Star Trek The Next Conversation - a comedy Star Trek podcast currently about TV's Deep Space Nine DS9 (or TNG) · Matt Mira and Andrew Secunda

DS9 s4e14 "Return to Grace"

·1 hr 44 min

The intro starts crooked. Matt opens, Andy jumps in, a sound button goes wrong, and the bit becomes part of the bit before they even get to the episode title. From there, the conversation lands on Return to Grace with the same comfortably homey rhythm the show tends to lean on. The hosts even joke that anyone who wants something perfectly functional and knows what it is doing is in the wrong place; this one is built to be familiar, flawed, and a little grating. Then the mailbag takes over. Priority-one messages and hails give most of the episode its shape, keeping the pace moving while the hosts bounce between listener notes and offhand jokes. One listener checks in with a cold and a Trek logic gripe, which turns into a short back-and-forth about security, war, and why nobody just used site-to-site transport. Another message brings up babysitting, with Matt asked whether he is desperate enough for the job, and a baby-head emoji sealing the bit. The show also veers into Starfleet Academy chatter. Matt and Andy note that the early reviews are positive, but that one future episode sounds like a giant DS9 spoiler, so the conversation doubles as a warning for anyone trying to stay unspoiled. A later hail compares the episode to The American President, and they happily roll with the image of a prominent world leader and a sassy redhead. Even when the talk strays, it keeps circling back to the same easy rhythm. The digressions are not interruptions so much as the shape of the episode itself, with listener notes, corrections, and jokes doing the heavy lifting. By the end they land on a 7.5, call it a short one, and joke that the hailbag was the real workout. They close by noting that this might be one of their shortest episodes in years, though it still feels packed because the banter never stops moving.

As heard by us

A brisk DS9 chat that leans on banter, glitches, and a few good detours.

Star Trek: The Next Conversation uses Return to Grace as a quick, familiar DS9 hangout. The opening misfire with the sound button knocks the intro off course, but Matt and Andy recover fast and settle into a sharp, lightly chaotic stretch that moves between the episode, the…

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Why you'd press play

You get a homey Return to Grace check-in with banter, hails, and no fake polish.

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