“K’plah. Or something.”
I’ve completed my re-watch of “Star Trek: The Next Generation.” Now it’s time to start Deep Space Nine! I am much less familiar with this show, though I’m pretty sure I’ve seen about 80-90% of the episodes. It’s been so long that I’m sure it will all feel brand new. My wife has never seen the show. She and I will go through, review every episode, and give commentary and a grade from A-F. There are SPOILERS for each episode below. Without further adieu, here’s:
“House of Quark”
Synopsis
Quark tries to get a Klingon, Kozak, to pay his bill, but the latter objects, leading to a scuffle in which Kozak trips and is killed by his own blade. Quark milks the incident for all its worth, playing it up as though he’d engaged the Klingon in combat and defeated him. Another Klingon, D’Ghor shows up and gets the true story from Quark, but then insists Quark maintain the facade of combat to not dishonor his family. Then, Kozak’s widow, Grilka, comes on station and kidnaps Quark. Before he knows it, Quark has legally married Grilka, who made the move to prevent D’Ghor from seizing the property of her house.
Back on the station, Keiko has closed down the school due to lack of students and flounders looking for something to do. Ultimately, she goes on assignment to do some botanical work to engage her mind more.
Quark digs through the Klingon finances to see how D’Ghor has cheated Grilka and confronts him at the Klingon High Council, but the Klingons are unimpressed with his use of finances to try to settle a dispute about honor. Quark challenges D’Ghor to combat, then, to settle the dispute like a Klingon. When they meet in combat, Quark throws down his blade, calling the fight for the sham that it is. D’Ghor goes for the killing blow anyway, however, showing he has no honor. He is discommendated immediately by the High Council. Grilka thanks Quark and her house is restored to her. K’plah all around.
Commentary
My goodness was this episode fun or what? Okay, let’s get this out of the way: the episode completely ignores all kinds of gaping plot holes and inconsistencies with how we have learned Klingons operate. But these are child’s play for this fun episode. Yes, it seems obvious that the Klingons would be pretty ticked off that D’Ghor has dishonorably used his money to build up others’ debt, but you can sort of see them reacting the way they do, can’t you? Forget all these numbers, fight to the death! K’plah!
None of this has to make sense. Quark is going Klingon, baby, and he does it like a good Ferengi, looking to get whatever profit he can; and if he can’t he wants to at least escape with his life. He does it in a clever way, but that underscores Quark’s own brilliance. He’s a manipulator, and he’s taking a calculated risk. Yes, he knows he will die in combat; may as well try a different route, because otherwise he’s dead. It’s the exact kind of thing his character would do. I loved it.
Also, as a kind of afterthought, the episode explained why we won’t be seeing Keiko or lil O’Brien for a long time. I wonder if there was some issue with these cast members.
Anyway, fun, fun, fun episode.
Grade: A “Implausible? Goes against what we know about Klingons? Ignores major details and plot holes? Check, check, check. But is it a rip-roaring good time? Check.”
Wife’s Grade and Comment: A “It was just a high quality Quark episode. Rules of acquisition for the win. That was sweet!”
“Equilibrium”
Synopsis
Dax starts to exhibit elements of a personality that she doesn’t remember. The DS9 gang takes her to her home planet for treatment, but not all is as it seems. There’s a cover up happening, and Dax is at the center of it. It turns out that a violent person had taken control of the Dax symbiont and that this meant the possibility of getting paired with a symbiont is much higher than anyone has been led to believe. Finding that out, though, would undermine the whole of society on the planet, and the episode ends ambiguously as Jadzia discovers the missing personality and accepts it into herself.
Commentary
I thought this was a weird episode, but not as weird as some that have come before. The biggest problem here is the big question mark surrounding Dax’s society. It seems clear that a society with a hidden self-contradiction is not going to last indefinitely. Will it come up again? I hope so, but it’s always hard to tell in Star Trek. Things are picked up and dropped like children with toys, never to be seen again. Oh well.
The episode’s premise is decent, but it is also kind of hard to believe. An entire personality completely blocked from both the Trill and the human host? I don’t know if I buy that, but I guess I’ll ease off on the suspension of disbelief for now. Or would that be increase my suspension of disbelief? Oh well.
A lot happens in this one, but it really is pretty bare bones. That’s what made it work. If there’d been much more to the main plot, or too much on the side, this episode wouldn’t have worked at all. As it stands, it does work, even if it feels a little unsatisfying.
Grade: B “A good development episode for Jadzia Dax, but too many unanswered questions remain.”
Wife’s Grade and Comment: B+ “I liked getting to learn more about Dax and the symbionts, but it just felt off somehow.”
Links
J.W. Wartick- Always Have a Reason– Check out my “main site” which talks about philosophy of religion, theology, and Christian apologetics (among other random topics). I love science fiction so that comes up integrated with theology fairly frequently as well. I’d love to have you follow there, too!
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SDG.
Eclectic Theist 