Micro Review: Business As Usual
Deep Space 9 – Season 5, Ep 18
Quark wants to pay off his debts, but it may end up costing him his life.
When Quark realizes his finances are in the space toilet, he takes up an offer to broker weapons for his cousin Gaila. The latinum flows like wine, but so does the ill-will of the rest of the crew when they realize what Quark’s doing. Dax disowns him and Sisko puts him one stolen, self-sealing stembolt away from the nearest airlock.
All in all, the plot is solid but even the inclusion of a funny O’Brien b-story and the super-sexy companion of arms dealer Hagath can’t rescue this one from being more than what it is – a filler episode. As Ferengi stories go, this is one of the weaker ones, but the scene where Kira, Sisko and Odo give Quark the good cop / bad cop / blob cop treatment is priceless. That said, the lack of any meaningful character development earns it the rank of lieutenant. Worth a watching, but don’t divert the fleet to do so.