they're part of a group. So they separate that evenly amongst the number of players that were there, right? If you want to make money in this business, Yes. Be part of a loop. A loop group. Wow. We're in quarks. Jake and Nod are drinking root beer at the bar, which I thought was very funny. It looks like little, like milk bottles. Bottles, yeah. Minature milk bottles, but it had a label on it, like it was the brand of root beer. And I have to tell you, for Nod to be drinking out of a bottle like that is difficult. Because of the teeth? The teeth. How old is Jake supposed to be at this point? Is he 17, 18? What is he right now? Is he of legal age to drink alcohol? But I don't even know. I would say that they're drinking sodas at the bar.

Yeah, it's definitely root beer. At least for Nag, it's definitely root beer. Well, Quark swings by. He mentions the auctioned. He hands Nog a pad with a list of what's at the auction on it. Cork says it's really amazing stuff. Nag looks at it, says it's junk, starts to read the list, and mentions a baseball card. Jake freaks out.

Not just any old card, but a mint condition, 1951 Willie May's rookie card. but not in the original wrapping or gum included no it's no it's up on a stand it's mounted on a stand at least in during the auction anyway well jake decides he wants to get it for uh for his dad maybe that'll cheer him up i like his line at the end he's like how hard can it be that's always a sign it's going to be really hard it's like coughing it's the coughing you cough you die right if you say how hard can it be it's going to be really hard there you go we have indicators these are tropes These are tropes now. Are the adages as well?

Okay, let's continue. Continuing. So we go to Jake and Nog's quarters. They argue about money. They argue about Nog's money. Nog's money. They do. Starfleet philosophy.

I did like when Jake tries to explain Starfleet philosophy. We work to better ourselves in the rest of humanity. Nog goes, what does that mean? And he goes, it means, it means we don't need money. He doesn't know how to explain it. Right, because it doesn't make sense. No. And the writers knew that.

And so it's a little in joke, I think, going, yeah, this is what Star Trek says, but it doesn't make sense to it. It doesn't make sense. And in fact, that line, we worked to better ourselves and the rest of humanity, was a line that the writer actually used for Picard in a TNG movie. So he was making fun of it. Yes, he was making fun of himself by putting that line in there. So it was, you know, something within another, wrapped within another. So there's another whole layer going on here that's kind of. of an Easter egg there. So for them. I really love that moment. You know when the initial scene

it's set up, they're facing each other. But at some point, Jake gets up, turns away and walks towards camera and does that very theatrical. Very theatrical. I'm sitting here watching a theater, a theater play right there. I mean, that's very much the monologue being delivered or lines being delivered out towards the audience towards us. And I kept thinking, this is very theatrical. It's called an aside. When an actor walks away, goes downstage and talks to the audience, It's called Nassi. Right. And that's, I mean, he's talking to Nog, but he's looking right into cameras.

Yes, but you don't typically employ asides in, I don't think so. I mean, it's, so that was the only thing that that kind of pulled me out. I'm like, oh, that's kind of theater-like. And I don't really like to see that, to be perfectly honest. I want to keep them engaged instead of going away. I agree with that 100%, Garrett. Okay. It did take me out as well.

Yep. This is the only time. Everything else. I love it. Michael Dorn, good job. But this is the only time I said, okay, this is. blocking does not work for me. So that's all. Yeah, I noticed it. I felt like it was kind of a cue to me that, oh, this is going to be broad. We're going broad. Okay. Like this is not how

natural people would behave. This is a broad choice. So, oh, we're going to go for broad comedy in this episode. That's what I. Okay. I thought it was sort of, yeah, we're crossing a line into something that's not natural, but that is what this episode's going to be. So let's have fun. It didn't bother you as much as it did Armin and myself then. Not really. I mean, I was aware of it, but it lived within the tropes in a way of the rest of the tropes. Like, okay.

That makes sense. We go to Cisco's office next. Kai Wynn arrives. Isn't she phenomenal? She's great. She's so good. I don't remember that little shiny, reflective buckle thing in her midsection right down. Is that always there?

I kept staring at it because I could see the reflection of the lights that were lighting her up right inside that little belt buckle thing. And I don't recall seeing that before. But maybe I overlooked it. Yeah. Maybe she got an upgrade. She's like the Pope now or something. She is the Pope. She is the Pope.

Well, as the Pope, she says to Kira, you may go now, child. Kira does not like that. Did you notice? Oh, yeah. Hmm. But you can see when Kira walks in before she is even addressed by the Kai. she's not happy to be with the Kai. No.

Nor Sisko happy to be with the Kai either. I love the fact that Louise subtly clocks all that and just moves on. Just moves on. Oh, yeah. No, Kira Noreenarice is definitely not happy. But Nanao Visitor is because this is a great residual scene for her because she can come in and say that one line.

She's gone. Oh, she was in the first scene. No, she was in the first scene. Well, they go for a walk. And two Vetics. Yes, two Vetics. Security guys behind them, it looks like. It looks like bodyguards or something.

They look nice. I don't know if you can fight that well with the purple robes on. But they're Vedics. They won't fight. Oh, so they're just accompanying her. They're not there for protection and security then. Yeah, they're just part of her entourage. Her posse.

Yeah. Vetics always need a posse. Well, every pope has a secretary or an aide. Yes, that's correct. That's true. So that's what they're doing. Yeah. All right.

Well, they go for a walk. Wynn says, you know, all these people are leaving. She's never seen so many people leaving the station. And he must feel like he's being abandoned. And she admits that she's here to meet a representative of from the dominion. They talk about that. They talk about how they're both worried about missteps with this whole dominion thing. And Cisco is in agreement with her about her feelings, her concerns.

She says one misstep could result in the destruction of our world. Cisco says, yeah, for once, I'm in a complete agreement with you. I didn't like that line. You didn't? I didn't like the line for once I'm in agreement with you. I think he's much more subtle than to admit that he's had disagreements with her before. I think we know that. I think she knows that.

I don't think he needed to say that. It's like saying, Robbie, I've always hated you. I'm getting along with you now today, but in the past, I've always hated you. You wouldn't say that. Why would you even say that? Yeah, you wouldn't say that. It's certainly to someone that you have a very important relationship with. I mean, look at who these two people.

people are in the sense that she is the Pope and he is the prophet they are the the top rung of the pejoram religion yes so arman if you just delete four and once then it's perfect if he just says i am in complete agreement with you you have my word exactly and then it's done it's a perfect interchange and of dialogue that would have been better yes that makes sense good good catch though i didn't even think about that. But what is refreshing is that these two are now kind of almost on the same page in a way. What was the episode where he kind of went crazy about the old Adjorian settlement or whatever? Yeah, the Bajoran temple or something. He was having visions and everything. She really kind of bought all in with him, I thought. At that point? Okay. I thought so. Okay. I feel like they're in a

different place now. Yeah. She really. But but but but they really are the two. top wrong of the religion. Yes. Yeah. And so it's right for them to have an understanding. Yes. Yes. They may not like each other, but they recognize each other's worth.

Yeah. Yeah, it's true. If you consider her the Pope, then he is, he would just be the prophet or the chosen one. The chosen one. She calls him, they call each other, you know, emissary. She says she never calls him Cisco. No. She calls him the emissary.

Yeah. She gives him the respect of who he is. And I don't think he calls her Kai, but he doesn't call her anything else. He doesn't say, yes, he does. He calls her your eminence. Oh, yes, that's right. Yes, I've heard him say that. So there was a respect there.

Yes, there is. Of what their situations are. Exactly. And you're right, the two top rungs in the Bajoran religion. She says walk with the prophets. Which he does, by the way. I love the fact that she says walk with the prophets because he does. Yes.

He's one of the few people we can actually say. That has done that. That literally does do that. It literally does walk. Yes. Yeah. So next scene, we're in corks. The auction is beginning.

Corks up there. And we have all the different items that are being bid on. And I love how it's sort of, they're one bar three strips. It's a very different sort of bidding system than we're used to because we don't have latinum. But it's still a really cool scene. And all the commission is going to, all, everything is going to a orphans fund. Yeah. But you aren't an orphan's fun.

Yeah. Yeah. Is it really? Not all of it. Not all. There's a slight commission. You guys have to give Quark a little leave. Fine. He says all the proceeds from this auction go to the Bajoran War Orphans Fund minus a modest commission. But the definition of modest can vary, though. Some people, it's 10%. Other people modest is 25%. So, you know, or 30%. 90%. So we do believe that, yes, the orphans are getting money minus the modest commas. The prize is the baseball card. Once that lot comes up, and it's not just a baseball card,

it is a Bajoran Mandela, 20th century, 23rd century ion trans stater, the Moly Mays baseball card. So there's multiple items. Like when they have those reality shows where they stand outside of like, you know, a place where you store stuff. Like, yeah, yeah, storage building. Then people have basically let, they haven't paid the bill. They have to auction it off. And it's like somebody's stuff. Yeah. But during the auction, you do notice there is a Bajoran Vedic that is bidding because I think they're trying to bid on the mandala because they want that.

And then the other bidder happens to be our good friend, Brian Markinson, who we don't know who the heck he is. And one of the things that they're bidding on is a small replica of the Staceous Chamber that we see later on in the apartment. There's a little one. There's a little one. They put on the table right before the card.

And I'm thinking maybe it's Geiger's trunk. And that's why he wants it. It's because it's got stuff in it. That little model might be indicative of why he wants it. Oh, my goodness. So you're saying the trunk belonged to him to begin with? I'm saying it's a possibility. Because I see a little, if you go back and look at it, there's a little stasis.

We see the big stasis chamber. I like the big stasis egg. The big stasis egg. But if you look at one of the things they put on the table is a small replica of that. I did not notice that. Well, that would make total sense because the Vedic is big. fitting on the mandala, which they think later on is why Kewin is mad at them, which they're right. That's right. And it would make sense why Geiger really, he doesn't want the baseball card.

No, no. But other thing. So whatever it is, he does want that other thing. And then maybe if it's his trunk, he wants all of it. Maybe it's his mentor's trunk, because doesn't he talk about the other guy? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But I thought it was the transator. I thought it was the ion transator that he wanted. Could be. And maybe that's in his trunk. Maybe he got confiscated. Maybe he didn't pay his, you know, his debt. Well, whatever it is, he really wanted it because he outbids everybody. As they're sitting there, you know, going back and forth, 1.3, 1.4, 2, 3, he jumps to 10, 10 bars, which is way more than what Nog has in his pocket. He can only bid 5. That's it. So they lose. They lose out to this mysterious person who gets up and leaves.

Well, that's how auctions work. You don't take the stuff right away. Right, right. Yeah. You come back later on. But did you notice the last item? Oh, my God. The painting on black velvet. The matador.

The matador. The matador. I love that. And you see who got that? Do you know who got that? Morn. Oh, my God. It was the best.

And I love that you say it was inspiration for the early Martian colony flag. The matador, the velvet painting of a matador and a bull. Oh, my God. That made me laugh so hard. That was funny. That was the best. Yeah. So we're back in Jake in Nag's quarters, and Jake is so bummed out.

He's lost the auction. This is like, this is his prize. He felt 100% that he was going to get this thing. Nag is trying to cheer him back up. He's like, you know what? We could get him a new pair of shoes. And Jake's like, shoes? No.

No. That's not good. Jake starts talking about how it was kismet. It was fate. He was supposed to have that card. So Nag is like, okay. well, they both come up with this plant. They're going to try to get the card somehow.

And that's where we lead over into the promenade. Yeah, Jake's really from the heart here. He's like, you know, my dad's always been there for me. I want to be there for him. He needs me. You know, please, Nog, help me get this card. And Nog is moved by the sincerity. You know, they're good friends.

And I thought that was a nice moment, you know, in the middle of the comedic banter about Kizmet, Kiz what? What do you know, there was a lot of little jokes in there, but at the heart of it, there was real stakes and emotion, which I thought was nice. Well, we go back to the promenade, Jake and Nog are going to ask, they want to ask Geiger to make a deal. This is where we also see Morne walking out with the painting, the velvet painting. Yes, Morn's got the bullfighter. But Geiger says, he's very paranoid here. He's not interested in making a deal.

and he does say, I haven't broken any laws except perhaps the laws of nature, which is very ominous. And what does he accuse them of being? I don't have the quote in front of me, but it's mentioned several times in the episode. Something of orthodoxy. Solace minions of the orthodoxy,

which would also make a cool band name as well. Okay. Yes, soulless minions. All right, we go to space and we see Kai Wynn's ship. No, I'm sorry, we don't. We see a dissoning. Dominion ship docked outside, which I thought was a cool angle. That's why I made a note of it. Very cool ship shot. Do you see the Voyager looking like ship that was in the background kind of cruising in?

I did. Yeah. I was like, what? It's the same front, but they added some extra like, I don't know, extra nacelles or something inside. Yeah. It was a cool space shot. It was very cool. But it basically sets up that Wayun has arrived. We cut inside. Wayune comes in literally the first. words out of his mouth, I laughed. He just makes me laugh. I love Wayne. His first line when he says, Captain Sisko, I can't tell you how happy I am to see you again. I thought that Jeffrey brought in the also additional energy of Captain Sisko, I can't tell you how happy I am to be a recurring character now. Yes, probably. That's what I felt. It was like, it's great. This is Jeff, if I have this right, third character on Deep Space. Correct. On Deep Space Nine, yeah.

FCA, Brunt. What was the one before? He was a customer and Quarks. He wanted to have a Hall of Sweet program. With Nihara. With Kira and Norese. That's right. The really creepy alien.

Okay. So creepy alien, Brunt, FCA, and now Wayune, which is arguably one of his most popular ones, I feel. People loved him in the first time he showed up. He's very funny. So funny. He made me laugh as soon as he walked in. And the dynamic between him and Cisco, like, you know, Cisco going, I wish I could say

the same. You know, I'm so happy to see you. I wish I could say the same. You just made me feel so comfortable. And Cisco's like, before you twist that into a compliment, just very funny, dynamic. I agree. He tries to charm Cisco, but Cisco's not interested, and then they follow Cisco.

And then we cut to the replemate. And before we cut to the repliment. Yes. Jeffrey, they catch Jeffrey doing something. That is the core to Jeffrey's performance. As he leaves, he's got his fingers going like that. Yes. I noticed that.

And I thought, oh, yes, that sensation makes you feel very prissy. And I thought that's what tells Jeff how to do this character. It informs his character. And I thought, that's accord to Wayoon right there. And in fact, years later, when Kitty played a Vorda, he explained to her, you know, how to play a Vorda. Oh, that's funny. And prissiness is part of that, yeah. Makes sense.

It's funny how as an actor you can find. And you can work internally, you know, inside to outside or you can work outside to inside. We go to the replomat. Nag says, okay, he wants to see us. Let's go make a deal. They're going to meet in 10 minutes. So they head out. They're excited in the corridor.

Nog says, let me handle this. Let a professional handle this. The doors open. And it's filled with all of the, it's like a laboratory in his quarters. I've never seen anything like it. There's a pod. There's lights on the walls. How did he get it there?

How did he get all the same? stuff in his bedroom, in his dormitory. Yes, I don't know. He beamed it there? He went to a lot of auctions. Can you beam? You can beam it there, right? Sure, you probably could.

Or you can go to auctions and start collecting old junk. Fine. Basically, my first note is he's a fanatic. He's willing to make a trade. He's checked them out. He knows who they are. So he thinks that they can get access to things that he can't get his hands on. Nog asks, what are you going to do with them?

He's talking like a cult member. me, working for the soulless minions of orthodoxy that have hounded his work and plagued his existence. They basically say, what are you going to do with all this? And he says, well, let me ask you a simple question. Do you want to die? And I thought, oh, this is going to be a drama for a minute. And they say, no, not really. And then he goes into his whole study of death and dying and that it's the cells of their bodies that get bored.

At some point, they just, you know, metabolize, divide, metabolize. Wouldn't you get bored, he says? So the cells just say, that's it. We're bored. And that's why you die. And that's why you're bored too bad. And Nog's response is, I never thought about it that way, which made me laugh. A little quick bit of trivia, the computer system that Dr. Geiger uses in this episode appears to be the same system we see on the USS Excelsior and the USS Enterprise A in Star Trek 6, the Undiscovered Country.

so reused prop sets. Oh, interesting. Here's my problem with this, and the problem arises because of what Garrett read at the very beginning of our talk today, was that what Ira wanted was for the speech to actually make sense until eventually it doesn't. That's what you told us, Garrett.

Yeah, right. And I thought that's not accomplished here because both the actor and the director set up him being odd, very odd from the very beginning before he opened his mouth. And him not talking to them directly, but working on his computer, he seems very odd.

And therefore, we assume anything that comes out of his mouth is going to be odd. I would have preferred it, if it were me doing it, to make him human, more humane, perhaps. And then as he talked, Jake and not going, this is crazy. But at first, going, uh-huh. Okay. And so that makes sense for Nog to say, I never thought of it that way.

And then as he goes on, as Geiger goes on, it becomes obvious, this guy's crazy. Instead of us knowing that he's crazy from the very top. I actually was along for the ride until he said, I've nearly completed my work on the cellular regeneration and entertainment. It was that word alone that turn. I'm with Robbie. I bought into it until he said entertain. Like you're entertaining the cells. Like they're going to a play or the failure or whatever. It's just, oh, my gosh. Well, that was my quibble.

It's funny. And indeed, that that's where it. I think that was their intention. They wanted this to be kind of a silly story. I just wanted him to be more serious at the beginning. Yeah. So there's an arc to it. Yeah, yeah.

So that makes sense. So it's more of a payoff for you as well, you know. I get it. Yeah. Makes sense. Well, nice long scene. Jake and Nag kind of sidebar. They think he's crazy.

But Jake says, we've got to help him. got to get this card. So they agree to do it. They go to shake his hand and he doesn't want to shake their hand because he's a germaphobe, which also made me laugh. Howard Hughes. Howard Hughes. Yes. He's like, do you want to kill me? Do you know how many germs are in a handshake? We go to the cargo bay and Jake asks Miles for a power cell. He won't reveal that this is all to get his dad a baseball card, you know, because O'Brien's like, what do you need it for? Nog starts to explain, well, we have to trade it for a, and then Jake's like, no, no, no, it's a, it's kind of a secret. So clearly Jake, if Jake would just tell people what he's doing, he probably, this would be a lot easier.

Yeah, they wouldn't. They're going on a scavenger hunt. This is what's going on. They have to find all these things to get what they need to give to Geiger. What I found was interesting is that O'Brien's holding a tricorder, but he also has a stylus, too, or whatever that thin thing. was and I'm like, what the heck? Like, we've never used that. But then later, when he does

swap it out with Nog and Jake, Nog says something like, I'm going to scan or you scan and I'll, you know, I'll, what is it, recalibrate, something like that. So then when he hands the, he hands the stylus to, I think,

to Jake as if that's the scanner, I'm so confused, because I thought that's what a tricorder does. It scans already. You don't need a, additional. Do you remember, though, around this, this is season five. So this would have been like 96, 97, 97.

Perfect. Yeah. Apple came out with this thing called the Newton, just like a tricorder. So you think this is, this is Newton inspired? I think this is Newton inspired. I remember Marvin Rush had a Newton. Oh, yeah. I got a new.

Well, I'm sure all the writers, all the DS9 writers all had Newton's as well. It was very Star Trek. Yeah. Yes. You haven't. Okay. For the youngsters out there listening, please Google. Google Newton.

Yes, Apple Newton handheld. It was a very Star Trek item back in the 90s. Got it. Okay. And that's what that reminded me. Yeah. I also find it interesting about this scene and several other scenes that it's Nog, the Ferengi, who wants to tell the truth.

And Jake, the Human, is the one who's being very Ferengi-like. Yes. If it weren't for Nog, Jake would have. Absolutely no luck here. Like Jake tries to get this device or whatever, but he won't tell him what it's for. And Nog says, let me show you a little something about incentive-based economics. So it's Nog who talks about... Yeah, he's the brains of the outfit. He's totally the brains of the outfit. Yes, he is. He says, isn't there something you'd rather be doing right now? Like the holo suites, maybe kayaking? And suddenly O'Brien's like, yeah, I would.

I'll give you the power cell if you recalibrate or something, whatever he wanted them to do. Yeah, Nog offers. He says, I'll recalibrate for you. And never mentions the power. He doesn't. What he wants until the very end. Very smart. He's a very good negotiation.

Yeah, you go do the kayaking. We'll do this. Oh, by the way, what about that power cell? Yeah, he brings it up at the end. I mean, no, he waits until O'Brien's out the door practically because O'Brien says, thanks, thanks a lot. I owe you want. He's walking midstep. And he's like, whoa, oh, oh, oh, what about that?

that power that's when he gets him right that's right very smart very smart nog good job well we go to the infirmary they need a solution from bashear jake tries the nog line here but it doesn't work on bashear because this is exactly where he wants to be yeah he loves he loves anything medical so he doesn't leave at all jakes like isn't there somewhere you'd be no i'm exactly where i want to be but nog also saves the day and no he says just out of curiosity if you had to name one thing that would make you happy right now. What would it be? Bashir's like, I don't know. And he thought, and he's like, come on, anything. Humor me. Bashir says Kukalaka. And that's, Kukalaka comes up. Yeah, we find out. And I didn't know Kukalaka was gone, but evidently because Lita said Kukalaka was

cute, she let Lita borrow Kukalaka, but she never returned Kukalaka. So that is the mission. If you can retrieve Kukalaka, you will receive the stuff you need from me. Nog goes in, takes hold of her arms. He gets sort of wrapped up for a second. She sort of grabs him, grabs him, and then he's stuck. And then he manages to kind of swap the bear for a pillow. Very smartly, very smartly blows in her ear without, you know, you can see him thinking, what do I do now?

Yeah. And he comes up with a solution. Very. Very smart. Yeah, he blows in the year. And then he does the Indiana Jones swap of the pillow for the switcheroo for the switcheroo. Yeah. And did you guys notice how he leaves?

It's like an access panel or something. Air vent or something is where he goes through. Yeah, it was so hilarious. I'm like, oh, sneaky. He totally snuck in there. Yeah. Very sneaky. We go to the captain's office.

It looks like tea time at the top of this. But then I looked at these glasses. I was like, is that vodka? Is that a tall vodka? It was just clear. So it's vodka time. Yeah. Or water.

It was probably water, but it seemed very fancy for a water glass. Wynn says that they want a non. on aggression treaty with dominion. Cisco says, though, you know, Starfleet is committed to helping Bayjor. And then when asked him, can you promise total defense? Can you promise this? Can you promise that? So she's kind of pushing him on specifics.

And he can't make those promises. He can't make them. So she says, well, what do we do then? And he says, stall. Just wait. Keep all your options open. Yeah. So it's a, you know, she trusts him.

She actually holds his ear after he says that. He says, you know, stall, wait. She holds his ear and she says, okay, emissary, put ourselves in your hands. So she trusts him. Yeah. But she had to do the, she had to feel the, she had to fill out the paw first to make sure that he was saying, you know, that she could believe what he's saying, I think. So, and she does.

But again, because they are at the top point of the hierarchical ladder for Bajoran religion, they're both on the same page as far as. What's important to them, Bejure. Bejure is important to them. They can put aside their political differences because Bejor means a lot to both of them. She as the head of the religion, he, as the emissary who is there to protect Bejure,

to be the conduit between Bejure and the gods. Here's a question for both of you. So when she grabs his ear and is that... And checks for his paw. She is checking for his pa. She's not just ceremoniously doing a rich... Checking his pot. Goodbye and I touch your ear and leave.

No, she's doing so much. She'll do it again later on with Wayun as well. With Wiyun and detect that he has the wrong pop. Okay. So we're at Geiger's quarters. Jake enters with all the stuff. Geiger climbs out of this chamber. I love that chamber.

It's like an egg chamber. It's a stasis chamber. You know, it's basically the same chamber we saw in the last episode. It's got an egg over it. All the stasis chambers, other than this egg thing that we've seen in Star Trek, they're made from that whatever phone core and then painted. Okay.

everything with that metallic gray. It's just the same over and over. This thing was a high polished, manufactured, shiny. I was amazed. I was amazed. I was like, props found this. Holy moly. This isn't a redress of a prior set piece at all.

This is something they found somewhere, you know? And I was so, I applauded. I was like, wow, we didn't get anything that shiny. And the top came up. He comes out of it. It was a DeLorean. Yeah. Yes, it was.

Yes, it was. Not only did they find that, they found a small replica of it, as it said, in the auction. Yes, that's right. That's right. After he comes out, Geiger says, refreshed, regenerated, mildly entertained. But he mentions, I do get bored after the first five hours. Oh, my gosh. So he's got to figure out this boredom thing.

The cells get bored, and that's, can't get bored. You'll die. You'll die if you get bored, I guess. Jake's got what he wants. He activates the machine. At the end of this, it's very noisy. It kind of pans up. He puts the stuff in the machine and starts to make noise.

It's hard to do on our set because when you pan up, you get lights is what you get. Exactly. You get set. It ties together the noise to weigh in up above, hears it. You know what that noise is? No, what is it? It's the sound of immortality. That line.

That's the line that Giger has. That was so, I love that line. That's funny. Yes, and you're right. It does go up to Wayune's quarters, and he and the other, the Gemadar is actually scanning downwards, and Wei Yun is pressing his ear, you know, get his ear close to the floor, and he's wondering, what is going on beneath me? Yes, yes.

He thinks it's about him, as Wayeun often does. We go to Jake and Nog's quarters. Nag's playing this very loud cling on music. Jake's working on a pad. Jake asks to turn it down. Nag mentions that he's filtering out distortion. for subharmonic distortions for Worf's opera recordings. Jake says he's trying to add a little humor to Kira's speech for the agriculture

delegation. Is our assumption that Jake writing the speech is to get another item from Kira? Yes, yeah. These are all promises they've made. They're all promises, yeah. My only knock on this is they should have made that, they should have made the sound of the recording even louder in the beginning because it didn't seem like it was that loud for him to be like, I can't think, you know.

It just, it wasn't. Oh, I don't know. That would definitely distract me. Yeah? Yeah. It was, I don't really like cling on music. I'll be honest. It's not my favorite.

Whenever they play it on Star Trek, I'm always like, oh. Yeah. I just don't buy that anybody would actually think that's beautiful music. Okay. But did you think the volume was fine? Oh, yeah. I thought it was very annoying. And I thought Jake was, Jake's line when he says,

tell me what you think of this. this. Thanks, you know, thanks for having me here. I've always thought it odd that the topic of water reclamation was usually treated as such a dry subject. Is that funny? No, no. I was like, yes, that is actually very funny. It's kind of funny. They were having fun these writers for this episode. They go down the corridor making another delivery, but they walk into Geiger's room and it's completely empty. Uh-oh. Yeah. What the heck? Next scene, they're in the security office with Odo. And Odo has no record of Geiger even being assigned to the quarters. And now I'm thinking, was he a figment of their imaginative? What's going on here? We don't know. So it's a little confusing. So Nog brings up maybe the soulless minions of orthodoxy finally caught up with it. Well, it's funny. As they explain, they start quoting Geiger. And Odo's just sitting there.

Who? What? What? Yeah. Ooh. It's very funny. And it's hard to do. Those kind of reactions are hard to do. God bless Renee. Oh, yeah. Great job by Renee.

It's teamwork. It's like because they have to set it up. Yep. And then he's got a knock it out. So that his dry, flat response can land as a joke. Jake and Nag were, we're so good. Well, we go to the promenade. Jake and Nag are worried about Odo's threats.

They mentioned that, you know, he may file public nuisance reports on them and nob can't have that on his academy record uh jake thinks he's just trying to scare us and that's when they see uh they see win up top and jakes thinks oh maybe that's it's all because of when because she was mad because we bit on that lot with the mandala the pejoran mandala in it yeah because they see the vetic that was at the auction talking to win that's how that prompts that dialogue there yeah so like aha that's the connection that's the connection I found this to be enormously amusing. Here's why.

Yes. I can't tell you how many episodes of our show where someone comes up with a cockamamie reasoning for something and it turns out to be the solution to the episode. And here's a cockamamie reasoning and it does. And I think the writers were just making fun of something they did on a regular basis, which has come up with something that sounds totally off the wall. And instead of it being, yes, indeed, the answer, it turns out to be what it actually is.

Cockamamie idea. Jake goes down this whole, you know, yes, the Vedic was bidding. Right. And we've got to go into the Lions Den. Yeah. We just got to, it's a human expression. We just got to walk right into the Lions then and face this. They think they kidnap Geiger, correct?

That's the reason why they're going to. But I like Nog's response where she's like terrified and in shock. and he says, lions, geiger, bears. And then Jake looks up, oh my. Wizard of Oz quotes. I love it. Look how fun these writers are having. It's so much fun.

And look at the in-choke. The in-choke is, for me anyway, is lions, Geigers, that's cute. But bears. Who wrote the episode? Who's the head writer on the show? Ira. Bear.

Ira Stephen Bear. Oh, my. I didn't go with that. I went with a bear as in Kukalaka Bear is what I. Oh, okay. I did too, but that's, but that's another way. For me, I went lion, Geiger, and bears. I was Stephen Bear. Very funny.

That whole episode for me was worth that one line. We go to the corridor. Wayune is feeling good about his common interests with Wynne. He says that we're very much alike after their meeting. And she checks his paw, his ear. And she goes, nope. And we're nothing alike. Nothing at all.

No. And then Jake steps up. We need to talk. She runs into the boys. And we got right to the captain's office. So it's like, you accused her of kidnapping Geiger? What are you insane? He is mad.

I just love this episode because they were able to fit so much into it by just jumping. You skip the actual scene of them, you know, asking. about did you kidnap them and just go right to Cisco's reaction. That happens over and over again in this episode. They cramps, they jam packs so much. Yes, it's always moving. It's great. Cisco's mad.

Nog starts to tell him the holes spill the truth, but Jake interrupts and covers with the lie of, you know what the truth is? We were drunk. We were just, Knox's like, what? And Cisco is very mad about that. He confines them to quarters until further notice. in ops as they walk out, Knox thinks Jake has lost it.

It's like, you are insane. Well, he's, he's jeopardized his career, Knox career. That's the commander of the station saying that the cadet, you know, is now under restrictions and that he got drunk. Excuse me. This is what happens in Othello, you know, the lieutenant gets drunk and gets cashiered because he's being drunk. And so,

But Nag has every reason to be upset with his friend is causing him more and more trouble. And if they would just tell the truth, which is what Nag has been trying to do this whole episode, if they would just tell the truth, it would be so much easier. Yes, agreed. Well, in the turbo lift, knock says, you know, they need to maybe, you know, get away, clear their minds because as your friend, you're starting to go over the edge, maybe we just need some perspective. and as he's saying this, they get literally beamed out of the turbo lift.

And they're in the Gemhidar, on the Gempa dar ship. What he says is, you need to clear your head. And then the beaming happens. Well, it's funny. He goes, you need to get away, clear your head. And they are literally whisked away by the plane,

which is the legs are cleared. No, it's so funny. They're in the interrogation room. Waye-un's interrogating them. He asks, how do they know Geiger? Jake tells the truth. Wayune doesn't believe. But the beauty of it is this.

Like you said, Armand, the entire episode is Nag trying to get Jake to tell the truth. The final moment where he does tell the truth, he's not believed by Wayune initially, right? So that was like, oh my gosh. So then he makes up a story about Willie May's The Time Traveler. That to me is my best part of the episode.

Oh, you love that part. That lie is so wonderful on so many levels. I just love that line. Sirak delivers it beautifully. Wayun listens to this version, the time traveler version, and then he responds, I believe you. Jake's like, you do? And he goes, not that, but your first story.

So after he lies, he's like, okay, the first story makes sense. He wants to know the truth about Geiger, and Nag explains that he wants to be immortal. And then Wayun is like, oh, immortality. I'm into that. He's kind of into it. And you know why? of course. He's a clone. Yes. Yeah. He doesn't want to die. In his sense, he has immortality.

Or at least Jeff Combs does. I don't know whether Wayoon does, but Jeff DeKloom, but Jeff Combs does, yes. Yeah, the enthusiasm of when he says after the reaction to the immortality line by Jeff was just, just loved it. He was so into it. And it. Very funny. It made it for me. I love that scene. Yeah. Nogginjake started to leave. And then Wayans like, wait, aren't you forgetting something? the card. So actually he doesn't, it's interesting, he doesn't say the card.

And when you're forgetting something, the reaction shot, at the end of that scene is on Jake. And Jake, the way that Dorn made him act, that ending, that reaction was almost like confusion of like, or wait,

is there a catch? So it wasn't like elation like, oh yes, the card, which is great because it wasn't telegraphing it. Does that make sense? It was sort of, it kept you as an audience member

kind of thinking and guessing. you weren't sure what it was. You're hoping it's the card, but the reaction that was given by Jake was, I think, really good. More ambiguous, which I think was needed. Well, the captain has a log next where he basically explains over this montage

of all of our favorite heroes. Two days ago, the station felt like a tomb, but now everybody seems great. And he doesn't understand it. It's like a mystery to him. Nothing's really changed. The Dominion is still a threat. But he says maybe the real explanation is as simple as something my father taught me a long time ago.

Even in our darkest moments, you can always find something that makes you smile. And we've got all these montages. O'Brien going kayaking in a ridiculous outfit. Bashir with Kukalaka, Lita is searching for her missing bear. With big hair, which rhymes with bear. And have we gotten to the hug yet between a... Father and son. At the very end, yes.

Cisco has his baseball card. Nog gets a handshake and Jake gets a big hug at the end. That also was one of the golden moments for me was that hug, that genuine, absolutely full of love hug between father and son. Yeah. And I don't have to repeat this, but I will, which is that's the way their relationship was off camera as well. That's beautiful.

In an earlier scene, when the party is just split up. It's the very first scene. Michael makes sure that he has Jake kissing Cisco on top of his head. Another loving rapport between father and son. I think father and son is one of the things that happens in this, certainly one of the main things that happens in this episode. During the montage, I really enjoy the moment of Wayune getting into Geiger's chamber. I did something about that moment was like, yeah. I cheered for that in a way. What is your theme slash lesson slash moral for this episode, Robbie?

My lesson is from Cisco's last line where he says, even in the darkest moments, you can always find something to make you smile. It's a great lesson. It is. Armin, what is yours? I love what Robbie said. If I had it to do all over again, I would imitate what Robbie just did. But I came up with this theme.

Good intentions become hard work when done on a whim. hell is paved with good intentions. How hard can it be? Yes, exactly. My theme slash lesson slash moral is exactly the same as Robbie's. Even in the darkest moments, you can always find something to make you smile. Our Patreon, Paul winner for a theme slash moral slash lesson of this episode as submitted by Alex Ray.

Even in the darkest moments, you can always find something that will make you smile, Joseph Sisko. So there you go, a trifecta. Honorable mention for theme moral lesson. of this episode is submitted by Stephanie B. And that is, Blame it on the soulless minions of Orthodox. Good line.

It's a good line. Thank you, Armin. It's been kind of fun having you in successive episodes. We had a few together that we've recorded with you. Thank you for joining us on this one. Great pleasure. Thank you to everyone else for tuning in. And join us next time when we will be recapping and discussing the season five finale,

call to arms and that will be with Terry. Terry will return for that one. Patreon patrons, please stay tuned for your bonus material.