Troi Stands On Business | TNG 6.14, "Face of the Enemy" | T7R #371

Cirroc Lofton (Jake Sisko in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) and sci-fi producer, Ryan T. Husk review and react to Star Trek: The Next Generation Season Six.

Producer: Ryan T. Husk
Audio Engineer: Scott Jensen

Executive Producer:
Jason Okun

Special Thanks to Malissa Longo

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
There is a starfleet base on Drake and four. The
Corvalins are mercenaries, and Wharf grows his hair out. Hello
everybody to welcome to the Seventh Rule, with sarrok lofton,
Hello Loo, My name is Ryan T. Huskin. Today we're
doing a review of Star Trek the Next Generation, Season six,

(00:21):
episode fourteen. We're kicking off the second half of season
six with the episode Face of the Enemy story by
Renee at Chibia, teleplay by Narren Shankhar, directed by We
Remember Her Gabrielle Beaumont. This was February sixth, nineteen ninety three.
Where were you? How you doing today? Sirok lofton, Wonderful Blest.

(00:49):
February sixth feels like some kind of famous day or holiday,
is it? It feels like it's a thing. It's like.

Speaker 2 (00:57):
Now, February sixth, is it? No, I don't think so.
Valentine's Day is coming up.

Speaker 1 (01:06):
It's it's National Frozen Yogurt Day, It's Bubblegum Day, Bubblegum Day, it's.

Speaker 2 (01:17):
Every day has a day associated Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:19):
It's got another one that and I'm not gonna say.
I'll just text it to you. I don't know how
this is an actual thing. I'll just send you that.

Speaker 2 (01:31):
Oh right, okay, Well, every day has a day prescribed
to I know, and I love it.

Speaker 1 (01:39):
We should do that every time. We should check what
day that is apple Pie Day. Anyway, everybody, please make
sure you like this video, subscribe to the channel, hit
the bell like on for notifications if you're listening, and
give us five star rating and a nice review. We'd
really appreciate that. And visit us at patreon dot com
slash a seventh rould to support the show. Be our pals.
We really really appreciate you and your time and your support.

(02:02):
All right, So let's get into this episode. Srock. I
remember this one. I remember this one because Deanna Troy
looks weird as a Romulan, and I remember a little
bit of the story. But I do get this one
confused a little bit with a Deep Space nine one
that is similar where Major Kira becomes a Cardassian and
remember she makes a friend with that older Cardassian and

(02:25):
he at first tells her Leonora or something like that.
He tells her that she's actually a Cardassian and you
know this and that, so I'm not I didn't really
remember exactly how this one goes, but as it went,
I did remember it. But here's the big question, you've
never seen this episode. What'd you think of it?

Speaker 2 (02:46):
Well? I mean, yeah, I've never seen the episode, and
I thought it was a well written storyline for Troy's character.
I enjoyed watching her performance in this because she rarely
gets an uppportunity to like flex her acting muscles, and
it's usually background stuff or one lighters and in different episodes.

(03:10):
So when she gets featured in a way that's not
sexualized or yeah for once, for once, you know, just
it is just like a normal story art for her,
I was happy. I wasn't okay, this is good. She
gets to perform her a star Fleet doties as an officer.
We need to see her in motion, like making decisions,

(03:33):
and you know, I thought her acting was excellent in
this as well. So she got a chance to really
showcase her performance in this and I liked it. Story
was good.

Speaker 1 (03:45):
Yeah, I agree. And our pal Scott McDonald friend of
the show, Scott McDonald, everybody knows him as Toss and
a few other characters. He was also in the Voyager
pilot and he was a Zindy in Enterprise season three
for a bunch of episodes. Can't remember that Zindy's name.
He played sub Commander Novek. This guy, it was really

(04:12):
cool seeing him, and I feel like this was his opportunity,
kind of like Deanna Troy, but in a different way,
to give us a lot more acting than we're used
to As Tosk, he gave us something. Actually, this I
feel like Tosk happened almost at the same time as
this episode. He must have like worked back to back

(04:33):
on these.

Speaker 2 (04:37):
He was Subcommander Novek was I mean he was. He
was really playing the person that was, you know, narrating
for us what was going on and kind of filling
in Troy's characters. So I thought his delivering his great
intensity was good. I don't know much about the Romulans though,
per se, because I don't have that much background. Are

(04:58):
they how how much like Vulcans? Are they?

Speaker 1 (05:01):
Like?

Speaker 2 (05:01):
What's the what's the similarity there?

Speaker 1 (05:04):
Yeah? Well, first of all, the episode Tosk on Deep
Space nine premiered January thirty first, so that was six
days before this one. So this guy worked back to
back like one week, yeah and the next week. That's
pretty badass. That means he's impressing people. And then a
couple of years later he was in the pilot for Voyager,

(05:26):
and a few years later he was in Enterprise quite
a bit. So Romulins and Vulcans basically Vulcans, you know,
they're like cousin races that I think they split off
back in the day and Vulcans learned to suppress their
emotions and control them and Romulins did not do that.

(05:47):
So Romulins are very different culturally. You know, genetically they're
very similar, but they're very different culturally. And that they
you know, they are they have their emotions. They're very Kennie,
you know, they're kind of Cardassian in a way, but
a little less sinister. They're just known as like the

(06:07):
really conniving plotting, you know kind of race. And they
have big ass ships, like the Romulan warbirds are like
three times the size of the Enterprise. The Enterprise can
fly through one. So that's what they are. And they

(06:29):
have the terrible outfits. That's their story basically.

Speaker 2 (06:34):
Okay, so they lost their fashion sense when they.

Speaker 1 (06:37):
Split and I mean those like look at that, these
are crazy.

Speaker 2 (06:44):
Yeah, it's good for when the ship gets hit and
they have to fall because it serves as padding as well.
But yeah, I'm learning about the Romulins. I just thought
the story was good. This is rene Udo's story, right,
and you know, you can tell it was well written.

(07:06):
To me. I thought it had a lot of interesting stuff.
It had layers. For example, with this Spock storyline being
revamped and kind of brought back into the narrative, that
kind of gave me a like, Okay, this is where
we're at. We're in this kind of mindset the revolutionary

(07:27):
This is essentially like Spock and his episode and this
episode kind of in you know, congruency with it. This
is their version of the Maquis right to some degree.

Speaker 1 (07:44):
Yeah, yeah, that's a good point. That's interesting. And we
did get a non appearance mentioned for Spock by the way,
nice nice bring up there. So they're kind of, like
Spock is basically trying to lead a revolution to reunite
fight the Romulins and the Vulcans, and right now they're
just kind of like this underground movement. We remember that

(08:05):
in the Unification to Parterer with Spock and with par Deck,
Senator par Deck. So there's yeah, so there's this, there's
this underground movement going on where some Vulcans are you
know a little a little emotional, and some Romulans are
embracing their you know, the Vulcan sides of things, or

(08:29):
their Vulcan cousins, and so whatever it is, they're trying
to you know, take over Romulus in a way, or
influence Romulus to to bring the people back together. And
so I guess this was like these defectors from the
evil Romulin Star Empire. And of course Spock is trying

(08:50):
to help that along because they're trying to slowly and
eventually and completely overthrow that government in a way.

Speaker 2 (08:58):
Yeah, and how's that different for the Marquis. Wasn't the
Marquis doing something? Yeah?

Speaker 1 (09:06):
The Marquis, I believe, were formed because there was a
non aggression pact between the Federation and the Cardassians, and
so in that non aggression pact or that treaty, they
had to divide up the planets that were disputed. So like,
you know, the Cardassians say these are our planets, Federation

(09:29):
says these are our plants, and there's you know, and
they have to make a treaty and draw some lines out,
which of course we know has happened throughout Earth history,
and part of those some of those planets in that
treaty that went to the Cardassians were actually inhabited by
Federation people. So now the Federation people are like, well,
hang on a second. Now, my home where I grew

(09:50):
up is part of Cardassia, part of the part of
the Cardassian Empire. So they don't like that. And so
now you know, which, of course we know happened, you know,
throughout history or the British or whoever. They just start
drawing lines and they go, Okay, you guys now belong
to this country. And they're like, no, we don't. We
are we do not at all. No, And uh so

(10:11):
that's kind of where that started, if I remember correctly.
Everybody at home correct me if I'm wrong, which happens
pretty often, but I think that's where it started. And
so those people started rebelling against the Kardassians saying look,
we don't belong to you, but then also rebelling against
the Federation because they're like, look, you you left us here,

(10:31):
and we refuse to leave our home, and the Federation's like, well,
look sorry, you gotta you gotta go, because it's part
of the treaty and they're like, no, we don't. So
that's kind of it's it's different in what caused it,
but it's similar in that these are both movements that
are happening that isn't wholly on one side or wholly
on the other side. You know.

Speaker 2 (10:53):
Yeah, Oh that's uh yeah, that's that gives me a
lot of background for that. And so in this since
you've got spot leading this, not leading but helping this
this kind of revolution take place to overthrow the more
tyrannical wing of Rodin Empire. Mm hmm, that's that's what's

(11:17):
going on. Okay, that makes sense. I like this episode
because I like that you start off with Troy just
kind of like you're you're figuring things out as she is,
you know, so it's like right away, we're like, okay,
what's going on here?

Speaker 1 (11:32):
Right right away you can see that there's like you
recognize her voice, but you see you get a hint
that she's got bumps on her face and a hideous
hair do right, you start going, wait, what the heck
is happening here? Did you figure it out right away? That?

Speaker 2 (11:48):
Yeah? Yeah, kind of Uh it was, it wasn't hidden
well even though they did make it dark in that
opening scene she's at computer lights or whatever was computer.

Speaker 1 (12:00):
Yeah, we weren't shocked to see that she was a romulant.
We're like, I know, I already saw this.

Speaker 2 (12:05):
But her facial expression when she looks herself in the
mirror and expresses the shock that she sees I thought
was a very good, uh performance wise, I thought it
looked good. She stared herself, she kept focus on her
own eyes in the mirror, and she locked in on
an expression that of horror and shock. So I thought,

(12:25):
you know, I enjoyed that opening.

Speaker 1 (12:29):
Yeah, it was really good, and it was you know,
they they followed the school of srock lofton. It was
a short opening sequence, right, no need for all this.
She wakes up, there's a little bit of suspense. Lights,
Why isn't this working? She goes to the bathroom somehow
finds it. The lights turn on automatically, and she's like oh.

(12:49):
And then we go to a commercial and we're like,
that's all you need, Like we know, Ana Troy's a
romulin what's going on? And then and then you sit
through the Tide commercial or whatever it was back and
then nineties, you.

Speaker 2 (13:00):
Know, yeah, and you know, you know, the first instinct
is like, oh God, she woke up and she doesn't remember, Like,
I hope this is not going to go left, you know,
because they keep going left with her character in these
kinds of situations. But I enjoyed that they made her
a position at power and somebody who had authority, So
that allowed her to step outside of her more traditional

(13:25):
gentle and therapeutic approach as a counselor and give us
a different edge and perspective on her performance. So I
felt like her character got an opportunity to give us
some authoritarian some you know, basically, she's the captain in
this moment, right, she is the captain and the crew,

(13:46):
and so she gets to make all decisions on you know,
without anybody else's input. So all decisions or decisions she
makes her final for herself and that it makes her
in a puts her in a position or in the
light of a captain, I felt, and I thought she
handled it well in that circumstance.

Speaker 1 (14:09):
Yeah, and it was really you know, this was a
really well written episode because it was very touch and
go there. It was like, yes, she was in charge,
but barely kind of in name only like if an
admiral comes on the ship and Picard's like, okay, well
this is an admiral. If one comes on the Enterprise,

(14:29):
I should say. And then if the admiral starts saying
things that Picard does not agree with, we the audience knows.
At some point Picard might say that, old mister Wolf,
we are not going to do blah blah blah blah blah,
you know, and then the and then the you know,
there's like this weird thing where it's like the Admiral's
in charge, but only as long as Picard agrees that

(14:51):
he should be in charge. You know, if if that
admiral starts screwing up, the car's gonna be like nope, nope,
I don't think so. And so there was a lot
of that there, and that's why Troy had to bring
out the big guns when she's like, all right, guys,
if you go against me, you and your families are
going to deal with I mean, she was trying to
be a tyrant there, and it worked because they're like,

(15:12):
I don't want to get my daughter and my uncle
into this. It's kind of messed up.

Speaker 2 (15:18):
Yeah, And I also want to give a big shout
out to the actor that played the romulent captain in commandrest.

Speaker 1 (15:30):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (15:31):
Yeah, I thought to Reth was fantastic as well, because
she was basically providing like the back and forth elements
for choice character, and that back and forth was excellent
between the two of them, because she had a British accent, right.

Speaker 1 (15:51):
Uh, it was either British or is one of those
things that's called like mid Atlantic or I don't remember
what those things are called. But it's kind of like
I couldn't tell. I'd have to listen to it again
to try to place it.

Speaker 2 (16:04):
Okay, I felt like it was something.

Speaker 1 (16:07):
There was something, and I will completely and wholeheartedly agree
with you that her performance is very memorable.

Speaker 2 (16:17):
It was.

Speaker 1 (16:18):
It was very good. If there's one thing I'm going
to take away from this episode, it's going to be
her performance.

Speaker 3 (16:25):
I think.

Speaker 1 (16:26):
I think, like, if I don't watch this for twenty years,
I'll be like, oh, yeah, that captain was really good
or I think they're called commander. But she was amazing.
And it's somebody where you're like, it's got to be
hard to walk onto a show again and be like
a day player or a guest star and act like

(16:47):
you own this place, act like, you know, the one
guy that played like the defector walking around into his
brown pjs. That's one thing that's cool. That's hard to do.
But she has to come out there and say all
this weird, romulent technobabble and act like she owns the set.
And I think she killed it. I think she was awesome.

Speaker 2 (17:11):
Yeah, And because she was very smart in her delivery,
in her curiosity, in the way she approached the this
like suspicious how she are officer right, She was very
suspicious of her and I thought she played it almost

(17:36):
to a tea. It was perfect as far as performance,
you could not get better. As far as questioning, as
far as you know, the push and pull of when
to assert yourself and when to ease back a little
bit and play the you know, I've been owned by
an out ranking officer. I thought she did that as

(17:57):
good as any Like the moment she stood up and
she control and she said, you know, I'm not going
to let anybody tell me what to do on my ship.
And Troy says, keep me informed and walks away. She
basically says, I'm done with this hole. Yeah, calling stuff.

Speaker 1 (18:15):
You know, here's a little bit, right, here Carolyn Seymour.
I looked her up. It says, yeah, it says. Carolyn
Seymour is a highly accomplished actress of stage and screen,
with a long and impressive list of credits on both
sides of the Atlantic. Srock born in Buckinghamshire, which is
as British as it can get. I think to an

(18:37):
Estonian father and Russian with Russian descent and an Irish mother.
Blah blah blahlahlah. Anyway, there's a lot going on there.
But here she is. Look at how cute this is
our romulent commander. Look at her. She's the one on

(18:58):
the left.

Speaker 2 (18:58):
I think, yeah, I'm not a big fan of those outfits.
Oh for what is that from.

Speaker 1 (19:09):
The Ruling Class in nineteen seventy two with Peter O'Toole.

Speaker 2 (19:14):
Yeah, okay, No. She was fantastic in this. I mean
her eyes were engaging, her facial expressions were fantastic, her
sense of authority or wielding power, her threats.

Speaker 1 (19:29):
And she took her time with things. She would stop
and think and give like a little reaction and a
little smirk, you know, like she just understood that screen
and that it will the audience will pick up every

(19:50):
little tiny bit that you do. We'll get it. We'll
pick it up on stage. You got to act it
out on the screen. Just think it and the audience
will see it, you know. And so she killed it. Yeah,
I agree with you. She was awesome. A plus from her.
Scott McDonald though, the same thing with him, also.

Speaker 2 (20:10):
Great thing with him. I enjoyed his performance as well,
Like when in the opening act he basically gives Troy
the rundown, like, look, this is what's gonna happen. You're
gonna meet this person. You need to not say anything,
and this is what you have to do. And she's
like and if I don't, And he's like, look, you
don't have a choice. If you don't, you know you're

(20:31):
going to pay a severe price if you don't this
this thing will cost you your life. I thought that
was fantastic. There's some holes in the story that we
can talk to in the second half of this, you
know that. I think we could pick through a little bit.
But as far as the performances are concerned, I thought again,

(20:53):
Scott McDonald, he played but sub commander love that no
bech Yeah, and he was just amazing as well. I
thought he was He was spot on.

Speaker 1 (21:07):
Yep. I agree. One more thought on Carolyne sey Marsh,
who's also in two episodes of Voyager as Missus Templeton.
Missus Templeton. Isn't that the rat in Charlotte's Web Templeton?

(21:28):
Somebody knows the answer to that. I believe that was
the rat in Charlotte's Web who sings about eating at
a fair. It's a wonderful smorg is bored anyway, So let's.

Speaker 2 (21:40):
Just before we cut. I just want to highlight though,
because I wanted to say specifically what she did, because
I know it's it's a better general, you know, kind
of glaze to say, oh, this is a great performance,
you were amazing, But I like to really specify what
it was. The moment in which uh Troy says, do

(22:02):
you believe the empire would be better off without our protection?
You know, referring to the Tausiyar?

Speaker 1 (22:08):
Pretty good?

Speaker 2 (22:09):
Yeah, And then she had an opportunity, and this would
reveal to us that this woman who was really playing
a harsh and abrasive character, like a no nonsense captain
on the ship. She basically says she has a whole
morality based out on her storyline This is why it's
well written for this episode. This character is not just

(22:32):
a character that pops up and is just like reading
off lines and saying, hey, commander, you know a fire
of the shots and engage and said Mark set course
for this. This is this is a person that's complex.
And when you're doing character building and you're an actor,
you want to come into the scene knowing background on
your character. You want to have an extensive motivation of

(22:54):
like where am I coming from, what's my background? You know,
what was my upbringing, what's my socioeconomic status. There's a
whole lot of things that could translate into a good performance,
and so you want to know as much about the
character as you can. And what I felt like the
writers for this character did for Caroline was give her

(23:15):
something really meaning to sink her character into. She mentions
the text between the professor at the academy and says, well,
the academy, the professor teaches the difference between the war,
you know, the military and the taos are and the

(23:36):
functionalities between them. And I guess she's saying, you know,
in the military, we have these you know, practical real
world experiences and a set of rules that we engage
by and all of these things, and you guys are
outside the law and abrasive without any kind of mercy,
and there's no there's no compassion there. I think she

(23:59):
was arguing on behalf of compassion and some to some
degree at least by functionality of the versus military versus
the telsiar. And what gave me that is a hold
on one second, I think I'm getting Just give me
one second.

Speaker 1 (24:17):
Sorry, yeah, I agree with that. Tell you what, why
don't we take our break right now? Because it's time
for our break, So we'll jump on that. Everybody stick around,
and I will tell all of you what I thought
was kind of a torturous thing. There was one part

(24:40):
Sirac that was like it was a little torturous for me.
But we'll jump into that on the other side. Everybody
stick around, will be right back on the seventh rule. Hey, everybody,
welcome back to the seventh rule with Sirac. I look
awesome and hats loft and yeah it is time he
really he does. Though. I like the green, the fluorescent green.

(25:03):
It's always good here. It comes. I own like twenty
hats and I look good and maybe like one or
two of them. Here they go Trivioids of the Week.
Councilor Troy wakes up on the Imperial Romulin Warbird Kazara.
Counselor Troy was attacked with a hypospray. The Enterprise has

(25:26):
arrived at Research Station seventy five. Spock is in need
of more cowboy diplomacy. Vice Proconsul Muret and his two
aides are in stasis. The Corvalins are mercenaries. The senior
officers of a Romulin ship dined together. Vernerene Venerine. Vernerene

(25:48):
is quite good. Wharf grows his hair out, and there's
a starfleet base on Drake and four. Okay, Srok, let
me ask you, did you notice that Warf suddenly had
long hair?

Speaker 2 (26:00):
That really I didn't notice till you said it.

Speaker 1 (26:02):
He just this episode went from the bob to the
long hair ponytail that we know him to have in
Deep Space nine. It just suddenly there it was, And
when I saw it, I thought it happened at the

(26:23):
end of season six, and so when I saw it,
I was like, whoa wait a minute, Wharf has long hair,
And I was like, did it happen last week? Or
so I kind of had to think back, but no,
this is it. This is the first episode where Wharf
has his patented long hair. I guess six months happened

(26:43):
between episode thirteen and episode fourteen Episode thirteen Aquiel, So
while Jordie was falling in love with a Quaiel, Wharf
was growing his hair out for six months. But anyway,
this is now a Wharf that we know and love
from Deep Space nine. He's got his long hair. It's

(27:05):
a little lighter, it's a lot longer, it's ponytailed, and
he just looks it looks better, let's be honest.

Speaker 2 (27:11):
It better. Yeah, it's better than the Bob.

Speaker 1 (27:17):
Yeah. Yeah, I never really liked the Bob. And in
the first season it was like it was it was
high and tight.

Speaker 2 (27:26):
Man. I wonder what inspired this look, because when I
think of the long haired ponytail look, I actually think
of Conan the Buyer Berry. You remember Conan?

Speaker 4 (27:40):
Oh?

Speaker 1 (27:40):
Yeah, Cone? It was what's his name, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Right.

Speaker 2 (27:44):
Yeah, didn't you have the long ponytail in that one? Thought?

Speaker 1 (27:48):
So, I don't remember. I just remember his giant pecks.

Speaker 2 (27:58):
Well yeah, so I guess you know, Warf is getting
comfortable and feeling his fashion sense and says, hey, you
know it's time for a new hair style, you know.

Speaker 1 (28:11):
Yeah, okay, So anyway, so that's Wharf and it just
felt nice because it feels like we are now in
the final stage of the next generation. You know, there's
Picard and Riker. There's no more like juggling doctors and
juggling chief engineers of the first couple seasons. You know,

(28:33):
Wes is gone, Gynan is still in and out, but
it feels like this is the final iteration. Riker has
his beard, Wharf has his long hair, Gynon's around, Barkley's around.
This is like the final next generation that I know
and love. It's kind of like once Deep Space nine

(28:56):
gets the Defiant and Cisco's goatee, you know it, there's
like a different feel. There's that final three or four
seasons with all of that in place, and we go, okay,
let's get some dominion wars on. So this is kind
of where it feels like for me. And then Jordie

(29:16):
almost didn't completely strike out with the girl last week,
so you know things are change getting better.

Speaker 2 (29:23):
Yeah, yeah, I wanted to know this guy that was
walking around his pajamas, as you said, that Romulan guy
on board the ship who was kind of a little
I guess he was suspicious in some way because I
didn't really trust him. So he did have the element
of suspicion, if that's what they cast him for. But

(29:45):
as far as like the element of gravity of the situation,
it wasn't expressed on his part. The gravity, it was
very vague.

Speaker 1 (29:58):
Yeah, and I think I think that could be explained
away in universe as well. This is what made him
defect to the Romulins. He was just kind of wishy washy.
He just wasn't sure. He was kind of I don't
want to say meek, you know, but you know, I

(30:19):
felt the same way as you. His name was ensign
to Sev and clearly he defected to the Romulins twenty
years ago as an ensign, and he gave himself a
ridiculous haircut, and he came back and was like, all right,
you guys, I'm no longer defecting to the Romulins because

(30:41):
I saw that they're horrible people, and so I'm leaving.
But now Spock was like, take this message with you
and trust me, you guys, just you know, just trust me.
And they did Eventually Riker was pretty badass about it though.
He's like, yeah he was Riker man. I love this Riker,
the tough guy Riker. So the car doesn't have to

(31:02):
be tough because first couple of seasons Picard was the
tough guy, you know. But now they realize now the
better fit is for Picard to be the philosopher, for
Picard to be the diplomat, you know, and for Riker
to be like the he's gruss man. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (31:21):
I liked when he says, oh, and find some civilian clothes.
I can't stand looking at you in that uniform. Rushed it.
So yeah, I did like Riker and there's a lot,
but this is what I didn't get right after that.
So in that moment, the Seth says, I have a

(31:43):
message for the captain. I need to speak with the
captain and to you know, tell him it's urgent please.
The next scene they cut to him with the captain
and he's like commander, and he's like, actually it's captain now,
like you asked to speak to the captain. The guy
walks in the door. Who else would it be?

Speaker 1 (32:01):
But the that's a good catch. That's good now, well
because he remembers Picard as a commander, so that's why
he called him commander. But then, yeah, but then why
would he call him the captain? Yeah, that's kind of
a little a little messy there.

Speaker 2 (32:19):
Yeah, you see what I'm saying. Not to mention you
are former Starfleet, so you should know the pips on
somebody's uh caller. That should be pretty much a big
signal right there. But it just seems weird. You ask
for the captain, You tell Riker you know you want
to you want to speak to the captain. He says,

(32:39):
I'll get the message to him. Then you're sitting there
waiting for that said person to come. Whoever that person
got to. Here comes Picard and you.

Speaker 1 (32:50):
In his four captains pips in the captain's ready room.

Speaker 2 (32:56):
Yeah, I mean what else? How could you not be
the captain?

Speaker 5 (32:59):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (33:00):
If the better written line would have been like, oh
you're a captain now you know, something like oh I
didn't know you're you as captain yeah, or something like that.
I didn't expect to see you as captain last time
I saw you were a commander or something to that effect,
some something like that. But to say to call him

(33:21):
commander knowing yours. You're starfleet, so you know the ranks,
not like you just deflected that long that they just
break cut, mushed and you don't remember exactly how the
pips go. So it just felt weird to me. I
just I was like, why would they put that line there?
He asked to speak to the captain. They cut to
the next scene.

Speaker 1 (33:41):
He knows, No, that's a good point. Another thing that
was kind of I don't want to say I I
kind of I'm nitpicking, but it's it's always funny to
me was in that opening sequence with Troy looking in
the mirror and gasping man and they gave it the long

(34:02):
soap opera cut to commercial. She went, and I just
felt I just felt so not quite embarrassed for her,
but uncomfortable for her because it's like, we know how
uncomfortable it is where they're like okay, and so then
you know, Troy, she walks over here, she gasps and

(34:22):
then just hold it. And so you as the actor,
you're like okay, and you go and you hold it,
and it feels very unnaturally long how long you're holding it,
and you're waiting for them to say cut and they're not,
and you're thinking this guy, do I look ridiculous? Does
this real? Like? Should should change my expression? Or do
I just hold it out? Like this is totally unnatural? Right?

Speaker 2 (34:46):
Yeah? Yeah, and it was unnaturally long Wriker. For example,
when Jonathan Frake says his moments, he knows he's about
to get the act ending shot that cuts the commercial break,
and he gives you the look and he holds it.
But he holds it because he knows it's I've got
three seconds with that look, right, and that's it. But

(35:08):
she had a good ten seconds.

Speaker 1 (35:10):
No, there is always so you're like.

Speaker 2 (35:14):
You're like, yeah, you're doing the last three seconds? Ten
seconds is like what are you a robot? Like are
you frozen in time? Like?

Speaker 1 (35:21):
Because then a reason would gasp and go oh and
then like look around like what's going on?

Speaker 6 (35:27):
Or touch your face or something right like it's like
to me, she could have stretched that moment out with
a slow move to touch her face, right, That would
have extended that time where it's just like, you're not frozen.

Speaker 2 (35:41):
So she could have been like oh, and then moving
slowly to touch her forehead or something with one of
her hands. That would have said okay. At least she's
changing something, but the whole like, we're gonna just keep
panning in and closing in and panning in, closing and
panting and panding and panting.

Speaker 1 (35:58):
It's like, and this happens way too often in TV
and in dramas and in soap operas because a lot
of it it just seems like they just need it
to be that long for the music. Dun dun dum. Yeah, right,
and then we're just like we're we're staring and we're like, okay,
we get it. This is getting weird, man, can you

(36:20):
just cut anyway? That's just a very minor thing.

Speaker 2 (36:25):
When I saw it was too long, I.

Speaker 1 (36:27):
Was like, oh god, I know she must feel really
weird about this right now.

Speaker 2 (36:31):
That was a Gabrielle Beaumont decision, you know, and you know,
it just was just it was it was a tad
long because I noticed the same thing too. But I
wanted to talk a little bit about evil Troy because
like when Troy turns on her wicked side and activates

(36:54):
like the bossy bitch.

Speaker 1 (36:56):
Mode and stops acting, yeah, it because legendary.

Speaker 2 (37:05):
It becomes legendary because when she says, now you will
listen to me or I will have you ejected into space.
Remember when she threatened.

Speaker 1 (37:14):
That excellent, Now she nails it.

Speaker 2 (37:17):
I was like, like, I feel I was like, bro,
you better, you.

Speaker 1 (37:20):
Better, you better, you better shut the cup. I am
not backing you up on this. Man, your problem. Bro, Yeah,
my name is Paul, and this is between y'all. Okay,
so I'm.

Speaker 2 (37:32):
Pushing buttons on this side. I didn't hear that totally.

Speaker 1 (37:37):
Now you're right. She's so good when we see her
flip a switch and finally hit a different note rather
than either you know, I sense he's angry, captain or
you and how could you do this to me? When
they give her something else where she's on the offensive
bitch mode.

Speaker 2 (37:56):
I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm just gonna call it a
fee what it is when to activate that mode? Remember
she did in that episode where she was being critical
of one of her remember before one of her patients
was sitting there.

Speaker 1 (38:09):
Oh my god, that was so funny, and she's like,
this isn't for you. When are you gonna move on?
Maybe you should stop crying to me all the time.
It was so good. I was like, I love New Troy.

Speaker 2 (38:19):
This is great and so when she gets to activate
that mode where she just turned into a boss, and
she doesn't. She doesn't get too you know what about
anybody's opinion? I love it? Shit, yeah, exactly, you know what,
ding ding ding. Because the other time she says, she

(38:40):
says this to the commander Tariff or whatever her name was,
Caroline's character. She says, your cowardice does not the fit
of romulan soldier.

Speaker 1 (38:51):
And the reaction, the reaction from Caroline was excellent too.
She just was you could tell she was she was
eating shit right there because she wanted to say something,
she wanted to do something, and she was just like, Okay,
that really pisses me off right now. She's thinking, how

(39:12):
dare you? Who the are you? I could take you know,
but she just she just wears it on her face.
And then she just.

Speaker 2 (39:19):
Yeah, and back to the ideological thing that I point
that I brought up, because in that moment she wore
it on her face. She didn't meet up the point
she said, people blame the military for the wars we
are asked to fight, but it's your kind that will
be the death of us, all okay. And so what

(39:41):
she's saying is I guess she's saying, she's the military.
I go out here and fight these wars. I actually
take the fire, and I'm actually in those trenches.

Speaker 1 (39:52):
And you are the ones causing this shit.

Speaker 2 (39:55):
Yeah, instigating stuff do we, you know, taking me into
the nutri fed space where we know we're going to
get caught, and you know it's an active war and
you know these things are going to happen. And so
again she's making an ideological debate about the soldiers who
fight wars versus the the diplomacy or what have you

(40:19):
that causes wars, that starts wars, right the higher ups,
the secret unit, the TAOSI are in this case for example,
you know what I mean. So I thought that's what
her character was anchored to, as far as having a

(40:41):
point in view that allowed her to still push her
own way in hers in this story, which came down
to eventually her talking about her father being beaten up
or you know, pushed around or kicked around right by
you know, by this very tyrannical administration.

Speaker 1 (41:06):
Essentially. Yeah, it made this episode made the Romulans a
lot more sympathetic. They were like, it took them out
of the you know, the one dimensional bad guy kind
of group and put them into you know, they're just
people trying to do their thing. You know, she was

(41:29):
anti war. She didn't want to kill people. She didn't
want the commander she you know, she was hardened, but
they ate dinner together. She didn't want to get into wars.
She you know, she had all these childhood traumas. When

(41:50):
those eighteen people died, she said, I had nothing to
do with it, and I deplore their loss. You know,
a bad guy would be like whatever happens. So there
was a lot of depth there.

Speaker 2 (42:04):
So this is what that tells me when when I
look at it and step back at the Romulans as
you as you described, are having this factional divide between
a branch of it that wants to you know, not
be so militant and violent and not be so you know,

(42:26):
quick to lay down punishment and you know, this authoritarian
kind of regime and they're looking for some change that
allows growth, for them to accept their vocan and cousins
and move forward in their own lives.

Speaker 7 (42:47):
Right.

Speaker 2 (42:48):
I think this captain or this Commander Tariff who was
played by Caroline Seymour, would be the perfect kind of
recruit for this covert mission in that Spock is contributing
to because she seems to be the kind of mindset
like Number one, I don't like wars. Right, She's questioning

(43:10):
the authoritarian regime because they did something to her father
and were abusive to him. Right, she said, what about
my old man? You know he was just my you know,
he was my father. He was just an idealistic man
who had ideals about the world, and they set him
straight by correcting his mind. What however, they punished him,

(43:32):
And then Troy's response, in her cold form, was I
don't need your devotion, just your obedience. There it is,
and so she's reflecting. Troy is actually, in her imitation,
is embodying the very kind of romulent person that they

(43:55):
are trying to extract from government. Is this cold, calculated
I don't need your devotion, just your obedience type of person, right,
So she's actually embodying that, while the person that is
most like the resistance is this Commander Tariff character played

(44:19):
by Caroline Seymour, who basically said, look, I don't I
don't care if it's eighteen people or eight thousand people.
I don't want nobody to die.

Speaker 1 (44:28):
Yeah, I don't want their blood on my hands. Don't
put that on me. Don't fire the ship that the
weapons of my ship to kill eighteen innocent lives just
on what on a hunch on you didn't believe them, like,
you know, she definitely had a conscience, and you know,
it shows us that Romulins and humans are more alike

(44:49):
than we know, you know, that kind of moral But
it's great, you know, that's that's what makes these characters
so great, and it makes all of the all of
the characters, all the Romulins were likable in this case. However,
it is time for the home run of today's episode.

Speaker 8 (45:09):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (45:10):
The home run for me goes to Marina service. When
she activates full bitch mode, she is unstoppable. She becomes
literally she jumps out of the screen. To me, there
was a moment when she when she's challenged and she's like,
what gives you the right to order my crew around?
And she points at her caller and she says, this

(45:30):
gives me the right? Yeah, And I was like, Uh,
I didn'tbuddy, got Marina uh pissed off?

Speaker 1 (45:38):
Yeah, you don't want to do that, you don't want.

Speaker 5 (45:40):
To do it.

Speaker 2 (45:42):
So yeah, I'm gonna just say because you know, I
don't get too many opportunities to say this, but I
thought she gave a fantastic performance and I enjoyed it.
So I'm let me give it to Marina Service.

Speaker 1 (45:56):
All right, I'm almost there with you. However, I'm going
to give it to Carol and Seymour. Also, Scott McDonald
was great. I mean, there was a lot of really
good performances here. Carolyn Seymour wins it. For me. I
was very proud on a personal level of Scott McDonald
because he got more. It felt like, you know, when
he played Tosk just the week prior, and there's a

(46:18):
funny story about that, how I think they brought him
on to play Tosk and then he was having problems
with all the makeup and like the five hours of makeup,
and so they're like, okay, if you know, if we
have you back, you know you won't do we won't
have you do so much makeup in the future. They
bring him back as a Romulan. Then they brought him

(46:38):
back as a Zend and he just stuck by this
stuff forever. But anyway, Carolyn Seymour for me, amazing actress,
unbelievable gets the home run of the Day. Here are
some other people that are great at acting acting like
our pals, and their names are Doctor Ann Marie Siegel,
Eve England Out in Wales, That Blackman, Tom t J.

(47:01):
Jackson Bay Out in Missouri, Titus Mueller, doctor Mohammad Noir,
anil O Palatte, Joe Booseradi Mike Goo, doctor Stephanie Baker,
Carrie Schwent, Faith Howell, the Matt Boardman, Chris McGee, Jake Barrett,
Henry Hunger, Alison Leech Hide, Julie Menasfi, Jed Thompson, doctor

(47:23):
Susan V. Grooner, Glenn Iverson, Dave Gregory, Chris Sternet, greg
Ka Wickstrom, Cassandra g chuck A, Chris Garris, and of
course Jason m Oakin Subcommander Jason m Oakin. All right, everybody,
stick around, We've got the Free for All up next
and we will be right back on the seventh Rule. Hello, everybody,

(47:48):
Welcome back to the seventh Roll with Sarrok Lofton. This
is the Free for All with Melissa Longo. I can
never remember is that Weezer or wonder Woman. Wonder Woman, Yeah,
Weezer has a very similar logo Jason m Oakin is
also here. Hi, everybody. Chris Garrison has a cool ISOLINEO

(48:11):
chip on his chest. Hello, everyone wears it with pride faith.
Howl is on the bridge of the Enterprise. D Chuck
a is the TNG fanatic. He's got the card's head
on his chest. Carrie Schwent is out in Wrigley Field
again if you can believe that Chris McGee is the
dark Lord and the Matt Boardman is here. Ran out

(48:38):
of things? Sorry here uh sirock lofton. Jake Sisto guesses
the IMDb score.

Speaker 2 (48:49):
I will probably say this was around a seven eight.

Speaker 1 (48:55):
Interesting. Do saybody else have any guesses? That doesn't all ready?

Speaker 9 (49:00):
No?

Speaker 7 (49:02):
I want to say seven point four, seven point two.

Speaker 1 (49:09):
Definitely?

Speaker 2 (49:10):
Oh you said nine seven nine nine nine.

Speaker 1 (49:18):
All right? I think all bets are in. And that
sound you did not hear means somebody hit it right
on the head. So rock was close, but Jason m
ok and nailed it with a seven point nine. Everybody amazing.
Also non appearance mentions we got spock anybody else m

(49:42):
hm no? Okay? Also some kind of verse, some sort
of I wrote one down? Where was it it was?
I can't find it, but it was there, Chris McGee,
can you tell us we had at least one it
was Picard?

Speaker 10 (50:03):
Indeed, he did say one of them, I caught two total.
Person one was the card asking about the remains of
the freighter, said could they have had some sort of malfunction?
And then later, uh, this mentions but it might show
through the cloak as a magnetic disturbance of some kind.

Speaker 1 (50:25):
Very good. All right, Melissa Longo, will you please get
a start off on the right track by telling us
what you thought of this episode right after I show
you look how close the Weezer logo is to Wonder Woman.
Very close?

Speaker 4 (50:43):
Yeah, okay, what do you think of this one? That's
very close?

Speaker 11 (50:53):
Sorry? I enjoyed this episode for several reasons. One, Finally,
Troy gets an episode where she could stretch her legs.
Marina can to do other things rather than be the
victim of some skeeve skivee ski void.

Speaker 1 (51:19):
Finally, and.

Speaker 11 (51:22):
I really liked the way she played off of the
commander of the ship.

Speaker 4 (51:27):
I thought they were they did really.

Speaker 11 (51:30):
Well together, They worked really well, and I actually thought
this might be a two parter. It felt like it
could have been a two parter, because I felt like
the Commander almost had some sympathetic tendencies to the dissonance
movement in my opinion, with the way that she was

(51:53):
coming up against the tall she are so so vehemently.
I thought maybe that she could have been you know,
in the underground as well, but didn't know. Yeah, I
was just expecting the other shooter drop, I think in
this episode, and it would have been really cool if

(52:16):
there was some kind of see some kind of trickery
or treachery.

Speaker 4 (52:27):
The thing that was.

Speaker 11 (52:28):
Missing for me in this episode was that everyone was
exactly who they said they were. There was no you
know that with romulents you expect some some sneakiness, some

(52:48):
behind the back kind of maneuvering. And I'm forgetting all
of my words today, and but yeah, I was expect
think some kind of uh oh, gotcha, you know, some
kind of gotcha.

Speaker 4 (53:05):
But not really.

Speaker 11 (53:06):
Everyone's pretty much was who they said they were. Although
but on the whole, I did enjoy this episode, and
there were some questions that I had that I wanted
to ask for things left unseaid, and I can't remember
them right this second, so at least things left unset

(53:27):
isn't happening right this second, so I can try and
remember what they were, so stay tuned for things left unsaid.

Speaker 1 (53:35):
Very nice. The Romulans were who we thought they were, right, sir,
that's a little was that Dennis Green? I think anyway,
when he was with the Cardinals, I.

Speaker 2 (53:48):
Think so maybe yeah, maybe yeah, you that are her
men words.

Speaker 1 (53:53):
No tennis screen with the Cardinals, I think maybe talking
about the Bears anyway, whatever, live chat or people comms below,
let us know who we're talking about and what we're
talking about. Jason m Oakin, you probably are just like,
can we just talk about Star Trek? So why don't you?
What do you think of this one?

Speaker 8 (54:13):
Well, I've always liked this, you know, this episode. Anytime
we get a lot of our amulence, it's basically, oh
at least some next Janet's shoulder pads and wigs.

Speaker 1 (54:24):
We get a lot of that.

Speaker 8 (54:25):
But you know, other than that, I mean, just looking
at you know, the way the show was structured and
the way it was written. I think when Marina probably
opened that script, she was thrilled. As Melissa said, it's
certainly something different that she's gotten to do. And I
think this is the best episode they've given her throughout
the seven years, no question about it. There are layers

(54:47):
here that she was given that she could play various
sort of states of emotion going, you know, basically from
somebody disoriented and groggy to somebody sort of taking charge
and taking command and you know, going, you know, sort
of toe to toe with the Romuln commander, who is
really you know, written as a strong character. And I

(55:07):
think perhaps and when it comes to the Romulants, these
are the closest to what we see in the Balance
of Terror, the first Romulan episode of Star Trek. They're
not necessarily treacherous. They have sort of their sense of duty,
and I think they've they've given the character of the
Sev sort of this description of the Romulus. They have
a sort of a strong sort of moral focus that
they know, they know who their enemies are. They have

(55:27):
a moral code and they follow it maybe a little
bit too strictly, so they're not sort of these cardboard
cut out villains, if you will. The Romulin commander certainly isn't.
So it's nice to see this kind of a plot develop.
I think it keeps you on the edge of your seat,
if you think about it. The enterprise doesn't appear until
act too, I mean act who opens with the captain's log,

(55:48):
which is typically how the teaser opens for Next Generation,
So you get a bit of a difference there. Again,
it's it's Marina show. It's her performance, certainly her Carolyn
Seymour giving sort of a a character playoff of you know,
for the entire episode. Thank Scott McDonald was very good

(56:09):
in the two. I mean it's, you know, one of
his many turns in Star Trek. There are a few
things here that I wouldn't necessarily say I would nitpick,
but I could say some lesson stellar things about but
you have to stay tuned for that.

Speaker 1 (56:23):
For things left on set, excellent, Thank you very much. Wow,
we got a lot of stuff to look forward to
already for that, things left un said. All right, up next,
Chris Garris, what did you think of this one? Had
you seen it prior to this day?

Speaker 7 (56:40):
I had seen it prior, but it in a while,
and to be honest, I really enjoyed it. It's just
been that long and so I you know, everyone's already
saying so far, Marina just knocked it out of the
park with this one. I mean I loved it when
she and Amander when he was he was you know,

(57:02):
she had to basically, she just tore him a new
one when he was trying to come, you know, well
we don't, we can't do it. She's like, how can
we get a hold of the Enterprise figure it out?
And like I think he was scared that she might
shoot him, to be honest with you, but just her
interactions with you know, the you know, the captain of

(57:22):
the commander of the ship was just phenomenal. Those two
got they just they just meshed. I was just pleasantly surprised,
you know. I mean, like I said'd been at all
since I've seen it, but you know, I liked how
they you know, then I was, I actually forgotten. I
thought maybe the Enterprise would back off because I was thinking, Okay,
maybe the Cardinal will think, oh wait, maybe they're trying

(57:45):
to you know, lead us. But no, he went ahead
and backed off, So I was I'd forgotten about that.
But yeah, no, this was just it's a good episode.
So I definitely highly I can highly recommend watch this one.
Oh and also I like some you talk about trickery.
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (58:05):
If you could.

Speaker 1 (58:05):
I'm pretty sure.

Speaker 7 (58:07):
I feel like the commander was doing this on purpose
and maybe y'all can we can figure it out later.
But when they were having at the meal and she's
talking about all nam A, the Romulan foods and stuff
like that, she was sitting there trying to get her
just you know, to.

Speaker 1 (58:22):
Have a misstep and totally.

Speaker 7 (58:25):
And I was like, oh, okay, she's getting there. And
like when she tells her, you know you do you?

Speaker 5 (58:30):
How do you like this?

Speaker 7 (58:31):
And she's like, get something else? Yeah, I don't really
care for that or you know, so she I'll be
Anae Deanna Troy. She she she held her own with that,
with that Romlin captain. So great episode. I don't think
I have a whole lot of nitpicks for this one.
For a change, you'll think something, but I'll think of

(58:53):
But still y'all need to come and watch Things Left
Unside and come Patreon.

Speaker 1 (58:56):
Remember, thanks very much, Chris Garrett. Great stuff. As always,
Faith howl is on the bridge of the Enterprise d.
She has some thoughts. She's seen this one a few times.

Speaker 12 (59:07):
What he said, Yeah, I adore Deanna Troy. I think
you know, growing up she was probably my number one
absolute favorite character, and this definitely is a strong you
know reason why she just has such a strong arc
in this this episode from you know, waking up in
the opening seconds, we're thrown right in with her. Oh

(59:30):
my god, what is going on? Where are we?

Speaker 1 (59:32):
It's so dark?

Speaker 12 (59:34):
And then all of her arc and she grows into
it and you are right there with her. She must
have been terrified, knowing her and all the things that
she's been through, how she must be feeling. But she
put it together and she played the part and she
got through it. And I think that is just you know,

(59:56):
idole worthy right there. But one thing I really wanted
to bring up, and I'm glad some of you guys
had the background because I did not have time to
put it together. If you look at those costumes, because
I'm always of course with that costumer. I looking at,
you know, fabrics, and how could I maybe you know,
make an outfit? No two of those Romulans have the

(01:00:20):
same fabric. And I wonder what the discussion was in
that room when they were putting these together? Did it matter?
Did they not have enough of any particular thing? How
did that happen? Because it all works like you don't
really notice it unless you're looking for it. But you know,

(01:00:41):
every single one of those costumes is different, but they
all have the defining Y shape pulling it back together.

Speaker 1 (01:00:49):
So I'm being abused today. Yeah, I feel like I
had to do with rank and division or something like that.
Was that was that everything? Faith? Did you have more?

Speaker 2 (01:01:05):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (01:01:05):
All right, great stuff? Thank you very much. That y
shape was very nineties. Uh Chuck A A K A
T n G fanatic, What do you think of this one?

Speaker 9 (01:01:16):
I've always liked this episode, Uh, Marina, probably Marina's best episode.

Speaker 2 (01:01:24):
She had a lot.

Speaker 9 (01:01:26):
Of good scenes with Carolyn Seymour, the cap, the commander,
prominent commander, good scenes with Novek. She really put words
to how she felt. You know, she didn't let it,
didn't let anybody push her around. It was a very
well written episode for Troy. Scott McDonald and Carolyn Seymour

(01:01:51):
were just excellent in this episode. Of course, Uh, Scott
McDonald goes on to play Toss in DS nine. Would
have loved to hear An O'Brien, but that wouldn't have
been appropriate.

Speaker 1 (01:02:05):
I guess the.

Speaker 9 (01:02:09):
Episode it took. I was reading online there quite a bit.
It took a few years for people to warm up
to this episode. For some reason, they didn't think I
had enough substance to the episode. But to make up
for it, you know, with the Romulins, when you always
when you have the Romblins, you always have the treachery,

(01:02:31):
the deceit, and how Troy dealt with that was a
prime factor. The enterprise, as was mentioned, comes in later
in the in the episode, I love all the spot callbacks.

Speaker 2 (01:02:47):
That was really good.

Speaker 9 (01:02:50):
Anyway, It's just a really good episode. I really enjoy
watching it every time I get a chance to see it.

Speaker 1 (01:02:58):
Yeah, great stuff. Probably seen it like three dozen times, Chuck,
and it gets better every time.

Speaker 4 (01:03:04):
Probably a.

Speaker 1 (01:03:09):
Fanatic. Carrie schwent out in Wrigley Field. What's up, Carrie?
Would you think of this one? Did you love it?

Speaker 4 (01:03:16):
Yes?

Speaker 13 (01:03:17):
I very much you And I'm actually in Wrigley Field North,
otherwise known as Milton Milton Milwaukee Brewers American Family Field.
I use air quotes because it's I just prefer the
name Miller Miller Park a little bit.

Speaker 4 (01:03:31):
I feel like it sounds a little bit better. But
post season baseball, y'all, here we go, Here we go.

Speaker 13 (01:03:37):
Prepare, be prepared for a few baseball metaphors as I
go along because it's just gonna happen.

Speaker 7 (01:03:43):
But I love this.

Speaker 4 (01:03:45):
I love this episode. I think it's fantastic.

Speaker 13 (01:03:49):
But it's apparently Marina's favorite favorite episode, and I can
see why because she has She not only hits the
horm or, she hits a damn grand slam. She handles
everything thrown her away like a like a champ, even
though she got no kind of scouting her for what's
whatsoever on it. I would like to think that if

(01:04:12):
Navarre had asked her, she probably would have said Yet,
if he had laid out the situation for her, I'd
like to think she would have said, yes, sure, let's
do it.

Speaker 4 (01:04:21):
But she she is great.

Speaker 13 (01:04:24):
The scenes with Carolyn zeymar are just fantastic, absolutely fantastic.

Speaker 4 (01:04:32):
And yeah, and she's and she's plait.

Speaker 13 (01:04:35):
Carolyn Seymour has been a romulent ONNG before she was
in the season two episode Contagion and a bit a
bit of a smaller role. I like Carolyn in this
episode like ten times better. She is just absolutely yeah,
I keep saying fantastic, but she's she's great. I love
I can see why she did a lot of voice

(01:04:56):
acting later later in her career.

Speaker 4 (01:04:58):
She just has just a fantastic voice. You guys know me.
I love my funny voices.

Speaker 13 (01:05:05):
Chuck beat beat me to the the Tosk the top
shout out. When I was looking up Scott McDonald, I
kept thinking I know that voice, and as.

Speaker 4 (01:05:14):
Soon as I saw Tosk, I'm like, oh yeah, very
very cool.

Speaker 13 (01:05:19):
One other guest star that nobody has pointed out yet
is worse brand spanking new Meto. He has been to
Mott and gotten got his his his extensions.

Speaker 4 (01:05:32):
It looks fantastic.

Speaker 13 (01:05:34):
He either got extensions or he used whatever tool Beverly
used to regrow Deanna's hair after she gets drama the
ramulentified could suddenly get Marina's got her awesome curly curly
hair back. So I think Beverly's got some through secret
hair growing wand so she either used that on that

(01:05:55):
on wharf Orf went to Mott and said, Okay, can
I have some extensions until the hair grows back out
on its on its own, which apparently was a request
by Michael Dorn. He didn't want to look like a klingon.
That was it was always fresh from the beauty salon
with it with a cute little little Bob Bob that
he that he used to have. I've got a thought

(01:06:18):
or two about dis sve, but i'll say that for
for things left left unsaid. But as far as the
poetry for the episode goes, it could come from from
no one, no one other than Deanna. So I'll finish
with that. What a strange situation I am now in

(01:06:42):
the romulents are seeking defection. My face has been altered.
I do not dare Falter have to get them to
Surfleet's protection.

Speaker 1 (01:06:54):
Excellent, exquisite, Thank you very much, Carrie Schwent, Good luck today.
Up next the dark Lord, Chris McGee, dark Lord, what
do you think of this one?

Speaker 10 (01:07:09):
Well, first, I echo everyone else's sentiment, it's about damn
time that Marina starts gets an episode where her character
isn't just stating the obvious with Captain I Sense, or worse,
a victim to some alien's creepy fantasies. Kudos to an
Ah Area for giving Marina the lead role in a

(01:07:29):
story with some meat so she can finally show off
her acting skills. So yeah, I think this is a
damn good episode and I always enjoy watching it. One
moment that stands out to me Chris Gerris alluded to
it is when Commander Torrith recommends that Marina's character try
the Venerene, toy likely doesn't know what that is, so

(01:07:51):
she just takes whatever looks appealing to her while masking
her ignorance. It's perfect that way. If she chose the Vinerine,
no harm done. But if she didn't, which is what happened,
her action and her face make it look like she
doesn't want the ven Erine. Really enacting by Marina, and
of course, like Curscarez, I found it even more delightful

(01:08:11):
when Troy has had enough and defies Novak, practically throwing
herself fully into her romulent role in ordering Novek to
help her finish the mission her way. I also think
that the events in this episode helped Troy to discover
more about herself and what she's capable capable of outside

(01:08:37):
of her counseling career, and that may contribute to choices
she makes in a future episode. And of course I
am delighted to see Carolyn Seymour. As always, she does
an amazing job or training Commander the Committed with a
delightful cynicism, sarcasm, distrust and anger. It's almost like she

(01:08:59):
was born to play Romulin after all. As Carrie mentioned,
she also played another romulant commander way back in season
two's Contagion. For the memorable quote, I'll go with the Sevas.
It was kind of kind of hard to pick a
good one in this episode, but I'll go with the sevens,
which is on Romulus you learn not to volunteer information?

Speaker 1 (01:09:23):
Ain't that the truth? Thanks very much? Chris McGee. Up next,
the map Boardman. Here he is. He's done it. Finally
he's watched an episode of the Next Generation. Did you
enjoy it?

Speaker 2 (01:09:37):
I can't?

Speaker 3 (01:09:38):
Let me tell you. It's this Next Generation thing that
you all are watching, Like, what a cool show?

Speaker 2 (01:09:44):
I can't.

Speaker 3 (01:09:45):
Where has this been my whole life? No, I I
this is my favorite Troy episode of all time, right,
I mean for reasons that everyone else has stated, but like,
what a cool thing to give an actor to sink
their teeth into. And Marina knocked it out of the park.

(01:10:06):
She did not disappoint in this episode. Watching it this time,
it almost gave me some Hunt for a October vibes,
especially like the the Commander's dinner there they had a
similar scene in the Hunt for at October, and I
got thinking, like, how cool would it have been because

(01:10:27):
we were kind of connecting some pieces back to Unification
in this episode, and like how cool would it have
been have had a Star Trek series that was like
a federation operative on Romulus and to have like this
kind of like I just I don't know. I love
spycraft kind of stuff, and that's that, you know, like

(01:10:51):
this is kind of I don't know, it's scratching that
that spycraft itch that I have, right, you know, So
it was like I love that aspect of it. Scott
McDonald so freaking cool. In fact, it's funny. I just
watched an episode of Dexter last night and I was like, Hey,
that's Scott McDonald, and then I saw him in this
episode again and I was like, hey, that's Scott McDonald

(01:11:12):
and so but anyway, I just I don't know. For me,
this episode works. I look forward to it when it
comes up in the playlist, and I just I don't know.
It's just one of those things that everything just kind
of came together to make a really cool episode for me.

Speaker 1 (01:11:33):
Yeah, and we do love Scott McDonald, Thank you very much.
The Matt boardman Jake's final take Srock. Any final thoughts
on today's episode, Face of the Enemy.

Speaker 2 (01:11:51):
Yes, I do have a couple of things. I agree
with everybody about this being a great episode. As far
as Marina Servis and herpportunity to act and as Troy,
I thought she really got a good opportunity to do
some real acting and it was good to see her
knock it up the park and those performances. I have

(01:12:13):
a couple of little nitpicks though, and here's what. Here
they go.

Speaker 5 (01:12:21):
When the defector who gets being to board the Enterprise,
who is going to be charged for treason asked to
speak to the captain, subsequently gets a chance to speak
to the captain, He's.

Speaker 2 (01:12:36):
Standing there with no cuffs on and he's not being
detained by security, And I thought, how would you let
this treason this person just have full reign of the
captain's quarters and be able to walk around. He's supposed
to be under detainment, so I would expect security ops
to kind of be nearby or at least be in cuts.

(01:12:59):
So I thought it was just too casual. This guy
is capable of anything, and you're letting him have a
one on one encounter with the captain of the ship,
it's just too casual for me. Number two, when Riiker
and Picard see see Troy aboard this Romulan ship, their

(01:13:27):
biggest all they say is what's she doing on that ship?
Like maybe like what's she doing as a romulatet, like
like like her face is different? Like they didn't even
address that, right, It's like it if you see your
friend with an in completely different face on, You're not

(01:13:49):
gonna say, hey, what are you doing in Glendale? You're
gonna be like, bro, your your face like you're you're
not even the same. You know that you were Like
that would be the first thing that would jump out,
like what she's doing is a promulant, like how did

(01:14:09):
that happen? Not what's she doing on that ship? So
I thought that was weird or at least follow that
up with, yeah, her face, like what's going on here?
We got to find out something. So then the other
thing is I liked when Troy gave the line. She
delivered the line where you know the commander Tariff, she

(01:14:30):
was like, Yo, I want to know what's in that cargo.
I'm going to open up that cargo, and Troy gives
her some line where she's like, yeah, I wouldn't do
that unless you want another encounter, because she brought back
her little words to her and I thought that was
a nice moment right there, delivery wise and just well written. Also,

(01:14:58):
I have a thing where I I don't like what
people become what they're fighting against. And I think in
this instance, you're fighting against this utalitarian, authoritarian version of
government that's running the romulent empire, that's cold blooded, ruthless,
and maniacal, and then you end up emulating that in

(01:15:23):
an attempt to fight against it, by one killing that
chet passenger ship full of people, by threatening people's lives
and their families for death and torture, you end up
becoming that very same thing that you hate and you despise.
By acting in that same way, you're threatening people's families,

(01:15:45):
you're asking I don't need your devotion, just your obedience.
It's it's exactly the same thing that you're fighting against,
and so you have to be careful not to become
what you're fighting against while you're fighting against it. That's
just a general warning. And then the last thing cargo
as people. It's hard for me to just really get

(01:16:08):
around that. I know what happens all the time. You know,
I live in a border state, so there's a lot
of people trying to pass as cargo of some sort
insight of vehicles or whatnot as they smuggle. But I
would imagine that that would change when technology advances to

(01:16:32):
the level it does. It just seemed I see a
practicality and that if they were able to kidnap Troy
from this planet that she was at and face change
her and all of these things, Well, she was obviously
at a planet that allows humans to come, and it's
like it must be a place where you can go

(01:16:53):
and gether. If you can get that far, you should
also be able to just escape to that planet with
those people and then escape from there. So I find
little things in that where I'm like, I just need
more convincing and why it's necessary to put people into
this homeostasis place and put them in cargo. It has

(01:17:14):
to be kind of defined for me in a better way,
and I just didn't feel it. But other than that,
you know, I thought it was a good episode, and
I did love Caroline Seymour's acting. Scott McDonald was fantastic,
and yeah, I enjoy it.

Speaker 1 (01:17:32):
That was a good one, fun one, and this was
a good and fun free for all everybody. Can you
believe it? It's already over. We're sad that it's over,
but we're also happy that things Left un Said is
about to start. But before we jump into that, we'd
like to say thank you to Carrie Schwentt, the map Boardman,
Chris McGee, Chuck a faith howl, Chris Garris, Jason m Oken, Melissa,

(01:17:56):
a longo for myself, Sorock Lofton Melissa, and Wow, Lisa,
I don't know what's going on there, but this is
good stuff. And of course mister Aron Eisberg, thank you
all very much for hanging out with us and we
will see you next time. Until then, always remember the
seventh Rule.