Day 48: DS9, The House of Quark

Show: Star Trek; Deep Space Nine

Episode Particulars: S3EP3, “The House of Quark”

 Summary: There have been some changes on the station after the Defiant’s encounter with the Dominion. Most of the families have pulled their children out of school, leaving Keiko without anything to do, leaving her depressed and O’Brien scrambling to find a way to make her feel better. Quark, meanwhile, is losing business, and isn’t particularly happy about it. When he gets into an argument with a drunken Klingon, Kozak (John Lendale Bennett) and Kozak proceeds to fall on his own knife, Quark sees an opportunity to parlay that into more business by spinning a tale about him heroically killing Kozak in self-defense. This draws the attention of other Klingons, first D’Ghor (Carlos Carrasco), who claims to be Kozak’s brother, and then Grilka (Mary Kay Adams), the Kozak’s wife. It turns out that D’Ghor has been trying to get hold of Kozak’s land for years, and this opportunity was just what he was looking for. In desperation, Grilka performs a ritual that allows her to keep her land…by marrying the man who killed her husband. Quark is therefore thrust into Klingon politics, and if he wants to escape with his life, he’d better figure out how to navigate it quickly.

Standalone Thoughts: I was a little afraid that this episode would be a letdown. Having a lighter episode after all the developments in “The Search” is unquestionably a good move, but it runs the risk of feeling like a return to the status quo, and therefore not taking the aforementioned developments seriously. Happily, the writers seem to have thought things through, so the episode turns out to be pretty good.

I like both the main plot and the subplot, albeit for different reasons. I like the main plot because it’s constantly subverting your expectations. How many times have you seen the “somebody does something, lies about it, and then keeps digging themselves deeper and deeper in order to not get found out/in trouble” plot, or some variation of it? The episode is all set to go in that direction, only for it to turn out that the Klingons want Quark’s lie to be true, because it’s a more honorable death. Then it turns out that Quark should have told the truth, but for political rather than moral reasons. It’s a whole series of twists and turns, but they develop gradually and therefore keep you on your toes, wondering what new development is going to occur. It’s sharp writing, and doubly amusing because Klingons and Ferengi have such wildly different ways of looking at the world.

As for the subplot, I mostly like it because it once again shows that O’Brien is a really nice guy. His attempts to cheer Keiko up are sweet, and he’s more than willing to put her needs above his own. It’s always great to see examples of couples doing nice things for each other, although given what we’ve seen so far of the O’Brien’s relationship, O’Brien is doing most of the heavy lifting here. Which just makes it all the sweeter, in a way, even if it leaves me exasperated at Keiko.

That aside, this is a fine episode. It strikes the right balance between funny and serious, which makes it a good follow-up to “The Search”. So far, Season Three is off to a good start, though if memory serves, we’re going to hit a rough patch in about a week. Let’s just hope the quality mostly remains consistent until then.

How it Relates to the Whole: O’Brien’s handling of the Keiko situation will have some repercussions (perhaps one major repercussion, if my memory is accurate), and I believe that Grilka will come back in a future episode, which will also lead to some repercussions, but not necessarily for Quark. Nothing quite like taking a “breather” episode and trying to work it into the main story.

Other: *I noticed something weird with this Dabo girl, and for once, it has nothing to do with fashion;

Those markings on her back are odd. They don’t look like they’re part of the outfit, but neither do they look like they’re some sort of alien anatomy. They look like bruises or dirt smears, and I doubt that Quark would approve of either of those on his Dabo girls—bad for business, don’t you know. I have no idea what to make of them, though perhaps they have something to do with Morn there. Given that they’re about to leave together (and Morn gives Quark and Rom a thumbs-up on the way out), maybe those marks just appeared in the last few minutes, and the Dabo girl doesn’t really mind. That’s probably the best possible explanation I can come up with that leaves everybody satisfied.

*While the episode does generally do a good job of reminding us of the Dominion threat while mostly being light-hearted, it does have a stumbling block when it comes to Odo. He’s only in one or two scenes, but he’s acting normally, i.e. suspicious of Quark. Given that a lot of what happened in “The Search” directly affected him, I don’t know if he’d be acting that way at this point in time. Ideally, he wouldn’t have been in the episode at all, implying that he’s still trying to process things. It’s not a big deal, but from a writing and characterization perspective, it does seem a little off.

*Allow me to draw your attention to this shot;

This is clearly being show through some sort of filter, judging by the blurring effect on the edges and the fact that O’Brien and Keiko’s heads look out of proportion. My question is, why did they use that lens? Were they trying to imply a plants-eye view or something?

*After wearing a bun in “The Search”, Dax is now back to her ponytail, and according to a previous DS9 Companion entry, it’s here to stay. At least it was a hairstyle change that was easy to fix if the audience didn’t like it.

*O’Brien has an exchange with Bashir that I absolutely love. Based on the character’s actions and the way the scene is framed, you’re initially bracing yourself for Bashir to say something awkward or insensitive. But then he calmly sits down and explains why O’Brien’s plan to give Keiko an arboretum won’t work, in a way that makes perfect sense. It’s such a wonderful, mature moment for Bashir that I almost considered making it my Best Exchange for the episode.

Best Line/Exchange: But instead, I went with;

(Quark is looking over Klingon financial records)

Quark: Very clever. Very clever indeed. D’Ghor has manipulated your family’s holdings, devalued the lands you hold, and he is the principal creditor on Kozak’s outstanding gambling debts. It’s no accident your family’s getting weaker and D’Ghor’s family is getting stronger. He’s been systematically attacking your family’s assets for over five years now.

Grilka: You mean D’Ghor has been scheming and plotting like a F…(Trails off and looks at Quark)

Quark (looks back at her, answers proudly): Like a Ferengi.

I like this for two reasons. First of all, Quark knows about the Ferengi reputation, but has decided to just roll with it, and probably feels a little schadenfreude knowing that despite their lofty claims, groups like Starfleet and the Klingons are still capable of acting like him on occasion. Secondly, it’s not every day you see someone brought down via economics in media, unless you count The Untouchables. Granted, that’s only part of how the conflict ultimately gets resolved, but it’s amusing nevertheless, and an interesting subversion of the usual Star Trek, and particularly Klingon, situation.