298. The NagusFORMULA: Journey to Babel + The Last Outpost + The Undiscovered Country
WHY WE LIKE IT: The Ferengi are finally enjoyable.
WHY WE DON'T: Where does the Nagus' son go after this?
REVIEW: Our first true Ferengi episode, The Nagus gives us a lot more information on the race than TNG ever managed, and sets the tone for all Ferengi stories to follow. We first meet Grand Nagus Zek, a wonderful creation as much through make-up as Wallace Shawn's performance. He's with his manservant Maihar'du, the loyal and caring mute. We first hear about the Rules of Acquisition, and that'll certainly become an important element of any Ferengi conversation (replacing the "old sayings" of yore). "Having the lobes for business", chilled tube grubs, tooth sharpening, dessicated remains on the auction block, they all first appear here.
More importantly, this is the first story where Rom is Rom. The love/hate relationship between the brothers is on the screen for the first time, and it's doubtful poor sweet Rom could ever have pressed the button to the airlock and killed Quark, even for his lowly ambitions. A still unnamed Morn gets his first starring scenes, and he's an unofficial member of the Ferengi family. And even when we visit other characters, the focus remains a Ferengi one. The B-plot centers on Jake choosing Nog over his father, with Sisko sweetly learning a valuable lesson about the IDIC philosophy, and Dax getting in a scene that never fails to amuse me in the process between her and an aubergine stew.
More than a comedy episode, The Nagus is a fun satire on business. Of course the Ferengi want to exploit the Gamma Quadrant, and the mouth of the wormhole is the perfect place for them to show up and reveal all their secrets to the audience. Protection rackets, gouge mining, corporate meetings, threats of buy outs, etc. are riffs on 20t-21sth century business practices we except from the Ferengi, but our lense has changed. Instead of the ridiculous comparison between "as we are" and "as we want to be" of TNG, we now live in a world where commerce and money are real things, which makes Quark's failures and triumphs more compelling.
LESSON: Attempted murder is only attempted murder if the attempted victim presses charges.
REWATCHABILITY - High: A wonderful primer to Ferengi culture and our Ferengi family. Ferengi epsodes will forever be hard-pressed to top this one.
Comments
Well until "House of Quark" at least... but i guess that's more of a Klingon episode in a weird way.