402. Business as UsualFORMULA: Body Parts x Scorsese
WHY WE LIKE IT: Lawrence Tierney. Kirayoshi (awwww, cute).
WHY WE DON'T: I'm not a big fan of cousin Gaila.
REVIEW: Quark's particular case of "Gilligan's Island Syndrome" is that he can't get rich no matter what scheme he tries, and Business as Usual is a particularly good example of that. Quark starts out broke and in heavy debt, and that's pretty much how it ends too. The scheme: Selling weapons. A good use of his people skills and holosuites, but also a way to poke at his growing conscience. It's all fun and games as long as he feels divorced from any killing - Quark is always good at justifying his actions - but when a client asks for death tolls, not weapons, he must use that cleverness of his to make the deal fall through and escape "the life". Lesson learned.
In many ways, it's a mob story in the same vein as Goodfellas or Wiseguy. Our protagonist is seduced into a criminal organization's inner circle, but must ultimately betray people he's come to think of as his friends. Hagath is almost a cliché, polite and affectionate, but dangerous and easy to anger. We've seen this kind of character many times before, but not always so overplayed. Gaila has the same problem. He's much too broad a character, with all the tongue-churning lasciviousness that turned people off the Ferengi in TNG. What's more, some people just don't have the face for certain make-ups, and I've just never thought Josh Pais had a Ferengi look. Doesn't work for me. And since we're on the subject of villains, Lawrence Tierney puts in one last Trek appearance, though he'd just suffered a stroke and perhaps it shows. A lot of mumbling, but it does make him come across as a kind of rough barbarian, a monster, which works for the part.
More interesting to me than the stock villains is the crew's reaction to Quark's new venture, especially in the wake of Bajor's "looking the other way". Sisko evidently orders Starfleet personnel to stop attending Quark's, though it's just as likely he just informed them and everyone made the "right" decision. As his closest friend, Dax is the most betrayed and her righteous anger is potent. After Quark turns on his associates, can he be forgiven? He has to for the sake of the program, one supposes, but Dax is way too quick to sweep everything under the carpet. Sisko's strained reaction is much better, his patience with Quark truly at an end.
The subplot of Business as Usual concerns O'Brien's babysitting blues and is amusing and cute as the Chief brings his "sad" baby everywhere he goes. In the first scene, I worried my nerves couldn't take the crying, but there's thankfully little of that. Harmless and sweet is what I would call it, and it uncovers Worf's surprising fascination with the child (having missed Alexander's baby years). Just look at his disappointment when O'Brien takes him away.
LESSON: You can rule by fear, or you can rule by cuteness.
REWATCHABILITY - Medium: Though a good premise, it has an unusually obvious reset button for a DS9 episode. Entertaining enough, but not a stand-out.
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