Matthew (he/him) and Jo (she/they) make “The Ascent” as we discuss this Odd Couple of an episode featuring the pairings of Odo/Quark and Jake/Nog. We enjoy the continued dynamic between Odo and Quark, we can’t help but laugh at Odo’s Gumby-esque broken leg, we speculate that DS9 is told from Rom’s POV and we ponder if Star Trek is considered with the future anymore. Matthew asks if Rom is Forrest Gump and Jo rants about Nog and Jake’s flat. As always, be prepared that spoilers may be lu...

Matthew (he/him) and Jo (she/they) discuss “Things Past” as we take a look at a difficult moment in Odo’s past. We praise the writing and directing of the episode, we celebrate the deep character study of Odo and we analyze what the writer is saying about structures of law and justice. Matthew derails every one of Jo’s segues and Jo loves a good villain. As always, be prepared that spoilers may be lurking around every corner just like Garak on Empok Nor. Subscribe for weekly recaps of S...

Matthew (he/him) and Jo (she/they) “Let He Who Is Without Sin…” go to Risa as we pod about Worf and his wild antics in this episode. We talk about Worf and sports for a surprisingly long time, we argue that maybe Leeta shouldn’t have told Bashir about Rom right after breaking up with the good doctor and of course we talk about Curzon Dax dying from Snu Snu. Matthew explains the problem with Star Wars and Jo is just happy that Worf isn’t bi/pan-phobic, he’s just a jealous lover. As alway...

Matthew (he/him) and Jo (she/they) endure “Trials and Tribble-ations” as we return to the past alongside the Defiant crew. We praise the technological achievement of this episode, we indulge in the cuteness of the nostalgia and we compare the nostalgia of this episode of that of Picard S3 while having a prolonged conversation about how all IP content is anchored in nostalgia and is unable to grow beyond it. As always, be prepared that spoilers may be lurking around every corner ju...

Matthew (he/him) and Jo (she/they) accept “The Assignment” as we crown this our favorite Keiko episode. We argue that the writing and acting from Rosalind Chao gives us the best version of Keiko and best Keiko performance, we track Rom’s ascension to the day shift and Jo has a theory about why she loves theorizing about the O’Brien polycule. Matthew asks just how rough Morn’s life is that he’s at the bar when it opens and Jo questions Keiko’s pronunciation of the word “basil”. As always...

Matthew (he/him) and Jo (she/they) ask the question War, what is it good for on “Nor the Battle to the Strong”. We celebrate the acting from Cirroc Lofton and others, we appreciate the ER-esque pacing in the hospital scenes and we discuss the 1940’s era storyline and acting from guest stars as we look at what this episode is doing when it comes to military propaganda. Matthew asks if the dude who shot himself in the foot had a solid escape plan and Jo rants about Jake’s writing career path.&n...

Matthew (he/him) and Jo (she/they) are “Looking for par’Mach in all the Wrong Places” on this week’s episode. We enjoy the three different “couple” storylines in this episode, we talk about how down bad Dax was for Worf and Worf was for Grilka, and talk about the “work husband/work wife” dynamic of Miles and Kira and of course, Jo runs rampant with wild polyamorous speculation. Matthew asks if Worf is written better on TNG and Jo rants about Keiko totally being fine with Miles and Kira having...

Matthew (he/him) and Jo (she/they) board “The Ship” as we talk about this greatest generation-esque war episode. We speculate about which member of the DS9 is the one to go to for illegal drugs, we praise the thrilling nature of this episode and we don’t quite care for the war propaganda that is inherent in this episode. Matthew asks how much coke do surgeons do before surgery and Jo shares way too much about her personal life. As always, be prepared that spoilers may be lurking around ...

Matthew (he/him) and Jo (she/they) try to avoid the “Apocalypse Rising” as we dive into the season 5 premier! We talk all things Klingon, we question if there are missing scenes that would better explain the events of the episode and we debate if this was really the best episode to have as a season premier. Matthew stayed up all night in Las Vegas and Jo rants about the hubris of the Jedi order As always, be prepared that spoilers may be lurking around every corner just like Garak on Em...

Matthew (he/him) and Jo (she/they) repair the “Broken Link” as we join Odo on his journey to the Founders home world. We chronicle recreational crimes the DS9 crew has carried out while still being in Starfleet, we compare representation as tokenism in Star Trek and Marvel vs representation as experience in books, films and other #OwnVoices media and we observe how this show suggests a genocide on the founders at the same time as the show X-Men 97 portrays a genocide while our Twitter feeds a...

Matthew (he/him) and Jo (she/they) theorize about Julian Bashir’s “Body Parts” as we discuss the episode that launched a thousand fan fics. We’ve talked about our pod ending early, but this really is an episode that might shut down the pod because Matthew has finally had it with Jo’s theories about the crew. In this episode, Jo theorizes about trans Julian Bashir, she ships the threesome between Miles, Keiko and Kira and she asks if the show could have given us just one more “Brunt, FCA”. Mat...

Matthew (he/him) and Jo (she/they) are very loose on this weeks pod as we discuss “The Quickening” We dissect Bashir’s wide eyed frontier doctor persona that reappears in this episode, we analyze how this episode presents “both sides” of the issue of physician assisted end of life care and we briefly talk about the first two episodes of Discovery S5. Beware of spoilers. Matthew announces his candidacy for president of the United States and Jo rants about the Federation refusing to leave the G...

Matthew (he/him) and Jo (she/they) pod “To the Death”! We wholeheartedly enjoy this wonderfully fun episode, we celebrate the introduction of Jeffrey Combs’ Weyoun and compare his role in DS9 to Q on TNG and we look ahead to S5 of Star Trek Discovery. Matthew speculates who on the crew has been to a Klingon strip club and Jo rants about missing the Pacific Ocean. As always, be prepared that spoilers may be lurking around every corner just like Garak on Empok Nor. Subscribe for weekly r...

Matthew (he/him) and Jo (she/they) record our pod “For The Cause” as we talk about mother fucking Eddington and The Maquis. We relitigate the validity of The Maquis’ position and justification for their “terrorist” actions, we consider how this episode complicates the relationship between Ben and Kassidy and even though we hate him, we have to give it up to Eddington for absolutely, completely wrecking Sisko in this episode. Matthew asks if there’s a lot of promiscuity in Federation penal col...

Matthew (he/him) and Jo (she/they) meet “The Muse” and we wish she would leave and never be heard of again. Just like this episode. We talk about everything we can to avoid talking about this episode including name dropping elder millennial shit like AskJeeves, Walkmans and Game Gears, we argue about nostalgia and the Enterprise D and we appreciate/elevate authentic, real life experiences over manufactured media we are fed on our devices. Also, we do talk about the episode itself. Eventually....

Matthew (he/him) and Jo (she/they) gaze into a “Shattered Mirror” as we return to the Mirror Universe with Jennifer Sisko. We praise Cirroc Lofton’s acting in this episode, we analyze all of Ben Sisko’s actions that have led to this single episode and we revel in the hilarity of this ridiculous but fun episode of Star Trek. We both wonder if Sisko has the heighest kill count of any Federation Captain and Jo rants about how much she loves tall women. As always, be prepared that spoilers ...

Matthew (he/him) and Jo (she/they) do “Hard Time” as we join Miles O’Brien for the WORST virtual reality experience of his life. We compare the prison system in this episode to the American prison system and would you believe, we are not fans, we cast DS9 crew members as the characters from Top Gun and we talk about just how dark, this extremely dark episode of Star Trek gets. Matthew asks if O’Brien has the heart of a killer and Jo rants about how deliciously cunty Richard Chamberlain is in ...

Matthew (he/him) and Jo (she/they) question the “Rules of Engagement” as we discuss another episode of Law and Order: DS9. We debate if Worf should have even been on trial in the first place, discuss other legal episodes and legal shows and we stare deep into your eyes as we ask if you’ve ever seen the wormhole open? Matthew asks if O’Brien has seen some shit in his military career and Jo rants about modern Star Trek/Star Wars writers being inspired by Star Trek/Star Wars. As always, be...

Matthew (he/him) and Jo (she/they) plan our own “Ascension” as we talk Emissary’s, religion, and marriage. We explore how this episode talks about but also avoids talking about religion, the marriage between Miles and Keiko and Miles and Bashir and we talk about how hot Chris Pine is. Matthew asks if there is any funnier character than Worf in Star Trek and Jo rants about temporal, timey wimey, shenanigans. As always, be prepared that spoilers may be lurking around every corner just lik...

Matthew (he/him) and Jo (she/they) join the “Bar Association” as we, along with all other workers of the world, unite! We spend a surprising, yet unsurprising amount of time talking about oo-mox, we take note of which DS9 crew member is pro-union vs anti-union and we have a long discussion about unions as we celebrate our favorite union man, Rom. Matthew doesn’t kink shame, he kink questions and Jo rants about corporate bootlickers. As always, be prepared that spoilers may be lurking ar...