An Empires Lullaby

Detective Maza from Gargoyles guest stars on Deep Space 9 and Sisko is smitten. Briar tries not to go on tangents about dopamine and epigenetics. Matt talks about the cultural origin of terraforming.

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CW: policing, the fascist Cardassian occupation of Bajor When Quark is shot an nearly killed, Odo investigates his attempted murder and is reminded of a murder from five years ago. Matt and Briar talk about Odo's past, his responsibility, and his position of authority within an occupation. Briar gushes about Nana Visitor again. Visit Mixolydian Gray on SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/user-561680672

In this episode, Grand Nagus Zek returns and sends Quark and a waiter at Quark's bar on a quest filled with capitalism, love, and surprise twists! Dax is a good LGBT ally. Quark isn't straight. The straights aren't alright. Briar muses about the opposing worldviews of dismantling capitalism and adding women CEOs.

CW: disability, accommodations, ableist frameworks Ensign Melora arrives on DS9 and the senior officers are bad at handling the accommodations she needs. Matt and Briar use life experience to talk about what Starfleet does wrong, what they do right, and how to do it better.

CW: Surgery, invasive medical procedures In the midst of a space storm, someone comes to steal Dax away from Jadzia. Tim Russ and John Glover guest star.

Matt points out the contemporary allegory to white male entitlement. Briar points out how Jadzia's character is mistreated.

Starfleet tries to hold the fort on DS9 while Kira and Dax smuggle key evidence to the Bajoran prov. government. Briar talks about palukoo and refutes Sisko's approach to Li Nalas. Matt. Matt gushes about relationships, and uncovers something shocking about the moon in this episode. Derek Holley joins the team and adds music - as well as final polishing touch.

CW for The Circle: Torture We welcome our first guest, Will Nguyen (@BoomerNiner on Twitter) as we watch The Circle. Will brings a specifically Marxist framework to our leftist podcast, and -among other things - explains how The Circle fails as a class revolution for Bajorans. Briar keeps gushing about Nana Visitor. Matt is just glad Briar hasn't unfriended him over the podcast.

CW: concentration camps, forced labor, genocide

An Empire's Lullaby is back to rewatch season 2 of "Deep Space 9"! This season premiere introduces the beginnings of a Bajoran civil war. What might be the first Star Trek 3-parter on syndicated television kicks off with Major Kira rescuing a Bajoran war hero named Li Nalas from a Cardassian labor camp, as a terrorist group called The Circle begin causing havok on Bajor and DS9. Briar begins to realize that the Bajoran culture may be theocratic rather than only theistic and Matt deconstructs the national myth.

It's our Season 1 retrospective and Q&A episode! Matt and Briar answer a handful of questions submitted by people. Matt reveals a secret project to be completed, and hoarse Briar is slightly hoarse, of course. Please enjoy this bonus episode, we'll be back for Season 2 in a week (or two).

In the finale of DS9 Season 1, a Bajoran spiritual leader with lofty political aspirations arrives to shake things up on the station. Matt and Briar compare the issues Vedek Winn brings up to real-world conflicts between faith and secularism to point out what works, and what could have used a little extra time in the writing room.

Thanks for listening this far! Before we start on our season 2, we have our Q&A/Retrospective to do. Listeners have a last-minute chance to send us questions and comments through our email and social media.