Quodo in Every Episode discussion: "The Magnificent Ferengi"

[chacusha]

This week we're discussing... episode 6x10 "The Magnificent Ferengi"!

Episode synopsis: When Moogie is taken captive by the Dominion, it's up to Quark and five other magnificent Ferengi to become heroes and save the day.

What The Boys are up to in this episode: This is a Quark-centric episode, but Quark and Odo have a scene together at the beginning where Quark tells a story about how he managed to finagle a shipment of syrup of squill, while Odo reacts cutely throughout (I don't know how else to describe it) and then shows sympathy for Quark later when he is upstaged by the military heroes aboard the station. This is Odo's only scene. In the rest of the episode, Quark is recruiting his team of Ferengi and overseeing a highly sloppy and amateurish prisoner exchange.

One screencap from this episode:


Transcript: http://chakoteya.net/DS9/534.htm

Quodo fics tagged with this episode: None (https://archiveofourown.org/works?work_search%5Bsort_column%5D=revised_at&work_search%5Bother_tag_names%5D=Episode%3A+s06e10+The+Magnificent+Ferengi&work_search%5Bexcluded_tag_names%5D=&work_search%5Bcrossover%5D=&work_search%5Bcomplete%5D=&work_search%5Bwords_from%5D=&work_search%5Bwords_to%5D=&work_search%5Bdate_from%5D=&work_search%5Bdate_to%5D=&work_search%5Bquery%5D=&work_search%5Blanguage_id%5D=&commit=Sort+and+Filter&tag_id=Star+Trek%3A+Deep+Space+Nine)

Tell us:
- What did you think about this episode?
- Have you written a fic set during/after this episode?
- Do you know of any other fics set in or that build off this episode that weren't linked above?
- What do you see as the Quodo potential for this episode?

Anonymous comments are on, so feel free to chime in even if you don't have a Dreamwidth account! If you prefer, we are also available on Discord:
https://discord.gg/VaCnMYvKu6 (18+ proship Quodo Discord - there is a dedicated channel for this event)
https://discord.gg/Htz4crCdCt (general Quodo Discord)

Comments

[chacusha]

Random thoughts:

- Huh, Quark says in this episode that something happened "eleven or twelve years ago, shortly before I came on the station" in this episode, so he came to Terok Nor roughly five or six years before the start of the show? I guess I thought it was a bit longer than that (in S2E16 "Profit and Loss," Quark's romance with Natima occurred seven years before that point, so basically would have to have been shortly after Quark came to the station then).

- Also kind of interesting to me that Leeta greets Dax and Julian but not O'Brien?

- Quark is so mopey and self-pitying here. I love how Odo is the only one who notices.

- I like how they skip over the scene with Zek. I wonder if there was a version of this episode where Zek appeared but they couldn't get the actor and so they wrote him an offscreen part.

- Lol at this episode being the first time Rom finds out about Zek and Ishka's relationship. I like how Quark never mentioned this to Rom before. XD In general, I love this conversation between Rom and Quark. Rom's reactions are so funny. XD

- Sisko's Obligatory Scene in this episode is amazing. "May I help you, gentlemen?" One of my favorite DS9 moments. XD

- Love the "getting the team together" sequence. Short, humorous scenes that effectively establish each character's motivation and potential role in the team. Creates a bit of a sense that something is going to go wrong as you see they all want different things -- Nog wants the chance to practice strategizing, Leck wants a challenge, Gaila wants money, Brunt wants a favor, etc.

-

Quark: That's because I had Rom disengage the induction matrix.
Keevan: *annoyed* Then why did you bother chasing me?
Quark: Because sometimes my brother gets things wrong.

Lmao.

- I love how Keevan is so relentlessly dour and uninterested and dead inside here. It's a fun touch against the more comedic Ferengi. Relatedly, I like the physical comedy, like all of them sprinting across Empok Nor, or all of them waking up simultaneously from their sleeping bags. You feel like there's been a lot of practice and coordination between the actors to get the right effect, which feels nice.

- I like how Quark and Ishka basically start bickering from their first moments together. Also, Ishka and Yelgrun's dynamic is A+.

- Love Brunt doing a high-pitched Ferengi scream before fleeing when Gaila points a gun at Quark. XD

- "Well, there's no doubt about it -- according to these readings, this man is DEAD" is one of my favorite Star Trek lines. Aron's delivery is just so good.

- Iggy Pop's acting as Yelgrun is also quite good, how he can switch from wry wisecracker to tough negotiator on a dime, with a twang in his voice. It also must have been fun for Keevan's actor to be zombie Keevan.

- I also love Moogie's expressions when she's walking past Keevan. XD

- I like how (despite their bickering) when Quark hugs Ishka, he seems genuinely relieved and affectionate. Quark is very tsundere in the way he shows affection. u_u

- Overall, this episode is a comfort watch for me. It's funny and doesn't take itself too seriously and it's got a happy ending (well, not for Yelgrun and those two Jem'Hadar, but for everyone else!), great character moments, etc.


Quodo potential:

- That opening scene is already quite shippy, lol... Like, Odo obviously pays attention to Quark and notices his sadness when no one else does. It does kind of support a read of them as secretly dating or just soft for each other.

- I feel like there could be a coda to this episode where Quark tells Odo the story of how Moogie's rescue went, in the same style as the opening scene. I'm imagining Quark stretching the truth in places and Odo inserting wry commentary throughout. XD