Deep Space Nine Review "The Nagus" 1x10

"Tell me, is the Grand Nagus here on business or pleasure?""Is there a difference?""No, of course not." Quark and Krax

Take good care of that sonny. I haven't been able to use it like that since "I love Lucy" was first shown.





Synopsis.



The Godfather of all the Ferengi comes on board DS9 to give Quark an offer he can't refuse. Quark gives Odo an offer he does refuse, which involved kissing his ample sabre. (No really!)




Review



This episode primarily exists for one purpose, to "reboot" the Ferengi and accommodate them into the DS9 universe. It is difficult to imagine after 14 seasons of DS9 and Voyager, that the Ferengi (v.01)were originally conceived to have been the major baddies in the then new The Next Generation. Vicious avaricious, treat women like dogs; little bastards - who flew badass marauder ships, and carried electrowhips, and were all mysterious and shit. (Though what all that swooping and leering was all about is anyones guess.) But it all went horribly wrong. (Armin Shimmerman, who played one of the first Ferengi, and then Quark himself said that the directors encouraged the actors to jump about like gerbils. Not entirely encouraging!) You see the Ferengi wouldn't have put the frighteners on Scooby Doo on a bad day, let alone the mighty Federation. The writers took one look at "The Last Outpost.", said "this is utter shite", invented the Borg as the new baddies, and turned the Ferengi into the secondary baddy aliens who got wheeled out to shoot at the Enterprise if the script didn't require the Romulans / Cardassians / renegade Klingons to do so. Thus Ferengi v.02 was born. This didn't really fit in with either DS9 or the Quark character himself so the writers decided to turn the Ferengi from unintentionally funny aliens to the comic relief for the show. So this last portrayal (Ferengi v. 03) is probably how the Ferengi are most commonly collectively remembered as. "The Nagus" exists to complete this transaction.




A cloaked figure wielding a sceptre shaped like a golden Ferengi head is sneaked on board DS9. The figure wishes to see Quark, he is Zek, the Grand Nagus of all the Ferengi. A kind of world leader / financial godfather guy. It is pretty remarkable how many staple DS9 tropes get set up in this episode. The Nagus. The rules of acquisition. The Ferengi being complete comedy money grabbing sods, and Nog's growing alienation from his Ferengi heritage. Even non - Ferengi stuff like the fire caverns on Bajor and the Bajoran Gratitude festival are name dropped. All of these would continue throughout the series. Anyhow back to the plot. Quark thinks Zek wants to buy his bar for a lousy price. It is literally an offer he is unable to refuse (see what I did there!), I mean you don't tell the Grand Nagus to sling his hook. Zek is about 150 years old, a wizened shriveled shrewd old rogue. The elderly Ferengi makeup on Wallace Shawn is something else, with all those wrinkles, and god that ear hair! Wallace Shawn just nails that role 100 percent in this episode. Zek eventually reveals why he is here. He has set up a business meeting in Quarks bar with some high ranking Ferengi. The Ferengi have so screwed their reputation for being trustworthy in the Alpha quadrant, that Zek wants them to establish a business foothold in the Gamma quadrant where their reputation doen't proceed them. Now this situation highlights a problem the writers had (admittedly for laughs) portraying the Ferengi as the ultimate free market capitalists. They may have made them amusing, but they didn't make them realistic. Now I don't trust big businesses at all, and what not. But they wouldn't be very good free marketeers if they had sullied their reputation as much as Zek says the Ferengi have. It is simply bad for business if no one trusts you to do business with them honestly. (The many misdemeanours of big business tend to go on behind the scenes. That is why they hire so much PR and stuff) The same thing when Quark berates Rom for returning a patrons dropped purse (and when Quark doesn't offer free refills for spilt drinks) citing the first rule of acquisition as "Once you have their money you never give it back." If Quark operates like that he will lose trade. If you are so blatantly extorting your customers like this, they just will not patronise your bar. Dodgy operators exist in real life of course. But only the desperate use them. it most certainly isn't good business practice. In business reputation matters, and Zek should not have let things get this badly out of hand.





The B story of this episode involves Jake and Nogs friendship, and how unusual it is for a human and a Ferengi to be friends with one another. It's essentially a tale about cultural expectation and determinism, and how it can be broken. These scenes mark a transition in Nogs character. It is inadvertently let slip to the Nagus that Nog attends a school run by a human woman. Rom saves his ass from the Naguses disgust by banning him from attending any more. Nog is devastated at this, and ends up falling out with Jake over it. Now Nog had been portrayed up to then as a bit of a trouble maker leading Jake astray. We see here he is a more complex character. He wants to learn and be educated. He realises that it is away out of not ending up like Rom and being Quarks fall guy. He wants something better for himself, and this really sets thre ball rolling for the development of his character.



Meanwhile Zek says he isn't going to lead this business Renaissance, as he is knocking on a bit and isn't as greedy as he used to be. So he has appointed his successor. Quark! Although this goes down like a turd in a Jacuzzi with the others, Quark begins to lord it in his new role as Nagus (and we get tons of "Godfather" homages too.). He even says Odo can kiss his sceptre if he wants! The other Ferengi magnates warn Quark about making rivals and blackmail the inexperienced Nagus into giving them favourable deals. Quark runs to Zek about how to deal with the bullying magnates, but he croaks mid conversation. In the funeral ceremony at the bar, Quark mocks Rom for wanting the bar, and narrowly misses being assassinated by a bomb. He is reticent to discuss who might want him dead with Odo. But Odo suspects Zeks loyal servant Maihardu may be behind his beloved masters successors attempted murder (he wasn't at the funeral.)


I said I wanted it to be my face on here. Why the hell would I want a staff with Mel Brooks' face on it!


After Quark makes Rom and Krax (Zeks son and spurned successor) his lackeys, they discuss a new method of getting rid of their boss after the locator bomb failed in the job. The trick Quark into going to an airlock where a ship bound for a trade mission to the Gamma quadrant is waiting. They seal him in the airlock, which has no ship attached to it which is unfortunate, and are about to blast him into space, when Zek orders them to stop. He faked his own death after Mahairdu showed him how to, in order to see how ready Krax was to take over as Nagus (i.e not very.) He realises he will have to stay on a bit longer as Krax and Rom screwed up so badly. Quark is surprisingly pleased with Roms unexpected ruthless balls in the whole affair and promotes him. Sisko meanwhile learns why Jake has been hanging around with Nog in secret. Not to mess about, but to teach him to read in his own spare time. Awww ain't that grand?





Mistakes and Questions



Cheif O'Brien is seen running the school whilst Keiko is on Earth. Considering how busy he always seems, couldn't they have found someone else to do this?



We are treated to the sound of Zek being tugged off (doesn't even bear thinking about!) in a saucy holosuite program from the ground level of the bar. Buy some damn soundproofing!



Jake says Nog can't read in this episode. Nog says there is no profit in education. Well that's not true at all (Though it shouldn't be the be all and end all of education.). Aren't highly educated people more likely to be successful and more equipped to cut it in a business world? Don't many people go to university to get well paid jobs. China and India seem to think this way at the moment!



Odo can shapeshift through a gap in the closed airlock of Zeks ship. (to spy on Maihardu)Shouldn't airlocks be designed not to have gaps, to lock air in in the first place?



Odo catches Rom and Krax red handed trying to kill Quark. Why aren't they charged with attempted murder. (perhaps Zek helped them seek immunity from the law?)



What ever happened to Krax? He is never seen or mentioned again, even though Zek is seen. Was he so dissappointed in him that he shipped off somewhere where he wouldn't be any trouble?





Betty's Thought for the Day.





We've mentioned a bit about the evolution of the Ferengi. SFDebris (who has become my spiritual king!) has a good essay on this in his OVEG review of "False Profits". Check it out.



Summary.





This episode serves an important role in shaping a lot of how the feel of Deep Space Nine would evolve during later seasons, as well as serving as an important (and successful) transition point for the Ferengi to the world of DS9. Although the Ferengi storylines weren't everyone's cup of tea. Wallace Shawn is great as the Nagus and this is a genuinely funny and entertaining story with great homages to the Godfather. The B plot is well done as well and adds to the depth of this episode, and the show itself. All in all a very good episode.



Rating 9 / 10





Next Time



"Vortex" Is there nothing on DS9 that won't get you sent to jail? And Odo finds an artifact that may lead him to his people, but will he find them at last? What do you think?!