336. The House of QuarkFORMULA: Profit and Loss + Sins of the Father
WHY WE LIKE IT: Genuinely funny.
WHY WE DON'T: What? You're making me like accounting?!?
REVIEW: I've watched a lot of Trek back to back (this isn't the only time in my life either), but I haven't laughed out loud like this in a good long while. The clash between cultures inherent to the Ferengi and Klingons should be funny, but we've seen such things go awry before. Not so here. When Quark has to marry the somehow beautiful Grilka, the wedding involves as much spitting as the divorce - hilarious!
And really, it's hard not to giggle at Gowron trying to understand Quark's highly technical descriptions of D'ghor's financial schemes, or just the way a Klingon says the word "money", or Grilka taking Quark's hand off her thigh, or the Son of Keldar challenging D'ghor, Son of... whatever (OH NO YOU DI'N'T!). If everything involving Klingons seems epic, then financial endeavors appear so here, and Quark's final solution is an incredibly savvy one. As in Profit and Loss, his bravery is the flipside of his weakness for beautiful women. Rom's good in this episode, dense as ever but showing a real love and admiration for his brother. Their relationship remains sweet from this point on. I'm also giving props to the new Klingon matte painting, nice and wintery.
The equally romantic subplot about Keiko's school closing (the reveal of which is very well directed) and O'Brien trying to give her a new direction is good, but Keiko is such a wet blanket, it's not always easy to like her. Good news, the botanical survey writes her out of the series unless she's really needed. The high point is Bashir counseling O'Brien and telling it exactly like it is. There may be a mutant in there after all.
LESSON: Brush your teeth before kissing a Klingon woman. And after.
REWATCHABILITY - High: One of the best comedy episode, and despite the comedy, it makes Quark an exciting action hero (of sorts).
Comments
As a CPA, I've been to Board meetings to present financial statements and gotten the same reaction Quark did from the High Council, so that's especially funny to me.
And Matt, pulled a Column J on hapless CEOs? For shame.
But this is probably my favorite DS9 episode, not the best one just my favorite