Ep: 032 "The Tragedy of Sub Rosa" featuring Dani

[00:00:00] I think I'm saying that we struggle all our lives to answer it. But it's the struggle that is important. That's what helps us to define our place in the universe. This is Beverly, Dr. Beverly, Dr. Dr. Beverly Crusher. Honest. Forceful. Trusting. Brilliant. Strong. And adventurous.

[00:00:26] And this is Crusher Convo. Welcome to Crusher Convo where we are crushing the conversation one episode at a time. And today is the episode to end all episodes as I return to talk about my love and the tragedy of Sub Rosa.

[00:00:44] And tonight in the hot seat is not only a card carrying nerd, but a founding member in my opinion, Dani from Comics-Anne. Basically everything. Hello. Hello. I did not. I brought my own little candle, I guess you could say. Here we go. There's Ronan.

[00:01:05] Ronan is just chilling over here. Well, I've got my knockoff Ronan and a backup. So I'm ready to go. I feel his presence already. He's behind you. Yeah, it's getting it because the green is everywhere. He's everywhere. Yeah.

[00:01:25] He wants to make sure we do this right, I guess. So I guess we'll find out. Now, Dani, I do have a question for you. Like I said, you're a car carrying member. You love everything nerdy. So what is about Star Trek that you love so much?

[00:01:38] Oh, it's probably my first nerdy love before, you know, I became a non-denominational nerd. I would have to say that. I think it's really hard to say. I watched it with my dad and my brother growing up, and that's kind of what we did as a family.

[00:02:00] We watched The Next Generation every weekend, and it was just kind of a big deal for us. I really liked the science. The show, I think, really contributed to my curiosity, asking questions, wanting to know why and how things work. And Star Trek always explained that.

[00:02:23] They always use real science, and they always explained it. And there was always a resolution. There was always, you know, here's a problem. We fix it. Everyone goes home happy. And the thing that they're famous for, you know, the standalone episodes, it kept you interested.

[00:02:42] There was always so much. And I wanted to be counselor Deanna Troy. I wanted to look like Marina Sirtis my whole life. I wanted to look like Marina Sirtis. She's just one of the most beautiful women on planet.

[00:02:53] She's got those really big eyelids, deep set eyes, just beautiful woman. Just loved her death and, you know, had a big crush on Riker. Was that your love, like your love of cosmetology is what kicked in to like? Absolutely.

[00:03:10] So Yeoman Janice, I can't remember her last name on the original trilogy. She had that beehive. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That fascinated me. Fascinated me like how did they get her hair to do that?

[00:03:30] I discovered it and won a contest in beauty school doing Ensign or Yeoman Janice beehive with the hair. I totally did that Beverly and Deanna's makeup was always so perfectly blended and beautiful that that smudged eyeliner, that classic 80s smudged eyeliner. Right. Just it just fascinated me.

[00:03:57] So I and Deanna always had perfect hair. So, you know, I think that probably did have a lot of contributing factors. Season seven makeup though. I mean, Beverly was it was good. Yeah, liked it. And Deanna, they looked great. Michael Westmore. And that was just it.

[00:04:22] Like, and of course they, Marina was still using the wig wigs, of course, but it was finally Gates's own hair and the way they did it and the color and everything. I was like, I think she looks so good. She looks good in all the seasons. She does.

[00:04:36] She is very elegant, very elegant. Good skin. Exactly. Bone structure. Yeah. But the something about season seven where they just really were like, let's do it. Let's just do the smokey eye and do her hair all pretty. And yeah, always better budget of it better.

[00:04:54] They were like, they can afford they could afford actually specifically beauty makeup artists because I'm telling you a lot of most special effects artists like special effects artists hate doing beauty makeup. Like they hate it.

[00:05:09] Well, do you know that Michael Westmore has like that whole family lineage of makeup artists? Right. Yeah. I think he said he did Betty Davis's makeup. That was one of his first jobs or something. Really? I could do that. I could do anything.

[00:05:27] Well, my friend is a big special effects guy, but he's all, you know, X-Men, Star Wars, the stuff he's worked on. And I would have absolute laughing fits hearing him complain about beauty makeup and how strip lashes are the bane of his existence.

[00:05:50] I can't pick up a strip lash now without thinking about it. I'm like, Oh my gosh. He hates it. For that he's like PTSD for now. So I'm going to go ahead and jump right in with a little bit of fun facts of this episode.

[00:06:07] So here, of course, is Sub Rosa, which formerly known as Passions. That was the title when they originally writing this. And we got some big names here.

[00:06:17] A story by Jerry Taylor, teleplayed by Brandon Braga based upon material by Gianna F. Gallo, and of course directed by Jonathan Frakes. And I think knowing that they were all involved, you're like, this is going to be a great episode. And it either went two ways.

[00:06:34] Either it's the joke of all Star Trek or it's, oh my gosh, addiction, abuse and everything happening. What love story are they talking about? And I'm that. That's my area over here.

[00:06:51] Well, I always I'm always on the end of like, look, Nana lived to be over a hundred years old. She was happy. She was happy. She was filled and she lived to be over a hundred. That sounds fine to me. Like it would have been fine.

[00:07:09] Here's the thing. I think this was my theory because typically from what I remember in Star Trek, you could live to like a hundred and thirty or something because they even showed McCoy in that first episode TNG is like one hundred thirty seven. Like that's normal now.

[00:07:25] The fact she died at a hundred, I think Ronan killed her. I think she died. I think he killed her. This feed not for energy. And she died. So long life. She died happy. And you know what?

[00:07:39] We'll get to that, that very ending that Beverly says I love that episode up until that very end. I'm like, oh, but we'll get to that part. But I am going to first do we got our little Nemechek it out here with Larry Nemechek's book.

[00:07:56] And I have a snippet here of him talking about the episode and there's a lot of information here. So please bear with me.

[00:08:05] So it says as one of the most atypical TNG episodes ever, this leisurely mounted romance novel in space, quote unquote, was named the favorite of the year by the slightly biased story writer Jerry Taylor, a self addict of a

[00:08:21] addict of a number of trashy genres, such as Gothic romances and historical novels. How dare they refer to it prices trashy romance novels. It's erotic. Actress McFadden who called it a highlight of her own season won kudos for all out performances. The love making without a partner.

[00:08:47] This is not easy stuff to do, Taylor said, and she committed herself to it completely. Yes, she did. Taylor said that the story and its roots in the fan Gianna Gallo's year old spec script was a nod to the innocence.

[00:09:00] The film version of Henry James turn of the screw and Braga's all time favorite and not the Scottish succubus lasher of Anne Rice's The Witching Hour. Okay, it was all The Witching Hour. It was all The Witching Hour. Okay, he just wrote The Witching Hour.

[00:09:14] I'm just I'm just reading the book. Okay. Well, listen, I they're trying to get okay. So what happened was is Anne Rice's estate actually was like hello. I heard about this. Yeah. Yeah. They were like that you totally reviewed.

[00:09:32] You should have credited us should have credited Anne Rice. You know, story by Anne Rice inspired by or something because it's something to add to it.

[00:09:42] It's almost identical, especially like the flowers all in Nana's baggage when Beverly comes in the when she's in bed sleeping and the blankets come off as she starts to feel that that that happens to Rowan. I've read Witching Hour three times. I know this book by heart.

[00:10:04] This is why you're here. You're my expert for this book. So, so I know nothing. And, you know, there have been times when Brandon Braga has been in Jerry Taylor both been like, okay, so yeah, it was a hot book at the time. So we ripped it off.

[00:10:20] But, yeah, it's a total ripoff of The Witching Hour. And it's funny that they mentioned turning of the screw and other books because they're trying to mitigate the fact that they really did rip off the entire story and put a little Scottish twist on it. On it.

[00:10:39] Yeah, exactly. Which was such a weird thing of, oh, let's go to a planet 200 light years away and just rebuild Scotland. But actually, Lasher and the descendants were Scottish too. So it's just a combination of all these in one, right? Isn't it?

[00:11:00] It's like little bits and just well no all together. Yeah, it's it's all like their their version. It's it's The Witching Hour Star Trek's version. Yes. The 24th century version. Right. But here's the thing.

[00:11:18] So I, like I said to say a million times, I just started watching Star Trek.

[00:11:24] And I remember when I was watching TNG for the first time and I was like, I love Beverly Crusher and I was going through and it took me only two and a half weeks to binge the show.

[00:11:33] Like I was just in it to win it and watched the entire season. But I was warned about Sub Rosa. Everyone was all like, yeah, it's a little much. It's kind of cringy. Like that was always their thing was like, it's it's it's cringe. It's not great.

[00:11:49] And I'm like, OK. And this episode only, Kate, like it was like six episodes after Attached, which was a very big episode for Beverly and Picard. So I was like, all right, so I'm keeping an open mind.

[00:12:01] And when I get to it, though, I see the whole romance novel, you know, of falling in love with your capture kind of story. But as I now I am and I've mentioned this before, I am a essay survivor.

[00:12:23] OK, so I kind of saw it a little differently and maybe because I was an adult and it's not for the first time. I know as children, if you're watching it, you see the erotic of it all.

[00:12:34] You're not thinking, oh, she's being manipulated and sexually abused right now. Yes. Yes. So which thank goodness the children did not think that. But as adults, as they grew up, that's just been imprinted in their brain this whole time. So they're just cracking jokes and stuff.

[00:12:48] Now, I'm 30 years late to the party. Y'all could do your jokes. Y'all have your cult love for it. I'm for it. Right. And I'll even crack a couple of jokes here. Yeah, exactly.

[00:12:58] I'll even crack a couple of there and they're like we were doing with the whole candle thing on Twitter. Yeah, you know, but when I really, really love about the episode is Larry wasn't wrong.

[00:13:09] Like Gates went all out in her scenes, even though she opened the script was like, what the fuck is this? She went for it. She was all like my whole family was in love with the candle. Awesome. You know, she took it in a different direction.

[00:13:30] And what I found interesting was what I found in the script. And so when I was reading the script and stuff like that, I realized all this is as much as they were going for that dark romance novel kind of five,

[00:13:44] they were putting in about those manipulations, the sexual abuse, the addiction, all that stuff. So the first one I'm going to actually show here is this was one part that I thought was important. And it says right here that this is the scene you were just mentioning.

[00:14:04] Right. So she goes into her Nana's house and there's flowers everywhere. She sees, you know, you think there's a ghost because things are moving and she hears voices. It says she pulls out pulls a comb badge out of her pocket.

[00:14:16] But before she can activate it, her coat falls from off her shoulders. And if it was taken off, she takes it a breath, feeling a rush of sensation and emotion. Her eyes lose focus momentarily as though she has just been given some kind of narcotic.

[00:14:30] And then it says down here her eyes flutter and she breathes heavily again, drawn deep into the narcotic state. The comb badge falls from her hand onto the floor like someone coming out of a deep sleep. She tries to force her eyes open.

[00:14:47] And you see that in the scene, right? You see her fighting off this like and then she even said she's like, what is wrong with me? And she even kept saying, stop it. That's what got me, though. She was saying no, and he kept forcing it on her.

[00:15:05] And that's where that sexual abuse really gets like, oh, this is a really rough. Well, and you notice when when she gets back onto the enterprise, because she's like, well, the candles on the ship. I'll have to go there. He's like, OK, hurry.

[00:15:24] So she gets up there and she lights it and she's like fidgeting and anxious because he gave her this gave her this taste. And now she's she's kind of fiending for it. She's got a little bit of a withdrawal. She has gotten her addicted.

[00:15:42] The way I'm looking at it is he is finding ways because he's this. Why can't I say the word this a something being something a something energy and an anaphyl and anaphyl and a phase and a phase.

[00:15:59] And if that's it. OK, so he's he's using this anaphyl energy to manipulate her serotonin, dopamine, oxytocin levels. In her brain and doing anything that boosts your serotonin and dopamine, you will become addicted to and you will have some sort of withdrawal.

[00:16:20] When you with them, serotonin, you get something that's called brain shakes where I describe it as my brain feels fuzzy. Like there's like this is kind of buzz. Yeah. Like, yeah, don't feel like they're lining up quite thing. Right. And it does make you feel kind of anxious.

[00:16:37] So what he's done is he's literally created an addiction for her. But it's her own serotonin, dopamine, oxytocin. And he's doing that by manipulating her with these sexual charges. He's the sexual energy she's using love as a manipulation. Like, well, I love you. And this is exactly.

[00:16:58] Yeah, none of us have heard that before. Oh, what is that? Right. So he's he's quite literally been using sex to create an addiction and to manipulate and use her. Oh, and the thing is, and this is why it was so important because of it being after attached.

[00:17:22] She just turned down Picard. Right. So she's already not in the greatest mental state when it comes to like she's probably feeling lonely, but she feels like, you know, she did. In my opinion, she did make the right decision to leave because she felt he wasn't ready.

[00:17:37] But that still doesn't mean that she was OK with the decision. So she was in a very vulnerable state and easy to be manipulated. Now I know a lot of people did put down the character of saying, well, it's Beverly.

[00:17:50] She's a doctor. Like, how could she be easily manipulated by this alien? I was like, doctors, there's many doctors that get addicted to medication or, you know, they're still human. Like, they're not perfect.

[00:18:04] Harley Quinn. I've got a whole episode explaining that how Harley Quinn is a cautionary tale that it can happen to anyone. You can understand the human mind inside and out, but you cannot map the human heart.

[00:18:19] You just can't. Exactly. And knowing yourself on that kind of level, have you ever tried to fight yourself? Right. It's not. It's not. You don't realize that's what's happening because it's you.

[00:18:33] Yeah. And because he was using love as a manipulation and that's what she wasn't getting from Picard, it was just really easy for him to stake his way in it.

[00:18:43] Now, in this next slide for this next part of the script, this is the part where she's rushing in. Quint died. Poor Quint, RIP. You know, he was right. There was something going on at that house.

[00:18:56] But it says Ronan reaches out for her. She puts her hand onto his. He draws her close. The side of him is almost hypnotic to Beverly. She seems drawn to him by feelings and forces that she cannot understand or resist.

[00:19:09] And I like that part because she you can kind of in the script is kind of like she's trying to fight it, but she can't and she doesn't know why.

[00:19:20] And of course, here's that scene you were just talking about where it says she immediately goes to her desk, quickly sorts through her medical kit, is obsessive, almost a monadical drive.

[00:19:31] She finds a laser device. Then she quickly moves to the candle on her night table and lights it. She sits down on the bed, looks around room unexpectedly. She's obviously on edge, nervous, doesn't know what to do with her hands.

[00:19:44] After a beat, she gets up, walks around, keeps glancing at the candle. Beverly is like a drug addict in search of her next fix. Like that was literally in the script. And I remember watching it and I was all like, she's an addict.

[00:19:59] Like she is just like tweaking. That's what I said. I was like, she is so tweaking in the scene. And I'm just like, what the heck? And it even says like she's on edge of the bed. Her hands are trembling. She's trying to hold herself together.

[00:20:16] And of course, the moment he shows up, she holds him tightly like holding on for dear life. Just like. Yep. It's then that's what addicts go through. And you know, we even say foodgasm, right? When certain foods feel good, we feel pleasured. Right?

[00:20:33] Yeah. And that's what this you think of it as a drug. And when she gets her hit, it feels good guys. She's having that pleasured fix. So that's why I always had an issue when they kept saying, oh, she's having like a sex scene by herself.

[00:20:49] What I'm all. Is she now? Because he's kind of just faded off of her energy to survive. This is all about him surviving. He doesn't care about the Howard women and he's using them. And he doesn't care what happens. That's why I think Nana didn't make it.

[00:21:06] Which should have. You know, it's a really great metaphor for two of my ex-husbands. I mean, it's like a metaphor for a lot of things. Right. Perfect. I mean, my. It's perfect for the hobo. For the hobo. Sexuals is what I'm saying. Yeah. And I just.

[00:21:26] That scene was kind of hard to watch. Like I've had family members who are addicts. Right. And to kind of see her really struggling and needing something that she doesn't even understand, but she's like, I have to have it.

[00:21:42] It was absolutely insane to see this character who is so, you know, like that's why people were saying, I can't believe Beverly would fall for it. She's such a strong character, but she's also just human. Like she. She's just. Yeah. She just wanted love and attention and.

[00:22:01] And he was giving it to her, which is why I think the ending was so important. So. Loneliness and. And depression and desperation will lead you down some stupid decisions. Oh yeah. Yeah, it really will.

[00:22:19] Now this is now this I'm going to do a clip and I love the scene because this is where I feel like it takes a turn and where that whole. She's addicted to Ronan, but her love for Picard is there and it hurts her.

[00:22:34] So here's the scene in the transport room. Beverly, what the hell is this? I thought it was pretty self explanatory. I'm leaving Starfleet. Energize. Play that order. Aye, sir. Beverly, you can't just resign. I can and I have.

[00:23:02] I've decided to stay on Coldos and become a healer like my grandmother. It's a proud Howard tradition and I've decided to uphold it. Energize. I've resigned my commission. So unless you plan on kidnapping me, I love the sound. I love the sound of the warp engines.

[00:23:33] I used to play it at night to sleep. Oh, that's it's comforting. Actually, people actually do those like what they call those ASMR. Yes. So there's the warp engines or lots. There's lots of YouTube channels that do it. I love the sound of it.

[00:23:52] Some even have like scenes like you can see quarters. Like you can see the quarters, the sleeping quarters. And they have them for pretty much any federation ship you can imagine. Ask me how I know. How do you know? Super nerd. Super nerd. Like I said, founding member.

[00:24:15] The one thing that I loved about the scene is when she's she's dropping a dear John letter in an email. It's like she says like substance misuse. I'm Bolton like she was trying to take off before he even showed up.

[00:24:26] It's because she didn't want to do it face to face. You could see that it was really upsetting to her. She didn't want to leave, but she felt like she had to. And that's what addicts do.

[00:24:39] Like they give up everything their career, their family, their friends, all of it for their addiction. And I'm glad Picard because we always make fun of Picard like Picard, you know, like how did he not notice this or how did he not notice this?

[00:24:52] He noticed something here and he's like what is this? Like he's like you can't just resign. Like what the hell is this? Like he was just all what is going on?

[00:25:03] And kudos to him, but not so much kudos for Troy who's kind of known something was going on with Beverly. And she's just kind of like, well, just figure she'll try it on her own. Yep. Yep. She totally called it right out the gate. She did like. Yeah.

[00:25:29] Yeah. She even mentioned in that little girl do her thing. Right. And she was just all like now when there's a tragedy that happens to people might try to find comfort in each other. Like she totally was doing the whole psychological aspect of it. Great.

[00:25:44] But like you said, homegirl go do your thing. Like yeah, don't. She's an empath. She can feel what she's feeling. She could feel the conflict. She can feel the emotional charge. She could probably feel the brain shakes from the withdrawal. We don't know.

[00:26:02] What we know is she definitely felt enough to know something was going on and then you just don't see Troy for the rest of the day. For the rest of the episode. No.

[00:26:11] And even with Picard when they were having that conversation in his ready room, she was just so like but she has to make her own decisions. OK. So Beverly decides to jump off a cliff. You're just like have fun. Right.

[00:26:27] I didn't understand that weird 180 turn and maybe they did that so Picard could be the hero, you know, because the guys will have to be the heroes. But I don't know if it's necessarily they wanted Picard to be the hero.

[00:26:43] They needed her emotional connection with Picard so that when he got hurt, it would bring her back. Mm hmm. Yeah. And I totally and I love that part. Right.

[00:26:58] And the fact that he did go down and at first he's just kind of be all like, oh no, I wouldn't meet your friend.

[00:27:04] You know, he didn't want to push it because he's like, I know something's wrong, but I don't want to like push her too hard because he wasn't sure what was going on.

[00:27:14] And that was kind of the big the big thing for me was especially because this is only six episodes after attached. He was concerned. He was worried. But yeah, I really enjoyed the scene and her hair was on point. Makeup is fabulous. Look, Nana's house.

[00:27:40] Uh, dag, dag, why couldn't I say her her name again? Uh, Felicia. Felicia. Felicia. Felicia Howard. Lisa Howard's baggage. That is how I want to live. That is how I always dreamed to live that little wooden cabin. And love her house. Even with the plants hanging.

[00:27:58] That's that's my house. I have plants and herbs and stuff hanging to dry. I've got a book of jars of different medicinal herbs and incenses and spices. And I grow my stuff. And I always joke around that I'm going to do this YouTube thing until society falls.

[00:28:14] And then I'm moving to the woods and y'all never see or hear from me again. No, no, it's just me. My kids and Dave. No neighbors. No, you're missing the point here. I'm going to be the wild witch of the woods.

[00:28:34] Except for occasionally the, you know, the random villagers that. But don't go down that road. Don't go down that crazily. Don't go there on the road. Which is there. I love her house. I love her house. But all her medicinal herbs hanging to dry her very simple.

[00:28:58] But you know, comfy little cabin. The sound that the, the floorboards make like it's also. Just so cozy and comforting. Like I want. What Nanna's house. I do want to mention real fast. Cause it just dawned on me when in the very beginning of the episode,

[00:29:19] when Beverly had Deanna walk with her back after the funeral. Deanna's eyes was like, so fascinated with this house, right? She's just like, it's so horrible things. I cracked up when she walks to that plant and she just. She looks so like a little kid.

[00:29:38] Like this is so cool. It reminded me of my daughter. You know, we grew up with the crank in the windows, right? That was our thing. And so when we got the electric windows and a car, we're like, this is the coolest thing ever.

[00:29:52] We're pressing the button and going up and down. When my daughter was about five, I had to go get like some old rental or something like that. And they had the cranking. And she never seen that before.

[00:30:05] So she goes in and she's like, this is the cool thing ever. And she's cranking the windows going up and down. And I was laughing. I was like, oh my gosh, the society now we're just completely backward. But that's how I thought of Deanna.

[00:30:17] She was like, this is so cool. Like this plant. This is a plant. This is a plant. I thought it was the cutest thing. I really did. I thought it was absolutely adorable. She's like, cause she's like, come with me back to my Nana's house.

[00:30:38] I got to go through some stuff. You can help me out. And she's like, okay. So she goes there and she picks up the plant and she's like, Oh, this is nice. Well, I'm going by. And then takes off like, yeah,

[00:30:49] I'll just come and say hello to everything and then peace out. You can do all the hard work. She's like, you don't have to go. And she's all like, I think it should be a load. Okay. Thanks. You're like, What was the whole point?

[00:31:02] Just for you to come and pick it. My grandma's plant. And look at a picture of Beverly with her grandma. How could you even see the color of her eyes? She's like. All the women in your. Your grandma has such brilliant. How can you see that? In.

[00:31:20] She has 2010 vision. Clearly. Maybe beta zoids have this amazing eyesight, just like, cause like they're empathic. That's why they're. Their eyes are all black because they're all exactly. Yep. We solved the mystery. That's it. Close the book. Now my next scene though,

[00:31:42] I do want to mention is when Picard goes after Beverly. Sean Luke. Sorry. I startled you. I knocked, but there was no answer. The door was open. I hope you don't mind. What do you want? Well, I'd hope to meet your new friend. Ronan. He's not here.

[00:32:02] Well, perhaps I could wait if you don't mind. I'm really anxious to meet this remarkable young man who has swept away. Not just one, but two of the Howard women. Jealousy doesn't suit you. John Luke. Have you changed the color of your eyes?

[00:32:21] I just grew tired of the other color. Don't you think it suits me? I think that I preferred your eyes the way they were before. I think I preferred you the way you were before, Beverly. Well, this is the way I am now. And this is my life.

[00:32:40] I've made my decision and I'm not going to change my mind. So please leave me alone. Oh no, there's something wrong here. Beverly, this is more than just an obsessive love affair that she's got out of hand.

[00:32:52] Tell me why is it that no one has seen this Ronan except you? I don't think it has the same effect while I'm holding my candle, but yeah, that's better. Mine's really adorable. It's very cute. I love it. Where do I find a candle that offers orgasms?

[00:33:13] Like where's that store? We're never going to find it. He just walks in on her just having a full blown full body orgasm. He's having some pleasure going on. Yeah, she's like, but he interrupted. She didn't even get to the peak. It's like, excuse me. Excuse me.

[00:33:36] He's like, I knocked, but there was no answer. Well, duh. Creepo, you just stand in there watching me get off. Fine.

[00:33:46] But of course that's where I was that scene, which in the script, it actually said that she was supposed to be like on the floor in front of the fire. I'm glad they put her on a chair because that would have been a little weird.

[00:33:57] Yeah, but I think Star Trek. Yeah, exactly. But I do think in this case with her being pleasured by Ronan's anaphysic energy, it just goes right back to our addiction. She is finally getting her fix. She went from a tweaker in her quarters to finally getting her head.

[00:34:20] And as an atypical addict who denies that there's nothing wrong. This is my life now. Leave me alone. She went from fine to rage in two seconds.

[00:34:30] And that's where he at first was trying to approach her like, oh, I'm just here to visit to know there's something wrong with you and I'm not leaving until you give me answers. That's where this scene like you had mentioned earlier is very, very important.

[00:34:45] And I cut the perfect part of this where Ronan is like he goes and injures Picard. She goes down, she jumps into action just like like she would as a doctor. But she's all like we can't let him die.

[00:34:58] And you hear Ronan off screen and he's like come with me. But she says she looks up to his face, her expression stricken. She's like an addict taking the first step away from a powerful drug. It's one of the most difficult things she's ever had to do.

[00:35:14] And she pushes him away and goes to work on Picard. Ronan, that's fearful and angry, looks and resolves and crosses with her says I have to go stop them. Ronan steps away and we hear him vanish. As soon as he gone Beverly suddenly suddenly sags as if exhausted.

[00:35:29] She puts a hand in her forehead, closes her eyes, fights off a wave of nausea. She struggles to open her eyes and focus on the tricorder. And when she does, when we see that her eyes have turned blue again, her normal color.

[00:35:42] She concentrate on Picard, scans him with her tricorder. And this is what I loved about that scene is because that like they said it was her first step as an addict to step away from her drug and you know fight for herself.

[00:35:54] She jumped into action because she saw someone that she loved and cared for hurt. And he was hurt because of her decision. Right. And Picard went there to help her and he almost died for it.

[00:36:08] And I love that they wrote even in there like she was fighting off a wave of nausea, which is what a lot of addicts do when they're going through that withdraw.

[00:36:17] Like when they say like people get arrested and they go put in a jail sale and they have to go through those withdraws. They're like they're vomiting. They're sick.

[00:36:24] They're just shaking all that she was doing that in like 30 seconds, but she was also trying to concentrate on Picard because she had to save him. And she did such Gates did an amazing job. And I know people put down this episode.

[00:36:40] It's actually the second people voted this as the second worst episode. Really? Next generation. On top of shades of gray, which was the season two finale. They rate this episode worse than code of honor. We got some problems here people. It's not that bad of an episode.

[00:37:03] It's just not very Star Trek for the most part. It's Anne Rice. That's why. Because Jerry Taylor stole this from Anne Rice. Well, we can't put all the blame to Jerry. And then there was also Brandon and then was it Jan Jan Gallo, you know, they were all.

[00:37:21] Yeah, but Jerry doubles down. Yeah, he doubles down on it. No, it's mine. I wrote it. I think is though is yes, it's not a typical Star Trek episode. It's not sci-fi in the least.

[00:37:42] But when you really look at the story as a whole, it's not bad guys. And the fact that Gates knocked her scenes out of the park, it did put that step forward in that relationship with Picard, which is probably why we got what happened and all good things.

[00:38:00] Yeah, this is what pushed them into that direction. And even after the if you look at Picard and Beverly, how they interacted with each other. It was almost kind of see flirty kind of stuff. Right. I enjoy this episode.

[00:38:18] Yeah, it's so rough when people put it down or make fun of it. Like I said, 30 years party totally fine. I'll press this is how we got Jack Crusher, man. This is exactly thank you Ronan.

[00:38:36] But I think as you can see under my name, it says he wasn't a ghost fight that so hard because she even said when they were in the cemetery while he was, you know, in front of Vader and McFly's tombstone.

[00:38:52] She Vader apparently was very young when he died. The thing is, though, is that when they were arguing in the cemetery, she even said there's no such things as ghosts. She says you are some anaphasic life form and anaphasic energy is completely unstable.

[00:39:10] You need an organic host in order to maintain molecular cohesion. Otherwise, you'll die. Yeah, she says it right there. And I memorized her word for word because I think it's funny people and I was like, she said this at the very end. He's not a ghost. The candle.

[00:39:30] Okay. There was lasher. Also what was last year I'm going to ask that since I so last year was basically a fairy. And he needed a way to come back into the corporeal realm.

[00:39:52] So he basically had like a breeding program going on with the Mayfair women for centuries to breed the perfect. He's something called a TAL TOS and he had to breed a TAL TOS so he could come back into reality. It gets really sick and twisted.

[00:40:13] So I'll keep that quiet for your audience sake. But God, I shouldn't have read this as a teenager. It might have warped my mind. But he smelled like warm cookies.

[00:40:26] Like he everything about him was to attract, you know, he smelled really salt like baby skin and smelled like sugar cookies. And yeah, but he was. But he was. I would just draw them to him. Yeah.

[00:40:43] And he was this this creature called a TAL TOS and they're very, very tall, beautiful things, but they breed like buddies. And you just they would have just taken over humanity. So they were all like killed off. And for centuries, he it's another thing.

[00:41:03] They had this necklace, this emerald necklace, emerald green necklace that he was kind of attached to in a way, I guess.

[00:41:15] But so he followed, he attached himself to these this family of witches for centuries and bred them inter bred them for centuries to basically build himself a body and a mate. So there's that. There's that. That little detail out of the episode.

[00:41:44] The one thing and of course, I'm glad you mentioned Jack Crusher. This is why I'm wearing my PB&J shirt. So a card Beverly and Jack. Because yes, I think there. Yeah, this is my PB&J.

[00:41:57] I think it did push them in the right direction, even though the scene and like all good things when they have that talk in the ready room and they have their kiss and stuff. That was all erased because he changed the timeline. So none of that happened.

[00:42:12] But it did push them in the direction of having a relationship. And that's how we get Jack later on. So this episode is important when it comes to the Crusher love story.

[00:42:22] And I love that he was there and I love that it was, you know, because he was hurt. She was able to fight off Ronan like she was an addict. She was being abused and manipulated and she fought Ronan the whole ending with the cemetery.

[00:42:41] That was her fighting back. She was not going to take it. And she was also not going to take it for her family, even though she was from what we know she was the last woman. Yeah, last Howard line. Yeah. But there was still Wesley.

[00:42:53] I don't think I don't think it had to be women like he was still a Howard in a sense. And so she had to protect her son. So I think in a lot of cases, this just built Beverly's character to be very strong, independent, powerful and relatable. Relatable.

[00:43:14] Relatable. This addiction. And like I said, I'm an SA survivor. And so to see that was very important for me to be like, yeah, survived. Like that's that's what we do. We survive.

[00:43:28] And let's let's point out the big green elephant in the room that it's not necessarily just about drug addiction. It's about how you can become addicted to love. You can become addicted in a very real sense to that sensation of falling in love, that that rush.

[00:43:48] People do become addicted to sex. That is a very real thing.

[00:43:53] And how a lot of people, men and women, can use that against people to get what they want out of them, whether it's a place to stay or getting them to pay all their bills for them, buy them things, buy them drugs for their own.

[00:44:10] And so it's not just about their addictions. Right. It does happen and it happens mostly to women, especially the biggest group that this happens to are who single moms. Yeah, single moms. Single moms. It's a great episode to shine a light on that.

[00:44:32] And it can also make someone who's been in that situation feel like because a lot of women who do fall in those situations and I'm speaking from personal experience here.

[00:44:43] I don't know if you guys have caught on yet, but you you blame yourself a lot because a lot of people on the outside will blame you. Well, you chose him. Listen, I didn't choose an abusive drug addict. I didn't.

[00:45:01] I chose a charming person who said and did all the right things. They said everything they needed to get that little squirrel to come to them. And once they had them. Yeah, that's when they start slow. They really in and then they start milking you.

[00:45:20] That's how it works. And you have all of these people that stand on the outside who will judge you and blame you. And so you start judging and blaming yourself and hating yourself for it.

[00:45:30] And then you watch something like this and possibly a voice in the back of your head won't be so negative and will say, see, it can happen to anyone. Exactly. It could happen to anyone.

[00:45:44] And I think that's why it was important to it to happen to Beverly because it could happen to anyone. Now, in the script, though, I originally said that because she's fighting off Ronan, Jordy and Data are in danger. So it wasn't even just trying to save the card.

[00:46:01] She's also trying to save her crew, her crewmates, who is her family. Right. And it says after she destroys Ronan, it says Beverly quickly moves to Jordy, who nods that he's all right. Beverly goes to data, goes behind him and reactivates him. Data stands up. He's all right.

[00:46:17] Off to Beverly's relief. That was how they ended it. But instead, they decided to change it and it went to this. I loved that they changed that because that was Beverly just breaking down all of it. Guilt, shame. She was tired.

[00:46:43] She was just like, oh, my gosh, people I loved almost died because of my decision. And it just rekt her and she collapses. And as much as I know, Beverly is this strong, independent, capable woman.

[00:47:02] But like we've been saying, she is human and she fell for it and she felt guilty. And it was that moment where she just released all of that emotion.

[00:47:12] And I and I wish they kind of just ended it that way because how they did end it, which really pisses me off, is when she's in 10 forward with Troy.

[00:47:23] And she's all like, she's all like, you know, despite of what he may have done, my grandmother was really happy. And I was like, I hate that because it was like, OK, so abuse and manipulation is OK. Awesome. So your grandma was happy.

[00:47:39] It's totally fine that she was played this entire time and possibly got killed early because of it. And I will die on that hill. I just say grandma was getting hers well into her hundreds. I was so pissed. I was like, no.

[00:47:58] Now, can we just actually I'm going to say this real, real fast. Can you can you imagine how traumatizing it was for Beverly to see her grandma just pop out? I know. He's using her grandma like a meat puppet. Good Lord.

[00:48:14] Like Ronan is a a hole straight up. I'm going to do whatever it takes. That's really going to keep her running. Yeah, let's just string her grandma's body around and make her know that. And of course, she's like screaming like Nana's dead. Leave her alone.

[00:48:32] And you know, people kind of make fun of how she said it. But it's like she was traumatized. Yeah. Like, good Lord. She just zapped Jordy and data. And it's just like, oh my gosh, like this woman's going through a lot in like just 10 minutes.

[00:48:46] You're not exactly going to be super articulate when you dead grandma pops up out of the ground. Five feet from you. I'm surprised words even came out, right? Like she hasn't thought of something to say. Like good things. She's screaming.

[00:49:01] She's wearing a nightgown and not a pair of pants because I guarantee you she pee pee all over that grass. Well, in the scene, though, when Ronan shows up and he's like Beverly Gates actually doesn't even hit the steps. She like leaves off the edge.

[00:49:17] She doesn't even step down. She just like, like just jumps off and turns like she like got into it because it was like, what the is going on here? Like, what the hell?

[00:49:29] I look, I I'm glad that they like I said, I'm glad that they did this whole breaking down her being emotional and just completely dramatic over this. Really hate though that they just kind of glossed over that abuse is OK. I don't like that. Yeah. Or addiction. Yeah.

[00:49:48] So now I did ask my audience about how they rate this episode and the tri quarter rating. I got 59 votes. Five haunted candles was 59 percent of you. So you guys love this episode for probably different reasons, but I'll take it for Camille as it was 17 percent.

[00:50:07] Three anaphasic energies was 14 and one of two tombstones was 10 percent. So you guys were just not feeling it. And that's OK. I love the episode. I do.

[00:50:20] I always have and it probably has a lot to do with I'm a huge and rice fan, but still I love the episode. It was two of my worlds collided in one episode. So I was here for it. Great. This is why I love prodigy season two.

[00:50:36] I have my doctor who in my Star Trek and the world's collided and I was having the time of my life for 20 episodes. Poor Wesley, like he was supposed to go be this all knowing seeing being off with the traveler.

[00:50:50] He's like living in a junkyard basically in between things. Well, I know I think because actually when the crew arrives and prodigy the kids, you hear him talking to the traveler and they're explaining to them it can't be saved. We have to go.

[00:51:12] And he's like, no, I'm not going to do that. So that was like one of their planets that they stay off on, which is why I thought it was Tau Alpha C could be wrong. Don't quote me.

[00:51:22] But but he was there because he was trying to do his little jigsaw puzzle of trying to get everyone together. Right. So like trying to get the kids and do all of his stuff. But I love prodigy right now.

[00:51:39] I have my issues with prodigy and issues one through five are all the name, Jankham, because Jankham is Jankham is a fumes. That's what Jankham is. And I learned this from Spike TV's A Thousand Ways to Die.

[00:52:03] There was this rocker that was on a tour bus and he couldn't get heroin and all this other stuff. But he learned that you could poop in a bucket, put a lid on it, let it ferment and then huff it. You get high off of it.

[00:52:18] That's called Jankham. And not only did they name this kid on this show, Jankham, they also made sure he spoke in the third person. So he says it every five seconds. And so the whole time I'm watching it, I'm just like, poop fumes.

[00:52:33] And they mentioned those poop fumes. And when he went to the bathroom and they were going to be stuck in that ship for like 61 days and like, we got to get out of here. You're telling me one person in the writer's room knew how to use Google.

[00:52:52] I call Jankham. Now, oh my gosh. Now I'm not going to say it the same again. How am I the only person on planet Earth who is caught onto that? I can't be the only person that's caught onto it. I'm not that intelligent, Danny. No, shut up.

[00:53:10] You are. I'm not talking about you. I'm talking about I can't be the only person. There has to be someone else out there. Oh, I'm sure. I'm sure.

[00:53:19] But the fact that they brought back Wesley and even Beverly for two whole, you know, two episodes, I will love them forever. So they can name Jankhams all they want. No, no, it's gross. And this guy died from it. OK.

[00:53:38] The episode is called Thousand Ways to Die for a Reason. That was one of the ways to die. It's true, though. It is true. There was actually a Bones episode where a guy got killed and was put in a porta potty upside down and he half dissolved. Nasty.

[00:53:55] Just nasty. No, we're totally rooted. Everyone wants to die. We're totally rooted. We're totally rooted. We're totally rooted. We're totally rooted. We're totally rooted. We're totally rooted. Nasty. No, we're totally rooted. Everyone watch Prodigy. It's great. Don't don't listen to us.

[00:54:16] What I want is for Wesley and Beverly and Jack like Wesley needs to meet his brother and Beverly needs to see her kid again. That's yeah. That was the heartbreaking thing about Picard was that she was like I lost my son and we're like, oh, that hurts.

[00:54:37] That's in the feels right there. That's why she was trying so hard to protect Jack. Redhead alert. So of course, going to Star Trek Prodigy. What a segue, guys. I'm going to react and review episode one.

[00:54:58] Well, I'm going to do all 20, but we're going to do five at a time. And this next one is going to be with Jay, who he did my two Vicks. Two Vicks. Yes, two Vicks episode. I had to think about that for a second.

[00:55:11] And yeah, we're going to do a react and review of Star Trek Prodigy episode one through five next Friday at 5 p.m. Pacific Standard Time. Super excited. I do want to mention that the Easter eggs in this season was fantastic because it wasn't just TNG. It was Voyager.

[00:55:30] It was TOS. It was Picard. It was Enterprise. There was so much going on that I absolutely adored it.

[00:55:38] And I think they did it in such amazing way that that's why I think it is a great season because it caused Star Trek just intertwined all of Star Trek, you know, 60 years of it in this season. And so I absolutely adore it.

[00:55:56] And of course, if you guys ever want to hear just the audio versions of me, you can go to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Good Pods, any app that you like to hear that I did not name. You could buy some Crusher Combo merch at T-Public.

[00:56:11] You can buy me a coffee and you can get all this information at CrusherCombo.com. And of course, you can also like and subscribe to this video because that boosts my my, you know, ratings here for people to find me. But yeah, this this was fun.

[00:56:34] Danny, it was fun. It was very I love it. So what's going on in your nerd world? What do you have happening over at comics and everything? Well, I go live on Tuesdays. I'm not sure what this Tuesday's topic is about yet, but I'll figure it out.

[00:56:53] Figure it out. I do have a video I'm going to be recording tomorrow. It's five of the most underrated characters in Star Wars. And I reached out to the old nerdling army on all platforms.

[00:57:08] I got some really awesome suggestions and I took them all and shuffled them and just picked my favorites. I'm not going to lie. I didn't do anything random. I was just like, oh, I like that one, that one, that one, that one, and that one.

[00:57:22] So I've compiled a list. I wrote it all up today and I'll be recording that tomorrow. So that will be coming out next week. That's nice. I got going on. Are you going to do a Star Trek top five? And, uh, duh. Sure.

[00:57:41] Well, I was really surprised that you were you were the ones like we need a Star Wars list. So like, really? OK. OK, so because that suggestion came first, I went with Star Wars first. But I'm going to do Star Trek after that.

[00:57:55] It may be a little bit by the time I get to the Star Trek one though, because depending on how quickly I can get all this done, because I am going to be out for a while as of right. Second, so. Right. Yeah, no rush will be waiting.

[00:58:10] So it's all good. I mentioned Star Wars just because I mean, just like Star Trek, there is a lot of characters that have shown up. But I feel like there is a lot in Star Wars that just don't get as utilized. Right.

[00:58:24] They're they're really famous for their background characters and then the background characters kind of taking on a life of their own. Exactly. And that's kind of what I went for on this list was the background characters that take on a life of their own.

[00:58:40] But ones that would make really cool characters in the forefront. So, yeah, Star Trek, if they have a background character that somehow takes on a life of its own one, they totally intended for that because they were going to put them to the forefront here. Right.

[00:58:59] So like actually, yeah, actually Judd and and Robin. Yes. Reginald Barkley. Got Lieutenant Jay just popping in every once in a while. Yeah, you know, we got I got some characters. I'll help you out there.

[00:59:17] So anyways, guys, thank you for watching and listening over here on YouTube and over at Danny's Twitter because I refuse to pay and I'm not going to do this. I appreciate you putting it on there. But but yeah, next week, Friday, me and Jay prodigy hit us up.

[00:59:39] Join us live. We're going to have lots of fun. But anyways, live long and prosper. Have fun, guys.