Anika and Liz take a quick trip to the Khionian Realm to attend Darem’s wedding, then follow along as Caleb and Genesis get up to hijinks. We’re watching Star Trek: Starfleet Academy‘s “Ko’Zeine”, and discussing:
- Um. Did we make this episode happen?
- It’s a spring break episode, but no girls are going wild, no one is going to the beach (except Kyle, alone), and none of the usual cliches are deployed
- Except the Star Trek Wedding Cliches, which we do love to see subverted, what if this time a man was passively going along with everything? What if there was a little less gender? What if Jay-Den wore a beaded gown?
- Darem and Genesis continue to be mirror images
- The Caleb and Genesis show! Are we … meant to be shipping them? Remember when Liz was like, “There’s no way we’re meant to be shipping Spock and La’an, that would be really stupid”? We remember.
- Genesis and toxic perfectionism
- Caleb, Genesis and Darrem: all command-coded in different ways, with different problems to overcome
Transcript
(Please note this transcript was generated automatically by Apple Podcasts, and though it was edited by a human, some errors may remain.)
Anika: Welcome to Antimatter Pod, a Star Trek podcast where we discuss fashion, feminism, subtext and subspace, and also weddings, hosted by Anika and Liz. Today we are discussing Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, “Ko’Zeine”.
Liz: “Ko’Zeine”? I was like, oh, “Ko’Zeine”, like co-signing the wedding? Anyway, we’ve discussed my feelings about using alien words as episode titles. I think it’s a bad move. More important, did we make this episode happen?
Anika: We absolutely did.
Liz: We need to start using our powers for good instead of evil.
Anika: I was not expecting it. Now that, when I started thinking about it, I was like, okay. So we did a whole series of wedding episodes, and there was also a wedding episode in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, and one in Star Trek: Discovery, and one in Star Trek: Lower Decks. So, actually, Star Trek just really loves weddings.
Liz: Well, you know, we’ve discussed, we discussed at some length, in fact, Star Trek loves a wedding but hates a marriage. And honestly, an arranged wedding that ends with an annulment as soon as the ceremony is over? Perfect. Peak Star Trek. Star Trek: Starfleet Academy understands the assignment.
Why are these alien races still marrying their children off?
Anika: It was amazing. Like, we definitely made that happen. Because we spent the entire series saying, look, this isn’t working. Do something different. And they did.
Liz: It turns out that expecting children to give up their lives for a job they didn’t ask for and a person that they didn’t choose is bad. Thank you, Star Trek. You have finally figured it out.
Anika: I’ve been doing some research into the Puritans.
Liz: Oh, that sounds fun and exciting.
Anika: And you would think that the Puritans would be all about the arranged marriages, and they’re all about control and everything, right? And family and, you know. However, you would be wrong.
Liz: Aren’t they the ones with the courtship ritual where you literally share a bed with the person you’re courting?
Anika: Yes. And you talk to each other before a wedding. Yes. And also, if parents arrange a marriage between their children, the children get to say no.
Liz: Okay, that’s too far.
Anika: And they also don’t get married until they’re in their 20s. Like, I am, I was shocked about this, from the 1600s, New England. Like, you think of them as the people who kill witches. And that’s true. However, however, they understood marriage is something that you have to live with. And if you want a healthy marriage and a healthy family, you should like each other.
Liz: Okay. So they were opposed to arranged marriages and child marriages, and very into basic black. So maybe we can forgive the witch burning a bit.
Anika: That’s right. Just a little bit. That was their treat. They wasted it all in one.
Liz: I expected this episode, following on from “Come Let’s Away,” to be like ramping up the tension and more militaristic, and everyone’s really angry, and we’re hunting down Nus Braka.
And no, that is all, I assume, happening off screen, and the funeral has happened off screen and everything. And this is giving the kids space and breathing room and time to recover and to take stock of their situation in this mid-year break.
Anika: When it started, I was floored. I was like, I can’t believe we’re having a spring break episode. I mean, it’s amazing. It’s needed. Like, yeah, absolutely. I think everyone needed a breather after everything that happened last week.
Liz: Yes, yes. But the fact that we got it is shocking. Also, we’ve talked about Star Trek: Starfleet Academy in terms of addressing and either using or subverting YA slash teen drama slash college clichés. And this is a spring break episode where we don’t go to the beach and get wildly messed up and, you know, no girls in bikinis, none of that. Kyle went to Ibiza alone and got sunburnt.
Anika: And we didn’t even follow Sam to the spa. Like, all of that, all the cliché stuff happened off screen. And we had what was ultimately a character episode for the two characters who I was saying are the same. They’re like little mirrors.
Liz: Yes, yes.
Anika: Darem and Genesis, I’m into this. I really liked Caleb’s arc in this one as well. He was not the protagonist of the storyline, but he got some really great growth as a character.
Liz: He is very much the emotional center of the show, and I really appreciate how effectively they use him in that role and how it’s only when he’s really alone or with a small number of people that you see his true self, that he is very fragile. I want to look after him.
Anika: Yes, yes, vulnerable.
Liz: Yeah, but also he doesn’t want to be looked after.
Anika: Remember how last week we were talking about Caleb’s experience with sex?
Liz: Yes.
Anika: And that episode is out and people have been talking about it. And I saw some interesting commentary, nothing horrible. I’m talking about kind people who just have something interesting to say.
I was reading the discourse and I remembered that not only is Caleb sort of inexperienced in relationships in general, but remember how he didn’t have a bed? So we got to see him enjoying intimacy with Tarima in her, or his, someone’s big, beautiful, soft, cozy bed. And I just feel like that’s so much growth. I think that’s a beautiful metaphor for what Caleb is going through in general.
Liz: Yeah. I had not made that connection. And that’s really wise. Oh, my boy. I just, I want to protect him, but he’s a grown man and he needs to have autonomy over his life. And like Nahle, I want to pack him off to a host family who will look after him. I know.
Anika: He’s not about that life.
Liz: No, he’s not. No.
Anika: And fair. I think in particular with Caleb, you know how you just said that he can’t be himself unless he’s with just one or two other people that he trusts. And he wouldn’t know those people. He would have to be on the entire time. It would be the opposite of relaxing. He would just be on display. So I think it was a terrible idea.
And I don’t think Nahle even, I think that she, like you said in your notes, is she distancing herself from Caleb? And I think she is because it was a pressure point last week and things went poorly. So I think that she is trying to sort of step back and regroup and think about things. But I don’t think that that’s what’s actually best for either of them.
I really liked their scenes, the scene at the beginning, just the two of them, and the scene with Genesis at the end. And I just wanted to point out in that scene at the beginning, he definitely laid down on his cozy green chair to have the chat.
Liz: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Honestly, I could watch the two of them pack a suitcase all day.
Anika: Yes.
Liz: And I think you’re right that it’s not the right thing emotionally for Nahle to hold Caleb at a distance, but at the same time, I think she has been sufficiently emotionally compromised by the events of the previous episode, that if she took him on holiday with her, they would lose that professional distance. And you run the risk of making him a project, which I think she has really tried to avoid.
Anika: So, yeah.
Liz: I actually think the best thing for Caleb was to give him space.
Anika: Yeah. Yeah, I think that there’s a difference between sending him to another family and taking him along. I think that you’re right, that taking him on vacation with her would also be a poor choice. But I don’t want her to emotionally distance herself from him because I don’t think that that would be healthy for either of them.
Liz: No.
Anika: But I understand setting boundaries, which I think that’s very important.
Liz: The other thing is that she says other students go off to host families, but Caleb is older than the other students. He is a 21-year-old and his peers are 17. He has enough arrested development, he’s never been a child, so in a lot of ways, it’s easy to forget that. But in this case, he could have just gone off and gotten a hotel and done his own thing for four days. He’s a grown man.
Anika: Yes, yes, very much so.
Liz: That age gap can mean so much when you’re that young.
Anika: Oh yeah, it’s huge. The difference between a first year and a fourth year in college is gigantic.
Liz: Yes, yes.
People have been asking, where’s Tilly? Where’s Mary Wiseman? But we saw her with cadets in Star Trek: Discovery, and I think there is a cohort of upperclassmen by this point out in space, and this is just the first cohort of the Academy back on Earth. But there’s a whole separate group out there, and those cadets will be closer to Caleb’s age.
Anika: Right. That episode of Star Trek: Discovery suggested that those six kids were the only cadets. They were the pilot program.
Liz: Yeah, I think there was a crowd scene with 20 kids. And, you know, COVID filming restrictions. Yeah. But yeah, that was a soft launch. And I think Tilly is seeing them through to the completion of their studies before she goes back and starts again at the Academy on Earth. That’s my theory.
I’ve seen speculation on Reddit that Mary Wiseman wanted to step back because she was tired of the bullying from fandom about her weight. And if that’s true, good on her, this fandom is the worst.
Anika: Good on her, bad on us.
Liz: Not a good reflection on us. No.
So let’s just go through each character one by one and we’ll knock Sam out of the way early. She gets a break at a digital spa. I like that we see that the recovery from the events even a month later is still ongoing. Like, even in the 32nd century where you can wave a wand and stuff, things aren’t necessarily fixed overnight.
And the last few days, I’ve seen a lot of discourse on Bluesky about the wheelchair, the extra in a wheelchair, and the many, many reasons that a person would need a wheelchair in the 32nd century. And I appreciated seeing that Sam’s recovery was ongoing.
Kerrice Brooks posted to Instagram a couple of weeks ago that she has been in hospital with a chronic pain condition. And so I wonder if this was also a way of giving her a break from filming, especially after she basically carried episode five.
Anika: Right.
Liz: One of the things that I really like about New Trek, even when I don’t like the New Trek series, is that they have accommodations for their actors.
Anika: Yes, it’s part of the change in the business model. And those are all very positive things that we could only, you know, there’s room for growth. But the difference between how the actors talk about the behind the scenes goings on now versus 30 years ago is huge. It’s wild.
Liz: Stuff like, Lura is in this episode, but we only hear her voice, so Gina Yashere didn’t have to come in and do makeup. Like I remember Ethan Phillips or Armin Shimerman would have to come in and do hours and hours and hours of makeup for one scene. I like that they have the flexibility to just go, you know what, these cast members, they can have the week off.
Should we do Darem or Genesis first, and then Jay-Den and Caleb go along?
Anika: They go along with each of them. Let’s start with Darem and Jay-Den, the two who actually do go somewhere, although they don’t go how or where they intended to at the beginning.
Liz: Can I say, I think it’s a really nice detail that Jay-Den doesn’t know how to pronounce Ibiza? Because that particular type of Spanish is not obvious to the non-Spanish speaker. I mean, anyone who has heard me attempt to pronounce a Spanish word can laugh.
Anika: I was going to say, anyone who has heard me attempt to pronounce anything on this podcast. I’m pretty sure you corrected me at the title at the beginning of this episode, because I can hear something and then say it wrong anyway.
Liz: Oh my gosh. Same. In Spanish in particular, there are sounds that I can hear, but I can’t reproduce. I hear the sounds coming out of my mouth and it’s very unpleasant and I’m sorry.
Anyway, I really enjoyed Darem’s whole marriage kidnapping, arranged marriage story. I kind of assumed from the start that Kaira was going to end up with her maid of honor or best man because extremely lesbian coded.
Anika: Yeah.
Liz: So I wasn’t really surprised by where this went or how it went down, but it felt like a nice synthesis of everything we said late last year and early this year about arranged marriages in Star Trek.
Anika: Yes. It was such a breath of fresh air. Also that Kaira was just like, it turns out I’m in charge and so I’m going to just take that power and change things.
It reminded me of Jasmine in Aladdin, where they spend the entirety of Aladdin, she’s upset that she has to marry a prince, and then the sultan at the end is like, wait a minute, I’m the sultan. I can just say that’s a stupid rule, we don’t have to follow it anymore. And I feel like she had the same arc, but she’s the sultan and the girl.
Liz: It’s a very light story, but it’s also very 2026, in terms of looking at Adams and Mamdani’s mayoral careers so far and going, wait, you can just use your power to effect change for good? Is that allowed? And it also ties in with the whole ethos of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy so far, where we’re looking at a flawed system and problematic ideas and then going, what if we just change them? What if this young person comes into power and can use it for good?
Anika: Yes. Kaira, for the win. I mean, I doubt we’ll ever see her again, but I approve of her whole thing. And I hope that she enjoys being Queen of Fishland. Because she deserves it. And she’s absolutely going to end up with her maid of honor, sorry. That happened.
Liz: We have discussed at length how gendered wedding episodes of Star Trek are. So I like the detail that Darem and Kaira are wearing — they’re both sort of wearing the same outfit, just hers is a dress and his is not. But then we have the best man, the ko’zeine. And Kaira’s ko’zeine is wearing a suit, and Jay-Den is basically wearing a dress over pants.
Anika: Yes.
Liz: Very, very 2003 of him. He’s going to look back at that one day and regret it because I did. Slowly but surely, we are queering our Klingons.
Anika: And I mean, genderqueer Jay-Den is my favorite. So keep going, keep doing your thing, Jay-Den. It’s beautiful.
Liz: I love that he was back in his skirt. I love, really I liked everything about this episode, and his public speaking has come so far. He doesn’t enjoy it, but now he can do it without having a panic attack. And also, this time it doesn’t involve him and the fate of his people. And really all he has to do is say something true and kind about Darem.
Anika: He came in and he was very clutch. They thought he’d left and he showed up. And I mean, it was very rom-com that part where he’s left because he doesn’t support it and all of this. But then he comes in and he’s like, me being here for you is more important than my feelings about it. And that was just lovely. And then what he says is what Kaira needed to hear to make her decision. So it was all just lovely. Like everything that happened was so heartwarming.
Liz: And everything we see about Darem with his people puts his initial behavior in context. Because remember we were talking about how his bullying was so juvenile and it was more middle school than what you would expect of a 17 year old going to college. And it’s kind of like he has his own case of arrested development because he was never able to act out or misbehave or he was never able to be his true self and his true self is an asshole.
Anika: But you know, his true self is an asshole because he was never able to be his true self, I think. Right, right. He didn’t get to explore it and so all he has is a chip on his shoulder. And that’s all he’s left with. Right. So he’ll grow out of it. He’s already growing out of it.
Liz: And I do think that it’s quite normal for many children to go through that juvenile bullying era. And the idea is that, you know, they do it when they’re very young before they can do any serious harm, and then they learn better and grow up to be decent adults. And Darem didn’t get to go through that stage.
Anika: Right.
Liz: Not all children go through that, but many.
Anika: At the beginning of this episode, his interactions with Jay-Den proved that he has already moved on from just hating Kyle on sight and being against the whole concept of Kyle.
Like, remember in the episode where they go to the bar and first, he’s speaking up against Kyle in the atrium, and then he’s speaking up against him in the bar, and he has that whole thing. And then last episode, Kyle was gravely injured, and he wasn’t there for it, but he certainly heard about it.
And since it’s now clear that Jay-Den and Kyle are an actual couple, he’s not happy about it, but he’s resigned and reserved. And he also was swallowing his feelings and being like, you go have fun at the beach, Jay-Den, that sounds great. He was putting in the effort to not be a dick about it. And I think that we should reward him for that.
Liz: He was making the effort, but he was so failing.
Anika: He was trying.
Liz: The important thing is that he no longer hates Kyle for being part of the War College. He hates Kyle because he’s jealous. He’s hating Kyle for who he is, and I think that’s beautiful.
Anika: What’s also interesting is that Jay-Den chose to not go to the beach with Kyle in order to figure out what was going on with Darem and then stay there. When he realized that Darem wasn’t in any actual danger, he could have been like, I have somewhere to be, goodbye, but he actually stayed for the whole thing.
Liz: Yeah. That’s not nothing. And you could argue that it’s just the action of a friend, but I feel like Kyle is maybe a starter boyfriend for Jay-Den, but he’s going to slowly evolve romantic feelings for Darem.
Anika: Right. And Darem has to earn his respect, not only as a person and a friend, but as a potential romantic partner.
Liz: Yeah.
Anika: He’s more than what he appears to be at first.
Liz: Full respect to Darem, but he is only just now learning to be a good person.
Anika: But also, you know, I got to say, I actually love how the wedding resolves itself, but I also love — this is the sweetest arranged marriage in Star Trek that we’ve gotten. It’s like, they’re childhood friends.
Liz: Well, they actually know each other for a start.
Anika: You know, yes, they know each other and like each other. And I think he does love her as his best friend from childhood. You know, I believe that that relationship is real. And it could even be an okay marriage because they care about each other. He just wouldn’t be happier. Neither of them would be happy and satisfied, but they would get along.
Liz: And they would probably be better parents to their kids than, yeah.
Anika: You know, they’d probably be great parents, co-parents, I can imagine that being. Oh, so much better than Darem’s parents for him. Yeah, anyway. So I just, I was like, oh, this is so nice. This is such a nice, not terrible arranged marriage where they’re cute little friends who get along and would have a nice marriage, but it’s just not what they want. And they don’t have to agree to it. And so they don’t. What an amazing plot. It’s like nothing really happens and I love it.
Liz: It’s also kind of revolutionary in a Star Trek arranged marriage episode that it’s the groom who is passively going along with it. Because, you know, we had some stuff to say about that.
Anika: Yes, we did.
Liz: But I think the way Darem’s parents raised him, he has sort of been a passenger in his own life for many years.
Anika: And now he’s trying to take off the training wheels and drive for himself. And there’s going to be a lot of bumps and scrapes along the way.
Liz: Yeah, yeah. It is part of the learning process. You’ve probably seen this working as you do at a university, but some freshmen do come in and they’ve never had the opportunity to self-actualize before because their parents have stood in the way.
Anika: Absolutely.
Liz: Or circumstances or, yeah. And we talk about helicopter parents and, oh, these kids who are so sheltered, what’s wrong with them? They weren’t sheltering themselves. They weren’t making those choices. I feel like that’s everything I have to say about the wedding, but I am really looking forward to Avery Plewes’ deep dive on the costuming because that is all gorgeous. Jay-Den should wear beads every day. And oh my goodness, the bit where Darem takes off his mantle because Jay-Den is cold. And I was like, boys, you’re breaking my heart.
Anika: I know. Everything — I wasn’t going to ship Darem and Jay-Den, but Jay-Dar is mine now.
Liz: I like the way this is shaking out in that there’s no real villain in the love triangle. Maybe it can resolve with polyamory. Maybe it can’t. Maybe this is just a teen romance that Kyle and Jay-Den will look back at fondly one day.
Anika: They can also be sweet friends who, you know, just go along for the rest of their lives. It’s perfectly fine to end a romantic relationship and stay friends with them and continue to be a part of each other’s lives.
Liz: Honestly, it’s even fine to end a romantic relationship and not stay friends, as long as you’re like reasonable and not a dick about it, which Darem is probably going to have to learn. I just have this feeling, but there are no villains here and I really like that.
Liz: Okay. Back at the Academy, Genesis is getting up to hijinks.
Anika: Shenanigans. I mean, okay. So first of all, Caleb relaxing in a sun chair on the atrium, just being like, this is my giant room to myself now and just enjoying that — goals. It’s wonderful. It’s like how we can imagine that he’s never had space of his own for his whole life. And now it’s like the Academy is empty except for him and it is his. He is king of the castle. I love that Genesis interrupted him, but also I was like, Genesis, let him have this.
Liz: Come on, he’s never had a bed. Let him have a sun bed.
Anika: But then as much as Genesis interrupting things takes that away from him, Genesis interrupting things is great. And I loved the Caleb and Genesis show.
Liz: Remember how a few months ago, we were looking at La’an and Spock, and I was like, I know this looks romantic, but they can’t possibly be romantic. You know, this is just friendship and friendship between men and women. Just looks like that because we live in a very allosexual culture. Are we meant to get a romantic vibe with Genesis and Caleb?
Anika: I mean, okay, look. So we’re skipping to the end and shipping news here, but I called them endgame coded. Like, I really get the, they’re going to have other relationships before they get there. But at the end of the day, these are the two that are supposed to end up together.
Liz: I kind of think you’re right, but I’m really annoyed about it because I’ve literally just gone out and said that Caleb and Tarima are Imzadi-coded and —
Anika: Well, so, I mean, yes, that is how I use Imzadi. I literally, when I do fan fiction exchanges and stuff, or when I’m describing my own stories, or just what I like in fiction, I talk about Imzadi. I use that as a trope that I like, being that the first love is the one that you come back to in the end. So I see where you’re coming with that and I get it and I agree. I think that it’s Imzadi-coded because she’s a Betazoid. So it’s a little harder for it to not be Imzadi-coded.
Liz: True.
Anika: However, I got Caleb and Genesis vibes in the pilot. They were definitely — there was a flirtation happening in the pilot and it’s been sort of dismissed between then and now. In the second episode, we meet Tarima and Genesis also says she’s not going to have a relationship with anybody for at least six months. But I could tell that Genesis noticed Caleb and Tarima and was sort of putting that in her brain and was feeling a feel about it.
And I think in this episode, there was that moment when Caleb straight up said he’s thinking about Tarima all the time, except not all the time anymore. And I was like, yeah, that was where I went, oh. Okay.
Anika: The reason that I like the Imzadi type of relationship — that first love is the greatest, first love is the truest, something like that is what I say — is because I really like that idea of I meet someone and I have this connection with them. And then that matters more than all the other relationships I have in between. But I can have all those relationships and it’s fine. And it’s great and it’s wonderful, but they are not that initial connection.
But Caleb and Genesis could have had that connection. And I feel like that connection is happening on screen before our very eyes. And it doesn’t have to be romantic and it doesn’t have to be relationship coded. But I do think that they clicked when they first met, when she first came upon him and overheard things that maybe he didn’t want her to overhear and didn’t react in a bad way. I feel like she was the first person that he trusted at Star Trek: Starfleet Academy.
Liz: Even accidentally, yes.
Anika: Yeah. And I feel like that’s meaningful. So I’m expecting this to be a slow burn behind all of their other fast burns. That’s the definition of endgame for me. So we’ll see.
Liz: And there’s also the YA trope where the first person you meet of your preferred gender is your endgame love interest.
Anika: Right. Which again, these tropes exist for a reason. They’re not real life. This is a story that’s being told to us. And so it should have followed those factors.
Liz: And it’s not a hard and fast rule.
Anika: Yeah. So it’s just, it’s okay for Star Trek and Star Trek: Starfleet Academy and the stories in general to lean on tropes because tropes exist for a reason. I’m never going to be mad about it because what I’m interested in is how it happens. That’s why we’re all watching, right? We want to see how things happen. How you get from A to Z.
Liz: I assume that we’re going to defeat Nus Braka and find Caleb’s mom. And the question is how and what happens along the way. That’s how stories work.
Liz: We were saying last week, Star Trek is no longer interested in twists for the sake of twists. And I appreciate that.
Anika: I super appreciate that. Thank goodness. After all the twists that burned me. They were both doing things to help the other in this just because I know how to do that way. And it’s just like, I just want to watch that all the time. Nice. It’s so nice. Obviously, I love angst and drama and all those things, but sometimes just people getting along is just really refreshing.
Liz: Also, you need the people to be getting along to let the angst and drama mean anything.
Anika: And everything I just said, and then the episode ends with Genesis basically telling him how to move on with Tarima. That is Imzadi-coded for me because that’s what Riker and Troi do for each other all the time throughout TNG. The best wingmen for each other until they decide that who they really want is the other, is themselves. And so that felt tied with me — that I love you so much that I’m going to help you be happy with someone else.
Liz: Yeah.
Anika: Which is the best kind of relationship.
Liz: But I really, really loved getting to see Genesis’ flaws and the crack in her armor and the dark side of her perfectionism, which I think is probably something that a lot of people can relate to. Not that I’ve ever forged an application or anything like that.
I was watching, going, are we going to find out that Genesis did a Collegegate? Is she really an Admiral’s daughter? And it’s just this really sad thing of my references saw my weak spot. And unfortunately, it was my weak spot, so I couldn’t cope with that in a normal way. I think that’s very humanizing.
Anika: The amount of pressure — and not to make it about recent events, but Ilia Malinin did not get the gold medal that everyone everywhere was saying he was going to get in the men’s figure skating. And it’s started a conversation about the amount of pressure that we put on these literal children. I mean, he’s like 21 years old. And I’m so happy to see the conversation. The fact that even the media is talking about it at all, because it’s like all their fault. It’s like you guys are the ones who put that pressure on him. You know that, right?
But there is so much pressure on everyone to achieve. And the overachievers, the people who are told from first grade, that they are the special, gifted, wonderful people who are going to change the world, and all they need is support. And, you know, to take three extra courses and work three times as hard. Of course, they’re going to break at some point. Like, no one’s going to get through their life without breaking.
Liz: It’s unsustainable.
Anika: And, of course, they’re going to try to find ways to work around the painful parts of it. Like, we’re creating the situation and then being surprised that people come up with creative, not-so-great ways to deal with it.
Liz: It also feels like the dark side of being a nepo baby, where some people, Darem, become very entitled, and other people are unable to believe that they’ve earned anything, and destroy themselves trying to live up to, not even necessarily their legacy, but what they perceive as the expectations on them.
I think Genesis would be a hyper-perfectionist, even if she wasn’t an Admiral’s daughter, but you combine that privilege with her natural personality, and it puts her in a terrible position. And it’s like, girl, why did you rewrite the recommendations, but also, I get it? Just the level of fear that she lives with.
Anika: Right. So, for Genesis — I just want to give her a hug. Just calm down. And your entire life doesn’t have to be figured out right now.
Liz: Oh, that’s the other thing I was thinking of, your regular rant about how we make kids choose their paths at age 16 or whatever.
Anika: Yes. How old was she when she was doing these applications? It’s so painful to me. It’s like, there’s this tension between what would be best for the students and what is actually possible. And these kids get caught in the crosshairs because they think they know what they’re interested in or what they have decided that they’re interested in, but they’re not. It’s like, it’s an open ocean of things you have to navigate to even figure out how to do that thing.
And if the fact that the kids who come in with no idea of what they do — it’s like, whatever, who even knows how to get there? So we don’t set people up to fail, but we certainly don’t set people up to succeed. You know, not for lack of trying. No one wants to be doing this, but we’re all sort of stuck in this weird system. And my rant that you’re referencing is the problem is that we’ve been trickling it down all the way to kindergarten.
Liz: You have undergrads choosing their majors before they know what they don’t know. But these expectations are beginning earlier and earlier, and it’s absolutely untenable.
Anika: Yes. So it’s just like, I could talk about this for hours because society forces these decisions on young people. But no one is actually willing to create the infrastructure that would make that reasonable.
Liz: And you combine that with the pressure of student loans and how are you going to pay for this education? If you do a course and you don’t like it, but you still have to pay for it and that’s still going to follow you around forever. It’s just, yeah.
Anika: It’s a nightmare.
Liz: It’s rough.
Anika: For those, yeah. So I totally understand Genesis and her impulses. I’m going to say, I thought at the beginning of this episode that we were finally going to meet the Admiral.
Liz: I know.
Anika: And I am big mad that we did not. And that her entire — it’s a black box. It’s always mentioned. It’s this huge thing that is so related to everything she does and thinks and feels, but we know nothing about it. Like we don’t have any of the reality.
Liz: Yeah. Not to be an entitled fandom monster, but I feel like we’re owed an Admiral.
Anika: I’m just like, why has this not happened? I need it. I need it. But I’m thrilled with what we got from Genesis because her whole dilemma — she could have just not done or said anything and she would have gotten what she wanted, which is the Command Track.
Liz: I thought the problem was that they were going to look more closely at her references. Yeah, I think that’s her fear.
Anika: But I’m just going to say, in my experience, that’s not true. No one was going to look closer. That’s just her fear. I legitimately believe this. I mean, yes, Nahle was doing a hard sell of, you’re going to sail through because all of your great stuff, blah, blah, blah, blah, and yes, they’ll look at it, but you know, it’ll be fine because I’ve seen your things.
So I understand where that fear came from, but legitimately, no one wants to read recommendations. The only thing worse than reading recommendations is writing recommendations. I think that honestly, I think that Nahle withdrew her support of Genesis going to the Command Track, not because she cheated or because she was anything, but because it was clear she wasn’t ready. She didn’t have the required experience and ability to make decisions in the correct way. She just wasn’t ready. And that’s why she made that decision.
Liz: Also, I think Nahle sensed that getting into the Command Track now would be more harmful for Genesis than learning to live with her own failure. Like we had a lot of people online being like, oh, why do they use a real starship graveyard for this training exercise? Why don’t they do everything on the holodeck? And it’s because most of these kids are ultra high achievers who need to learn to fail. That’s what the Kobayashi Maru is.
But it’s like every step of the Starfleet training process is learning to try to achieve perfection while letting go of perfectionism. And that’s really hard. And I don’t think that Genesis is out of the running for command forever, but she needs to sit with this flaw and learn to overcome it and get to a position where…
Anika: I’m super interested in how this is all mapping out with our core group and where you would put them into a traditional Star Trek command structure. So Jay-Den has opted into medical, right? Like that’s his goal and that’s his path and great, right? So that’s taken care of. And Sam is the operations engineering over there doing her little thing. She’s over there being Data, which is a catch-all, right?
Liz: Yes.
Anika: So that’s great. And then it leaves our others, right? So Caleb, Genesis and Darem want command, but I don’t think I would be crazy to say that Caleb’s going to be the one who ends up being the quote unquote captain because —
Liz: No, that seems pretty obvious.
Anika: You know, I mean, I think that’s where we’re going with this, but I’m really interested in how we get there. And I like the setup of the people who want it so badly have to lose first. And the person who doesn’t even know what it is is going to be the person who ends up there.
Liz: I also think Caleb has to learn to want it. Yeah, he has never learned how to be ambitious. He’s been in survival mode since he was five years old and probably before that.
Anika: Yeah, right. Like, I love Caleb and I’m rooting for Caleb, but he has to learn how to be a person before he can learn how to be a captain. But I do think that in the end, his experience is going to make him such a good one.
Liz: I agree. And I’m also thinking about Dal, who obviously has a lot in common with Caleb. And people will say that they’re the same character. But Dal had to learn that it was okay to be a follower, to be the support person, to be the first officer. And I love that for him.
But it also kind of bugs me that it’s nearly always the characters played by Black actors who have that storyline. And so with Caleb, I really do want him to have this storyline where he learns that it’s okay to be ambitious. He can own his ambition and find ways to use it that are productive and supportive, and that he can use his ambition to lift himself and others up.
Anika: I want Caleb to realize that he’s allowed to ask for things. And expect to be given them. I think that’s such an important story, and that we need this marginalized kid with nothing to be our new Jim Kirk. We need that, and I want to see it happen. But it’s not going to happen overnight, and he does have to learn how to accept that he — like, he’s still trying to convince himself that he belongs here at all.
Liz: Yeah. I do think that if he didn’t have a connection with Nahle, and if he hadn’t made friends — and this is his first time hanging out with Genesis one-on-one. These kids are a team, but they’re not necessarily all friends yet. Caleb is friends with Jay-Den, who is sort of against his will friends with Darem. And Sam and Genesis are friends, but they’re people who hang out together. They’re not a tight-knit group.
Anika: Yeah, right.
Liz: Yet. Because they still have to come together. And it’s fun to watch that evolve.
Anika: And part of that is figuring out where each of them fits into the group. So it’s all related.
Liz: Yeah, yeah. I also think it’s interesting that of our three command-coded kids, Caleb, Genesis, and Darem — we have Darem, who is too entitled, Genesis, who is unentitled to the point where that in itself is toxic to her, if not to others, and Caleb, who needs to learn to ask and to accept good things when they come his way.
Anika: Yeah, it’s great storytelling. I am fully invested in all of this.
Liz: Yeah. So, are we ready for shipping news?
Anika: Yes.
Liz: Okay, we’ve discussed Caleb and Genesis, and I think you’re right that they’re endgame coded, but I’m mad about it.
Anika: I’m sorry.
Liz: No, no, like I said at the beginning, I wasn’t going to get attached to any ships because at this age, they’re always in flux. And then I went and got attached to Caleb and Tarima, and I just need to, yeah. But the real OTP is Caleb and his arms, because have you seen that man’s?
Anika: Hello.
Liz: Yeah, I definitely also had the double take. I’m like, okay, pause.
Anika: I have to get over this before I can continue paying attention to the series.
Liz: I know from his Instagram that Sandro Rosta’s great loves are going to the gym and going to church. So I just hope that he’s getting these gains in a healthy way.
Anika: Yes.
Liz: And then we have Jay-Den and Kyle, who are absolutely together and there was a cheek kiss and —
Anika: Oh my god, they’re so cute. Kyle is so precious. He’s such a little cinnamon roll and I love him.
Liz: I like that there’s no jealousy — Jay-Den blew off Ibiza to be at Darem’s wedding. Kyle seems like a good guy and I hope that when everything goes down, everyone comes out of it okay.
Anika: Kyle seems very in tune with himself and therefore, he can be okay with everybody else. I think that’s actually really a rewarding personality. I think that they need a little of that. So since everyone else is not comfortable in their own skin, it’s really nice to have Kyle over there being chill about it and it’s fun.
Liz: Kyle and Ocam, who was not in this episode, but they’re traits that you really want in supporting characters. You don’t want supporting characters to be the ones bringing the drama at this stage. We are not ready for a Garak in this series yet. No offense to Garak, but he does bring the drama.
Anika: He does. Very, very true. Again, Jay-Den and Darem, I feel like we’ve discussed that as well. I think there’s definitely something there. I don’t think Jay-Den is on board, but reluctantly, he has feels. I also — Darem doesn’t think he wants to be necessarily pining, but he is.
Liz: No, and I think it’s actually quite funny that they have found a way to tell an old school Star Trek, will they, won’t they, do they even know what they’re doing, sort of slash pairing, and also have canonical queerness. Like, it’s a really nice needle that they’re threading in terms of serving multiple generations of fans and multiple types of shipper, and it’s just a really good balance, you know, for everyone.
Anika: It’s lovely. And then Caleb and Tarima, who — she wasn’t in this episode, we all just sort of hear second-hand what is happening with her, she’s recovering. Caleb has been getting dispatches from Ocam, but has been struggling to actually reach out to Tarima himself, even though he really wants to. And he has all those feelings, and he doesn’t know where to put them.
So the episode begins and ends with a letter to Tarima from Caleb, and he deletes the first one because he’s too vulnerable. He’s not comfortable with how he’s presenting himself. But again, with Genesis’ push, he allows the last one to be sent. And I just, that was a lovely way for the episode to happen.
Liz: It’s interesting that both Darem and Caleb are in this situation where, in some ways, they’re still children, and they’re struggling with being adults. And Caleb is aware on some level that deep down he is that scared six-year-old whose mother was taken away from him, and he’s really uncomfortable with it.
It’s a point of vulnerability that he’s afraid that others will exploit, but also, that’s not who he wants to be. I think he wants to be the cool, quippy hero dude who’s too cool to care. And Tarima has seen through that. And also, he’s seen her at her worst, at her most vulnerable. She made a bunch of guys’ heads explode.
Anika: I was cheerleading Caleb and Genesis, but I love Caleb and Tarima. I love their dynamic. It feels like this whole intercultural happening with how she acts in certain ways that he just does not understand in any way. But they get through it. I just, it’s, there’s a lot of depth to that relationship. So I’m totally great with it happening.
Liz: Yeah.
Anika: I’m just not going to allow myself to get too attached because I see other things happening. And you know, in my worldview, Tarima’s best relationship is with her brother. And so I’m just going to prioritize that.
Liz: Right. I will say, I started watching Significant Others this week, which is an Australian drama. And it was Zoë Steiner’s only other big credit before this. And I have a new appreciation for the quality of her performance in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy.
Because, you know, sometimes you need to see an actor, especially a young actor, in a different role to appreciate how hard they’re working. Because Tarima is very self-conscious. She’s always on some level performing. And then Steiner’s performance as a 16-year-old who has lost her mother is so naive and unaffected and natural. And I just have so much respect for the work that Steiner is doing to build Tarima as this woman who is not quite comfortable in her own skin yet.
Anika: Yes.
Liz: Which I think is actually true of all of the kids. This is a series about learning to be who you are.
Anika: That’s the whole point. And it’s great. That’s what we want from this series. So.
Liz: Yeah, yeah. So this is not the episode that I expected it to be, but I did really enjoy it. It was very slight. And I feel like there’s going to be discourse about the meteor shower at the end because I don’t think there’s any meteor shower that’s visible over San Francisco these days.
Anika: But this is like 800 years from now.
Liz: That’s what I decided.
Anika: Stars change.
Liz: The remnants of an asteroid from the Asteroid Belt, or leftover space junk from Elon Musk.
Anika: It could be literally anything. If people want to complain about that, then I will just slap them upside their heads because it’s the stupidest thing to complain about. There are so many easy ways to explain such a thing.
Liz: I hope that one of the astrophysicists of fandom will be more interested in coming up with explanations than being nitpicky about it.
Anika: Yes.
Liz: You’re on notice, astrophysicists.
Thank you for listening to Antimatter Pod. You can find our show notes at antimatterpod.com, including links to our social media, credits for our theme music and transcripts of our episodes.
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