The Greatest Generation - Remmick Levels of Intensity (DS9 S3E2)

Episode Date: September 3, 2018

When Odo finally discovers Planet Bucket, his curiosity takes the form of an interrogation of his goopy species. But when the rest of the gang returns to the station, they find the Federation negotiating a peace treaty that’s even worse than the one they have with the Cardassisans. Does a golden handshake count as watersports? Do Bunkbed Mark II Shuttles have rear windows? Are the Changelings just a cult? It’s the episode where the hosts take a deep dive on blasting butt. Come see us live on tour with Greatest Gen Khan🎉🎉🎉! Follow The Game of Buttholes: The Will of the Prophets!

Priority 1 message from Starfleet coming in on Secured Channel. Hey friends of Disodo. Before today's episode, we just wanted to take a moment to talk about the historic labor actions being taken by writers and actors in the American Film and Television industry. If you're a fan of the work done by the people who make Star Trek, we hope you'll join us in standing in solidarity with the folks who actually bring these adventures to life. Over the past several years, the AMPTP, the organization that represents the American Film and Television Production Studios, have reduced the profit from movies and TV going to workers. And in so doing,

they've attempted to weaken the labor unions that represent those workers. They wouldn't even engage the unions on many issues in their negotiations. And so a strike was the only course of action to take. Adam, Wendy and I have been having a lot of internal discussions about how best to stand with the unions and we are continuing those conversations in a dynamic situation. We're doing our best to understand where the picket lines are in these digital spaces,

and we would never intentionally cross one. With the information we have, we feel like we can do more good talking about and supporting the strike and continuing our show as planned. We'll keep you informed about what all this means for greatest trek specifically. Today we're making a contribution to the Entertainment Community Fund. This fund exists to help all the people whose livelihoods have been put on hold because the AMPTP refuses to negotiate

in good faith with the unions. It provides financial support for writers, actors, and all the thousands of laborers who make the shows that we talk about here and without whom we wouldn't have Star Trek to cast pot about. Those folks are all out of work because billionaires, company shareholders, and the executives of these companies don't want to compromise on the length of their yachts. We hope you'll join us in supporting entertainment workers in a challenging time, especially after they've already endured several years of challenges brought on by the pandemic

and season two of Star Trek Picard. We've set up a page where you can also contribute. It's at friendsofdecotoforlabor.com. That's friendsofdececoto for Labor.com. That's FriendsOfDecoto for Labor.com. Link in the episode description. Okay, now let's get on with the show. Here's to the finest crew in a Star Trek podcast by a couple of guys who are a little bit embarrassed to have a Star Trek podcast. I'm Ben Harrison.

I'm Adam Pryanaka. How you doing, Adam? Ben, let's cut to the chase. This is a question that may date the episode. But there was some breaking news this morning that I need to interrogate. It's very serious. Okay. I think you told you sort of teased that this might be happening when we were in Vegas for our...

for our excellent Vegas greatest Gen Con show. Yeah. I took it still available for many other dates. But you recently got a toilet that shoots water at your butthole. Yeah, I did. Tell me all about that. I got a thing you unscrew the bolts on your toilet seat and then you put this thing in between the toilet seat and the rim of the bowl and then screw it back in and you fix a hose, you fix a couple of

hoses and then it blasts water at your butthole. Now in like this old house step by step vernacular, like are you using like a hose splitter off of the water line or Or is it like, oh, interesting. Yeah, it chips in a box with all, like everything you need. Is it discreet packaging, Ben? Yeah, it's marked not a thing to spray water at your butthole. Why is a clean baton, such a thing that no one wants

to talk about or state a preference for? I don't know. This is my, I bought this thing on a total lark. I have never bid aid before in my entire life. But you've been to Japan. I've been to Japan. I've been in hotel rooms in Europe where the thing is there and I look at it and it looks at me.

You don't avail yourself of the washlet when it is available though. Like you don't even use it when that's your primary toilet. So far I haven't, but now I'm like, all ass blast all the time. Ha ha ha. It's great. I feel significant improvement,

not only in cleanliness, but also in like, I don't know, I was getting like, uh, I was getting, it was, it was too abrasive for me, right? I got a sense of whole. So say we all been. Yeah, and I was buying an expensive, really nice toilet paper, and it was still too abrasive. I noticed that when I've been a semi-frequent house guest at your home, you're a two, if not three-ply household. Like you bring the not pain. We're running a classy operation

with the paper. When I have been lucky enough to stay in a nice hotel, I am still shocked that even nice hotels have one- ply toilet paper. Yeah, that's a... That's a... That's a... That's a...

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Yeah. They're asking for more. You want to make a green choice, but sometimes you're like looking at that Terry cloth and you're like, that looks a lot better than this paper. All right. So back to the to the top I get hand. Yeah. I want to know exactly how this works because I in my time in Japan

I had the extreme joy in using a total washlet for like two weeks straight So is there like a remote control thing or this is markedly less complicated and high-tech than those there's not a There's there's just two than one of those. There's not a, there's just two knobs. One of them is the one that makes it go and the other one is to dial in water temperature because there's no- Where are those knobs though?

They're like, they're just kind of like down to the right hand side, just kind of offset. Oh, like if you were sitting on an ejection seat, that would be, would these knobs would be? Well, they're not, yeah, they're, they're, they're facing up. You could like look down and see them. Oh, okay, okay.

You're not, you're not groping around in the unspeakable regions of the toilet. It's got, you connect it to the hot water line and the same water line that is connected to the sink so that you can get the temperature just right. Oh! So that it doesn't shock your booty with a cold blast. Yeah, you don't want to shock that booty pin.

Oh. Unless you're shock G, I guess. Shock B? I guess shock G stands forack that great big booty. Shack that grumble. So you dial in it in with the dials. Does time also variable in this? Is there an on and off button?

No, you turn it on and you move around. You make sure it's done a thorough job, and then you turn it off. See, that leads me to my next question. You are the one that moves, not the stick that shoots the water, right? Yeah, I find myself shifting a bit each time. But not an inconvenient amount. So how would you describe the stream of this thing? Is it like, like-

It's very vigorous. Like water pick, narrow stream, or like a wider hose-like stream. I've never used a water pick, so I don't know, I don't really know how to compare it to that, but maybe a little bit more vigorous than a faucet. Maybe I would describe it, you know, the massage setting that some shower heads have. Oh, so it does that. It's like a, it's not like,

it's not the rapid fireness of it, but it is the like, you know, it's blast in the bits, you know. Yeah. It's gotta have some English behind it or it's, it's, it's blast in the, the bits, you know? Yeah. It's gotta, it's gotta have some English behind it, or it's not gonna get everything. So, having done your bit of business, do you, do you use dry paper to dry yourself after?

Because I imagine you get, you're standing up with a, with a wet butt. Like, what do you do with that wet butt? No, I, I, I, I,, I pat it dry with like, you know, I'll fold the Tp over three, four times and pat myself dry. Are you a wrap your hands style Tp? Oh come on, I'm not an animal, Adam. I'm a fold. I'm not a wad. I'm not a wrap it around the hand. I'm a fold. You know, I thought our our creator viewership weren't monsters either But a greater than insignificant amount of them are seat recliners, so I'm yeah, I just don't know how many of them might also be

Rappers listen Adam. It's you never recline your seat. You never touch the screen You never say bye before leaving a party. You never said bye before leaving a party You fold the toilet paper, but you do not wrap it around your hands You never say bye before leaving a party. You never said bye before leaving a party. You fold the toilet paper, but you do not wrap it around your hands. Yes, and now we have a fourth rule of greatest generation. I don't know, that doesn't need to be a rule. I mean, do whatever. Yeah, do what's right for you.

I mean, where were that doesn't affect anybody else. Yeah. I think that fold is probably the most paper-efficient method that's out there, which is why I would personally advocate it for as a conservationist. Yeah, you know what? You're totally right when you say that the rules of greatest gender are rules that have an effect on other people and not just yourself. I think that is it.

It's about being a good citizen. It's about engendering goodness in the world. Yeah. Yeah. Well put. Is there anything else that you would want me to know about this brand new toilet seat? Because I can't wait to come over and visit and give this thing a proper break in. Oh yeah. I think it's getting off easy with you, Ben. It may not, it may meet its equal finally. I am the Bade and Boss. Yeah, every time it blasts my ass, it says the princess is not in this castle. Is that all you got?

Yeah, one thing I wasn't totally sure about when I ordered it was whether it was an electronic thing, because I was trying to like do the math on plugging something in that also is connected to water and my toilet. And there's an outlet that's close enough that it wouldn't have been a problem, but that had me scratching my head. And it's a totally, it's just a plumbing job, and it's an easy plumbing job. Like, I don't really know shit about plumbing,

but I managed to do this in less than half an hour. Now when you're installing a brand new shit washer, you want to carefully unbox the package, send completely without labels, so that your privacy is maintained. Be sure to thoroughly read the instruction manual before installing and keep a tarry cloth towel around in case any water leaks out of the pipes as you're unscrewing things. In prep a use of a shit washer can result in discomfort and rectal bleeding. We've treated this anus with a polysparin product that was recommended by a dermatologist.

Like with all messy, home ownership matters involving fecomata. I like to lay down a dark colored tap. This is great. This is great pod bin. I think you know what? If only we had a million of these marines have been about my butt lately. I that's not wrong. I don't even have the most interesting of the two butts on the show. You know what I wish? I wish we had an Amazon referral link just for this product. All purchases of the Benjamin R. Harrison stamp of approval. But what? Yeah. What? Here's the thing, Adam.

I have heard this product advertised on podcasts. And I think that's why I don't want to say the name of it out loud, because I don't want to give them anything for free. Oh, it would be very excited to take them on as a sponsor because I really enjoy the product. Will you Jackie and Laurie show me the name of this product? Oh, certainly.

And you'll laugh because it has a funny name. Ha ha ha ha. Ha ha ha. That's so dumb. That is so dumb and it is shocking they haven't advertised on this program. Yeah, we're well known, but talk about it. Wow. Well, I think once this episode drops, I think their Twitter feed is going to be filled

with our friends of DeSoto asking them what the hell. I was thinking I would send a note to our friends at Maximum Fun and see if I mean I don't really think that I don't know how how the advertising part of our show works. What I do know is that when advertisers approach Max Fun, they then take the product to us, we usually try it out and then we decide decide, you know, thumbs up or thumbs down whether we want to do business with those people. And a couple of times we've tried things out and decided that it wasn't a good fit for our show or our viewers. So sometimes it's impossible, right? Like you can't, I can't hire a coder using LinkedIn because I want to make sure that LinkedIn works, but I can't try

blasting my butt. And I'm willing to do that for our viewers. Are you trying to staff a position and also blast your butt? Yeah, dude. The greatest Jen boys can't be bought. I think that's our point. Yeah, we're happy to share the air with somebody that does something we think is good,

but we're not just taking money from anybody. I think we are all for technologies that seek to disrupt the bathroom. Yeah. That is especially technology that seek to disrupt the shit that is clinging to my anus hole. Yeah. Wow.

I'm so glad that we went into such depth. Yeah. I think our viewership will appreciate that. Well, we have something else to go into depth on, Adam. Something very deep in space. It's true, let's get to it. It's season three episode two, the search, part two. What?

Do you realize how incredible this is? Hahaha! No, of course you don't. Oh no, it's home, and there's a bunch of odos there. Where is your party? Fire's a fire! Ben backing up just briefly, they do the recap thing that they always do, yeah, into parters, but they didn't show something that shocked me.

They never showed the explosion of the Galaxy class that happened in the last episode. Yeah. That was, uh, that Galaxy class starship was expendable. You think that'd be a pretty big deal. Wait, was that in, was that in the search part one or was that in, uh, in the end of the last season? Oh shit, I might have gotten that all wrong. I mean, what, I, but was there stuff? It's part of the arc though. It's like, it's like a pre-episode arc, but it's two official bookend episodes.

Yeah, and you have the footage, like a recap showing that is gonna get people excited about going back and watching the previous episode. If you have the footage, why don't you show it as much as possible? Yeah, it's a good effect. Yeah. But yeah, so Odo is on this dark planet. There's a bunch of Odo-looking people that goop up out of the goo.

You had an accident, what did that mean? Go! And they're there to like, to show him his home world. The tack auto takes is one of extreme curiosity, which Kira has thoughts about. Stop interrogating these people. She thinks he's being too questioning, too much like an investigator with these kind folks.

But that's also like true to his character in a way that I really like like there are parts of this episode where Odo is positively childlike and how willing he's able to a moat or show excitement or whatever right and and I kind of like I think this is this is a good truth for him. I think this is how he should engage this moment. I agree. There's a lot of shots of him just kind of wall-eyed, like looking around himself with wonderment. And he even verbalizes it too. He's like, uh, you're telling me that I'm part of this golden lake society. And, and like, I'm, I'm a link in this great link.

But I've been looking. Now, if this link is golden, would the, I mean, the entire water cycle on this planet be golden? Do you have golden showers, for example? That was a long walk for me to see, but I was with you the whole time. I made it. I think I stuck the landing. I think you did too. Well made it. I think I stuck the landing.

I think you did too. Well, right in, did I stick the landing? Let me know. Yeah, right in, right at Benjamin R. Harrison, hashtag golden showers, hashtag chook. That'll work great. Yeah. Not only is Odo acting ambivalent about his new circumstances, he's also like describing

how hard it's going to be as a solitude person to become part of a group, which is what they're kind of inviting him into here. Yeah, it's like an introvert being invited to a concert. It's like I like the music, but hey. This female changeling leader gives him a golden handshake to demonstrate what it feels like to be a part of this great link. And Odo comes pretty hard.

Small price to pay for the best sex I've ever had anywhere. This woman is amazing. Yeah, it really does kind of read as a, hey, try this and like rub him to completion kind of a vibe, right? Kira doesn't really know what to do in the scene. No. It's an awkward scene. I mean, she's there for him.

She's trying to be as good a friend as she can be. Yeah. She's really outnumbered. Everybody there looks like Odo. They're even extras that don't have lines that got put in all this loaf. And she's just kind of following them as they slowly walk around through this spooky forest. The kind of interjecting herself when she can. The OG changelings have a slightly different look than Odo. Though, the OGs look like they were in a tanning bed and were wearing like tanning bed

glasses. Whereas Odo's complexion is far more fair. And he's even her too, like they, they really have it dialed in for him. Yeah, I wonder if it's that golden lake effect that it has some sort of impact on how they look facially, like it's weird, because it's just their face, like their necks and hands,

look, just as fair as Odo. Right, yeah, that, It's hard to see too, because it's so dark on this planet. Yeah, but occasionally you catch a glimpse of their other skin, and it's like, yeah, it doesn't quite match, does it? Yeah. They all have the same hair as Odo, so that doesn't appear to be a choice.

Yeah. I mean, that's weird, right? Because we met the doctor that worked on him in the Bajoran Science Center, and he had the same hair as Odo. Yeah. Are they doing this to make it like, oh yeah, like we don't really care about haircuts,

so we'll just do what you did. I think there's a fair amount of retconning happening at this point. Like we're kind of hitting the reset button on Odo by putting them through this interaction. It's a series of very weird and awkward interactions. And yet it's very exciting for him. I mean, he comes all over the place and then we get like a just the childish grin of a very excited man to opening sequence.

Yeah, we've never seen this look out of Odo before or the actor who plays him. It doesn't do a lot of smiling, you know? Yeah. Like the most he laughs is when he goes like, huh, you know? It's like if there's a difference between a confident smile and a vulnerable smile, like this skews far more toward the vulnerable end of the spectrum. It'd be sort of like if Batman discovered

that his parents weren't actually dead, but he was like in the bat suit. Mom, dad, what great news. If you think that's a surprise! I need to tell you that we are also brothers! Bane! You almost broke my back in that fight! But yet I can't stay mad at you because I'm so overcome with joy that my parents are alive. It turns out we were both born in our mother. Alfred is going to be so excited that his

paycheck start up again. In this world, Alfred hasn't been paid since the Wains died outside the Opera House or whatever. There's something I need to tell you about Alfred also. Alfred and I are buried. No judgments here, Bane. Perfectly legal. Let's just keep cavern off the court. My main concern is mostly who's gonna clean up my house. If Alfred leaves to go live with you. I've lived a life of privilege and frankly, never learned to straighten up after myself. Shameful though it is, I'm a man with no domestic skills whatsoever. We fade up after the title sequence and Cisco and Bashir are in a pretty bad way. They've escaped the destruction of the defiant. We heard from Odo in the last episode that the defiant was a drift in space when they

bugged out, so it doesn't seem like most of the crew would have survived. We still don't know what happened to the rest of the crew. The doctor's asleep. Cisco is kind of drifting because life support is not in great shape. And amidst this, they get some bangers dropped on their little shuttle. And the door knob on the back of the shuttle turns

and opens up and there's daxon opaion i am chief my own and would all right this is the hailing healthy so uh... good news did you have any idea

what they were in i mean cisco mentions that they're in a shuttle but a bunk bed no it is not But- They're in a bunk bed. No, it is not. It looks totally different from a bunk bed. A bunk bed does never window in the back. This is- This isn't never window in the back? Because it does.

No, it doesn't. It's got the flip up door of a bunk bed. I don't know, man. Something looks weird about this, so I looked it up. I looked it up, Ben. This is a new shuttle pod. They don't show us the exterior of it, but. It's a shuttle pod, it's a bunk bed Mark II.

It's an updated bunk bed. It is. It is, but don't try to tell me it's the same as ever because it's got the weird back door and it's got those Ricardo racing seats up front. It does have a nice cool seat. Yeah. Doesn't look easy to get in and out of.

The seats are really close to cool seat. Yeah. Doesn't look easy to get in and out of. The seats are really close to each other. Yeah. The bunk beds have never been known for their comfort. No. They're mostly just for like getting to and from, you know, for cruising Kirk past his new ship kind of jobs. Yeah. Yeah, they're greeted at the back door by a fairly bubbly

Daxano Brian didn't did you uh did you feel like their vibe was a little off from jump? I mean they're they're very excited to see the commander and The Dax there because they've been quote looking for them for days. We've been searching for you for days They say like hey like you're gonna be so excited to be back on the station because things are going great. Yeah, it's about this time in the episode where the credits have come to a close and we're given a Great bit of news ourselves. It's not just Ben Cisco Getting who is to be excited about what is to come. It's also the viewer because it's Jonathan Freaks be excited about what is to come. It's also the viewer because it's Jonathan Freik's

listed as the director of the episode. And it's been quite a while, I feel like, since we've seen a Freik's. Sure does. Captain Reikers never lost. Couple of things I think you're gonna notice going forward, if you haven't seen a Freik's episode before, is he is a really big fan of the camera sequence.

Like, he is moving the camera from one to two during conversations quite a bit and very subtly at the same time. Like he's really feel like he's gotten the hang of how to block and shoot a scene to make conversation dynamic. I think it's a tricky episode from a direct directing standpoint because there's kind of an A and a B story and the A story is really Odo and Odo is I mean we cut back from Shuttle to this like Odo is spends most of his time in like a garden on this planet surface like spends most of his time in like a garden on this planet surface, like,

alternately interacting with Kira and the other changelings and wanting to, you know, understand more about his origin and having the information just dripped out very, very slowly, but it's, it's a very slow paste, a story. And the B story is crazy pants. There's so much going on, and there's so many, you know, there's 10 different characters with 10 different motivations, and you know, new information popping up the entire time. It's a, I feel like a strange episode in how much, how much focus it gives to the much slower and more contemplative A story than the very exciting and momentous seeming B story.

I looked at it exactly the opposite. I thought the A story was the dominion story and the B story was Odo. I never considered that it would be any other way until the end end I guess. I say it that way because it starts with Odo and Kira and it really, it doesn't ever let you forget that that's the main thing that's going on. It's given roughly equal time,

which I kept wondering about, not knowing the twist ending that was coming. I kept wondering, like, why do we care so much about Odo wanting to like shape shift to look like a rock and then understand what it is to be a rock, you know? But it's important. There's a lot going on on planet bucket and it starts off with this Exposition that the female changeling leader gets into with Odo and it really makes you reexamine your solid normative vocabulary right then

Oh, yeah, there's a lot of of that kind of terminology there and a lot of disparaging Comments about solids to be honest that I took great umbrage with. Well, I mean, like she says that changeling was initially a slur, but they made it like an empowered slur. Yeah. And, you know, like, then curious as it, and she's like, no, no, no, no, you can't say it,

only we can say it. Ha, ha, ha, ha. Like they start playing, they start playing like one of the popular songs from Planet Bucket and then like everyone's singing along and then Kira accidentally says the lyric and then they're like, no. Somebody presses pause and it's like Kira, like we really like you but never do that again.

She does the same thing when they do karaoke later. Like she picks one of the, one of the other popular songs She does the same thing when they do karaoke later. Like she picks one of the other popular songs of the planet and does not go well in the room. Yeah, it's very cringey. There's a reason why on the monitor with the lyrics it just shows a bunch of asterix. I mean, this is never something that Odo has considered the idea that he would meet his people and they would have like really strong kind of showfidizm surrounding people that aren't like them, but they do. They use solid like a slur and use changeling like it's empowered and are extremely, you know, like they lead with how

judgmental they are about anyone that's not like them. They don't really accept the idea of their hypocrisy here either because they chalk it up to age. Like we've been here for hundreds and hundreds of years. We've been persecuted and killed. We have every right to hold solids in this amount of contempt for that reason. Right.

It feels like they have arrived at the decision that this is how it's got to be because of earned experience. And it's also, you know, they want to be isolated. Like they want to be left alone. So like when Kira says, okay, I'm gonna go shoot up a flare and see if anybody from the defiant can find us. She's like, no, you're not gonna send any transmissions

because we can't have anybody finding us. And she paints the picture that they feel terribly vulnerable. Yeah, there's like the self-awareness of their vulnerability, but there's also like vulnerability transferant happening between her and Kira because it's not the first time that like cult technology is used either verbally or physically on the surface of planet bucket. Like the idea that we have this protected domain here where everyone agrees with and plays by the rules we've set up.

But there's also the very cult-like thing about not communicating with the outside world and there being punishments if you do. Right. And also we all have the same haircut and outfit. Yeah. Yeah. So it really sets up a feeling of discomfort throughout for Kira. Like she's got to embody that discomfort to her character's strength though. She doesn't really betray that feeling at all. She remains comfortable and confident throughout in a way that that uh that I don't know helps the story as much as it could. She's she's in danger and I feel like it would be okay if she acted like it. It's in her body language a little bit but she's also trying to not make Odo meeting his people about her. Yeah, it's such a conflict, right?

It's an inner conflict, too. Yeah, and I think, uh, to her credit, she, you know, she's not the type to hold back when she has a strong opinion about something, but in this case, she is because she wants this to be special and right for Odo. Yeah. Go to Kotlin. Go to Kotlin. So. Back on the station, the commander comes through the airlock,

still super dusty from his ordeal. And who is there? But Edmond the Cheyah. I'm Roman the Cheyah and Beleri and Canapes. Is Edmond the Cheyah? Are those Beleriian canopies? Back from the trap. Where canopies my ass?

Put them in the back of the shop, liver. She's very pleased to announce that the founders have boarded the station and are already in negotiations with the Federation and several other important interstellar powers from the Alpha Quadrant about a piece treaty. Ben, this is the first time I've ever seen this episode. And so my notes become more and more unhinged, just as we go. And this is really where it starts for me. Because I'm like, I'm relieved that Cisco was rescued and he's back on the station. But I was immediately like, what the fuck is up with Nichev saying that this was a successful mission? Like, the defiant

is a drift out there. A galaxy class was destroyed. And in the intervening six days, like, they've suddenly called it a great success because everyone's negotiating. That felt nuts to me. And the next scene is just go meeting Borath, this Vorta, who he's told is one of the founders. And Borath, line is like, hey, you did something really heroic. You risk your own skin to bring a message of peace to us on your worship with a cloaking device. We really appreciate that you did that. All of the text of what he's saying is we're really excited to be negotiating peace and

you should be commended because you're the one that made us see that peace was possible. But the music is getting more and more dramatic and he's like walking circles around Cisco and like the lighting in the part of the room that they landed is super gloomy and spooky. And we get like Cisco eyes to commercial in a way that is like, oh, so peace is bad in the context of this episode.

Yeah, really fun pass of aggression by Borath here. Two things happened visually in the scene that I really like. And one of them is that circular conversation that's shot with Borath walking around Cisco. And I really like where two is, like where Borath ends looking at Cisco's profile, but also looking at the camera. Yeah.

I thought that was really well done. The second thing that I really liked was how when Cisco walked into the room, Borath was doing that thing with his hands that's like the okay sign. And if you look at it, he punches you in the shoulder. Like the way he's holding his hands at his belt buckle, it's like either framing his junk or like he's doing, he's like, I don't know how your eyes aren't

drawn there immediately. He's like holding the rock like Dame Dash. It's like walking into Dame Dash's office. Yeah. Yeah. Weird look for him, but I guess, you know what, he doesn't like a belt loop to to tuck his thumbs into and he doesn't have pockets like all Difficult conversations. It's kind of hard to know where to put your hands, right? Like he's he's awkward with his hands Yeah, I mean he doesn't know the customs around here. He's got a big old pile of hair on top of his head

He might he might feel a little uncomfortable Cisco as a conversation with Nichev about their plans for diplomacy, and the question that he articulates is, can we trust them? The thing that he doesn't say is, do we have a choice? And I feel like that pervades the rest of this episode's story as it pertains to the treaty that they're about to sign. Like everyone is talking about what a great deal it is for all parties, but no one really discusses...

No one really makes it clear whether or not they have a choice in the matter because everything's happening behind closed doors. There's a strange bit of confidence that Nichea has about the circumstance throughout that is very unlike Nichea. Yeah, what does she add more all hands in all of a sudden? Yeah, you don't like your admirals as confident, that's for sure. Yeah. Yeah, the way it is suddenly above everyone's pay grade, what's going on? It's very unnerving because you usually get to be in on the

story on DS9 and suddenly we're not and I think that that's a fun bit of writing like that all of our characters are sort of like living around it as everything changes, but they're out of the loop. Yeah. Yeah, which is good, right? It helps you to empathize with Cisco's situation. Like you're seeing what he's seeing and not seeing what he's not seeing. One character that we can trust never to be out of the loop is Garrick and he makes an appearance in this episode. of the loop is Garrick, and he makes an appearance in this episode. Doctor, welcome back. He's goofing around with the doctor, saying like, been missing you at lunch, but also sort of implying that maybe this situation with the treaty is, it deserves some scrutiny, you know.

There's an old saying on Kadasia. Enemies make dangerous friends, and I fear the dominion will make a very dangerous friend indeed He like garrick might be this Series is Gainon, you know he shows up. Yeah, interesting times his council is as Spiritual sounding almost as guidance because garrick can't speak directly on whatever he's talking about. So he has to use a visual language or a metaphorical language to get his point across in kind of the same way. Like they serve the same function, I think, and that's becoming clear.

Yeah, and like the thesis that he's writing for is this is going to change everything and not necessarily in a good way. Right. And this is the first of many scenes where they're walking around the promenade and there's gem-hidar guys walking around the promenade too. Like it is a it's a mixed station right now. It's everyone's around and they they bump into the the Romulan lady from the defiant. And she's got like a green bandaid on her hand. And they're like, oh, what happened to you? And she's like, well, I was trying to get into those negotiations because the Romulans

have been kind of blackballed. And I'm not psyched about it. And I'm in a position to say that in fact, if something gets signed and the Romulans don't get to look it over and say, yay or nay on it, we're going to come kick all your asses. I would really love to read the Benjamin R. Harrison script punch up to that scene. Yeah, if my words came out of that brown mill and some outs, not psyched about it especially.

I've been living in Southern California for too long. It's really fucking rubbing off on me. I went to the beach this weekend. Everybody in their flip-flops and their backwards ball caps just... That sounds nice. It's relentless. Their comfort is relentless to me. Yeah. That sounds nice. It's relentless. Their comfort is relentless to me.

Yeah. You ever get comfortable out there at the beach? I'm comfortable. I just don't, I just don't, I don't do it in that way, you know. You don't have the chest nob in anymore, Ben. This is, this is the time, this is the time to take your shirt off and get out there. I got bad news for you Adam. The chest nob has never fully gone away. What?

Yeah. Oh no. Yeah. I apologize for making light of the chest nubbin. Yeah, check your nubbin privilege before you make comments like that. I'm sorry for being non chest nubbin normative. I feel like I'd have to have it excised surgically if I wanted to have it fully cleared, but that seems like total overkill.

And yet it stops you from taking it off at the beach, though. Oh, it didn't stop me from taking it off at the beach. I'm not uncomfortable about it. There's much more about my upper torso that is embarrassing than that. Okay. Sub-commander to rule is pissed that the Romney Lens aren't at the table to sign the treaty like every other alpha quadrant

heavyweight and she's not wrong about this. Like I totally vibe with her deal. Like this really smells like a divide and conquer tactic, doesn't it? about this. I totally vibe with her deal. This really smells like a divide and conquer tactic, doesn't it? Especially having been invited to run the cloaking device on the defiant, one would assume if you're her that it was going to be, it was going to mean a seat at many tables. And one would assume that Nichea would be sensitive to that. It's hard to imagine that Nichev didn't have a lot of involvement in arranging for Aramulin to be on board their worship with the piece of Romulan technology, but suddenly

like she doesn't really give a fuck about what happens to Aramulin. It's like after they've done them this amazing solid. Cisco runs this right into Nichev, and Nichev is so adept conversationally at judoing Cisco's protestations here that like I really thought the scene was super well written. Like everything Cisco says as a concern, she takes and uses against him. Like the point being is that he's concerned about the Romulans being shut out and she's all for it because if they're shut out they'd never have a strategic chance against the

Federation Alliance again She really kind of feels like TNG or I'm Nichev Yeah, which is cool because like what she is advocating cave, which is cool because what she is advocating, if you take one more step back, doesn't make sense, but in this scene, she's so committed to the truth of what she's saying that it feels authentic and real. If this treaty is signed and I'm confident, it will be, we'll never have to worry about the Romulans again. I think she's a good actor.

The actor who plays Nichev? Yeah. Yeah, Natalia Nugleich. Is the effort I'm going to give that? I think that's right. Did I get that right? It felt good to me, I don't know. Yeah, she's great in this app.

Natalia Nuguleich. Nuguleich? Yeah, probably Nuguleich. Ankylisor. Nogoolic. Nogoolic? Yeah, probably Nogoolic. Ankylisor. Back on planet bucket, Kira is trying to send a message home and she can't. She's in the shuttle trying to do so and there's some sort of dampening field happening, and the computer tells her that it's coming

from inside the planet. And as she's realizing this, Odo rolls up, and it's like, I do not understand this coursework that I'm taking right now, because turning myself into a rock does not teach me anything about what it's like to be a rock and he's like He's suddenly matriculated at changeling university and he's in

Shape shift 101 and he's like God just being in like this huge lecture hall with 300 other changelings. It feels so impersonal It's not the kind of education I'm used to and I don't really feel like I'm getting a lot out of it Why am I paying for this? Yeah, he's really not getting the office hours, he requires from the lead change. Why am I putting my family into debt so that I can sit up here in the top row in the nosebleed? Listen to some crusty old professor who's trudging toward his retirement, spout off about

some topic like this. It's, I mean, this is not unlike the first reaction of anyone who talks to a spiritualist at a point. There's a real, there's a real like, what the fuck kind of attitude? Like, Odo's willing, he's willing to turn into a rock. He's willing to try out being flowers, but he's just not into it. It's just not that into it. He's just not that into it.

He's GGG at this point. Right. He isn't finding out that his kinks are latent. He's like, yeah, I'm happy to give it a try or whatever, but it's not for me. He's confiding in a friend that this lifestyle might not be for him. Yeah. He talks a little bit more to, what's, this lady doesn't really have a name.

Yeah. We call her Change Leader. Sure. I tell we come up with something that's actually good. I was confounded by this too. All she's ever referred to as is female changeling. I mean, she gives them a little history of their people and they kind of seem like they were like starfleet at some point. The Great Link

tells us that many years ago our people roamed the stars searching out other races so we could add to our knowledge of the galaxy. We went in peace but too often we were met with suspicion hatred and violence. The salads feared our metamorphic abilities, so we were beaten, hunted and killed. So they've kind of changed strategies, and their exploration strategy was take 100 babies and fire them off in the galaxy. And then like wait for them to come back and that's also a will riker strategy, right? Yeah, I mean, he has his own planet bucket that has its own

similar level of liquid floating over the surface, which reservoir is deeper, the planet bucket or planet riker? Odo was expected 300 more years from now. They didn't know about this wormhole and they did this project. And it kind of, maybe one of the big plot holes in this is at the beginning when she's initially going to link with Odo, the other changeling that has a line is like, don't do it, you know, it's not right. And she says,

he's been away too long. And then, suddenly, we find out that he was supposed to be away for far, far longer. Yeah, that's weird. I don't understand that. Yeah, that guy's really trying to prevent the hand job that... I thought we had a thing. We're not... I thought we were exclusive. What was that conversation? You didn't even wash your hand first. You were just cooking steaks.

There's cult like terminology being used throughout. Every conversation she has with him feels that way. It's very manipulative feeling. It is. And that's what happens when you have a leader in control of the information that you get though, right? She controls the amount of information he gets. She also controls the amount of joy he derives from it.

It's almost drug-like. And she's promising that the joy goes up exponentially from here. And she starts at hand job. Right. And the next step is apparently come together and form giant liquid butt plug because that's what they do. Yeah.

Yeah. Are they all coming all the time, the changelings? Like, is that lake just a bunch of people in persistent tantric ecstasy? Tell you one thing, you drop your keys into the golden lake, you better just let them go. They're a goner man. What would happen if Kira stepped into golden lake?

Would she walk on top of it? Would she sink? Would it be up to the people in golden lake to allow her to sink? Boy, I don't know. I mean, maybe a little dinghy would form around her. They would make a boat for her. It's so weird. Boat with googly eyes.

Is there a current to the lake? I have a hard time grasping its size. Like do you think that there are, you think there's a million people in there? Is it an ocean? Well, if there's no moon around this rogue planet, there would be no title flows, I guess Oh, is that part of the definition of ocean? I don't know Don't write it. Yeah, I wish you hadn't even asked the question. Yeah, we're just not that curious.

Getting not curious with Benjamin R. Harris and then Adam Pryanaka. Our hair is way less well quaffed. Kira comes back from fiddling with the controls on the shuttle and Odo is not in the garden anymore. So she just kind of announces her plan to the air, thinking maybe he has taken the form of one of these lamps or trees. Yeah, they give her a little short one or here too. It's just one long pole.

Yeah, and. This is John Frakes at his best, the pole outs. Mm-hmm. Yeah, a really sens, this is John Frakes at his best, the pullouts. Yeah, a really sensual slow pullout. Yeah. You, you almost can't believe that he has that much control, but he does. Believe me, I, I cannot believe he has that much control. I feel like we saw those lamps in an episode of TNG. Yeah, couldn't put, put my finger on it, but those, those lamps in an episode of TNG. Yeah.

Couldn't put my finger on it, but those lamps that are like a collection of pipes that are like cut into the shape of a sphere. I tell you one thing on the wide shot in this scene, you see that that that monolith in the back looking almost exactly like the monolith they stole from planets, radars at the last dark. Yeah, I noticed that too. It's similar shape, similar high roguelifts on it. Yeah. Not great opsec on Curious Part, though,

to just tell the wind her plan. Cause any of these objects could be a changeling, right? And so she leaves and she goes down into this cave where the interference that is stymying her radio broadcast is, and she finds a door. And what is confounding about this is that why would you need a door if you are goo? What is confounding about this is that why would you need a door if you are goo? It's the real, what does God need with the Starship style question? Sure it is. Ben you've asked a question earlier that I think bears repeating like on a planet full of

shape shifters can you trust anything you're seeing? Yeah, I kept expecting them to do something with that in this episode, and they didn't. It made me paranoid throughout. Like I kept whenever Akira would sneak away to go to the shuttle or attempt communication, like I expected the shuttle to be a goo person, or I expected a tricorder to be a goo person. Or she presses a button and it and it

turns back into a person and goes uh uh uh you didn't say the magic word I think it really serves the paranoia in a in a fun way I like that part of the app I agree and I think it's like consistent within the logic of the episode that it never went that way. Back at Quark's bar, Quark is given away free drinks, not usually his way, but he's very excited about the peace agreement between the Federation and the Founders. And it seems like spirits are pretty high in Quarx Bar, especially because he thinks that the gem hadar is going to be great gambling customers going forward. He's a smart enough casino owner to know that it's impossible to lose money if you run a casino.

And he sees like these gem had are people filling up the place. He's like, you'd have to be an idiot to lose money running a casino at this point. This is just the best possible business to be in. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to make money in this business. Yeah, except for sometimes if you're a casino owner and you like catch somebody counting cards at the blackjack table You have to go take them down to the locker room and hit them with a pool queue a couple of times and if that guys a gem hadar That is a that's bad business, you know, yeah because

There's an uneasy truce happening on the station right now like well It's a great thing that the gem hadar there and spending money in quirk's bar they are also doing that thing that meet heads do in bars which is run into people and then blame it on them right it's a real like what's going on bro what did you do bro bro what's up bro bro where are you are you here bro or oh Brian gets thrown through the bar for this. Oh, no! He's fresh off of a tooth extraction. Yeah. This scene does not go great, and Bashir, to his credit,

is into the fray when the Federation Security guy... What do we call this guy, a two milk, two toast? Yeah, yeah, this is Eddington Beck. Eddington comes in and classic rent a cop really lords it over the doctor. And his whole point is the gem had our, don't know our customs, so we just have to let them beat us up until they learn. It's super fucked up, his reasoning. Yeah, and it makes you, I mean,

speaking of the paranoia, like this guy is, you know, a commander level officer and he makes it that much scarier to be in the federation. He's really got remick levels of intensity, doesn't he? Yeah, he really does have strong remick vibes and that guy in a friendly uniform with a friendly face telling you something terrifying. Yeah.

Is exactly what was so scary about Remick and it's what's scary about this guy. Yeah, I mean, the uniform is supposed to make you feel safe. Right. Can't trust this guy because of the uniform. Yeah. Back in Cisco's quarters, Ben and Jake are having dinner, and it looks like a fucking back in alien feast in there.

It may be wonder, like, if you had access to a replicator, would you be feasting for every meal, and how hard would it be not to do that? Right. Is it like going to a buffet where there's like, oh, there's pizza, but there's also king crab legs and there's pasta and there's tacos and you like never have to pick a specific cuisine or anything like that. I think I'd have the hardest time with this in the future that it would be the idea of as much of and the best of whatever you want. Yeah, you would really need an ass blasting situation

at that point because you wouldn't be able to control yourself. I'd need two. I would need two washlets, one for just the first stage and one for the second. The thinner gets interrupted by Dex, who comes in complaining that she's been transferred to the Lexington and then Sisko hears about the situation in Quirks Bar over the radio. So he kind of kicks down the door to the office that Admiral Nechev is working out of and

she's in there with Borath and Sisko is fucking pissed. He goes totally nuclear on though. I want to know what the hell is going on? Up until this point, like the shit stream that has been hitting him has been like kind of at a steady drip. But this is- Right, he's just turned it to the first notch

on the ass blast. The DAX transference really, really puts him over the edge. Yeah, and if he thinks that's not bad enough, what Nichev tells him is that the Federation is pulling out of the Bajoran system and the Dominion will be taking over. Pretty terrifying thought. The treaty has already been signed

and they thank him for his help in making that possible. That is such a fuck you. Really? Guess what, the thing that you wanted to never happen and work to prevent happens. And also, it's your fault. Thanks. Brutal. Yeah.

We really appreciate all your help in making the worst thing. The worst possible outcome go down. Yeah. It's a real Jill Stein situation. Yeah. Why aren't we investigating Cisco's ties to Russia? This is so dispiriting. Cisco sort of slumps onto the black sofa of both pornography and a terrible treaty.

Yeah, and they're like, is this your first time doing this kind of thing? It's a, yeah, this is maybe the biggest, the most shifty tone shift because we cut right from this scene to Odo being really excited about having just been a bird for a while. Yeah, there's some emotional whiplash here for sure. The air currents beneath my wings, the exhilaration of soaring above the tree tops. But in a fun way, I think. No, yeah, because it's like this episode, maybe more than any other, the tone shifts feel really planned and intentional. And when it cuts back to this,

you're like, how the fuck are we gonna have Odo stand here and flap his arms like a bird and talk about how great it was to be a bird? Like, what does this have to do with anything? This is not important right now. A lot of, I mean, I gotta give a lot of credit to Renee for this scene because like on paper, this year. Oh, you on a first name basis with Rene Obrish and Waa?

Rene, Averson Waa! We were good friends in the French Rosie stalls! I bomed a cigarette from him! The cigarette pack was the size of an American cotton. You know because French cigarettes are very very long. We like to smoke long term. The idea of him standing there flapping his arms as if they were wings and talking about how great it was to be a vulture moment ago, like on paper that doesn't work.

And that is a fucking laugh line with a lot of other actors, but he sells it. He really does. And this begins the episode at this point, maybe we're 10 minutes from the end of the episode and Planet Bucket is a real slow burn, but the cutting back and forth really steps up at this point. They do a great job with that because all that cross cutting really heightens the tension. Giving parallelness to the action without it seeming that way.

Yeah. You know, like if they'd left the pieces together a little longer, if you spent a little bit more time on Planet Bucket before cutting back to Deep Space Nine, it wouldn't telegraph how these two stories are starting to like merge toward each other. Another thing that's interesting is that compositionally things are starting to change too.

And the camera intention is hidden with character intention because normally when a character is under great stress, you'll see a lot of handheld shots. But it's not just that kind of character stress taking place here. There is the idea of one's reality being challenged, like visually, that gets paid off later. There are a lot of different visual threads being pulled here, and I think it's really well done.

I agree. Cisco is like saying, having a little goodbye with Garrick, that he kind of begrudgingly agrees to. He's been told that his days are waning on the station, Garrick, very complimentary of what he did here. And as they're having this conversation, they're sort of subterfuge interruptus when the Romulan lady sprints across the promenade, running away from Gemhedar who shoot her. There's a little star trek flight with the Gem Hedar and Cisco gets arrested. And then a bunch of his little buddies have to go, you know, break him out of jail. They go, it's a dax, the doctor and Garrick. They go find Eddington sitting in an Odo's office and they hyposprae him out of the game and

they break this go out and the plan is announced that they're going to take a run about which has been heavily armed and head toward the wormhole. And the plan is we're going to close the door. Like the Dominion has signed this treaty that we can't abide by. The Romulans are now teamed up with the Bajorans. All of this appears to be a prelude for war, so we're going to go shut the door and take the Dominion out of the equation. It's a plan that makes total sense to me.

It's a plan that makes total sense to everyone because they're practically finishing each others. Thoughts? Sentences in this scene. And so that cross-cuts with Odo and Kira, busting this door open. We get shots on the runabout where they get up into space and like, like, Garek has been taken out. The Cheoves on the FaceTime, like begging them to stop

and they torpedo the wormhole at him. Attack pattern theater, Mr. O'Brien, heart important. Yes sir! This is fucking spectacular. Bannified were to ask you after seeing the wormhole for the first time, how many torpedoes would it take to destroy the wormhole? What first time. How many torpedoes would it take to destroy the wormhole? What would your answer be? Like 50 torpedoes fired by multiple ships at all at the same time,

probably around that, right? It's hard to tell how big the wormhole is, right? Because like, it kind of seems like runabouts are scaled in it the same size as starships. If they were only ever three torpedoes away from losing the passage to the Gamma Quadrant at any given time, there would be a ship park there running defense, right? They're really nasty ship. A ship that makes the defiant look like a Pipsqueak.

It is shocking that that dollar took. Well, is that what the station is there though? For? Yeah. Because the station can phaser station is there though? For? Yeah. Because the station can phaser a torpedo. But they don't hear. I mean, for reasons that I guess are made clear later. It's three torpedoes in that wormhole she did.

We shoot more torpedoes on the show whenever we reference torpedoes. That's true. The wormhole is explode. And we go through the door on Planet Bucket. There's a couple of gem hadar waiting for Kira and Odo. And that's Vortiga from signing the treaty is hanging out in there. Yeah, it's Boreath again. Yeah. Boreath is holding out his hand in an okay sign.

The entire crew of the defiant are unskissomed tables. They've all been skismed, Adam. is. And he's like, oh, yeah, we were just doing a evil experiment on your little friends. We've run a simulation in their brains to see how far they would go to prevent us from taking over the alpha quadrant. Seems like they would go pretty far. I report seem to indicate that, I mean, is this right? Three torpedoes? Are you fucking kidding me? Hahaha. I mean, maybe that's the simulation version of how vulnerable the wormhole is.

Now we don't know. The entire episode has been a lie, Adam. Yeah, it has been a lie. One other thing that comes to light here is the changelings are the founders. The founders are the changelings. Yeah, changeleader comes into the tunnel and she's like, yeah, that was, we've been the founders the entire time.

Which means, Odo is a founder. Right. He's very important on this side of the wormhole. This is something that Odo has a real problem with because upon being told of his true heritage, he rejects it. He's like, no, I'm on the side of justice and truth, and not on the side of genocide, which is what planet bucket is on the team of. He's like, I can't get with that. The draw an interesting distinction between justice and order and the changelings, the founders are obsessed with order and control. They're plutocrats, you know, like they want a system that continually enriches and protects

them and you know, doesn't really matter what that means for everybody else. And that just sticks right in Odo's goopy craw. He's not into it. There is no amount of powder that can ungoop Odo's craw. Ha ha ha ha ha. Odo sticks up for his buds. He's like, you're gonna let these people go and female changeling leaders like now. And Odo's like, you're gonna let them go

or you're gonna do to me, you do to them and she's like well Changedlings don't hurt other changelings like that's one of the points of order that we subscribe to And it was like ha Got you So I guess you'll have to let them go and she's like god damn it. You're right Yeah, the the second point of order that the change things in here too is you never recline your seat on an airplane. Even the founders know that. Even they are that cruel. I mean, I would personally put that as the number one rule, but the founders

are, you know, they've got different priorities. And that might be the most evil thing about them. They care for their own more than anything else. So everybody gets woken up, they beam up to the defiant and cauristics around with Odo to provide a little bit of moral support as he takes one last walk with change leader on the surface of the planet. Yeah, it's a strange kind of truth that they have

in this moment because she's responsible for the imprisonment of Olivoto's crewmates, but also like she has the key to his story. And he doesn't necessarily wanna do anything to prevent that story from being told, it's strange. She's like, hey, listen, you think that the values that these people have brought you up with are your values, and what I'm here to say is you can keep thinking about that, but eventually you're going to think back on that hand job I gave you and things are gonna change in your mind.

Yeah, she also has a little bit of a veiled threat. She's like, I have no plans to go to the Alpha Quadrant at this time, but when the time is right, that's a place I'm gonna go. Yeah, and she melts into the sea, the lake or whatever it is. She fell into that liquid lake of yellow. She did it. She went down, down, down, till that yellow got higher. Yeah. Did you like this episode, Pen? It did. There's a lot of edit that didn't seem like it should work, but did.

I mean, it's usually so unsatisfying to find out at the end of an episode that it's been a lie the entire time. You know, and this one managed to make that work. And like some of the parts of the episode that seemed boring or immaterial in retrospect make a lot of sense. And I thought that was a really exciting tack for the show to take here. I think the parallel could be drawn between this episode

and future imperfect in a way, which was a very riker-centric episode about whether or not his reality was truly real, in a way that pushed him up into a moment of sacrificing everything up to and including his life. And I like that episode too. The thing that really sticks out to me about this one is just how Swiss watchy it is in how it functions. Like as soon as it turns the corner

after Toreula shot, it is just full on sprinting through the last 15 minutes. And a way that I really enjoyed. Like this is paced differently than most other Star Trek episodes in a way that makes it, I think great. I think this is one of my favorite DS9 episodes. Wow! Well, that is an exciting ruling. And do you want to see if there are any priority one messages waiting

for us in the inbox? Gotta do it! Priority one message from Starfleet coming in on Secured Channel. Need a supplement on? supplement on? supplement. in on Secured Channel. Ben our first priority one message is for the Friends of Disotto. It is from Kendra's Vike. Now this is a name that I've been thinking a lot about because having just been to Poland my pronunciation of this name would be Zvić But uh, maybe it's Veech It should include a pronunciation guide is what we're trying to say

She's in there with Razz Claudia Brittany Brown Michael money bags Ferguson Sam Trigger Sam who we met at Star Trek Las Vegas. Oh, yeah, and Jason Gain or Jason Gain or Jason Jen I should say Jason Jen Gotta get some pronunciation guides. Yeah, this for this group Message goes like this clam beer the official porch beer of rascals. Uh, get drunk on clams and tell Poveem to go fuck himself. Clam beer, it sounds gross, it is gross, but you'll love it.

Hashtag rascals. Wow, it has been a long time since the rascals have thrown thrown a shot across Pleveeem's bow. Sounds like we got Michael Ferguson to thank for this. That's great ad copy by the way, well written. Yeah, fun stuff. And our next priority one message is from Molly Thompson and it's two Stephanie Powell and it goes like this. Stephanie, sorry we couldn't make the show in October.

Pack your gym Shimoda shirt and I'll pack my Jennifer Gray slash Che and we will rock the Miniapolis show together in November. Yeah! Happy late birthday to the coolest daughter and mom of mini nerds who introduced me to the greatest Jen and beyond. I doubt there's another millennial in Anchorage, Alaska, and then there's a W just like a little W at the end here. I'm not sure if that was typo or what. Hmm. If it's in the copy, it's gotta be said.

It's gotta be said. Thank you, right? That's a lot of fun. I would highly encourage people to come to the Minneapolis show or any of the shows on the greatest J.M. I'm excited to go back to Minneapolis, Ben. It's a place with special meaning to both of us. I think that was, we had done live shows before, but that was the first really big show we ever did was in Minneapolis when we started last year's tour.

So good feelings. And this is a bigger room. So we're really excited to be going big in Minneapolis. Yeah. Excited to pack the house. If you'd like to send a priority one message, you can do that very easily. You go to maximumfund.org slash jumbo tron. It's a hundred bucks for personal message and two and 240 commercial message. They help us worth the production of this program, and if you'd like to buy a priority one message for one of our remaining tour stops, that's really easy to do as well. You go to greatestgencon.com, that's K-H-A-N, and click priority one messages, And many of the shows have sold out of P1s, but they're all listed on there.

And those messages go to support the National Center for Science education. 100% of the proceeds get donated to the National Center for Science education. Yeah, that's a group we care a lot about. A greatest gen live show is something you don't want to miss. Why? Well, it's a great opportunity to see me and Ben in person, but that's not all. FODs from all over gather at these shows to cosplay, to do pre and post show hangs, to make friends, and share their embarrassment.

Hey, let's make a pretty great name for a tour. Let's do it. The Share Your Embarrassment Tour is coming in August 2023, and we've got a bunch of dates in a lot of great places. Go to GreatestGenTour.com to get more info. That's greatestgentour.com for dates and ticketing information for the Share Your Embarrassment Tour. I'm Jordan Morris.

And I'm Jesse Thorne. On Jordan Jesse Go, we make pure delightful nonsense. We were open awesome guests and bring them down to our level. We got stupid with Judy Greer. My friend Molly and I call it having the spaceweards. Pat Noswald. Could I get a Balrog burger and some air-gorn fries? Thank you.

And Kumail Nanjiani. I've come back with cat toothbrushes, which is impossible to use. Come get stupider with us at MaximumFun.org. Look, your podcast apps are open. Just pull it out. Give Jordan Jesse Goatry. Being smart is hard.

Be dumb instead Oh rats, hey, hey, oh I'm about to count you in line. These clouds are really freaking me out. I hate having to stand in line and boy, what do I? These giraffes do not smell good. No they do not and they have such short nacks. But I'm hearing we need to get on this. We've got to get on the art.

It is about terrain, about a spout to destroy humanity. Hey, oh, sorry, sorry, sorry. Are you Noah? Yeah, I know we look like humans. Oh, we're actually we're podcasters. We are podcasters. So it's different. Have you heard of Ono Ross and Carrie? We investigate spirituality, claims of the paranormal, stuff like that. And you have a boat and say the world's gonna end. So, same like something for us to check out. We would love to be on the boat. We came two by two. What do you think? O'Neil Ross and Carrie, available on MaximumFun.org. Oh, you're possible to have a Yamaxon. Hey Adam. What's up, Ben?

Did you find yourself a drunk Shimoda? Red-o-mo. Drunk Shimoda! Yeah, sure did. I mean, and this is a pretty self-serious episode. So I found this moment and this Shimoda a little more difficult than usual. But my Shimoda is gonna go to Kira,

who is basically spent third-wheing this episode in the episode before. It's not a good situation to be in, but one moment in particular paid off the idea of her as third wheel, which is that the change leader has said something to the effect of we value our isolation. There's a beat after that comment. And then Odo and her kind of look at Kira, and then Kira kind of backs away and walks away. This happens at I think 950 if you're looking at time code. And I really, this is like the Navisator being the Navisator.

Like she is not ham and cheese with the facial expression. She just gives you just enough to understand exactly what her character is going through before leaving. And this is like someone who I feel like is being worn down by her circumstance. Like where is she peeing? She's obviously been there for six days. Like can you pee on anything on this planet and not think you're peeing on someone? Maybe the shuttle is just automatically beaming the pee out of her.

God, that's it, isn't it? You know, one thing, one of the rules of owning an RV ban is you never go number two in the RV. It's only number one. I wonder if it's the same rule in a shuttle. You don't go number two in the RV? RV owners that I've spoken to have said that is a rule. That it... What do you do if you need to go number two in the RV? RV owners that I've spoken to have said that is a rule that it what do you do if you need to go number two? You pull into a McDonald's or something? Yeah, I think that's the idea like you like it is a

It's a situation that can be remedied but not fixed like once you start taking shit in your RV like it's yeah It never quite goes away Do you think you can get a butt blaster that works on an RV? Or is the plumbing just so different than it would. I don't know if you want to shoot gray water at your butthole. Like that would be a problem. Yeah, that is a very absorbative tissue. What about you, Ben?

Who's your junk Shimada? Mine is Dr. Bashir. And I know that this is all like Matrix world. So some of this stuff can be forgiven. But when they're like rescuing Cisco and they're running through the hallways and they're shooting Jim Hadars, they get to the runabout and there's Chief O'Brien and he's like, he's got

the engine idling, he's ready to go and they board but his real beat up, his lip is all swollen and shit. I mean, this is Star Trek, we've seen them point a ray at somebody's cut and had the cut disappear. We know that he doesn't need at somebody's cut and had the cut disappear. Yeah. We know that he doesn't need to be swollen like that. What are you doing, Bishir? Why are you letting your boy suffer like that? He's very distracting to see a character that we haven't seen for quite a while and then we come back to him and he's just got a totally treatable injury. You know what? This leads me to ask the question. at what point did you surmise that this was not

the real world, was that the part? I have to say, like, I think I've seen this episode before. It's like I must have, but I didn't remember much about it. And I felt like it did a great job of kind of making like planting little, of planting little, of planting little hints about this, but they are planted in the way that bad script writing is sometimes done on Star Trek.

So it kind of felt like I was like, this episode is fun and awesome, but it also seems terrible. And I'm like, I'm so torn between those two judgments. And I feel like all of the things that made me think it might be terrible were little hints. I wonder because this script was obviously so great in so many other places, I wonder if you are cautioned to write towards lowest common denominator where these matters are concerned. Like if you were to do a rewrite of this script where everything had perfect vericimilitude

in the simulation and it was a total fucking surprise once the three torpedoes launched and Kira found the defiant crew. Like, that doesn't make it a worse episode, but it may make it less fun because you haven't given the viewer a way to feel like they were smart, you know? Like, that's, I think that's part of the intentionality of writing it this way, right? Like you want to drop little clues, and sometimes those clues can be overly obvious in a way that isn't fun, but it's intentional, right?

Yeah, I mean, I think that O'Brien having a big ol' bruise on his face, best case scenario is a tell. Yeah. I think the tell that made me feel uneasy throughout was how confident and happy Nichev was throughout the app. That felt like such a departure for her. I gotta say, you can probably cut this out if you want to. Like, I found her very foxy in this episode too in a way that I have not felt about her up until now.

Like, she lights up a room when she's happy with that. May be that confidence, you know? Yeah. As we learned in mud's women, it's only one kind of woman. Just one kind, one kind only. Ben, what do we have coming up on the next episode? The next episode is season three, episode three, the House of Quark.

With bar business, especially low, ROM complains to Quark that their only customer, a Klingon named Kozak, says he's out of money. And if that doesn't sound exciting, the Amazon description is in order to boost his business and gain respect, Quark lies about killing a Klingon, then winds up forced to marry the dead man's widow. This is like that sign-filled pilot that they pitched where the judge assigns

like the judges punishment is like they have to become their butler. It's so true. What the fuck kind of punishment is that? Wow. You know what if I had a Vito ban I might Vito the next episode that that doesn't sound great. You don't have a Vito at him. What we have is a game. Let's play that game. At this point, we're on square 88. Ben, two squares away is a quark's bar. Two squares after that is a wormhole down to a quark's bar. So, a rocky road ahead. You're required to learn as you play,

roll another high stakes roll. And I have rolled a six at him. Roll another high high stakes roll I have rolled a six at him Shula! Did I win? Harvey! He fragged them all We're on score 94 I believe Yeah, we are that is a standard issue episode and

Inching closer to both another wormhole and a moorn hammered. Yeah, the next episode, we could hit an nth degree via wormhole. Yeah, that'd be fucked up. Not coming up, but another basic episode for you and me, and I like that. I mean do it. Alright, well that will be the next one. In the meantime, if you enjoy the program and would like to do something to ensure the ongoing production of the program, there's a variety of ways you can do it. There's leaving a review in your

pod catcher of choice. If you go to Apple Podcast and leave a five star review, that helps us an awful lot. But whatever you use to get the show, if there's a way to recommend or like the show, please do that. And tell a friend. You can also go to MaximumFun.org slash Donate and support the show financially on an ongoing basis, and that is a really amazing way to help us. And you get a bunch of free bonus content out of that deal if you support at $5 or up. We really work hard to make great bonus episodes and we love hearing from Beable about how much they love those. Real talk, we can't do the show without listener support so we thank all of

those that support our show and yeah and we hope if you're unable to support the show financially that you're able to thank them as well. Thank a friend of DeSoto. Yeah with all that said we should thank Dark Materia who created our original theme music and Adam Magusia who has made all of this great original music for our program. We got some fun Adam Magusia projects in the works right now. I can't wait to announce. We've got some fun animal goosey projects in the works right now. I can't wait to announce. We'll see you out on tour. Check out greatestgencom.com for the remaining tour dates. Plenty of those. Yeah, still a whole bunch of tour dates on the horizon. Yeah, hopefully we have not

made the news at this point. You never know? Yeah, you never know. And go online, talk about the show online. Use the hashtag greatestgen. Adam is on Twitter at Cut for Time. I'm on there as at Benjamin R. A. H. R. There's also Facebook and Reddit groups that are lively and fun places to hang out. And people aren't jerks in there.

And with that, we'll be back catching next time with another great episode of Star Trek Deep Space 9 and another episode of the greatest generation. Deep Space 9 that asks the immortal question, where the hell is MORNED? Make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound, make it sound. Maximumfund.org Comedy and culture, artist owned Listener supported