54: Rajiin - Star Trek Enterprise Season 3, Episode 4

Show Notes

https://youtu.be/lBcTxwWLE30

Matt and Sean have a difference of opinion when it comes to Xindi spies and storytelling. 

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Matt Ferrell

Host of Undecided with Matt Ferrell, Still TBD, and Trek in Time podcasts

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Sean Ferrell 🐨

Co-host of Still TBD and Trek in Time Podcasts

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Hey, everybody. In this episode, we're gonna talk about how Madlibs ask for nouns, verbs, adjectives, and that, that appears to be how this episode of enterprise was written. That's right. We're talking about rajiin this is. Episode four of season three of star Trek enterprise. And you are listening to Trek in time.

We're the podcast that takes a look at every episode of star Trek and chronological order. And we're still in early days, it's taking us a while, but we're finally into season three of enterprise, which means we're not only talking about enterprise. We're also talking about the year 2003, because we also talk about the time.

That the original episodes aired. So we're talking about October 1st, 2003, with this episode of Raj and who is doing the talking well, there's me. I'm Sean Ferrell. I'm a writer. I write some sci-fi. I write some stuff for kids and with me as my brother, Matt. Matt is the Matt Ferrell of undecided with Matt Ferrell, which takes a look at emerging tech and its impact on our lives.

And Matt, how are you doing on this very hot and humid July 4th weekend. I'm

doing well and staying indoors cuz it's

steamy outside. It is steamy outside. And if you're here in Brooklyn, you might have noticed it's also steamy. So so for the start of our episodes, we usually take a look back at what people have been saying about the previous episodes.

Matt, do you have any comments from recent episodes that you wanted to share with us? Sure.

I have, uh, one from robo Trav from two episodes ago when we were talking about the anomaly. He said, I thought this was a pretty good episode overall, but all throughout, I kept noticing plot elements that felt very like they, like, they were plucked directly from the old next generation or Voyager stories.

Maybe I just watched too much star Trek. Great show as usual guys. Thanks. I don't think he's wrong. there's there are definitely elements and themes that we've seen. and other shows sometimes done better. I think in the anomaly, they think they did a pretty good job rehashing some old tropes, but I don't mm-hmm I don't blame you tra for noticing those.

I think

we're gonna be talking a little bit about that today as a matter of fact. So yeah.

Uh, the other comment was on the episode extinction, which was our last. Pago 69 wrote. I love the concept of this episode of virus that mutates human humanoids into a species with instinctive memories. It's like a genetic time capsule.

I think it mirrors the next generation episode about the I time capsule that cha that changes the ship and data into characters from their mythos. I think this episode would've been better without the blood thirsty aliens though. I agree with that. Yeah. I think that's a, a pretty good assessment. The blood thirsty aliens could have, uh, been dropped

Yeah, I

think that not necess, I think the. One of the things we have a trap we've fallen into and sometimes that we enjoy falling into, but the rewriting of episodes is something that we've done previously. We didn't really do it much on that episode. Yeah. But I think the key question is usually if you can pull a part out of.

A story and it has zero impact on the story being told, then maybe you don't actually need it. Yeah. And in something as complex as a novel or a movie, it's often more acceptable to have a little bit more filler that isn't key to the final solution because you have more time and you have more wiggle room, but I do somewhat agree with Ghost's comment here in the form of.

Could they have given us more of the mutated individuals of the crew. Mm-hmm, exploring their evolving sense of culture, which then would make the reversion back to human a little more tragic. And it does feel like the. Aliens that show up with the, we have to destroy this infection puts a different spin on the point of the episode, but you could have also told a really great story without them.

So I do, I do think ghosts just touched on something there.

The, the aliens also add a countdown clock to the episode. Yeah. A sense of tension. But at the same time that tension was already there because they were saying the longer this evolution goes on, we won't be able to get them back. Yeah. So they, they already had that clock.

So you, you almost don't need the aliens for the, that sense of tension either.

Yeah. You also, you know, the sense of tension could just come out of our captain is turning into another thing. Mm-hmm we need to get him back it. I don't know if a tick and clock is even really. All that critical. That's another element that might even be able to be pulled out.

Thank you for those comments. As usual, the comments are a big part of how we approach these episodes. We want to engage with all of you and we appreciate every comment that comes in and we take a look at them as well. So thank you for taking the time to drop your comments and then please continue to do so.

I'm talking over that sound in the background right now, but that's, that's our read alert. That means it's time for Matt to jump in on the Wikipedia description for this episode, the episode being Rajiin Matt, take it away. Tell us what this episode is all about.

Rajiin is the 56th episode of the American science fiction television series, star Trek enterprise.

The fourth episode of season three. It first aired on October 1st, 2003 on the UPN network in the United States. The episode was written by Brent Friedman and Chris black from the story idea from Friedman and Paul Brown and was directed by Mike feature set the 22nd century, the series follows the adventures of the first star fleet Starship, enterprise registration, NX.

Oh one. Here we go again. Gotta get those details. Yeah. Season three of enterprise features an ongoing story. Following an attack on earth by previously unknown aliens called the Xindi at this point, we could probably drop that from the description too. In this episode, captain Jonathan Archer, Scott Baula and the crew visit an alien Bazaar seeking a formula to help protect the ship against the anomalies and the Delphic expanse.

They bring back on board, a former slave called Rajiin play by Nikita ager, whose motivations are not what the crew initially

believe. Dun dun dun dun . So as Matt just said, this is season three, episode four. Its original air date was October 1st, 2003, and guest appearances include Nikita ager who plays Eugene Tucker Smallwood, Randy Osby, Rick worthy, Scott McDonald, Steve Larson, Del Y BK, Kenley and Ken lolly.

And a lot of those guest stars are playing various Xindi because this is another room where we see the get Xindi council that is in charge of humans are on their way. We don't like that. What are we gonna do about this? So we see more people as guest stars on these episodes where we see that council. And I think that that's a recurring element to.

Where we're supposed to measure this in the ongoing season, long story arc. Do we see the council at work? Mm-hmm . I think that it's intended to give it some punch. So we'll see if Matt and I think that it carries that punch with all those guest stars. If they were well used in this episode, basically is what I'm asking.

As I said, this was aired originally October 1st, 2003. And Matt you'll remember what song you were singing along to? It was like the fifth or sixth week you were singing. Where is the love by the black eyed peas I don't know that that's a musical question that Matt's ever been able to answer for his sake.

I hope so. But at the movies, well, we were, I guess, going to see the rundown. Do you remember this movie, Matt? I do not remember this movie at all. Well, the rundown was a little movie that made $18 million and it was known internationally as welcome to the jungle. Okay. It's a 2003 American buddy action comedy directed by Peter Berg.

Recognizable director written by James Vanderbilt and RJ Stewart stars. Dwayne Johnson, credited as the rock. Sean William Scott, Christopher Walken, Rosa Dawson, and William lucking in the film. Johnson plays a bounty hunter who travels to Brazil to achieve his employer's son. The film is released by universal pictures in north America and Japan.

It made 80 million on an 85 million budget. So it didn't quite make its money back, which this

given like its eras an alternate reality. Yeah. Cause feels like I do not remember this movie at

all. Yeah. But given the era, this is a very early, uh, Dwayne Johnson movie. So. Here, we here, we have, uh, an entry into, I don't remember this, but it does exist.

And it's available. If you've got Hulu or a Roku, this movie is streaming right now. So check it out, let us know if you do and let us know what you think if you do. And as far as on television, those of us who were glued to our sets on the nights when enterprise aired, well, there were 4.5 million of us.

How did we stack up? Well, my wife and kids, they had 11 million viewers. It's all relative. I know you remember that show Matt. Oh, it was my favorite they had 10 million viewers. We'd have to ask one of those 10 million viewers, what that show was about. Cuz I have no idea. I don't know. 60 minutes, two was airing.

And 10 million people were tuning in to see stories about American opposition in Iraq and sting. So of course, yeah. So, you know, 10 million people curious your things go together. What sting is up to? Yeah. Fox was showing paradise hotel, which without remembering a thing about it, I am gonna hazard to guess.

I think it was probably something smarmy. Oh, yeah. Ed had 8 million viewers and on WB the little, uh, show that could Smallville had 6.8 million viewers. So WB finally found a show that would simply outdo enterprise. They've struggled for the first two seasons, but Smallville boot would be the show that could do it.

And then the New York times, what was going on in the news? Well, in the news ongoing concerns about what was happening in Iraq. The postwar rebuilding effort was not going well. And the Bush administration was still asking for more money, certain that if they just had enough money, they would be able to find the weapons of mass destruction that were the pretext for the entire war, spoiler alert.

They never found any weapons of mass destruction, but there was also this story and this caught my eye. And I'll explain why in a. Written by J Longman in October of 2003, wom box goal sends us to semis. It became evident early Wednesday night that the United States versus Norway women's soccer game would be a familiar game of muscle and determination of ferocious TA tackling and rough jostling for balls in the air of ceaseless pressure and hard running a match defined by effort, not elegance.

This is part of a story. About the us women's soccer team, which at this point was in the midst of this kind of run. The United States women's national soccer team represents the United States in international women's soccer. The team is the most successful in international women's soccer, winning the women's world cup titles, four Olympic gold medals.

And it medaled in every world cup, an Olympic tournament in the women's soccer from 1991 to 2015 before being knocked out in the quarter final. Of the 2016 summer Olympics after mostly being ranked number two from 2003 to 2008 in FIFA women's world rankings, the team was ranked number one continuously from March of 2008 to November of 2014, the longest consecutive top ranking of any team since FFA rankings were established in 2003, it has been ranked number one for a total of 13 years.

The only other team degree ranked number one, Germany has been there for a total of four and a half years. The us women's team has never been ranked lower than second. The team was selected as the us Olympic committees team of the year in 1997 and 1999. And sports illustrated chose the entire team as 1999 sports women of the year for its usual sportsmen of the year honor.

On April 5th, 2017, the us women's soccer and us soccer reached a deal on a new collective bargaining agreement that would among other things lead to a pay increase in February, 2022, numerous current and former members of the women's team. Settled a lawsuit. With the us soccer Federation for 24 million and a requirement that male and female soccer players be paid equally in the future.

The reason I am sharing that story is because in 2003, we were in the midst of this, this mm-hmm incredible and historic and powerful strength of a group of women doing. Something, the men's team was not capable of doing, being undervalued for it and underutilized for it. And for some reason, Matt, maybe you can guess that feels like it ties in with this episode in its use of the female characters.

This episode for me, feels like a big step back for season three, into the exploitive. Nonsense that we have complained about for the first two seasons. This mm-hmm episode feels like I mentioned at the beginning of the episode where it felt like it was written like a Madlib captain Archer goes to blank.

He finds a blank and then comes back to the ship with a blank. The key elements that come out of this episode for me that are supposed to move something forward are. The Xindi council is conflicted. We already knew this. The Xindi council is preparing a massive weapon. We already knew this. The Xindi council is unsure of how to stop humanity.

We already knew this. The humans are looking for the Xindi we already knew this. They don't know where they are. We already knew this. and this part of space has anomalies that require special protection. So for me, the only thing that comes out of this episode is the humans potentially get a hold of a formula to be able to protect the ship, the whole storyline around Rajiin, who is.

Spy seems completely unnecessary. This doesn't seem to me to be a story that ultimately has a point. And then in the way it's told it felt incredibly insulting to every female character and female actor in the show. Yeah. Yeah. I came away from this thinking, oh, I thought we'd turned the corner on a lot of this.

I had no memory of this episode and I think the reason being the episode doesn't. Do anything. And I was really kind of shocked that they put this together in a season when they're arguably saying, okay, these are all gonna be interconnected stories. We're gonna build an arc, cuz we're gonna get to a specific place yet.

This as one of those building blocks, didn't seem to move the needle on anything and really felt like. This is, this is the story they wanted to tell. Am I being overly critical?

I think you're being overly critical. I did not take any of that. Like I don't, it's not that I don't see your point. I do see your point, but I, I do agree that there is an exploitative aspect to this of classic Trek women that are scantily clad and are being objectified.

But. This is in the guise of she's actually a spy. She's not actually a prostitute and she's working on behalf of the Xindi so she's actually doing spycraft. So it's not completely split. She's using her Gus to find out about these humans. The thing about this episode that I think for me, it actually is a good building block.

It has nothing to do with the humans. It's about building blocks for the, Xindi not building blocks for the enterprise crew. And I think that might be what you're you're feeling. Cuz for me, we only see the, we only see what the council was. It like three times in this episode, mm-hmm . Or is it twice, twice, three times, twice, beginning and end.

So we're only seeing them twice, but what they set up in, in when we see them, as well as the evolution of regime's character, we see, we learn more about the chinks in the armor of the Xindi that they are not a wealth of very cohesive group. We start to see what the divisions are among the Xindi more clearly in the beginning.

And especially at the end, uh, the species, the. Whatever they are the, the, his name degra mm-hmm the lead scientist. And then of course the warlike species, which are the, the reptilians and insectoid. We see, we see that that chasm is actually pretty severe about how they both wanna go about it and how they're fighting with each other.

So there's, these are the building blocks that the rest of the season hinges on. And this is the first time we're really starting to see that formed. And then with regime, the evolution that we see with her. She's kind of a cold calculated she's doing what she's supposed to be doing, but as she's learning more about the human crew, she starts to get a little bit of a, I don't wanna say appreciative of them and not wanting to do her job.

She always wants to do her job, but she's starting to understand that the humans aren't everything that they were expected to be. And she's starting to see that there's. Compassion there that these people are trying to basically protect themselves, save themselves. And she's starting to empathize with them a little bit.

So in the end, when she tries to speak up to the council and says, there's more to the humans than you realize, she's trying to do the right thing. And it's like, it's, it's starting to drive that spike into the council. So for me, I thought this was an important building block, a foundation that the rest of the season is gonna be building on.

Maybe it could have been worked out in a better way, but for me, I did not come across as like, this felt like Madlibs. This felt like nothing really happened. I actually felt like a lot happened, but it wasn't necessarily about the enterprise crew. It was more about the secondary characters in the past and previous seasons when we've complained about the episodes that were kind of weak.

That's one of the things we've criticized. It's like, oh, they're making the centerpiece of the character evolution about the non-enterprise crew. And we. This is the only time we're ever gonna know this character. So why would, why should I care? I'd rather see one of the crew evolving the people that I know week to week.

So maybe that's what you're feeling in this, because it's, it's not about the crew. I, I

disagree with your assessment that we learn anything about the Xindi in this one. We've seen all these schisms between the different races. This is like watching. If the, if the council was made up of Clingons and Vulcans and humans, There would be no surprises that the Clingons would be war.

Like the Vulcans would be logical. The humans would be somewhere in the middle and trying to play peacekeeper. And like, that's what this felt like to me. We see the telling and the execs are more aggressive. We've seen that before we see that the lead scientists is uncertain about what's being done and how he can do it.

We've seen that before it didn't. I actually really strongly disagree that we learn anything critical about this other than. She has hesitation around what's being done. But if we never see her again, why does that matter if she learns these things?

No, but you're, you're ignoring the fact that in the past, yes, these are things we've seen before.

We've seen, 'em argue. We know they don't like each other and they have different tax. But it's like what the council votes for. They all go along with, and this one, the insects and the reptilians, just say, screw the council. We're gonna do whatever we want. That's the first time we've seen that happen. So that's, I'm saying it's like, this is that, that wedge getting deeper.

And we're seeing evidence of that wedge getting deeper, but

that is such a. Limited element of this episode. It could have been any other content around that that could have included the lizard and the insectoid elements of the Xindi mm-hmm overstepping that line. It's it, it doesn't feel born of the story.

That is the centerpiece of the story, which is about regime. And one of the, my biggest elements is it's yet again, I mean, it's. It's like a Maari story and that's just it's feels incredibly dated, especially for it to be 2003. And for that kind of story to be used where her feminine wilds are so overpowering that even apparently heterosexual women find themselves under her thal, it's all charged with this kind of eroticism.

That just feels like. It's there for just titillation, as opposed to mm-hmm being, I would've been more interested and I'm gonna jump on the rewriting horse right now. What if, instead of it being overly sexualized, like there's the, the, the marketplace of slave women, which feels like it was ripped right out of the 1960s.

Series as opposed to it being 2003, what if, instead of it being any kind of, of marketplace and here's, you know, one of the things that stood out to me was like the Xindi get a spy on the ship in the most roundabout way. Like there are so many opportunities where this spy would not have ended up on the.

Mm-hmm that it's, it's ludicrous to think like, this is the most direct, like the Xindi would say here's how we're gonna get her on the ship. Like the, the plan doesn't hold together. But what if, instead of it being that it had been. Just straight up refugee stuff, a derelict ship, something in danger where if the enterprise doesn't rescue these people, they are going to die.

And you end up with you end up with a spy element. No, no, no. That is divorced of this sexualized. Stories that doesn't

hold water. It doesn't work. It doesn't work. Think about the death of expanse. What they've set up from the very moment they've gotten here. This is the wild west they're everybody's out for themselves.

One of the first episodes was that you remember where they had the captured guy and the guy was saying, we used to be ethical like you, but like you have to be cutthroat out here in the death of expanse everybody's from themselves. This is who is gonna like. You could understand why people who live in that world would not think let's have a stranded guy on the side of the road and they'll stop by and help him out when, in the death of expands, nobody does that, but you

literally that's like, but you're ignoring the way she gets on the ship.

She literally asks for sanctuary.

Nope. But you're forgetting how they originally tried to get her on the ship. They were selling her as a prostitute. Yeah. So it's the

backup plan, but the backup plan is if that doesn't work, then ask for help. People asking for help gets her on the ship. Yeah.

You're mistaken.

What I'm saying, their initial plan was, okay, they're gonna stop. They're stopping at this planet. Let's put them in. Let's put her in the prostitute ring and try to sell her because they're making an assumption. They'll wanna do that. And when it doesn't work and they're walking away, you can see all the characters being like.

Oh crap. This isn't working. And so they make an on the fly decision of like, oh, I'll ask for help now. So it's like, that was obviously a plan B or a plan C or even a plan

D I understand that original, but what you're is my argument that I wish that that a plan didn't exist.

I doesn't, that's what I'm saying.

It doesn't it for me that doesn't feel like it belongs in how somebody from the Delphix expanse would think. Do you understand what I'm saying? You're talking about it from the point of view, we, we would help somebody like that, or we know the crew would wanna do something like that, but they know nothing.

And they're gonna make the assumption that, right. Like

everybody in life get a prostitute. My point is not, how do they get her on the ship? My point is the sexualized aspect of this is just gross. Yeah. I felt gross watching this. That was the

problem. I agree. I agree with you of once you're on the ship, how everything was like very titillating.

That was not necessary, but the whole prostitution ring on the planet and trying to sell her to the captain. And then that doesn't work that I have no problem with because that's been going on here in the, on our planet for thousands of years. Right. So it's like, I can understand why that exists. I have no issue with it.

It's once she gets onto the ship, I'm a hundred percent with you. It's like you did not indeed to have her walking around scantily clad. It's like when she shows up in her new outfit, I was. Where the hell did you get that? Yeah, it's like they don't, they don't have that in rack. It's like, she would've been in like maybe a star fleet uniform.

Yeah. Like something like here's a spare uniform for you, but instead she shows up with. She didn't come with like a little packet bag of like belongings. She brought with her. It was ridiculous that she was in this very revealing outfit. So it's like in that regard, I'm a hundred percent with you. I'm arguing with my point.

I have no problem with how they got her on the ship.

My, my point remains though, I had a problem with how they got her on the ship, because the steps of logic that this would work, there are too many, there are too many opportunities for it to not have worked at. so I didn't see this as being a plan that was well thought out.

I know, hell we get on the ship. None of that seemed to make sense to me. I thought there were a million other ways that they would've potentially tried to get her on the ship. Ultimately, the time that she spends on the ship could have been far more interesting than her just walking around, like coming on to everybody.

Yes. Cuz that's ultimately all she does. Yes. That for me. Like underscoring the weakness of, of the episode. And the thing is, we've seen that before. We've seen star Trek tell still stories before about it's the siren song. She has this ability, she woos the, the male characters and even the female characters.

And they're all under her, her spell. I'm I'm bored by that. Like, I was bored watching this. I didn't see anything come out of the Xindi scenes that we didn't already know. and ultimately the two species that overstep their bounds. I didn't see that as being necessary to this story that could have happened in any way, shape or form, even if it was just a simple, straight up attack we could have had in any episode, those two species attack, the enterprise and the rest of the council could have had the exact same conversation.

None of it felt like it was inherently tied together as oh. Part a, of this story leads directly to the final part. These are all steps that make sense that follow one another and require one another to make sense. Mm-hmm it felt like to me, a loose hodgepodge of things that included elements that are important, they get the formula.

I was more interested in that storyline. I was more interested in the experimentation to make this thing work than I was in. Ultimately she's scanning humans. And then part of it for me was the fact that she is trying to find information so that they can do their nefarious plot. The, the, the entire thing is about, they're trying to figure out to destroy humanity and like how is what she's doing the simplest way to do that.

You've gotten them to the bizarre you couldn't have just separated one of them kidnapped. Like, like there's so many simpler ways than sending a, a woman under that. Guy's yeah. To do everything she's done instead of just, we need to kidnap a human.

Yeah. But at the same time, they're trying to find out as much as they can about humans.

It's not just about scanning. They're also trying to find out about them. Like what makes them tick, how they work. So they can strategize against them. That's what I took away from that your like that wasn't there. That's what I took away from it. When I was watching this episode of, they were trying to learn as much as they can about

I didn I didn't see that at all, because when she makes the point at the end where she's like, you don't understand them, nobody cares.

Yeah. Nobody cares about that. So the response to like, you don't understand these people, you should actually try to understand them. now we're building a super weapon. That's all we need to know it. Like for this to hold together, you need to accept that the logic of the characters makes sense within its own machinery.

And for me, it just falls apart immediately. There are so many simpler ways for them to, they've got humans walking through a bizarre. What if the guy who runs the shop is like, okay, sit over here and we'll discuss how we're gonna negotiate for the purchase of this formula. what if there are sensors in the room and they're just getting scanned without knowing it.

And then they leave and he's got all the information, like mm-hmm , there are too many easier ways to do this. And like, I know what we do. First. We find an alien who can manipulate people's minds. Then we get her to masquerade as a slave girl. Then if that doesn't work, she has to ask for refuge. Then like, it just starts to be like, oh my God, really?

Like this is it. And then there's also the filmmaking aspect for me, which is just too much titillation for the sake of titillation. I was just left feeling like I just feel gross watching this, all the effects that are used are interesting, her ability to scan the way she does. Like, that's an interesting visual effect, but if that is what she can do, I'd be as interested in seeing her pretend to be the shopkeeper.

What if she's the person who's selling the formula and is able to do that with people without their knowing and something goes wrong like that. To me, would've been a more

interesting story. Yeah. The, the more, the more direct approach would've been to have the guy that was selling the formula, say, you know, like I have to come on your ship and I'll show you some of this stuff.

Yeah. And then when he's on the ship, he's like looking at all the equipment and he's doing stuff that looks kind of nefarious, cuz he's actually scanning equipment and scanning parts of the ship and he's scanning them. And like you could have had that easily. I agree for me. I didn't have a problem with the, how they got her on the ship, but once she's on the ship is when I had problems with it because of the, some of the same stuff that you've been bringing up.

It's like, she didn't have to be the, the sexy, it it's, it's all of that just kind of went off the, the rails for me around that. But the same time I. Out of this, the building blocks of what they're setting up. And part of the, I'm trying to remember how I felt about this episode when it was originally aired, because I know where the rest of the season's going.

So watching this episode, knowing that maybe affecting how I'm feeling about the episode. Right. And I remember when I I'm trying to remember what I felt like watching it the first time, and I don't have any memories of disliking this episode. I don't, but I don't remember this episode as being one of my favorites.

So, this is like, if I was gonna rate it from like a, B, C, D kind of grade, I'd probably be given this a C, C plus mm-hmm, kind of a thing like where it was like, I enjoyed my, I enjoyed most of it as I was watching it, but it's not like, uh, a home run. It's not a, it's not a great episode. I, I don't, I clearly like a lot better than you did.

yeah. It're gonna give us a half. Well, I think it's interesting that you say you, you know, you enjoyed it a lot more than I did, but you only give it a C. Sequence, which, which to me is interesting. Like that's a lot more than me. I think it's interesting that that's how you're framing it because I wouldn't go as far as an F I think that there are elements to this that are important for the overall season mm-hmm , but it's the, it's the fact that the series fell back into its own trap of, we know what's gonna.

Titillation, like she's gonna walk around a canceling

flat. This, this episode, Sean is so much lower than what happened. The previous seasons. It's not even close the, the, the massaging scenes with the rubbing, the oils and the it's like this doesn't even touch that. So it's like, that's why I'm like, I'm kind of surprised at how sensitive you are to this.

When the titillation of this doesn't, isn't in the same ballpark as what they were doing before. It's it's there and it's not necessary. Yes. But it's not as gross as what they did in the past two seasons. There were just scenes before where it was like, this is disgusting. This is just, I can't believe you're doing what you're doing right now.

I never felt that way in this one. It felt unnecessary, but it didn't feel offensive. That's at least where I'm sitting on it, where you seem like you, you seem to be offended that they were.

I, I wasn't offended. I was just grossed out. It was it's the, I don't, that's

what I'm saying. I wasn't grossed out at all.

It was, I was grossed out on the other stuff they did in the past two seasons, not this one.

It's for me, it's the idea that this woman was put in the position of the way that there's nothing about her character that is doing anything other than just. This is my one tool to get the information we need left me feeling like they, they drew such a one dimensional character.

Mm-hmm that? How, how boring and how the, the depiction of the scenes, when she walks into the room and immediately people start to like, thumb, like, it's that element of like the, the, the kind of leaning forward of the men that attitude, it just like. I was left feeling like this isn't it didn't feel like I said, it didn't feel like 2003.

To me, it felt like 1960s, again, 2002 was let's rub oil on ourselves in the decon chamber. Yeah. But 1960s sort of silly, silly sexuality. Like none of it feels like that's how it actually works. And yet that's how it's. Projected like it just, it, it felt like a waste of opportunity to me to tell a more interesting story around they're hinting at the fact that people are starting to get injured on the ship by the anomalies.

I'm more interested in that I'm more interested in, oh, you're trying to save the ship. Everybody else in the expanse is like, oh yeah, we can fly around, but we've got this stuff. It allows us to do it. And the enterprise having to figure that out to me is a lot more interesting than whether or not Archer is falling in love or lust or just hypnotized by this woman.

Like, it just didn't hold it for me. It was, it felt, and I wouldn't say I gave it an F I would give it just a lazy D like mm-hmm like you had. You have the map for the season? Why is this one of the stepping stones? It just didn't feel like it, it had a place clearly. This is one of those times where Matt and I are on opposite sides of the fence, looking at the, looking at the fence.

And I'm saying, boy, this needs to be painted. And Matt's like, it looks great. So , I'm curious listeners, where do you fall? Do you, are you on my side of the fence? You're like, why is this even here? Or are you on Matt's side where you saw what was happening and you've, and you figured it out, let us know in the comment.

You can, of course on YouTube, just scroll beneath this video, or you can find the contact information in the podcast description, wherever it was. You found this episode and Matt, next time we're gonna be talking about the episode impulse, any predictions about what that's gonna be about

the captain has an impulse to, uh, eat too much food.

Mm.

I don't think so. No, no. before we sign off, Matt, what do you have coming up on your other channel? Do you want to talk about

a lot of stuff? Uh, the next video that's gonna be probably out by the time you see this is going to be revisiting solid state batteries and what the current state of that is and why they're not here yet.

Hmm. And do they matter anymore?

As for me, you can check out my website, Sean ferrell.com. You can find information about my books there. You can also just go to Amazon Barnes and noble or your lo local bookstore and find out more about my books that way as well. And I will have an announcement about something in my writing life that will be being made public in the near future.

I won't be talking about it today, but next week I will be sharing some exciting information. So I hope you'll all. Tune in next week for that, don't forget. It is exciting. Thank you. As a little teaser for people Matt's excited for me. I'm very excited. As a reminder, if anybody would like to support the show, you're doing it right now, just by listening.

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