Day 172: DS9, The Dogs of War

Show: Star Trek; Deep Space Nine

Episode Particulars: S7EP24, “The Dogs of War”

 Summary: Everything in the Alpha Quadrant seems to be in upheaval. After Damar’s resistance groups are betrayed, he, Kira, and Garak go into hiding, unsure there’s anything more they can do. But then they hear that the Cardassian people are looking on Damar as a hero, and they decide they can try to turn a resistance into a revolution. Meanwhile on DS9, Ezri and Bashir have both admitted to other people that they’re attracted to each other, but are having difficulties actually talking about it with each other. And Quark gets a surprising message from Ferenginar; it seems like Grand Nagus Zek is retiring, and wants to pass the title on to Quark. Initially overjoyed, Quark’s enthusiasm is dampened when he learns from Brunt (who isn’t here to cause trouble for once) that the Nagus has made a lot of reforms to Ferengi society, ones that go against everything they used to stand for. Quark naturally decides to do something about this, but that may be harder than he thinks.

Standalone Thoughts: This episode has a lot of surprises, pretty much all of them good. It returns to the formula of most of the other episodes in this arc, bouncing between two main plots and one small subplot, but it manages to work this time. What makes this even more impressive is the fact that Quark’s plot is meant to be more comedic, while the Cardassian plotline is obviously serious. While there are times when they feel like two different episodes, switching between the two isn’t as jarring as it may appear. I’m not sure how the showrunners pulled it off, but I applaud them for it. And as a bonus, by having two different tones in the episode, we get a little bit of everything. Tension, drama, action, comedy, romance…I think all that’s missing is horror, which I don’t mind being left out.

However, while the content is different, I feel like there’s an overarching theme, which perhaps makes everything feel more related on a subconscious level. After all, can’t Damar rallying the people to fight for Cardassia and Quark refusing to accept the new Ferengi reforms both be seen as a form of patriotism? Sure, one’s more dramatic than the other, but the principle is the same. We also get the recurring element of love and relationships popping up here and there, so that’s a bit of a throughline as well. I really hope this all was intended; it’s a clever touch that adds a richness to the episode.

Any way you slice it, though, the entire episode is enjoyable. The Ezri and Bashir bits are funny and sweet, the Damar plot goes through several interesting twists and turns, and the Quark plot is also amusing, though I’m not sure if economists will laugh or shake their heads. For my part, I like the fact that the Ferengi stories have kind of come full circle. We started with “The Nagus” where Quark temporarily became Grand Nagus, and now we end with Quark gearing up to take that position again. Looking back, you can also see that quite a lot of the Ferengi episodes were building up to this, starting small by having Pel show how hard it is to be a Ferengi female in “Rules of Acquisition”, then having the cause get taken up by Ishka in “Family Business”, then pairing her with Zek in “Ferengi Love Songs”, then introducing a new reform to let females join the world of commerce in “Profit and Lace”. Heck, you could even throw “Prophet Motive” in there, since the new reforms of this episode would probably have made sense in that episode as well. Again, I don’t know if the writers had that grand plan when they started, but they certainly knew how to finish it.

This is probably my second favorite story of the final arc. The excitement and consistent tone of “Tacking Into the Wind” gives that episode the edge, but as you know, I love humor and sweetness, which this episode has in spades. It’s a fun, relatively light episode that doesn’t lose sight of the larger goal, but gives us a chance to catch our breath before everything comes to a head in the final episode. Something I, at least, definitely appreciate.

How it Relates to the Whole: This episode closes out the Ferengi plot, finally resolves Ezri’s relationship issues, and sets up the situation for the last grand battle of the war. Given that this is the last episode before the finale, they kind of had to do that last one, but I’m pleased at how well it all turned out.

Other: *I mentioned there being parallels in this episode. What I didn’t mention was that it sometimes extends to little things in the episode itself. For example, as Sisko impatiently waits for their new Defiant-class starship to be delivered, he says “This is no way to start a relationship.” Almost immediately afterwards, Bashir sidles up to Ezri, clearly attempting to start a relationship. Or there’s the bit where one scene ends with Brunt in frame before immediately jumping to Weyoun on a viewscreen, addressing Cardassia. Ending and beginning scenes with the same actors in different roles just feels like a deliberate choice, one that can be seen as being overly clever but I’m absolutely on board with in this case. What can I say? I’m a sucker for attention to detail.

*Early on in the episode, Garak, Damar, and Kira take refuge in Garak’s old home, watched over by the housekeeper Mila (Julianna McCarthy). We don’t see much of Mila, but she makes a good impression, hitting a lot of the “old woman” tropes but being tough as nails the whole time. I love old lady characters like that, so this was another pleasant addition to the episode.

*As amusing as the whole Ferengi economics reform thing is, I do have to wonder exactly how long it took to put all those laws into effect. Maybe the Ferengi equivalent of Congress is different, but assuming these laws started being proposed around the time of “Profit and Lace”, that means all of these reforms have been passed in a year or less. Somehow this seems very unlikely to me, especially since I feel a lot of Ferengi wouldn’t have been willing to go along with them. But since you can handwave this away with “Alien Congress is different”, I’ll just take it as it is and enjoy the end results.

*This is more of an amusing observation than an actual fashion commentary, so I’ll put this here instead of in tomorrow’s roundup. I feel like there was another homage to Star Wars at play today;

(Pictures slightly color corrected to show the outfit; for some reason, my screencapping button makes shots from darkly lit scenes appear much darker than they do when you’re watching them)

One half expects Kira to pull out a lightsaber at any moment, don’t they? She probably doesn’t have the temperament to be a Jedi, but you can’t deny that she’s a “Force” of nature. I am only slightly sorry for that joke.

Best Line/Exchange: While I didn’t have it locked in, I knew which sections I would be drawing my pick from, because I have been looking forward to discussing this ever since I started this project. That being said, I have to warn for SPOILERS again;

(To everyone’s surprise, Zek has actually named Rom as Grand Nagus)

Quark: All right. You want Rom? You can have him. In fact, you deserve him. He’s perfect for this new worker’s paradise of yours. He can save the environment and levy all the taxes he wants.

Zek (leaning in to Ishka): He’s not taking it very well.

Quark: In fact, as far as I’m concerned,  the Ferenginar that I knew doesn’t exist anymore! No. I take that back. It will exist. Right here in this bar. (he walks behind the counter) This establishment will be the last outpost of what made Ferenginar great; the unrelenting lust for profit! Broik! Water the drinks. M’pella! Rig the Dabo table. Rom…I want to buy back the bar.

Rom: That’s all right, brother, I’ll give it to you.

Quark (shakes his head slightly): I suppose you’re going to let me keep the five thousand bars of latinum, too.

Rom: You’re my brother.

Quark: And you’re an idiot. (Rom looks worried, but Quark smiles slightly) But I love you. Congratulations. You’re the perfect Nagus for this new Ferenginar.

Zek (to Ishka): Are you sure we picked the right brother?

This is amusing in and of itself, with Quark declaring himself the last bastion of capitalism and some sweet family dynamics despite everything. But what makes this extra hilarious in hindsight is the fact that about eight years later, Armin Shimerman would go on to play another über-capitalist, one who also distanced himself from society for very similar reasons. Sometimes I wonder if playing Quark was what got him the job. All I know for sure is that I was dumbfounded when I found out, quickly followed by nodding at how appropriate it was. This may be typecasting, but I’m not complaining in the slightest.

After the Fact Update: This was another time when all the behind-the-scenes info in the DS9 Companion was lumped together, so I didn’t get a chance to read it until now. And while I don’t have too many specific little nuggets to share, I did find out that, while the writers tried to plan out as much of the arc as possible beforehand, there were enough challenges and unexpected personal problems (like Ron Moore’s wife giving birth a month early) that some of the material had to be changed or shunted around. Given how well most of these episodes worked out, it’s hard to believe that’s what happened, but there you are. Some other little tidbits;

*The Dukat plot came to the rather abrupt end it did because the writers started the plot too early and then realized Winn and Dukat weren’t needed for the next three episodes. So they created a scenario where you could imagine things were taking place offscreen.

*It was originally supposed to be Odo tracking down Section 31 for a cure, but they didn’t want to split Odo and Kira up for too long, so they infected Odo with the disease (instead of him being a Typhoid Mary) and the duty fell to Bashir instead.

*The writers really love that O’Brien-Bashir scene in “Extreme Measures” because they thought it really summed up and provided a last hurrah for their friendship. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

*The whole trip through Sloan’s mind was meant to be more surreal, but given the “dream within a dream” nature later on in the episode, the crew couldn’t paint the walls to make them look different. So the writers made do and have Sloan give the explanation I mentioned in the review.

*Some of the decisions—like making Winn and Dukat a couple or killing off Gowron—came about because of throwaway comments or suggestions that the writers liked better. That honestly seems to have been the M.O. for Deep Space Nine in general, so it makes sense that it would come into play here. Let’s see if it happened during the finale too…