The Greatest Generation - Space Dish (DS9 S3E23)

Episode Date: January 28, 2019

When a secret investment scheme by Quark’s mother is laid bare, it makes everybody else in her family uncomfortable. But when a freighter captain visits DS9, it’s apparent to everyone that Commander Sisko is looking to give her docking ring preferential treatment. What is dumb for a Ferengi? Do tomatoes have cores? Where’s Leeta in all of this? It’s the episode that’s going to confuse a lot of people “who don’t listen to both.”

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 friendsofdecotoforlabor.com. That's friendsofdisotoforlabor.com. Link in the episode description. Okay, now let's get on with the show. Here's to the greatest generation. It's a Star Trek podcast. By a couple of guys who are a little bit embarrassed to have Star Trek podcast, I'm Adam

Franneka. I've been Harrison. Feeling pretty good about the episode to come, Ben. Yeah? Not really. You know what I'll oversell it, right? No. The adage we lived by here on the greatest generation is under promise and under deliver.

You know some shows will record their episode and then record the intro? Hmm. Like, we have a great episode coming up for you. We talk about this and this. Yeah. They do like, the thing you are actually supposed to do in broadcasting, which is,

you say what you're gonna say, you say it, and then you say it, you say what you just said, you know? Something many of our viewers might not be aware of is that we never pre-plan a mirror and open, outside of like, my having gone to get mail or whatever. Yeah, or like, you know, the 30 seconds before, like let's have a deck of cards in our hands just in case.

We are, right? So here we are. I felt I suddenly feel the overwhelming pressure of that fact. In a way that I'd never have before, now that we're looking right at it. Oh no. I talked about it during, Ben,

that was the crucial era I made. Yeah, yeah, you know, I listen to the Savage Love Podcast, most of my dance average, and sometimes somebody will call in and say like, my partner wants me to do dirty talk and I don't really know what I'm doing with that. And he gives the same advice.

It's you tell him what you're going to do to him, you do it to him and you describe it as you're doing it to them and then you tell him what you just did to him. I mean, I just feel like that's failing me right now. Well, Ben, I'm going to slap those tits. Watch me as I'm slapping your tits. Oh, you're slapping them. Did you like it when I slapped those tits? Yeah, I liked it.

Ben, you're getting ready to go on a big trip soon. You don't have to say where, but it involves a long flight. How do you prepare for a long flight? I think that might be something that people want to hear about. Yeah, I'm going to Central America for a wedding. And I'm really looking forward to it, but it is one of those flights where it departs at 12.30 a.m. and lands at like 8.15 a.m. so it's an overnighter. Classic red eye situation. Yeah and not in a lay flat.

Have you ever done an overnight flight where you could actually spread out like that? Now I've never had the opportunity or the funds. I had a shoot in Germany, and I think I was flying back from Frankfurt to, and then I had a shoot in LA. This is when I still lived in New York. Like it was a very like busy time in my career where I literally had a shoot in Germany and then I had to fly directly from it to LA for a different shoot. And I asked at the desk when I got to, you know, in the Frankfurt Airport when I got to the desk for my flight, like, hey, is there any availability for a lay flat seat and if

so, like, what would that run me? And I had enough sky miles to like make it happen. Wow. And it was like a number of sky miles and the $100. And it's the best $100 I ever spent because I got eight hours of good sleep on this airplane. Woke up, like got surf breakfast, walked off the airplane, drove two hours and like did a full day of shooting and it was fine.

You were fresh. Yeah. You were shisoned fresh. This is how the rich get richer, you know. They're catching sleep that the rest of us don't have opportunities for. Yeah, they're buying time. They get much fancier alcohol than we get so they don't have as bad of hangovers. Well, I mean, the brood cured that for us.

Oh, good for you. I still don't have, I don't have a personal supply of broads yet. Geez, well, Ben, back when I worked at Giant Aerospace Company, I did a short documentary about a version of the Lay Flat seats that the Emirates airline does, which is an actual closed cabin in first. Oh yeah, yeah, it's like a little micro hotel room. It is fantastic in there. Shooting the video is as close as I'll ever get to flying that way probably. But boy oh boy, what

did the light that's got to be? You can only hope that the people who can afford to do that appreciate it while they do. Yeah, because this is a wedding, it's like a fairly brief trip and I'm a little apprehensive about the amount of recovery will be entailed in my visit, you know. Right, yeah. One thing I tried a couple of years ago was I had an overnight flight to Europe and I thought, well, red wine sometimes makes me sleepy and on an international flight like this often,

the booze is free on an airplane. So I'll order myself a glass of red wine and I ordered it and the flight attendant said it on the little, full-down tray table, which had a fault in it, that neither of us knew about, which is the second any amount of weight was applied to it. It clicked down two more clicks,

and the glass just slid into my lap, and then... Oh! I was wearing khakis, too, So I had to fly to Europe in pants that look like I'd taken a bloody piss in. Well at least it obscured the bloody piss that you took later. Yeah, I mean it didn't have that advantage which was cool. Wow. But yeah, it was a real bummer and she was, she felt terrible about it. And I don't want anybody to feel terrible about anything. Right, that's why you apologized profusely.

Yeah. She was like shocked that I was nice to her about it. And. I don't really, yeah, I think that the one thing that I've learned in traveling that has really made a big difference for me in terms of being able to sleep in unfamiliar places like on airplanes and in hotel rooms is that at a certain point I adopted eye mask sleeping. So I ordered like a good eye mask off of the internet and I've just gotten in the habit of putting on the eye mask when it's time to sleep, whether I'm at home

or traveling with the show or traveling for work or whatever. And it's one of those things that's a real unambiguous signal to your body that it's sleepy time. Yeah. And it also cuts out all the like superfluous light of all of the iPads around you on an airplane or whatever.

You pair that with a ball gag and it's an unambiguous signal that it's sexy time. Right. Yeah. And so it can serve a lot of functions. Sure. But how do the other airplane passengers like the studded leather, I'm asked you put on in your seat?

They're not crazy about it, but then when they see that my cock isn't a cage, they're like, oh, well, at least it's a cage-step, you know. They've been sitting in his airplane seat with like bloody-looking pants and a cock cage. You arrive very rested, I bet. Yeah. I have a hard time drinking on planes in that I really, really can't have more than two. I seem to get a no doubt headache after my second drink on an airplane, no matter how long the flight is, so I really have to take it easy.

And because I don't like to get up and use the bathroom and because I'm a windoman, I don't hydrate like I should. Yeah, I've just resigned myself to popping up 25 times per hour, no matter what, on flights, because I always have to go to the bathroom. Man. Well, hopefully that was useful to someone.

Yeah maybe like one person in the audience that's like oh maybe I'll order a ball gag. At the 200 and something with episode of this show we finally got into travel tips. That's great. Good job by us. Do you have tips for me? What do you do when you go on an overnighter? I mean honestly, I do my best not to book them. I would rather take a brown eyes and a red eye. And by that, I mean that is a colloquialism that my friends and I have come up with for the 5am, the 5 or 6am flight. Ooh, wow. Like, that is actually preferred to me over the midnight flight Like I would rather get to a new place

in the afternoon or in the evening and then have super tired time before bed that I'm still staying up for Yeah, and then go to bed at the time when I'm supposed to go to bed in the place that I've arrived Versus try to act as if I've gotten an entire night's sleep on my way there Which so rarely seems to work for me. My normal rule is no flights before 10am. I mean, professionally, that's absolutely the rule. Yeah, if I'm doing it for remuneration, it's that. And if I can't get there in time, then it's like flying me out the day before,

put me up a hotel. Yeah. But... That's industry standard right there. like if I can't get there in time, then it's like flying me out the day before or put me up in a hotel. Yeah. But. That's industry standard right there. That's how it's got to be. But when you're flying personally for recreation or vacation,

it's a harder thing to do, especially when you're flying with a significant other who has their own preferences about when to depart. Right. Yeah. And off and take your way. Let's transition into something that the people listening actually give a shit about. Adam, Star Trek Deep Space Nine! Yeah, of course they give a shit about that.

It's a season three, episode 23, Family Business. What? Do you realize how many? What about this series? No, of course you don't. In the continuing adventures of off-duty Bensisco, just doing whatever the fuck he wants to do while people sharpen razor blades and a fixed bayonets on the other side of the wormhole, Bensisco's cooking a nice pot of chicken paprika.

You're cooking chicken paprika. Paprika. Angola's or... It's a real dish. That's a real dish that exists. I feel like sometimes they make up a fake dish, like a space dish, you know? Yeah. Kind of neither fish nor fowl the way this shot opens

where he's cutting up a carrot that he's gonna add to a salad. There's a couple of things on the cutting board already. There's like the cores of some tomatoes, which not really sure who cuts tomatoes like that. Like the cores of tomatoes as though they are apples. And then there's some pretty nicely done Like the cores of tomatoes as though they are apples. And then there's some pretty nicely done like thin slices of cucumber.

And then it's those carrots that you get on a crudite platter from Costco, you know? Like the little babies? Now they're not the babies, they're like the, they're the quarter cut carrots, you know? They're like the, you know, three inch carrot spears and he's just cutting one of those up. He's got his little pile of carrots and then he adds just some of them to the salad.

Like, that's not the move of a guy that grew up working in his dad's kitchen, you know? That's not a thing anyone does. And if you're couring your tomatoes before putting them on a salad, your tomatoes aren't ripe. Right, it's just a lot weird about this, but... Also, you could step up to the replicator and go like,

hey, replicator, give me four tomatoes, ripe, no cores. That's something you could do, right? Here's the thing, Adam, tomatoes don't have cores. They just have, you know, different pockets of seeds and fruit, you know, different pockets of seeds and fruit, you know. Computer voices like, what are you talking about? Does not compute. Yeah, I hope the chicken paparacash is better than the salad, Tbh. You know, we all have our strengths in cooking. Benzisco just drowns it in ranch dressing. Hahaha.

Like, that is it. Benzisco is like fifth on the list of Star Trek captains after that. Hahaha. But what he's pouring at Jake is just looking on like licking his chops. I'm just a patient. You know, Captain Picard appreciates a vinaigrette, probably.

Jake is continuing his project of getting his dad's dick wet. How about tomorrow night? Still pushing this blind date with the freighter captain. Captain Cassidy Yates mentioned in the previous episode. And Ben Sisko has agreed at least to meet her, but he doesn't want it to be like a blind date that is set up actively by his son. Right. Cassidy Yates' ship has docked and Jake is hoping that his father's dick will be docking with her.

Right. She wants the pylon. I love how both in the last episode and this one there is no I love how both in the last episode and this one there is no a class conflict between Starfleet commander and freighter ship captain. It's never mentioned as a thought that she may be beneath him because she runs freight. Or above him because she's a captain. Yeah, I thought that was interesting. Yeah. I mean, it may come up later, but for right now I like that it's not a barrier.

Yeah, like neither of them care about that. Next scene is a quark and rom really hustling because the bar is slammed. Quark wants to know why Nog isn't there helping them and it's because Nog is working on his stir fleet application. It's writing that personal essay, Adam. Webster's dictionary defines profit as. Ha ha ha ha ha ha. Rahm is a proud papa here. Like he's defending a son's absence. In a strong way, like he's pushing back hard on the idea that the restaurant is where Nug should be.

I also noticed that Rahm was wearing the same shirt fabric as that, as that Farenki that was like impersonating a male that worked in the bar. Remember that lady? I do remember her. Yeah. I feel like they gave that lady's ears

to brunt of the Farenki Commerce Authority that rolls in to Quark's bar and grill. Yeah. And slaps an uppercase C on the doorway. This is a writ of accountability, Ben, and it is really bad news for their business. Yeah, this really puts the fear of God in Quark and Ram without needing any direction from Quark. Ram shuts the bar down and asks their Throng of patrons to leave. They are very scared about what the arrival of this

character Brunt Harrelts. I was pretty blindsided by this. I didn't think there'd be much to fear from Brunt because he looks like he's dressed for a Mary Aci band. He's got great costume in the sip. Good job, by brunt. Yeah. It feels like an audit. You know, when we talk about a writ of accountability, it feels very audit, like, especially in the scene that follows where they're going over the books.

It's interesting to think about the idea that Frengy Commerce would be heavily regulated in a way where there's an agency with actual teeth, but they also like openly bribe him several times and he talks about how getting to where he is required doing a lot of bribing. Yeah. It clashed a little bit for me. Like, right because there's so much soft money in the same circumstances as hard money.

Yeah, it's strange to be a little bit that both get co-existed in that way. I wonder if professionally you're just concerned with bars and on the down low, you're only concerned with slips. Because the slip is the form of ribing that gets exchanged. This whole episode, people are pulling out slips

of Latinum and passing them back and forth. Rom remains totally guileless and in this scene, kind of can't quite yes and his brother on whether there are other assets that they haven't disclosed to this auditor. And that means that it kind of slips out that the Tulaberry wine franchise didn't get disclosed. And it's clear that Quark was kind of trying to cover some of, you know, protect some of his assets from exposure to whatever corrective action the FCA might be contemplating. I'll tell you why that Tulaberry wine franchise franchise failed is because they named it Juicylinis. You get to pick the right name. Yeah. First of all.

Yeah. Is that a throwback to a greatest discovery episode? It is. Yeah. That's gonna confuse a lot of people who don't listen to both. Well, you got to be a completionist to get this show. Yeah. One of the reasons that Quark has really agitated is that he doesn't know what the charges are and that requires quite a bit of bribery to get to. When he finally is able to get this out of bronze, the crime is failing to properly supervise a family member, that family member in question being the mother of Ram and Quark, who has on the down low been accumulating profit, which

is one of the worst things a female can do in the Ferengy culture. The deal is that Quark and Ram are going to go to Ferenganar to attempt to convince their mom to like sign a confession and remunerate the FCA for all of the money that she got through ill means and by ill means they just mean being a lady. But she's an old lady, I mean look at her, she's old, you can't just take her stuff, she's an old lady. I mean, look at her. She's old. You can't just take her stuff. She's too old. So for some reason, Quark needs to say some goodbyes before he leaves the station.

One of these goodbyes is for Odo. And he does that thing where he asks a trusted friend to watch his shit for him while he's away. And it implied to me that the bar was gonna remain open. That's what I thought. It seems insane that they would close it. Is there literally nobody else that they can trust to operate it? That really didn't make sense to me.

Like, you don't want to close a casino. The only reason you would close a casino is if it went out of business, but that's impossible. Yeah, there's no way you can lose money running a casino. There'd be no reason to close it, Ben, you're right. You'd have to be an idiot to close one of those. Going bankrupt running a casino would bespeak just a profoundly bad sense of business judgment, right? Hard to agree.

I kind of felt like this might just be shoe-horning Odo into the episode. This is an episode directed by Renee Abershenwa, is it not? Oh is it? I didn't catch the director credit as it rolled by. It is. Yeah. Get to get yourself in there a little bit if you can. Yeah. And that's a scene. It also gives Quark the opportunity to state how reluctant he is to go on this mission. And he also, he's also teaching the viewer what he needs to do, right? By talking to Odo, he's saying that I'm on a mission to go see my mom. And on this mission, I need to get a few things done.

I need to get her to admit fault. I need to get her to disclose her accomplices, etc. etc. He's resentful of this errand. Yeah. And it is a resentfulness that is established in this scene. When Ram announces that he's coming with, that is also something that Quark is really resistant to. Quark has a pretty bad attitude about basically everybody in his family.

I mean part of it is that Ram has such affection for their mother and Quark does not and his affection is irritating. Yeah. I think Quark also feels like his mom has chosen a favorite and it's not him and that doesn't feel good either. So the head to Ferenganar, which looks like a planet I would like to visit, cold and rainy, just how I like it. Go ahead, Ben. Go ahead and move there. I mean, like the local culture is kind of trash, but the environment is delightful. I think you'd get pretty tired of whipping things over your head before using them. The lasso pantomiming planet of Firinganar.

Yeah, I wonder how people that arose on a planet as wet as this got into cracking whips over their heads. Because the weather doesn't play into the story at all, pretty interesting choice to make it stormy in the exterior because all you're doing is you're making your actors touch their proth's theses. Yeah. Which is something that they do when they arrive

at the Quark family matriarch's home, like they're tallying each other off. And I mean, that adds a degree of difficulty to what they're doing here production wise. Yeah, I really loved it though, like the home entry customs on Frank and are very delightfully alien, you know, you like pay admission to enter somebody's home, no matter what you're there, what business you're there on, including official government enforcement business. Yeah, I really like that.

You get a hand towel to wipe off your loaf. It was very considered in a way that was really fun. They really invented a thing about Farenki that is new and dimensionalizing. It feels very lived in the way that these visitors interact with these systems too. Yeah, the cash box has the negus head on it. We recognize from the scepter that the grand nagus carries around.

Yeah, it feels like bust of John F. Kennedy adjacent. You know? Do you think when the negus changes, like when there John F. Kennedy adjacent, you know? Do you think when the Negas changes, like when there's a new Negas, do they have to change the Negas head on everything? It's like changing the portrait in the post office, right? Yeah, that's the business you want to be in, right? Like the bust maker.

That's recession proof is golden Negas head manufacturer. That's a growth industry. Especially with the negis as advanced of years as he is. Do you or did you have a nickname for a grandparent that was not grandma or grandpa, or you a mama or a p-pop person? Because Mugi seems to be that kind of name. My mom had a mama, so she was kind of my mamma, but I only ever knew one grandparent and he was just grandpa.

Yeah, my grandparents kept the names pretty straight. Yeah, but Mugi's a lot of fun. And it said with such affection from Rob. Mugi. That it only serves to irritate Quark, who very rarely and reluctantly uses that name for her. Yeah, and a couple of times slips up and says it out of habit and then is embarrassed in a fun way.

The thing about Moogie is that she knows she's in trouble, but she also doesn't believe she's done anything wrong. Right. And that's going to be a problem because Quark was expecting to breeze on in, get a sealed admission from her, and then go back and open the bar, which is rapidly losing money. Every second there away. And he's got a timeline for this.

The FCA guy, Brent, gives him three days to talk his mom into signing this confession. And as they're discussing that, they're in her front sitting room, and she comes out, scandal of scandal wearing clothing. Brunt and Quark react in a way that implies that they're totally disgusted, and Ram doesn't even notice. He just, you know, runs up and gives her a great big hug. The averting of their eyes from a clothed woman is a really nice contrast to what your expectations are.

But it's also the taboos that exist in their culture or that she would never speak to a strange man. And when she, you know, barks at brunch to get the fuck out of her house, he can't even square the circle, you know? He's just like, what? Did she just say something to me? Ben, we cut back to DS9 fairly rarely, rarely enough to where I kind of believe the B story is actually a C story and we just have an A and a C story in the set. Well, we have a D story if that's the case.

Right. Which is O'Brien and Bashir want their dartboard back. A and a C story in the set. Well, we have a D story if that's the case. Right. Which is O'Brien and Bashir want their dartboard back. And even they can't understand why quarks is closed. Yeah. But yeah, I kind of agree with you. The comedy of the C story as you've styled it has come out in dribs and drabs and basically the idea is that Jake has has really put Cisco's business out in the streets and everybody knows that there's a blind date in the offing

Exactly how many people has Jake told about this woman This would destroy me I would be so upset by this. Yeah. To his credit, Ben Sisko, playing it super cool. Like he's just sort of like shrug shouldered and what are you going to do about it?

But wow, everyone on the station knows. It puts a lot of really intense expectations on this., like, he's a widower, you know? Yeah, yeah. Like the idea that he has to go hit it off with this lady for everybody to get what they're hoping for out of this situation. It's a lot of pressure to put on it. Anything you do with her has to be in public too. Like you can't just invite her over for dinner. That, that wouldn't look good to everyone else.

And so if you do anything in public with her, you're just on display. Not a great look for Jake. This, though. No. But where's Lita in all this? The lady that was kicking it to Bashir in the last episode. Yeah. I would like to know her thoughts.

I would like more Lita. Yeah. How do you introduce Lita and then that follow up with her in the very next episode? Why isn't she the main character now? Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha to underscore how awkward whatever plans Ben Sisko as with Captain Yates, it makes that whole situation fairly awkward. They don't break in and get the dartboard is my point. It's a failure. Unfurringing our, um, Quark is just casting about desperately to try and figure out how they deal with the situation with his mom because she has expressed zero interest in confessing to any crimes. And the potential consequences of this are that Quark will be responsible for the punishments,

like in the punishments being making the FCA whole on this on the profits that they believe that she has that she has earned What's worse is like she hasn't even displayed the slightest bit of flexibility in it She's like downright hostile to the idea of admitting guilt here and even worse than that She's she's late getting their meals on the table Quarkark is complaining and Ram is like, oh yeah, her skin is just getting used to clothing, so she's got a little bit of a rash. And Quark is like, oh, this is great. We could spin this as she's sick. It's like, addled her mind.

Maybe she could be forgiven and we won't even have to pay anybody any money. Ben, I'm looking down at that meal and I'm thinking sure you can blame her behavior on an illness, but you could also blame it on a nub-in bug because they're getting down on some conspiracy meal worms. Raise your hand if you want seconds. Oh shit, I didn't even notice that. Yeah, man. You get a check for nub-ins anytime the worms have hit the table. Eat hearty brother.

Relish in your body. So maybe she's got a nubbins. But also Franky's eat gross shit. You should suspect nubbins if there's meal worms on the table. If the nubbins doesn't fit, you must acquit. Quark is embarrassed by his mother clearly and this is in direct opposition with ROMs enjoyment of her eccentricities and this is just like this is a family conflict that you see in a lot of families the different feelings about a person or a situation that

create conflicts in and of themselves. Yeah, and resentment of childhood traumas is like a major, that's like what people go to therapy to talk about. Her eccentricities have always been a factor and Quark has always bedded heads with her and this is just kind of she has continued to be who she is and he has continued to be who he is and they've grown further and further apart as a result. What are you doing now? Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, investment and has reaped large gains off of it. She's got a business empire that's just shell corporations all the way down. The problem with her great amount of profit is that she's got to pay it back and the family

has to pay an equal amount as a fine. So like it has the potential to bankrupt quirk and the whole reason quark got into the casino business was that he knew that there'd be no way you could ever go bankrupt. Right. Like it would just be impossible. It's bumper bowling for business. Right.

But even in that almost totally surefire business world, the amount of money he has earned is not enough to cover the amount that his mom is earned. She's just kind of a baller. Right. There's a pretty fun scene where Ram and Mugi go into her bedroom and he's a little uncomfortable in her presence and to make him feel more comfortable,

she dumps him out. We get quite a lot of loaf. We get loaf decalatage. We get loaf knees. For all of the effort that they put into Mugi's body loaf, her head loaf looks like a Spartan gladiator helmet. With the way it cuts around her mouth. Yeah, that, the,

Did you notice this? They tried to give her like droopy dog jowls and it doesn't really work. No, kind of doesn't. It's a lot of loaf and it's all over. It's a real feast for the eyes, Ben. They've, you know, like a heart tired about what quark represents to both of them. And Ram, you know, manages to transition this into what he admires about quark.

Back on the station, Ben Sisko is finally meeting Cassidy Yates. She's in the middle of working, and he just sort of pops by. Don't be an idiot. He not only pops by to say hello, he cargo splains her, which is not a great look for Ben Sisko. It's not a great look, but also like, it was what everybody was thinking. Yeah, you can't hand stack. Yeah. The issue is that she's transporting sensitive biological samples of some kind, and she doesn't

have a good enough transporter to bring them aboard automatically, so she's got to do it manually. I liked the design of this scene, like she's got like Cassidy Yates brand shipping containers all over the place. Yeah, I dug that too. And she's clearly got like a fairly big crew of people working for. She's kind of, you know, for all of the cargo explaining that he's subject to, she is kind of a badass.

Like she doesn't really take any guff from him. She flips that shit right back in his face the way he deserves and gives off the impression of being like a really like collected professional Cool person and somebody that I would be interested for him to get to know they arranged for a nighttime coffee date at 1800 hours been and specifically she proposes this yeah, yeah, which is sort of like in the George Costanza parlance, kind of a indication of a hookup. Coffee's not coffee, coffee is sex. If it's in the ad imprantica parlance, though, it's just an indication of a very awkward

run to the bathroom, right? You know, speaking of those branded containers, Ben, that's, this is the second instance of some branding elements in the episode. You get the Cassidy8's brand container, but this is also the first time that I'd ever noticed a sign outside of Quarks. Did you notice that digital reader board sign? Oh, yeah, with the like rotating 3D text in the Star Trek font.

Yeah. That was font. Yeah. That was cool. Yeah. I understand why that wasn't framed well because I don't think you want to see that in its entirety. I think it looks cheesy the more you see it. Right. It was a fun little glimpse at that.

I hadn't seen that before I don't think. No, yeah. I noticed that as well and I liked it. Cisco's beard is also considerably more trim and a close cut than it was in the last episode, so. I would say those elements are better. Yeah, he's dialing the beard in. I think in the last episode it looked a little glued on,

even though I know that wasn't the case. Yeah, it wasn't clean cut enough for a TV camera. And I mean, the phases of Commander Riker's beard were not always constant either. It's a horrible thing to say to a man. It took him a little bit of time to get it right, so. Back on Farranganar, Quark has discovered not just a few transactions, but like a ton of them. So many that he can't even count them all.

He knows he's ruined. If Moogie is unable to admit fault, and so, Rahman Quark discussed what the next move is gonna be, and Quark is almost catatonic at this realization of how much trouble that the family is in. The only way out logically is to kill Moogie. Fuckin' ey!

And so he does. He marches into the next room, wings a phaser whip over his head and shoots his mother in the head. Crazy how her head just flies clear off her body. And then we go to end credits. And then we go to end credits. I wonder if you had an opinion about where the line is between fear for self and fear for his mother with Quark, because it seems to me that because a lot of the punishment for these infractions splashes over onto him. He has personal reasons to be concerned about this, but he also, a number of times, tries to make the case directly to her,

like they'll string you up in the sacred marketplace and stuff. Like he does express some worry on her behalf as well. I never found his concern for his mother credible. I only thought that he was in it for himself. I actually believed momentarily that he would kill her if given the chance to save himself. And it's sort of what made the end of the episode and his eventual recognition of his affection for her feel kind of hollow because it came at the heels of how desperate he became in wanting to solve this problem that could have

such terrible consequences for him. Yeah, because he storms down to the FCA offices and is like waiting for Brent in the waiting room when Ram shows up and is like, we can resolve this. She'll give you half the money she earned. And, Cork, it's like, okay, cool. We'll head out. We don't need to see Brent. Which again is like so, it's so motivated by self interest instead of what's great for Mom,

because he sees it as a way to make a profit off of the problem. But, they've both been manipulated by Ram because Ram just wanted to get them in the same room again because up to this point, they hadn't really been talking. Yeah, and this is a very like the parent trap ploy on Ram's behalf to do that. Because when Quark gets back there, Mugi's understanding of the situation has nothing

to do with the idea that she would give any money to Quark. Many episodes ago, Rom had a trance of persuasiveness towards Quark about how he had to make sure that Nog had a better life than him because of the mistakes that he's made. And like, it was just a really eloquent and elegant argument in that moment that seemed very unromlike. And then this scene, we get another shocking burst of persuasiveness from him that's like Will Farrell

in the debate scene from Old School, where he like, he totally brings them together and tells them exactly why and tells them how significant and important it is that they are able to come to some sort of of agreement before leaving the room. It was like, rum! Where did this come from? He is such an idiot most of the time, but his performance is such that like he lo loads you into this sense that he's dumb, but he's not. Yeah.

It's really a great magic trick by him. I think it's a great series of choices on the part of Max Gridentchik. He is dumb for a Ferengy, where the values of Ferengy society set out like a set of things to feel proud about and he doesn't have any of those things. Right. But he is smart for a person. Yeah, that is an interesting distinction. His plan to manipulate is successful because after And I have to revert back to my state. Oh, I don't use the bucket anymore. His plan to manipulate is successful, because after ROM storms off, uh, Mugi and Quark calmly discuss their circumstances in the aftermath. And she says finally that she'll confess.

She agrees to admit to these crimes out of motherly love. Yeah. And I kind of agree with you that it's not an entirely earned moment, given how cruel and self-serving Quark has been. I mean, I totally believe that motherly love can exist in the face of cruelty and self-servingness in this way, but it is a sad day in Star Trek

when the conservative status quo is maintained because of one relationship and one, you know, male characters, thiefies not wanting to get hurt. I guess one of the ways that Quarks feelings for Mugi feel real and earned is that he still needs to keep up this appearance of affection because Mugi has not signed on the line that is dotted admitting her fault here. So like his affection for her still feels manipulative at this point. Yeah, but it was a sad moment in the episode for me because I kind of felt like we were about to embark on like Frankie Women's lib. It's about pride and knowing I'm just as capable of earning profit as any male. And suddenly it doesn't feel like that at all. And it will make you happy. I'll give back the money.

And we cut away from that to this coffee date. Yeah, you can only drink two cups of coffee on any coffee date, Ben, which really kind of puts a ticking clock on the whole thing. Yeah, it's not a bad first date because the pressure is pretty low. Like, it is pretty hard to transition from coffee day to getting down. Even you know that. And I have a normal butt.

No, you don't. Look, it feels like the date is going fine. Right? I would say there has neither been the white hot flames of an instant attraction, nor has there been a, what have I done, kind of regretful feeling about making these plans. But it sort of feels like a little bit tepid. Right, there's not a guaranteed second date necessarily happening.

Sparks are not flying. The thing that they've bonded over basically is that how they've ended up in this situation because of Jake. Right. And she also just isn't really like fully present. If she had an iPhone, she would be checking it frequently kind of a kind of a deal. And he's like, is there some place you'd rather be? And it comes out that her brother lives clear on the other side of Federation Space. And is a baseball player transmitting the play by play of a recent game to her. And she wants to go listen to it. This causes Ben Sisko to flip the fuck out.

I mean, to whatever degree someone is a character on a date, like a character of their best self, Ben Sisko breaks that character and he becomes happy and like almost childlike in his excitement. I have no idea. That's fantastic. It's really great. Yeah, and so they decided to go to a second location. There was just a great sign for any date. What do you say the two of us clear out of here and go listen to a baseball game on the radio?

Old Timestile. And off they go, the camera pans up to the second level of the promenade where Jake Sisko is leaning over the not-to-code way too low banister, grinning ear to ear at the success of his matchmaking. Jake knows that he has a little more time in the apartment by himself, and that's a good thing with Fernadolescent. Here we go. Frank it like his life depends on it.

When is Jake going to get an apartment of his own? That's going to be a thing, isn't it? How old is this kid? Sixteen still? I'll tell you what Adam. When I was in a senior in high school, I'll tell you what Adam, when I was in a senior in high school, dear friend of mine, her parents had a work thing, had to move to a different state. And for the last semester of senior year of high school, she lived by herself in her own apartment.

What? And so she had like a private apartment near school that we could like go hang out at and like play video games and smoke dubies and stuff. That is amazing. It was incredible. Wow. She fed herself adequately and like she did her own laundry and shit. Like I like high school is fairly early to to be that kind of self-sufficient. Was she always like a very a very mature person in this way? Yeah, she was and and she's she's always been more mature than me. Oh, yeah, but that's what that's saying.

But yeah, like, you know, she was just like an incredibly self-possessed person and she did fine. Almost anybody else, a parent doing that, would seem like a crazy choice. And in the case of her, it was like, oh yeah, like she's perfectly, perfectly capable of running a household by herself. perfectly capable of running a household by herself. But it was also awesome from a high school perspective because it was a great hangover there. Geez, was it just party every weekend? It wasn't really. I think that might be why she was able to do it.

It was a fun hang and like it was, you know, there was definitely like some of that for sure, but it wasn't mayhem, you know? I kind of get the sense that if Jake had that kind of freedom, it would be mayhem. Oh, greed. He'd be hat-tricking it a couple of times a day. With women five to ten years older than him. Back on Firinga and the button on the episode is that Mugi is signing the confession, but she's still being Mugi. Like Mugi is still being Mugi about it. She's still talking to Brunt.

She's still wearing clothes. Well, when Brunt is there, she isn't wearing the clothes and she's kind of playing doofy, right? Yeah. Giving the impression that she is the helpless idiot that their misogynistic culture projects upon her. She's kind of being sarcastic in that sure officer, here's my ID. Hey. That kind of way? Yeah, absolutely. She is saying everything she has to say, but she's not meaning it. Right. So the second Brent leaves with the belief in his mind that he's been paid for all of the crimes that she has committed. She immediately slips her cover up back on and is like,

Jesus, glad that's over. And then once Quark is out of the room, we come to understand that she's in fact only disclosed about a third of her assets to the FCA. Which is going to be an ongoing concern probably, right? Yeah, I would say that this is establishing a new character for sure. It also establishes a relationship imbalance, an ongoing relationship imbalance between Quark and his brother in that his brother knows more than Quark does, and that could be a problem, right?

Yeah, an interesting character. And, you know, we've heard so much about what life is like for women on Farrington R in just kind of implication over the years, over the 200-something episodes of Star Trek that we've watched. This is finally a glimpse of the planet and of somebody who's bucking that system.

But you have to write an episode like this, right? Like you couldn't write an episode about a super traditional forangi woman who is following all the rules. Neither episode that dealt with female rights on Ferenganar had happy endings. No. Neither pale nor moogie winds. Yeah, you don't get the sense that a sea change, major cultural shift is going to take

place for these aliens. And on the one hand, I like episode and stories that don't end neatly, but on the other hand, like for reasons that you stated before, it would be nice to get a win in this column for Lady Farenghis. Yeah, I agree. And I think it is a very noticeably un-Tg move to do it this way, you know? Like TNG did not leave people's rights undefended like this. Yeah. One, two, three, four, four, four, four, four, four, four, four, four, four, four, four, four,

seven, have a time. Well, did this episode grow the beard? Or did it grow the board? I'm still doing that. I don't know what you mean by board. Like, were you bored by it? Oh, I see. This is a really difficult one to answer. I mean, I really liked meeting Mugi. I really liked the actor who played her.

I liked seeing the family conflict between she and Ram and Quark. But like Quark makes the case that he has everything to lose. Did you ever feel like that was really at stake? He's so good at business and he's so good at wiggling out of trouble. That had there ever been an instance where he was really slap down hard for something, I would have felt that the danger was real for him. And I never really got that. Yeah, he seems too slippery. I don't know how you correct that with a tweak or a scene,

but he always felt one step ahead of things here in a way that is like good for quark because that's in keeping with the character as constructed, but just a little bit unsatisfying. But in every other way, nice episode. What about you? I'm a little torn because I think that this episode in going out of its way not to kind of prescribe

a specific moral here, like it's trying not to be preachy or didactic about what it's saying about, you know, like the potential role of women in society. It winds up a little bit coming down on the idea of this is okay, and it's not okay, you know? And it's also like a bit of a regression in terms of like, you know, if Star Trek is a context to explore big ideas and chew on

ways that society could make progress. This seems like further back in the list of potential ways to make progress than things that it's tackled before and I wonder if it's kind of like where things started to turn toward that, where Star Trek. Because I think that like contemporary Star Trek is much less interested in that. And it, you know, that was the thing that TNG was about, was like little morality plays that explored ideas about society. T&G would also provide a foil or a fish out of water to observe those situations and make judgments and maybe affect change.

Right. This episode is unable to do that because everyone involved is made of the thing that they're struggling against. They're just in that milieu. Yeah. Yeah, and that makes it difficult. I wonder if you couldn't have rewritten this episode with instead of ROM going back to Ferengenar, sending someone else with them for whatever reason. Yeah, like ODO because it's like a criminal issue

or something like that. Right. And that's another issue is like, what jurisdiction does the fucking Ferengi Commerce Authority have on Deep Space 9? Right, it's the jurisdiction you allow as a participant in that culture. It feels like quirk being so far away

running a zone independent business could choose at any time to divorce himself from that if he wanted to. Yeah, so a bit of a bummer and I agree with you that I like the character and I loved all the little trade craft of what it's like to be in a house on the Furnady home world and stuff, but unbalance, I think this is kind of a bummer of an episode. Well, Adam, do you want to see if there are any priority one messages for you?

Gotta do it. Priority one message from Starfleet coming in on Secured Channel. Need a supplement on that. Supplement? Supplement. Supplement. Yeah, it's extra.

But the interest alone could be enough to buy this ship! Ben, our first priority one message is from your wife. What? It is for Front Row Ryan. Why is my wife talking to Front Row Ryan? The message goes like this. When we started dating seven years ago, you said the Trek character I most reminded you of is Cassidy Yates. I hadn't seen DS9, so I watched this app and thought, what the fuck?

A galactic trucker? I hate baseball. I only wanted to be a cat-to-character or Jane way back then, but I get it now. Yates is rad! And you're still like Wharf. Good teeth. Nice house. Road drop.

Wow, your life really knows our show. It's good timing, too, because Cassidy Hates is in this episode. We've had a lot of P1s that are coming out way after folks had hoped just because of the the long list of p ones we have to get through but that one was well timed. Look, I mean Cassidy Yates may be a space trucker but she's no large march. No, she's no Ellen Ripley either. Well messages large and small can be submitted over at MaximumFund.org slash jumbo-tron, where personal messages are $100, and commercial messages are $200.

They are a great way to help the ongoing production of the greatest generation. Hey Adam! What's that been? Did you find yourself a drunk Shimoda? Yeah I've got two. I think it's the combination of Bishir and Obrayan trying to break into the bar. They get one scene in this episode and that's it. Like zip up the costumes boys. We got a half a day for you. And so they're on the scene picking this lock and just having a whole lot of fun doing it and also acting awkward about what they may or may not know

about the date with Cassidy Yates. It's coming up later. I loved their performances here. I thought it was a really great moment. In like an episode made of awkward moments, this is right up there, really well done and really well acted. So I'm giving my Shimoda to both Bishir and O'Brien. What about you?

Adam, my drink Shimoda is quirk for having the squishiest head. There's this point in this episode where it actually comes to blows between him and Ram. And Ram gets his hands on either side of Quarks' head. And it really betrays how squishy the loaf is. Like the loaf is definitely made of like foam or something like that. And the amount of pressure applied to Quarks' head,

like his fingers get deep in that loaf. And I just, you know, you look at that dome and you picture that that's just skin over bone, you know, like that's a, like a, like a tough noggin. And it is not. And it is not. That's great. So for being the squishiest head and track, Quark gets my drunk shumoto for this episode. 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 get stupid with Judy Greer. My friend Molly and I call it having the spaceweards. Pat Naswald. Could I get a Balrog burger and some air-gorn fries?

Thank you. And Kumail Non-Giani. 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 he open just pull it out give Jordan Jesse go try being smart as hard be dumb instead Well, rats. Yeah, I'm about to count you in line. These clouds are really freaking me out. I hate having to stand in line and you in line. These clouds are really frigging 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've such short neck. But I'm hearing we need to get on this. We gotta get on the art. It is about terrain.

Gotta spout to destroy humanity. Hey, oh, sorry, sorry, sorry. Are you Noah? Yeah, I know we look like humans. We're actually, we're podcasters. Yes, probably. 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 seem like something for us to check out. We would love to be on the boats. We came two by two. What do you think?

Ono Ross and Carrie, available on MaximumFun.org. What do we have coming up on the next episode? Next episode is season 3, episode 24, Shakar. Sent to Bejure on a mission against her former leader in the resistance movement Kira ends up joining him as a fugitive Oh So a big Kira app looks like Feels like it's been a while. Yeah, the car resistance cell, right? That's what her her her little terrorism gang was called is she gonna have to change her haircut? Oh man long into, long hair.

Long hair, Kira. That's always fun. Yeah, big fan. Well Adam, do you want to get out our board game and see how we are going to be doing this upcoming episode? You're required to learn as you play, roll. Ben were currently on square 65, three spots ahead. There is a banger, which would move us five spaces back.

And then a couple of squares ahead of that. There is a quirk spar. So danger ahead for this roll. Got the die in my hands. I would say I should blow on that die and then roll it. Okay, here it goes. And I have rolled a two. Shula!

Did I win? Hardly. Roller of two gets us to square 67 that is just one away from that banger and we are safe once again, Ben. A nice regular old episode of The Greatest Generation. Of course one that I could inflict my Quarx Burr rain check upon you. No square is safe for me, not as long as you have that coupon. Yeah.

Well, looking forward to doing that with you, Adam. I also look forward every week to all the folks that go online to talk about the show. They use the hashtag GreatestGen on Twitter where Adam is at Cut for Time and I'm at Benjamin A-H-R. There are also, you know, groups on all of the social media social media is that help Russians take over Countries that didn't do anything to Russia and other social networks also Yeah Myriad groups out there where Where groups of our viewers are are sharing recipes or getting married. Any number of subjects in between those two.

Gotta thank our buddy Adam Ragusia, who made all the custom music for this show and dark material, who made the original Picard song. It is the DNA of our theme music here on the greatest generation. Gotta thank Bill Tilly. We see you out there, Bill Tilly. Yeah, yeah.

Making the great trading cards based on every episode that we produce. Always a big hit, always super funny. Looking forward to seeing Bill Tilly at Star Trek Las Vegas again, hopefully. Well, that would be fun. Let's make that a thing. Let's make that a pilgrimage, Ben. I mean, do that as a thing. When's make that a pilgrimage, Ben. I mean, do that as a thing.

When is Star Trek Class Vegas? I have no idea. I don't keep track of the dates of events. That's not part of my brain. July 31st. That's a long way away. That is a hell of a long way away, Adam. Jeez.

Adam, we gotta thank all of the friends of DeSoto that head over to maximumbund.org slash donate and put up a few bucks a month to support our show. Starting at five bucks a month and going up from there, you can support the ongoing production of this program to keep it free for everyone. And that is the way we support ourselves and the way we are able to devote so much time and energy to this project. And the way we get to go on tour and, you know, 2018's tour was a huge success for us.

We really want to do more stuff in 2019 and because we have that support we are able to work on stuff like that. So thank you. With that, we'll be back at you next time with another great episode of Star Trek Deep Space 9 and an episode of the greatest generation Deep Space 9, where the hosts may or may not grow their hair out. I can tell. You're the God of God of God of God. Mother, I know you're not like other females. You like to think about things. You have opinions. Boogie, boogie, boogie, boogie. There's not a conformant or an accusation.

Boogie. Maximumfund.org Comedy and Culture, Artistone. Listener Supported.