Star Trek 460: The Dogs of War

460. The Dogs of War

FORMULA: Prophet Motive + The Nagus + The Homecoming

WHY WE LIKE IT: Damar as urban legend.

WHY WE DON'T: The Ferengi's final fate.

REVIEW: Though the title is mismatched, the main plot of The Dogs of War focuses on the final fate of the Ferengi Alliance. After a changing of the guard for the Klingons, I'm not sure we needed closure on the Ferengi as well, but there you have it. Sadly, it's very much in the vein of the last few Ferengi comedies. For one thing, the guest Ferengi are acting completely out of character. Ishka has completed her about-face since the halcyon days of Andrea Martin and has gone from advocating for equal rights for females to turning Ferenginar into a socialist democracy. This isn't the woman we met in Family Business who was as interested in profit as any male, and who knew Rom was good-hearted but no businessman. Now, not only can Ferengi society be rewritten inside of a few months, but Zek goes along with it. Worse still, Brunt seems fine with it.

I cannot fault the Ferengi cast members, however. Quark will have nothing to do with Zek's reforms, and uses Picard's famous line from First Contact to draw a line in the sand (he's no Patrick Stewart, but it's a fun moment). His bar will be the last bastion of the old Ferenginar. At least HE hasn't lost his senses. Sweet old Rom will no doubt be the ruin of his homeworld, but he's good here trying to finally get his hands on the bar. And the expression of love between the brothers at the end is as touching as it is appropriate.

Though that's the A-plot, there still isn't that much time spent on it. Things have to be moved along for the next episode's finale, after all. On Cardassia, Damar's resistance has been crushed by the Dominion and all seems lost until Kira hits upon the idea of turning the Legate in exile into a legend. And the resistance starts all over again, this time from Mila's basement. Who can forget his Braveheart moment? The Founders retreat into Cardassian territory where you can bet a last stand battle will be fought.

To enable this, Admiral Ross delivers the USS Sao Paulo to Sisko, and it is immediately renamed Defiant. Sao Paulo just doesn't have the right ring to it. But I'm with Bashir - those purple carpets have got to go. Bashir and Ezri take their merry, awkward time admitting their feelings to one another. Odo gets peeved the Federation doesn't want to give his people the cure to their disease. And Kasidy is pregnant on the eve of Sisko's great trial. Whether these scenes provide set-up, closure or an ominous foreshadowing of tragedy, all our ducks are now in a row, and we're ready for the big finale.

LESSON: In the end, greed loses.

REWATCHABILITY - Medium: The build-up to the next episode is must-see tv, but the Ferengi plotline is just this side of pure drivel.

Comments

mwb said…
The stages of Ferengi Focus Episode Viewing.

1) Hmm. I would like to know more about the Ferengi

2) Well that had it moments

3) It was kind of funny

4) Not another Ferengi episode

5) Dear heavens stop talking about the Ferengi

At least for me...

But the Damar stuff was quite good.
Anonymous said…
Here is how to appreciate the Ferengi moments in this episode -- and part of it depends upon remember the era it was written in. Bear in mind that Ferenginar was always portrayed as the sort of libertarian utopia favored by listeners to AM radio in the 1990s (most of whom wouldn't DREAM of moving to a corner of the world that operated like that); yes Ferenginar was nasty and brutal and weasely, but by gum at least the liberals weren't forcing women to wear clothes and such. But with this episode and all the talk of "biodiversity" and "equal rights", Zek and Rom were turning Ferenginar into the evil world as envisioned by liberals, which is to say, actually better than what preceded it, but the very notion instills terror in the hardcore Ferengi.

In short, it was a mock cautionary tale.
This one always drove me crazy... why not the Defiant-A? Or, the Defiant-B, in light of the Tholian Web? Does only the Enterprise rate this treatment? For that matter, why don't we see other Starfleet ships with this naming convention?

I know, it's a minor thing, but... consistency, dagnabit!
LiamKav said…
To be fair, they are consistent. They are consistent that only the Enterprise gets to have a letter suffix.

It's arguably unfair, but it's definitely intentional.