The Delta Flyers - Statistical Probabilities

Episode Date: August 18, 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, Statistical Probabilities, is hosted by Garrett Wang, Robert Duncan McNeill, and Terry Farrell.Statistical Probabilities: Genetically engineered savants under Bashir’s supervision predict doom for the Federation. 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, Nicki T, Roxane Ray, Tim Neumark, Ian Ramsey, Feroza Mehta, Jenny Cordina, Ryan Mahieu, Francesca Garibaldi, Jonathan Capps, Chris Dellman, Sean T, Cindy Woodford, Tamara Evans, Shawn Robbins, & Francis Our 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, 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, Chris Garis, Jeff Allen, Londyn Henning & Risa EinsidlerAnd our Producers:Philipp Havrilla, James Amey, Jake Barrett, Ann Harding, Samantha Weddle, Paul Johnston, Warren Stine, Carl Murphy, Jocelyn Pina, AJ Provance, Brian King, Maxine Soloway, E & John, Brianna Kloss, Dat Cao, Stephen Riegner, Debra Defelice, Alexander Ray, Sarah Thompson, Gabriel Dominic Girgis, Sara Junius, 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, Mo, Leslie Ford, Jay Furness, Jim Poesl, Gabystar, Daniel Chu, Scott Bowling, Michael Jones, Ed Jarot, James Vanhaerent, Nick Cook-West, Kilian Trapp, Kit Marie Rackley, Gordon Watson, Andy Bruce, Andrew Golden, Damien O’Donnell, Michael Bourguignon, Corey Evans, Patricia Welsch, Shannon Gregg Lucky, Ken Guthrie, Michelle Fox, Jeff Schmedinghoff, & Kalena Rivera Thank 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 ElevenReader and use my code PODCAST for a great deal: https://elevenreader.io* Check out Omaha Steaks and use my code BEEF for a great deal: https://www.omahasteaks.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, everybody. 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 Farrow, Robert Duncan McNeil, and myself, Garrett Wong. Aw. That was nice. Nice singing. You're welcome.

Nice singing. Your singing reminds me of a movie that I saw last night called Song Song-sung Blue, Hugh Jackman, Kate Hudson. I love this movie. All I'm going to say is go watch it. It's an incredible film. I was crying for two hours straight. What?

Oh my God. Moving. Song Sung Blue. This is the Neil Diamond biopic. That's amazing. Well, it's not a Neil Diamond biopic. It's about a couple in Milwaukee that do kind of a Neil Diamond experience, but they're not impersonators.

but they kind of are. I'm definitely going to watch it now. But honestly, Robbie, they didn't market it that way. Not at all. The ads look like, it looks like he is playing Neil Diamond and he's not. Exactly. And that's why I hesitated to watch it because I love Neil Diamond. And I thought, Hugh Jackman, he doesn't look like Neil Diamond and he's way too tall.

Oh, so this is awesome. Oh, wow. Okay. You got to watch it. I promise you, it is really wonderful. It's not what I expected at all. We are definitely going to check it out. I also want to bring up the other time someone has raved about a film was yesterday, and that

would have been Megan. Megan said that she saw The Odyssey, and it was absolutely hands down out of this world, epic. Yeah. Three hour epic. Yes. Yeah. Well, good. We got to check that out, too.

We do. We have some birthdays, ladies and gentlemen. We have Donna Runyon on August 17th. Happy birthday, Donna. Happy birthday, Donna. Happy birthday, Donna. And next up we have Jason Eberle. Jason Iberl on August 22nd. Happy birthday, Jason. Happy birthday, Jason. Happy birthday, Jason. This is for the episode's statistical probabilities. The future looked pretty darn grim. The Federation's chance of survival was slim. But one person stood and did what they could and made bad outcomes. a little less dim.

Oh. Wow. Thank you. Taffair, let's hear what you got for us. Here we go. Cuckoo's Nest abound. Playtime is over.

The dominions around. Meglamania. Treason is okay. Bashir dashes in to save the day. Nice. I'm golf clapping that one. That was very good.

Meglamia. Yeah, you got in a lot of good stuff there. Thank you. Starting with Cuckoo's Nest. You had me at Kuku's Nest immediately. Right. Yeah. It's good choice.

Good choice. Thank you. Okay. Here's my haiku for this episode. Doc Camp counselor. Puppet DeMarre calls for peace. Almost all was lost. I like it.

I like that too. Bravo. Thank you so much. Let's go to one of our Patreon patron poetry winner. That is a limerick submitted by Jenny Cordina. And I'm so happy you chose a limerick, Jenny, because now I can finally recite a limerick. I've been doing haikus, this whole DS9 review. Here we go.

Jenny Cordina's Limerick for statistical probabilities. There once was a mutant Bashir who trusted the minds of his peers. He listened all day, then chose his own way when wisdom proved greater than fear. Nice, Jenny. Wow. Yeah. Excellent. Yeah.

I think that was really excellent. We also have an honorable mention. This is a rhyming narrative verse submitted by Jason Okin, and it goes like this. When probabilities statistically align and those enhanced presume to know what's best, the paths that spring from their brilliant minds spell danger both for them and for the rest. Yet numbers fail to see what passion can, and randomness will always have its say. No matter how one formulates a plan, some futures chart their own unwritten way. nice Jason good job good

excellent I like the deep end this was in the deep end I know Jason always goes to the deep end yeah he does let's go through some stats or some facts here this is a story by Pam I love this last name Pietro Forte what a beautiful Italian last name wow nice okay well said have we ever heard this name before no this is the first time I've heard of Pam and definitely Pietro Forte. Teleplayed by Renee Eshavaria, directed by Anson Williams, our buddy, our buddy Anson.

We love Anson. We love Anson. Yes. Guest stars, Jeffrey Combs, as Wayune, Tim Ransom as Jack, Janetta Arnett, as Karen Lowe's, Hillary Shepardt, as Lauren, Michael Keenan as Patrick, Casey Biggs as Serena Douglas. Full disclosure, Tim Ransom is a very dear friend of mine. Really? Yeah, I've known. him since we were both New York actors back in the 80s. He was one of the founding members of a theater

company called Naked Angels, which I wanted to be in so badly. So many cool people were in Naked Angels. Sorry, they missed one cool person. Oh, Robbie, you're an honorary member in our eyes. All of us should have been members of Naked Angels. He also read for Dr. Bashir. Did he really? Yeah. Yeah. Wow. That would have been a very different way. Yeah. Trivia. This is one of Alexander Siddig's favorite episodes. People ask, what was that a comedy or a drama? A statistical probabilities was like that. Not quite one thing or another. The humor came out of the misery and angst captured by those wonderful actors. And I enjoy the fact that Bashir served as a kind of pinball throughout that show. He was just battered about. So Sidig, Sid loved this show. The storyline was based on Isaac Asimaz's classic Foundation trilogy, which of course, we know that Roxanne went on to direct the future. Oh, that's right. Oh, wow. She works on foundation, the series.

That's right. Also, the character of Jack is based on Dean Moriarty, one of the main characters of the 1951 Jack Kerouac novel on the road, a wannabe philosopher who talks a mile a minute. He did feel very Jack Kerouac-y. Did you feel that too? I felt it a bit. Yeah. Yeah, kind of that jazz kind of talk, like a little non-sequitur.

A little manic. A little manic, yeah. This episode aired on November 24, 1997, for those keeping score, checking our calendars. Right after our birthdays. Yes, right after our birthdays. Oh, yeah. Well, we start off in the cargo bay. The cargo bay has been turned into quarters.

I was a little confused, to be honest, like what was going on here. Seeing Tim Ransom, of course, was really exciting for me. I love him. Tim's just such a wonderful human being and good guy. And like I said, we were young actors in New York back then. It was just such a different world. You know, we were both starting out. I thought it was going to be a movie star.

He was one of those kind of actors in my mind, yeah. Did you know that he was on DS9 before you watched this episode, bro? No. Oh, complete surprise for you. That's fun. How great to see a friend like that. Yeah. I do have a comment, though.

And I feel a little guilty, especially after buildup. There was an affectation he was doing that felt, I don't know how to describe it, performative. It didn't feel organic. Yeah. And it just, oh. You mean when he would go, huh, huh, huh, huh, the little extra little thing? And it wasn't consistent throughout the show.

Yeah. And I just loved what he was doing. And it didn't feel like he needed that affectation for me to. get his character. Yeah. I get that. Yeah. And I'll say full disclosure. We talked about the director, Anson Williams, who Garrett, we both said, we love Anson.

Oh, no, I loved him too. He was super nice guy too. In my opinion, this is one of the least good directing episodes of your show. I don't think it was well managed in terms of shot making. The shots did not support where the story was. And I really don't think the actors were directed much. In my opinion, I don't think Sid was directed. I don't think column was directed or Hillary or any of the guest stars. They were just all kind of doing a different story almost. And so I was, I would put a lot of that on kind of the cohesiveness of a director saying, no, here's where our story is.

Here's where the stakes are. Here's what you're trying to come in the room to do. Here's, here's how important it is. Here's where the turn is. And one of the reasons I said, cuckoo's nest is because I really wanted this group of characters to feel more realistic like cuckoo's nest. So it felt like there was more at stake, making them a little that kind of be a dreamy cartoony vibe. Kind of two-dimensional instead of real three-dimensional characters. I totally agree. And I think because I've heard people talk about these these characters sort of represent for a lot of people, neurodivergent people in real life, that they represent that experience, I don't think it was taken quite as seriously.

I wish it would have been. I wish it would have been too. A lot of people could have related and felt seen. Yeah. Yeah. I agree. That would have been great. Yeah.

All right. Well, we start off in the cargo bay. It's kind of redressed as a communal living space sort of thing. And we meet all these genetically enhanced patients. We meet Jack. He's raging about being. experimented on. Meet Patrick, who's very emotional, pleading not to be left behind. We've got Lowe's, Dr. Lowe's, trying to calm them all down. And she explains that Bashir, who's also

genetically enhanced, is going to work with them for a little while. And we also meet Lauren in there who flirts over Bashir's pad bio, which I thought the pad when she showed his photo, It looked like a sticker on the prop to me. It didn't look like a screen. Well, it was. It was, yeah. But I wish it was a little more like shiny, like a screen. I don't know, something, the prop when they turned it around.

I was like, oh, boy, that's the 90s. It did not look like there was glass on it at all. But Jack takes this pad. He smashes it and then deliberately cuts Lowe's hand with a broken plastic. Or glass. It could have been glass, too, right? That was my impression. This is where they lost me right off the bat.

I really felt that maybe Anson could have said to that guest actor, the minute it slices your hand, react to a norm, like with the way a normal. Bigger. Yes. Like, she didn't. This is what happened. Like, this is her hand. It scratches it. Her face is exactly the same.

Like, nothing happened. I know if I get cut, I'm like, there's an immediate reaction. Especially with that much blood. That much blood. It was a lot of blood so fast. She would have yelped or definitely made a sound, which was a reaction. Non-existent completely. There was a lot of that naturalist behavior that it was lost in this episode.

Yes. Yes. As a viewer, as a director myself, I wanted to go, no, no, no, that's not, don't play it that way. Right. Let's go back and do it again. So is that the director, Robbie? It should be. Okay.

I think so. You guys know in television, did the directors come up with notes for you, performance or character? Most of the time, no. No, right? Sometimes, yes. Yeah. But it's rare. It's rare.

Like Les Wood. Yeah. Les Landau. He would come in and just give you like a little, a little nut. A little nugget. Yeah. But we also talked about this, Chair Fair, Robbie and I, that sometimes with guest directors, they are, they don't want to rock the boat with the series regulars. No, and this is Anson's first one.

I don't know why I remember this. Maybe it's because he was Anson Williams. And of course, I watched every episode of Happy Days. Right. But it felt like he was worried about being light. Yeah. Yes. He did want to fit in like a fellow actor almost.

Yes. Be pals in the group. And not that it's bad, but I think it's kind of funny. I remember that and thinking, wow, he's so accomplished. I wonder why he'd feel uncomfortable. Yeah. And I pick up on that because I feel that way sometimes. That awkward, I want to fit in and don't want to rock.

The boat. But you're right, Robbie. When he came on the set and I first met him, he acted like another actor coming in with the same energy that he gave us. A little nervous to meet the cast. Yeah. He didn't feel like a director. No.

No. There wasn't the gravitas of I'm in control of what's happening here. Right. Even when a director's faking it to make it, you can feel that sense of. The effort to be in charge or the effort to sort of lead. Yeah. The buck stops here. But don't get me wrong, I still think he's a good director.

I just say, when I first met him, it came off like fellow actor. No, you don't have to feel bad about that. We all agree. We really liked him. It's just this episode is like, ugh. This episode is not great work. He directed an episode of Voyager called Real Life. And that's one of my favorite episodes of Voyager.

Oh, right. Oh, well-acted. So, you know, this is just one, whether it was his first time and he wasn't giving, you know, adjustments or, Or maybe he gave the adjustments and the actors still did what they did. Who knows? True. Or maybe the office said, no, no, no. Yeah.

I want this. I think this could have been a better episode if all of the actors have been directed. And I will say, I think Sid needed a director. Even if this is one of his favorite episodes, I don't think this does Bashir a good service this episode, honestly. I don't think it does. And part of it is not because the character is genetically enhanced. which I think that was maybe a mistake, in my opinion, that they chose that first character. I agree.

I think just for this episode, Sid's goal was not very clear. I don't know what his goal was to hang out with these people. Well, that's why I said Doc Camp Counselor. When did he find out he was genetically altered? This season or the last end of last season. He didn't know before that? No, he knew. No, he knew.

What? Oh, he knew. Okay. That confused me for a moment. And he says in the story, the character says that he found out he was genetically enhanced when he was 15 years old. Okay. Thank you. The character knew before he got onto DS9 that he had a secret. He had a secret and he had a skill. So anyway, so we're basically introduced to these four characters. Is it four? Yes, the four characters.

And my question was, are these the only four that are genetically enhanced and all of Starfleet? Maybe these are the four most special, I guess. Well, they're not in Starfleet. Excuse me. Yes. Are these the four that Starfleet are examining or studying because they're the most genius of all of them? Because it seems like a lot of people did this back in the day. It wasn't just, you know, 10 people.

Yeah. Yeah. It was a lot more. I can't remember what she said at the beginning or maybe it's Bashir that describes it about her wanting them to meet Bashir so that they could see someone who is. like together. Mm-hmm. But there's some issues with these characters that seem very deep-seated.

And I think they should have made it clear that it's almost like having a side effect. Yeah. That they were too enhanced in one direction or the other. Yeah. And it hurt their ability to cope in whatever way. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, it wasn't quite clear why they were here and what Bashir was supposed to be doing. Correct. other than just hang out with them. Yeah. Even the handoff was weird. So after Lowe's talks to them, she's like, sorry, I got to go.

Bashir will take care of you. She walks out the cargo boy doors and Bashir's standing right there, which again was a little odd to me. But she explains that Jack, because Bashir notices her bandaged hand or cloth that she's put on there, and he tells her that you have to be careful with Jack. Watch out for Jack. Yeah.

He seems to be a little. A little, what's the term? Unpredictable. Let's be a good way to say it. She says don't turn your back on him. Don't turn your back on him. Don't trust him. Yeah. So he's like, all right, I'm good. He goes into the cargo bay. Now the room is dark. Someone's turned out the lights. And Bashir basically starts talking to, because he knows they're in there. And he understands how genetically engineered people are. But the lights do eventually get turned on. And this is his introduction to the gang. It's all four of them.

This is where Jack starts calling out Bashir's family name and his relation to the poet and how that poet was completely derivative or plagiarist. So he's already, he's cutting him down immediately. Yeah. You know, it's interesting scene. I've never seen anything like this in Trek, to be honest, this type of grouping of characters. And Jack was saying, you know, you cut a deal. You betrayed us, your people, basically.

Right. The deal with Starfleet to instead of being institutionalized, like the. rest of them were. You know, Jack's very resentful of that. And Lauren, Lauren is very flirty. She's like the over, you know, sex forward. Yes. Genetically enhanced.

She, yeah. Now, the actors that plays Lauren, wasn't she on Power Rangers? Isn't she well known? I think, I think so. Yeah. She was a series regular on Power Rangers. She played the main, the main heavy, the main bad person. Bad person.

Yeah. You know, she read for Lenara's part in Rejoined. Oh, so you could have ended up kissing Hillary then. Oh. Hillary seems like a tall, tall actress. Is she fairly tall as well, or am I just not? I don't really remember because when I was in the, of course, they're sitting and we're sitting. Yeah, you can't tell height.

I mean, and tall compared to who? To you. Yeah. I don't, what was the other one, Tracy? She's tall. Oh, really? She's like 5'10. I would consider that tall.

But I have a feeling that Hillary's more like 5'8. Well, we do learn in this scene that these genetically enhanced characters were meeting were barred from doing a lot of things, certain professions, that there was the eugenics war as referenced in this. So Bashir defends his choices and tells them that they can be productive members of society. sighty just like him and did you notice that sid was whispering a lot in this opening scene yeah he was whispering yes his energy was very and i was like oh okay so he's going to be like a counselor to them that's what i said my haiku i said doc camp council this felt like it was summer camp these were and he was someone who was like the like the campes he has the same you know genetic enhancement and he's their

counselor. He's just guiding them through. That's it. Yeah. Yeah, but they're not communicating and it's not the same as Sid. I mean, Bashir. So they can't do the same, they can't be productive in the same way that Bashir is. Yeah. Especially Jack. And I don't remember the other name of the, the other gentleman in the show. Patrick couldn't either. No, none of them could. I mean, and look at Serena. Yeah. Serena can't even talk to anyone. She can't even talk. No. So it bothers me about the writing that you're making it sound like all they need is Dr. Bashir and then they're going to suddenly they're going to be okay and they're going to have perspective and yeah. We do learn in this scene though, Bashir tells what kind of enhancements he had.

And I'm not sure if I've heard him say it quite this explicitly before, but he talks about mental abilities mostly, hand-eye coordination, reflexes, and vision was improved. And that's when Jack does a backflip to show off, I guess. Yeah. That had to be a stuntman, though, because they shot it in two shots. And it was like, oh, that's too bad. That would look so cool if the actor really did it. Yeah.

Is your buddy athletic like that, Robbie? Could he have done? I don't think he did a backflip. I think that's a lot to ask. That was so succinct. This also reminded me, Garrett, of that episode where you went into the, with Michael McKeon, the clown episode. Oh, yeah, that's the thaw from Voyager. The thaw.

Yeah. It reminded me of that sort of like weird kind of circus, you know, nightmare circus vibe. Yep. It had a tone like that. It really did. Yeah. I wanted weirder shots too or more creative, like to kind of illustrate at the same, highlight their personalities, you know, instead of being so straightforward.

were, there wasn't a lot of movement, was there? No, no, not much at all. And a lot of oneers and long, you know, kind of three-shot scenes without, you know, singles and coverage of characters. It would have been interesting to see David Livingston take the script on. Yes. You know, would have been a very different episode. Well, we go to Cisco's quarters next.

It's the whole cast having dinner together. I like that. I did too. I wish we would have. would have had more things like that so we could see the progression of awkwardness to where we are now where we've all known each other for half a decade. Yeah. Yeah.

That was great. I love the dinner scene. But we do learn that this Dr. Lowe or Lowe brought these characters here to DS9 to meet Bashir to try to help them have a normal life. but this is another one where Sid felt very defeated and low energy and kind of like almost like he's given up. Like if this was his mission, if this was the, you know, the hero's journey mission to, I wish he had been directed to lean forward and engage and with curiosity. Optimistic or curious or, you know, some different energy.

This is a lot what these people are going. This is a lot. These are not. These are not. not people that are going to just have a normal life. Yeah. After two weeks with Dr. Bashir. Yeah. He's not Merlin. No, no. We do learn a little bit more.

And he's not a psychiatrist. Right. Yeah. We do learn a little bit more in this dinner because we find out that Sid's doctor, who performed the DNA resequency, was a competent doctor. Whereas these four individuals, these guest stars, all had doctors when they were kids that weren't as good because they all suffered these side effects that were not expected. And because their parents wanted to heal them, they had to basically reveal what they had

done to their children. And that's when the institutionalized care began because of that. Thank you for that, because that is a little explanation. But it isn't, it doesn't thread through the whole show. No, no. It's a very mixed message. that they send. Yeah.

It's still a valiant effort, though, to do a show like this. My gosh. Cisco changes the subject in this dinner to Gull Dumar, who we learn is going to give a speech. We learn that Dumas is the boss now. This first episode, I think we know that. What happened to Descartes? Well, his, you know, his daughter was killed.

By Damar. Yeah. By Damar. I didn't forget that. And he kind of went, he got arrested and kind of went crazy. He didn't leave the station because he went crazy. Didn't leave the station. on the station. Oh, okay. I forgot that part. And that's when he got arrested. So yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. But that that whole gold, Demar, that doesn't even fit. It surely is the pretender. And I sit there and just shake my head. I'm so upset. Yeah. Yeah. And didn't he hate Wayone? How was he suddenly so comfortable with him? You'd think they'd still have like friction. It gave him power. Yeah, but he's still, it just. He doesn't like him. Yeah. Because we've already seen that Gold, Demar, or Damar, has, no, he's very hot-headed and it's very hard for him to control his temper. So what suddenly he's just Mr. Mello? He's the perfect candidate for the boss. Yeah. Because he's still guilt, feeling guilt. But he does exhibit the exact same behavior as before when he sees Nana. When he sees

Kira, he's just as rude to her. There's no change there. So good job, Casey, and that, that consistent. Yeah. Well, Jack calls in, interrupts our. our family dinner here, Jack breaks into the comp system and calls for Bashir, so Bashir goes to check on him. And we cut back to the cargo bay. Bashir arrives, and they're all hearing some noise that we can't hear.

The audience can't hear it. And then Bashir listens for a second. He can hear it too. So his genetically enhanced abilities allow him to hear it. Jack grabs Serena and says he'll break her neck. If Bashir doesn't stop it, And then we come back after the break.

And Bashir is not nervous about Serena getting her neck snapped, which as an audience member, I'm not either, to be honest, because I don't know these characters yet. No. The only way that that commercial break is going to work, I'm going to kill Serena, is if we cared about these characters, but we barely know them. So it seemed an odd.

We certainly don't know her. No, no. It was a weird transition because the minute he finds out, he realizes that Bashir, talking about Jack, when Jack realizes that Bashir, can hear the sound too. It's almost like a breakthrough for Bashir because Jack's almost giddy. He's like, yeah, see, we're not crazy.

He jumps over. He hugs Bashir and says, you know, you're a mutant just like us. And that's when he grabs Serena and threatens to break her neck, which he just went from one extreme to another, which is fine. But this is not someone who's going to be rehabilitated in two weeks to be part of normal society. But I agree. I have the feeling like you do. Robbie that Sid was directed to be like the stabling force, super even, like a counselor.

Yeah. And it didn't quite drive a story. I wish he had been given an intention and a goal that this was an obstacle to rather than, I don't know, it didn't feel concrete enough for me, why Bashir was what he was doing. Yeah. Well, Bashir is not nervous about Jack breaking Serena's neck at all. he's very calm, almost sedated or medicated in my opinion. But he calls Miles and then he says, well, you better let her go or I'm going to tell Miles

not to come and fix the noise. Then Miles arrives. Maas can't hear the noise. He looks at the panel though and he says, yeah, they were right. So again, super abilities that these genetically enhanced people have. And right around then, that's when DeMarz starts his speech. They put it up on the screen and all of our. guest stars start listening to the speech, but they hear things in his speech, his tone,

his facial expression, all that that are suspicious. And they see other things in the speech. They basically hear the truth, a lot of things that are true, just from the speech. I think that was a fun, fun interaction. Yeah. Yeah. They start talking about a King story. This whole bit, them watching and being able to break down just from his speech pattern and how he's looking sounded so much like law enforcement when they train you know for FBI. Oh yeah. Yeah. When they're training people that are interrogators, okay, if the person doesn't look you in the eye.

Yes, exactly. He's looking away from a certain area. Maybe that's the area he's trying to hide. There's all these tells. Yes. Yeah. There's a whole science behind that of human behavior. And that's what this whole reminded me of.

These guys are perfect for breaking down human behavior of these genetically enhanced. So they should work for the FBI. They really should. They should be, yes, they should. But stay in the office. Right, right. Not out in the field. Yes.

Yes. Okay, so observing Goldemar's broadcast, Jack references William Shakespeare's plays, Henry IV, Part 2, and Macbeth. So there's a couple of Shakespeare references there. Yeah. By Jack. Yeah. It feels that way as they continue on with this idea that, you know,

the way they talk about it feels very Shakespearean, for sure. Yeah, very dramatic. Yeah. We go to ops next. And Bashir is reporting to Kira and Dax that his genetically enhanced patients are deeply engaged in analyzing Dimar's speech. And he wants to keep their interest, like they're focused on something. So he wants to take advantage of that. And Cisco says Starfleet has agreed to peace talks and that Dimar and Wei Yun are going to arrive the next morning for negotiations that he will personally conduct, which I like this interaction with Kira where she's not optimistic at all about these.

She does not trust Damar. And Bashir asks, can I get the transcript so my patients can sort of analyze it? He has this idea because they're interested. Let me keep their interest. And Cisco says, yeah, we'll be recording the whole thing. And that the Dominion insisted on the recording because they want to show everyone that they are intent upon reaching a peace agreement. Yes. We're good.

We're good people. Trust us. And I love this scene because it felt like we were back in reality. Yes. All the regular characters, yeah. So we go back into the cargo bay next, and all of our guest stars are very excited to follow this negotiation story. They've got ringside seats, and Bashir tells them, yes, it's going to be great. We jump over to the airlock.

This is the greeting party, I suppose, for Wayun and DeMar. And Kira is not happy to see them. And right, as I said before, Damar is rude as hell already. Yeah, same old Damar. Nothing's changed. But Kira does give a little advice to Wei Yun. She says, listen, you can play your little game that we're friends here, but don't try anything with Cisco.

He's not in a good mood right now. So you're going to reap the fire if you try to mess with him. We go to the cargo bay next. And Damar is, it looks like we're in the negotiation. We don't know we're in the cargo bay. Looks like we're in the negotiation. Demar's proposing new borders. And we realize this is a hologram recording of this negotiation.

Jack rewinds it. Then he tells the computer to have Wayun speak in Dominionese. He wants to hear his original language, which I don't think we've ever heard dominionese before, have we? Never. Yeah. Is that just what he's saying for the race that is Wayune? You see what I'm saying, guys? Because I don't even think there is a Dominionese.

I really feel like that's just the overall. There is. And there was a little... Yeah, he would speak that way and then the universal translator would... No, but that's... But he, okay, he is a Vorda. I thought he was speaking Vorda language is what I felt. Oh, I get what you're saying.

Because during World War II, with the Axis powers where Germany, Italy, you don't say, they're speaking axes right now. They're all separate German, Japanese, and Italian. So I thought, hey, that's just their way of saying Vorda talk is dominionese, you know, I felt. That's the only explanation. But unless it really is a dominion language. The Vorta look at the dominion as their gods, right? Yeah.

But I don't think we've ever heard that before. No, not one bit. And I think I was reading online that Jeffrey Combs was having some issues with that because he's so good with these subtle inflections of his voice. It's like looking at a painting. Just the way he does everything. He's so good. He's so good. but him having to speak on foreign alien language, he was having issues doing his normal acting.

Well, look at it. Oh, I would. That would be very hard. Like, where do you put in the affliction to, where does that weigh in ease like inflection at the end of which word? Do you, I mean, just, these are. Well, it's written. Well, that wouldn't matter because we don't. We don't even know what it means.

But still, yes. Yeah. He wanted to be similar. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. It's written out. I'm just going to say what's on the page in the script.

Go ahead. Ijamana, hoova, Bali, genkurada, sento. Yeah, how would you? I don't know how much. And even Klingon, they've actually written the language. Yeah, they get a dictionary. So people, you'd have to say it correctly because people know what you're saying when you speak Klingon.

Yeah, it's laid out. I mean, not everybody, but obviously. Yeah. Right. So if we're talking Vortes or dominionese, whatever ease it is, it was made up. I'm going to say there was no group of. scholars who broke it down. These are nouns. These are subjects. These are verbs.

No, it was just made up mumble jumbo. I love, though, this little piece here, though. Did you hear that? He used a passive voice transitive. And Bashir's like, since when could you speak dominionese? He goes since this morning. And it's just like, yes, those kinds of little tidbits are genius to add in. And I wish that would have been a little bit more. when we first sent them.

Consistent. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Well, they debate all the clues. Serena is writing on a pad and then shows us to Bashir. He looks at it. It's a chemical formula. Yeah. Before the chemical formula, it was Patrick.

Patrick's the one that says they want the Cabral system. And they wouldn't. Yeah, that's when that's when quiet one does the formula because she takes the Cabral system. Right. Elements. She's the science person, maybe? She has to be. Did you see that thing?

Yeah. She drew it all out. Yeah. Yeah, there's a base chemical that is found in the Cabral system, which can be transformed into the base elements that are needed to formulate KetraCell White, which is what the Gem Hadar have to have in order for them to keep functioning. So this is a great, this is amazing because now they can actually produce it in this quadrant instead of having to have it shipped in from the gamma quadrants. Yeah. Yeah, and this is when we're in Cisco's office with Bashir. as Bashir is explaining everything, that's part of how it's revealed.

Yeah, Bashir's got lots of pads. We're in the captain's office next. Bashir is handing Cisco pad after pad after path, which we all know in our lives, you'd have one pad and you'd swipe to the next file to figure out. So it's comical for us in where we're located in technology. Watch this. In time. We were backwards in the future.

Yes. But it told the story beat of like these guest stars. have come up with all kinds of analysis of this speech, this one recorded speech. An overwhelming amount of analysis for Cisco. Yes. Yeah. Bashir tells Cisco that the Dominion wants the Cabral system, so they can manufacture this Ketra Cell White locally in the Alpha Quadrant. And that would have made accepting their border, their new border proposal, a huge mistake

because then they'd have access to the Cabrell system. So he says instead of seating that territory that they should take some time, stall, because they've analyzed the casually projections that the Romulans are going to abandon their non-aggression pact. And then there's going to be, you know, horrible things, like if they had taken this deal. They've analyzed that bad idea, don't take the deal. Well, in the end, he says we should give them Cabral because he feels like that's going to keep them from losing lives. because the Dominion won't attack, which I love that writing, which is so smart. It's like, oh, my God, they're thinking it's like chess moves.

There are five moves ahead. You know? Yes. Yeah. And he starts to explain it all. Cisco says, oh, I want to, you know, tell me more of this analysis. And Beshear starts explaining. He goes, whoa, whoa, whoa.

It's like, you're going to have to do this slowly or something like that. Walk me through the step by step. Nice and easy. Nice and easy. A little more elementary, please. We go to the cargo bay next. celebrating they're having a party with red hats. The music is a waltz. A famous one. Yes, it is. What is it, Blue Danube? Yes. Thank you. I never knew the name of it before, but who doesn't

know that Waltz? Da da da da da da da da ba bha. How do you learn how to waltz is to that song. Yes, but I'm also guessing Blue Danube is in public domain where they didn't have to pay a dollar for. So that's why. 100%. Like if they said, yeah, it's some music and it was Britney Spears, they would have been paying out the nose for that. I can't have that. I feel like just the pace of this story was very slow, though. Like this party was just weird.

It was slow and the music was slow. And then Miles arrives to fix the power coupling. And Patrick wants him to put a hat on, but then he doesn't want to because he's working. And then Patrick starts crying. It's very sweet. He's very sensitive, Patrick. Just because O'Brien was a little short with him. Yeah.

But I thought that, you know, Cullen played that great. It was perfect. It was like he was a little short and he had a little smile at the end. It's like it's not you. It's me. Yeah. So his over, Patrick's overreaction. Yeah.

I kind of wish that looked a little more realistic too. I like the scene. I know that you thought the pacing was really slow. I think maybe the problem is that they're in the cargo bay and it's so big. big. If they had this in some quarters that were smaller, it would have been, it would have seemed like it was paced faster. I just think that the environment itself lended to that molasses like feeling. Oh, I think you're right. Yeah. And also Patrick, it was so cool, though, because he kept, he kept with the waltz at one point you see him like twirl in front of camera.

So I really felt the blocking was okay on this one, Robbie. I was okay with this one at least. It didn't pull me out so much. But I just felt that the setting was too big. Yeah, the space. I think You're right. The cargo bay is the wrong place to set this whole story. Big time. Yes. Or take the conference room to make it there. Anyway, it should have been dressed a little bit more warm and inviting so they felt comfortable, not so they felt institutionalized. Thank you. Which is how they feel where they're sending them back to. Yeah, yeah. If you want people to feel like they're part of normal society, then give them a real place to stay where they're comfortable.

Yeah. Don't lock them in the garage. Yes. Your first comments, Robbie, when you were breaking down this episode, your very first comment was, okay, so we're in the cargo bay, which is now transformed into sort of an area where they meet, which is weird, or something like that. I'm paraphrasing you. But you already were pulled out, and I was pulled out immediately from the fact that they were in the cargo bay. I'm like, why are they even here? It's just bizarre. That's weird. We do end the scene with, they all notice that Miles seems off. that he wants to play with Bashir.

That was so cute. And then he didn't need to change the compiling or whatever it was. Patrick nailed it. Patrick, you're not going to need that. There's nothing wrong with the power coupling. I mean, and the thing is they're so blunt and candid about their speech. Love that. They don't hide.

They don't pull any, everything is right there in the open. And O'Brien doesn't even know how to deal with that. He's like, well, it's going to have to be replaced sometime. It's almost like he's defensive about it at that point by saying that. interesting little bit of trivia the music, the Blue Danube it was also used in Voyager Robbie in Renaissance Man

So yes The dance sequence was originally supposed to be far more elaborate than what was seen in the final episode And what was to include A lengthy crane shot but neither Alexander Siddig nor Hillary Shepard Turner were able to dance

properly and in the end The shot was scrapped So I think Hillary said that she kind of was very clumsy, you know, and she wasn't getting it. Yes. So there was a, supposedly a much more elaborate, Corey Griffith. Well, they probably tried to teach him in 10 minutes as well. The actual waltz itself probably. Yeah. It's not like there's enough time for them to have a rehearsal, which is too bad because that should have been easy. You can't expect people to know

how to do things that weren't part of our culture, right? There was a time when people did know those dances because that's what you did. Yeah. All right. So we're in Quarks and he's playing with his friend, Miles and Bashir playing darts here. Bashir tells Miles that they like Miles because he's uncomplicated. He's trying to put it nicely. And Bashir also says he's enjoying these guest star characters.

He's enjoying them as well, enjoying their company. and he thinks that they could help Starfleet command, that they're brilliant, and that he really relates to them. Miles does say at one point in the scene, he goes, well, I'm glad I can be of service to you, you know, being uncomplicated or something. He's a little insulted in this. Bashir says something much worse. Well, they do talk about how Bashir has to, at the beginning of the scene,

Bashir has got a step really far back because of his enhanced eyesight and all of that. O'Brien says, after being with them, I can see how the rest of us must seem a little uncomplicated. And Bashir says, I wouldn't say that exactly. More like slow. That is so much worse. But I want to try to use uncomplicated. I want to try to use uncomplicated in the general public. If someone is acting like an idiot, I'm just because of you are so uncomplicated.

They're going to be like, what does that mean? They're going to be so freaked out. Oh, my gosh. might get punched over it, but we'll see. Okay. Well, and O'Brien says, this must be very frustrating to you. And Bashir says, I don't mind. It makes me feel superior. And O'Brien says, glad to be of service. Yes, glad to be of service. They're the best scenes in this are the ones with him and O'Brien. They have good chemistry. And with the crew. Yeah. Good chemistry. And it helps bring Sid's energy up a little when he's with mine. For some reason, he took the approach, Sid took the approach,

that Bashir was going to be almost like medicated, like calm with all the guest stars. And it didn't work for me. But also, if the camera was moving around more in those scenes, there would have been more energy. I don't think his energy to be a therapist kind of vibe seems wrong. But because like you were saying, it felt like Anson didn't direct anyone. A lot of the things feel very, a lot of characters feel very well. one note.

Yeah. Like you said, two-dimensional. It would have been different if like the first scene of this episode is Bashir and Cisco sitting in Cisco's office and Cisco says, hey, we're having all these genetically enhanced people come and your job is to and then fill in the blank, whatever your job is. And Sid goes, yes, that's my job. I'm going to go do that.

At least I would have known. And then if he was taking the tactic of being calm, I would have understood what he would was there for. I just never quite knew why he was hanging out with them. Or maybe describe what their qualities are, which would have helped all of us, too, instead of this back and forth. They're going back to the Institute. So why are we taking them so seriously? Yeah. Your job is to study them and find out if there's anything that Starfleet could use of their intelligence. Yes. Not them studying us. Yes. Right. Right. Or your job, Bashir, is to find out if this character is so dangerous, they can't be around society. Yes. They are dangerous,

Bashir. You've got to go into this dangerous place and be careful. Then that would have been a job. And Jack is dangerous. Yeah. But they didn't quite carve out like what Bashir's mission was. So I don't think Sid really knew what his mission was. And that's why he took this sort of sedated medicated tactic that just was not very dynamic. And then the camera didn't move. And, I could pile on, but it's just so many missed opportunities with this situation could have been more dynamic. I think you came up with the missing scene for yourself, Robbie. Oh, I've got a few.

Yeah. Yeah. All right. Next scene is in Cargo Bay where Bashir comes back in. He tells all of our visitors, good news. Starfleet was very impressed with all your analysis. They want more analysis. And then they have bad news for him.

they've already done it basically. They've already analyzed this, and they've decided the Federation can never defeat the Dominion. But wait a minute. There's a nitpick here. Shear says, I have good news. Starfleet Command was so impressed with our analysis. They've agreed to let us have access to classified information. They're going to give you more to analyze.

What the actual bomb? Seriously? Yeah. No freaking way that these, it just not only they're not qualified, they haven't been clear. That made me angry. Yeah, that is kind of irresponsible and unprofessional. You're going to give three people that are instituted, four people, four institutionalized individuals that are not even in Starfleet,

access to classified information, everyone says, oh, it's above my pay grade. Now, these random civilians are going to be above everyone else's pay grade. Who they can't control. They can't control. They can't control these. Well, they don't know they can't control them yet. But still. You can't control Jack.

Yes. it's a little, yeah, it's a little questionable. And certainly, Patrick, you can't control. You're right, Robbie. They do come to the conclusion that they cannot beat the Dominion. Yeah, Bishir says that at the end of the scene, there's no way. We're going to have to surrender. No way out of it.

We go to the captain's office next. Cisco is mad. He's like, I'm not going to give up. We're not going to surrender. That's not what we do. I love the segue, though. It's a nice segue. We're going to have to surrender from Bershear, right to Cisco saying,

surrender to the Dominion, not on my watch. And doesn't he slam down a pad at the top of his name? There's a little shot, you know, shot making that tells a story. You immediately have some energy. And yeah, this scene was great with Cisco and Bashir. Mm-hmm. He should have slammed down the pad, Robbie, broken the plastic or glass, and then scraped it across his face and said, look, I'm ready.

Holy cow. Sorry, I know. That's extreme. That is very extreme. That does seem a little. I'm scared of you now. I think my dealing with my back pain, it's coming out in manifest. I don't blame you.

Yeah. I apologize. Okay. No, pain is the worst. It is. Period. No matter where it is on your body, pain is the worst. Bashir basically argues in the scene, though, that billions are going to die if they don't give up.

That's right. And he says, over the long run, things will come back. It'll just take a few generations and the Federation's going to come back. And Bashir even says at the end of the scene, he thinks Cisco's pride is what's getting in the way. Oh. Right? Yeah.

Knapp. But this is the $900 billion number. This is where it shows up in the scene. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. I'm like, 900 billion. Holy cow.

That's a lot of people. That's a lot of people. It's a lot of people. We're almost hitting a trillion. I can't believe he said it's Cisco's pride. I mean, to me, that was a big. That's a big. accusation to your captain.

Yeah. Really stepping out a line. Is it because he's felt so comfortable amongst his own type and those guys have no filter that he's become like that as well? Maybe, I don't know. He rubbed off on him. Yeah. Yeah, because he's getting caught up in it too.

Most definitely. Yeah. Right before we go inside Quarks, there is a long lens shot of Bashir just standing alone in the promenade in a crowd. and I, the only time in this episode where I'm like, that's a good shot. Thank you. Oh, I was hoping you would like this shot, Robbie. It's telling a story.

Bashir sort of walks out. He looks around. There's people in the foreground. And it's a little drift, a little movement on that long lens. And I was like, oh, that's storytelling with a camera. It was so good. Yes, he's alone and he's contemplating it all. Zero dialogue, just him standing there with people moving, been front past him.

He doesn't fit in with these regular humans. It's a moment where he almost fits in more with these new genetically enhanced people he's just met than he does with the people in the station. He's more on their side. Perfect. Yeah, visual medium. We go inside the bar, though, and Bashir and Miles are at the bar. And Bashir tells Miles that it's hopeless.

And Miles says, you know, maybe you think you're smarter than all the rest of us. You think that you and your new friends have figured this all out. but maybe you're not as smart as you think you are. And Miles leaves on this. And then we've got a little time passing, and we see Bashir gambling again. And Quark comes in the scene. I wish there had been more Quark in this episode

because he's a key to this story for me, this gambling metaphor, where Quark says something like, you know, people that are gambling know the odds are against them. They know they probably will lose their money, but they do it anyway because they enjoy the game. They enjoy playing.

They enjoy the process. And, you know, Bashir, I was about to say SIF, Bashir, it's not Sid. It's Bashir who says, I don't get it. If they know they're going to lose their money, why do people gamble? If we know $900 billion are going to die, why do we gamble? And at the end of the scene, he does lose Bashir,

who was winning in the first scene, in the earlier scene. And he'll be winning again at the end of the show. but he loses in this moment and he thinks that proves a point. Well, because he said, see, you see, we're all as good as dead. And he leaves quarks with this out of control rage about it. He's hot. He's hot. Yeah.

And it just shows you how this megalomania, this trying to control the outcome, has really overtaken him along with the group. Or you've analyzed data and you think somehow that that's going to, predict the future when there's so many things you can't you can't calculate yeah yeah but they're trying to like insist that it's their way or the highway yeah they've lost perspective that they're unforeseen things and how many times have we out of ingenuity or or ideas that Cisco's had we have defeated them yeah and those happen in instances in real time in fact I think There was an episode where Sid was saying, we have no chances.

And then Cisco had an idea and it changed the outcome. This is a very interesting moment here because one of the things that I always say is that I will not gamble if I am tired, hungry, or emotional. And he's very emotional here. And so if you see the move that he makes, he throws everything on everything, all across the board, and he loses. And every time I get emotional about something or I'm upset about something, it makes me not make moves that are conducive to winning, if that makes any sense at all. So I just coming from a galliv side, and in life as well, yes, when you're emotional. Have you slept enough? Have you eaten? Yes. Are you hungry? Are you emotional?

That's right. There is actually another one. It's sleep, hunger, and lonely. Lonely. Is that it? Yeah. So. And he is. He's lonely from, he's not connected to his people anymore. He's connected to these other people. Yeah. That he's getting a little spun out about. Yeah.

Lost perspective. The other thing I think that's interesting about this point that's being made where Cork is saying, you know, the odds are against you, but you try anyway that you never know what can happen is that sci-fi has told these timeline stories where we go into an alternate a timeline and there's a different outcome because things are different in that timeline. So sci-fi in general has always dealt with this, the variables that you can't control or predict. And this story is telling it in a specific way, but sci-fi uses time travel and timeline stories

all the time to talk about what if, what if this was a little bit of. Yeah, to really illustrate it. Yeah. Yeah. But Robbie, wouldn't you say that this scene kind of, you were more. satisfied with this scene because you do see a Bashir who's no longer sedated. He gets, his voice starts getting louder, louder until the last thing he says, he's, the corks like, take it easy.

It's just a game. And Bashir's like, you're right. It's not as if 900 billion lives were at stake. And he just, that's the last thing. He screams and he just bolts out of there. Now we've got some, we've got a little bit of fire going on now. Yeah. I mean, Sid is capable.

He's a very capable actor. Yes. Definitely. Any criticism, I guess, of SIDS choices or not really of SIDS capabilities. It's just about that I don't know that this was clear in the page, on the page. The writing, the directing. And then the directing didn't help. And so, like this scene, he says, like you just quoted at the end, 900 billion lives are at stake.

He knew the stakes as an actor and was able to play it. Yeah. But in some of the other scenes, I don't think they wrote. the stakes so explicitly. And so I'm not sure that Sid knew what he was playing exactly. It's almost like he had no objective. There was no objective in those cargo base scenes. Yeah, I mean, to break it down, like, as an actor,

the fundamental job of an actor in every single scene is to come in with an objective. Yeah. I want to make this happen. I want to get this thing. Convince them. Yeah, convince them. It's an action. Seduce them, cajole them, whatever it is.

It's fill in the blank. I want to something. Even if you don't accomplish it, you must have it in your mind. Must have an objective. And I'm not sure that Sid was clear or if the writing was clear about what his objectives were seen to scene. And so that's why there was this sort of generalized kind of malaise over a lot of that earlier stuff, in my opinion. And then we go back to the cargo bay. We do.

They're all brainstorming the cargo bay. Jack thinks they should share the information with the dominion. It would save billions of lives, much shorter. war but Bashir says nope we can't share this because that with a dominion because that would be treason I'm not going to be a part of treason and then Jack knocks him out holy cow wasn't that a great sucker punch yeah sure was by both of them yeah and Bashir just falls like a redwood just just a tree being felled it's just like oh my gosh timber and then that and Hillary's character is in heaven. She falls right on the bed with her.

Isn't she caressing him at the end right there? He's a conscious? It's like boundaries. Hello. Oh, my goodness. We cut inside some quarters, some guest quarters. Demar's going over Cisco's counteroffer. And Wayune comes in. You know, Damar is not happy with this counteroffer. He thinks they should be getting more. Wayun comes in and says, you're getting a little cocky. Remember who's in charge here. So there's a bit of a power struggle here. Wayun shares that he got some information or he can get some information from an unidentified party. And he wants to find out what that is first before they respond to Cisco's offer. A little twisting of the mustache.

Yes. The bad guys. Go back to the cargo bay. Bashir is tied up in a chair. And the gang is gone except for Serena, who's still there, the one who is not spoken the whole episode. I wish they tied him up with more than just that one strike. I kept thinking I could get out of that actually. Yeah, it looked a little basic.

Yeah. He asked Serena to untie him. And then he says, well, you know, I've seen the way you look at Jack. I know you care for him. If you don't untie me, you're never going to see Jack again. He can tell that she's in love with Jack. I wish they would have shown that a little bit. Yeah.

I wish they had clotted that. Yeah. With good reason from what we saw. Yeah. Yeah. If there had been one observation that Bashir made earlier with her, you know. Being a little coquettish. Yeah.

A little furtive glance. It would be nice to set that up. It came out of nowhere to me. Yeah. I agree. That observation. We cut out on the corridor. The threesome goes past someone.

Patrick's very friendly. Hi, I'm Patrick. Jack grabs him. Patrick, come on. It's very funny. very sweet. They're going to meet Wayoon and this is where Bashir catches up to them says you can't do this. It basically says I'm not going to let you do this. We can do this the easy way or the hard way. It's up to you. So they don't fight it out there. We leave on that note and we cut to the storage

bay where tomorrow and Wayune are waiting. The gang's not there. They're late. That's when Otis arrives. The escorts. Love that. Yeah. So perfect that Odo arrives. He's very cool about it. They're not coming. So Odo knows everything.

Bashir shared it clearly. And he escorts them back to their quarters. Waye even loses this game. Back in the cargo bay, Bashir tells them that Cisco's not going to charge them with treason. He explains how Serena derailed their plans. And he tells Jack, he said, you know, you didn't anticipate everything, Jack, and your plans of treason here. one person can change the course of history. Yeah, he says that after Jack sort of kind of jumps on top of Serena, he kind of gets mad,

right? He's like, oh, there you go. Look, you didn't predict that, did you? But the whole point being, one person can change everything, even the history of what's going to happen with this battle, this war with dominion. Then that thread is broken. That threat's completely broken. And the future goes in another direction.

Yeah. We cut the corks where Bashir is sitting in a quiet corner. Miles comes in to comfort him in this scene. He knows that it was a hard decision not to join the other Genetically enhanced gang and meet with a dominion. And Miles says, you know, we know the odds are against us, but all we can do is try to do our best. We cut to a little later where Bashir's gambling again. He's having fun now. Miles calls and says, the others aren't going to leave without saying goodbye. And to your point, Garrett, he's having fun here and he's winning again. So yeah, he's doubling down.

Yeah. Yeah. And Quark is not super pleased about that. She's winning here. O'Brien calls and says, we've got some passengers that are refusing to board unless you come see them. We know it's his buddies. He goes back to the car go bay. Lauren jumps up and kisses him very hard.

She wanted to say goodbye. That looked good, though. I mean, it was timed well out of nowhere. That timing was perfect. Did you see his reaction afterwards, too? He sort of enjoyed that. He did. But isn't that where Jack pops out his head out of the side?

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Just so you guys know, when I went to watch this episode for the first time, it had already gotten to this. This is when the scene the episode started for me because I fell asleep on the prior. Okay. So basically, I didn't know.

I thought this scene was the first scene of the entire episode. I go, why is that woman kissing Bashir? And who's that weirdo popping his head out? the whole story. I missed the entire story. This is going to be a crazy episode. Yes. I realized it had actually forwarded while I wasn't watching it to this point.

I'm like, oh my God, I'm so stupid. Okay. I'm so uncomplicated. How did I not know that? You are so uncomplicated. Okay. Yeah, I love the popping a head out of the, of the, you know, around the bulkhead. I thought that was very cute.

Yeah. Bashir tells Serena in this scene that she did the right thing. And Jack says that they'll try and figure out a way to beat the diminution. And if they do, will he be open to listening? And Bashir says he would love that. And they take off on that note. So I feel like these guys are going to be back. I don't know.

I'm just guessing. That's what it felt like to me. They're going to pop back in, or at least Jack, because he's the one that says, you know, if we figure out some ideas, we'll be open to it. So we'll see. Do you guys find this odd? O'Brien says in the last scene,

there's one problem, though. We've got some passengers that are refusing. to board unless you come see them. I thought they were at the entrance to the shuttle, the transport. I did too. I expected to go back there and they hadn't even left the cargo bay. It was like, okay. So a little odd there. All right, Ford to B Mountain. That's the end of the episode. I wrote down one person can make a difference. That's the sheer theme too, you know. I wrote even educated guesses are not the truth. Life is unpredictable. 100%

I'm going to amend mine I'm going to go with Robbies and mine as well so I love the one person can make a difference for your speech as one lesson and the other one is don't overthink it like the minute that the

think tank came up with 18 pads worth of information to show Cisco I thought oh my gosh guys you're over and thinking everything here and sometimes we tend to do that as human beings we just overthink every situation when you just got Keep it simple. Just just get it done. All right. Patreon poll winner for theme slash lesson slash moral, Robbie? Yes. It's submitted by Lori Ulster and it is numbers and statistics are just part of the equation. Not all of it. Life is full of surprises. Great, Lori. It's like Tara Fairwich. Territus. Yeah. Honorable mention theme moral was submitted by Mark Lacey. One person can change the course of history.

Yeah. We're all on the same page. All right. Well, that's it. We've come to the end of our recap and discussion of the episode, Statistical Probabilities. We want to say thank you to Terfair for joining us. Thank you, Terfair. Thank you, everybody. Join us next time when we will be recapping and discussing the episode, The Magnificent Ferengi with our men. For all of our Patreon patrons, please stay tuned for your bonus material. For everyone else, we will see you next time.