Quodo in Every Episode discussion: "Profit and Lace"

[chacusha]

This week we're discussing... episode 6x23 "Profit and Lace"!

Episode synopsis: After implementing controversial feminist reforms on Ferenginar, Zek is deposed, and the only way to prevent Brunt from becoming the next Grand Nagus is to successfully convince a prominent FCA commissioner that Ferengi women are good for, and good at, business. When a heart attack makes Ishka unable to do this herself, Quark is forced to complete the job by pretending to be a Ferengi female named Lumba.

What The Boys are up to in this episode: This is a Quark-centric episode. Odo's one scene at the end is with Quark, where he cheers up Quark (who is in the process of stabilizing after his second sex change operation) by giving him a hug.

One screencap from this episode:


Transcript: http://chakoteya.net/DS9/547.htm

Quodo fics tagged with this episode: There are several borderline fics in the tag, but I don't think they count because Quodo isn't the main pairing or they are unfinished:
https://archiveofourown.org/works/18139256 (unfinished)
https://archiveofourown.org/works/38442025 (background Quodo)
https://archiveofourown.org/works/38244067 (implied Quodo)

Tell us:
- What did you think about this episode?
- Have you written a fic set during/after this episode?
- Have you read any of the fics linked above? Let us know if they fit! 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]

- Aughh this episode! DX To be honest, I am not looking forward to rewatching this one. This opening scene for example: it's hard to rewatch this, not because it features Quark sexually harassing his employee (it's uncomfortable, but Quark does do this; this is very in line with his character*) but because I know how this plotline ends and it's terrible?? (Also, the actress's delivery is very flat/wooden here in a way that makes me just go "???" even more at what I'm supposed to think about this whole scene.)

* Okay but being kinda nitpicky about the timeline here, while Quark sexually harassing his dabo girls would have worked well in early seasons, it kind of fits awkwardly this late in the series so long after "Bar Association" and Quark's employees having cut their teeth on collectively standing up to Quark's abuses.

- The Ferengi population is 53.5% female, apparently. I also forgot about the Ferengi Bill of Opportunities -- didn't realize that's a thing that exists. /taking worldbuilding notes

- Also, kind of fascinating here that Ishka isn't bothered by Zek hitting on Leeta, but discourages him from pursuing her because she's broke. ?? Why would Zek want a rich wife? Why is that a thing? Do Ferengi not experience jealousy, or women don't, or Ishka doesn't? My partner tells me this comment works specifically in the context of Zek and Ishka's relationship -- she is teasing Zek for being interested in a partner (Ishka) who can make him rich and is telling him he won't get that from Leeta. I don't know, there are a lot of scenes and lines in this episode that baffle me, frankly.

- There are some legitimately funny scenes in this episode, like Rom catastrophizing about the situation on Ferenginar in the beginning and the scene when Rom, Quark, and Nog are calling the various FCA commissioners and you only get one side of the conversation (Quark: "That 'female' happens to be my mother!" -- lol)

- I like the little square-off Brunt's Hupyrian servant has with Zek's Hupyrian servant in the background here. I also like that we finally get to see Brunt in a new outfit here.

- I also like how Quark ends up taking his mother's side here despite his political leanings, just because he finds Brunt so insufferable as a grand nagus. XD Also, Quark being self-pitying again...

- Ishka: "Before he met me, Zek was a lonely, unhappy man." Quark: "But he was RICH!" This is so fascinating to me. Quark here clearly values being rich over being literally unhappy, which is wild, and reflects Quark's tragic flaw, which is that he believes so hard in the values of Ferengi society that the notion that you can be unhappy while "winning" in all the ways that supposedly matter just kind of goes over his head.

- Also fascinating to me that Quark omitted his argument with Ishka when telling people about what happened. "Moogie and I argue all the time -- it's our way of showing affection." -- Hm... (Quodo implications.)

- So, recently, I was trying to figure out the distance from Ferenginar to DS9/Bajor for a fic and I ended up settling on maybe two weeks at fairly high warp made the most sense given the size of the galaxy and guesses people have at the distance between Ferenginar and Bajor and how fast warp travel is. But I feel like this episode seems to imply it's, like, maybe a day, possibly less. Zek and Ishka show up shortly after Rom notices the Ferenginar blackout; they say the changes that destabilized Ferenginar were put into effect three days ago, and then they say sometime after arriving that they have three days before Brunt is confirmed; Quark, Rom, and Nog call all these people inviting them to DS9 and Brunt shows up shortly afterward, and Nilva arrives maybe a day later?

-- And while I'm here trying to puzzle out the timeline of this episode... Brunt: "Nilva will be arriving tonight." (Quark gets his sex change surgery.) Next scene, when Nog announces Nilva has just arrived: Quark: "But he's not supposed to arrive until tomorrow." ???

- There's apparently a deleted scene in the script for this episode featuring Bashir and Quark immediately post-surgery. It was cut, skipping to the scene where Quark is already dressed.

- I like Nilva's ankle-length coattails here. Also, just in general, I think Nilva's a great character -- I feel like he's a good depiction of the "old boys' network" and "established business tycoon" aspects of Ferengi society, which don't come up as often in canon. I also find his eccentricity interesting, where his sexism is somewhat put into check by his curiosity, his indifference to conforming to social mores, and sheer power of horny -- like, in some sense there's a limit to how much hatred/spite/resentment/etc. Nilva can hold toward women because at the end of the day, he just REALLY likes women, if you know what I mean, which is an interesting contrast to Brunt and Quark's particular forms of sexism as well as Zek's primarily business-/profit-motivated embrace of feminism. Also, he gets a very Some Like It Hot-esque moment at the end where it's apparent that the fact that Lumba used to be a man does not bother him in the slightest.

- Also, apparently in the script, rather than blowing a kiss to Brunt as he walks by, Quark strokes his lobe and has one last line ("What can I say? It was love at first sight.") to him, while "Brunt reacts to Quark's touch with a mixture of horror and pleasure."

- Live Morn reaction... Anyway, apparently, the Quodo scene here is ALSO a bit different in the script. In the script, Odo makes Morn turn around before he agrees to hug Quark, and is still hugging Quark when Zek makes his "I hope we're not interrupting anything" comment. In the episode, the order is altered, where Odo hugs Quark, breaks away from him when he sees Morn staring, and then Zek makes his comment when they're not hugging anymore.

- Omg, the script doesn't have the terrible ending scene with Aluura?? Why did they add it? ToT Okay, I do like the names of the various oo-mox acts, though.

- In general, this episode is quite painful/frustrating to watch because it could have been so good. A lot of the elements here could actually work -- the genderbending is good; the theme of Quark having to experience what it's like to navigate Ferengi society as a woman is good; the aspect where Quark is worried and stressed trying to pass as a woman while also needing to memorize notes and quietly having a gender panic and not having time to do any of that is perfectly fine and entertaining television on its own without needing to bring hormones or the weird judgmental jokes about Rom's femininity into the picture at all; even the dubcon parts of the plot and Nilva's character dovetails well into Ferengi worldbuilding. If you cleaned up the script so that the beats don't play out like the most stereotypical drag queen/Some Like It Hot-style plotline and actually delved into the experience of gender and gender performance, it could actually be a really good and interesting episode still with a lot of humor but also depth and character study. But oh well, this episode was very much the product of its time and we're not going to get a better version except in our imaginations. It is a big missed opportunity, though.


Quodo potential:

Oh man, I feel like there are a LOT of opportunities for Quodo in this episode:

- Very stereotypical, but any time you have a character who suddenly significantly changes the way they appear or the context they appear in, you have the chance for a feelings or attraction realization, e.g. an "oh no (s)he's hot" moment. I definitely think that could work for Quark and Odo here. While you get to see how Zek, Leeta, Rom, and Nog react to Quark's female appearance, you don't get to see Odo react, so you could definitely write it in!

- I mean, that hug scene -- you could just extend it and go more into how Quark and/or Odo feel about it.

- Also very stereotypical, but it would also be easy to add aspects where, when Odo finds out that Quark slept with Nilva and possibly caught feelings of some kind (from a one-night stand no less!), Odo finds he suddenly has a LOT of weird feelings of his own about that (shock, jealousy, protectiveness, etc.). Possibly an AU where he and Kira aren't together at this point. (But alternatively... having Odo and Kira be together here could actually make things interestingly messy!)

I haven't had the chance to read (or reread) the fics linked above, but will come back and add my evaluation when I have!

[chacusha]

Coming back with some thoughts on the fanworks:

Profit and Prams: This one would fit as it's set during "Profit and Lace" when Ishka and Zek have come to the station, but yeah, it's unfinished. I'm probably only going to include finished works on the masterlist.

Quark's Lobes Don't Grow That Way: This is entirely a Brunt/(f!)Quark (+ Rom) fic set at the end of this episode (quite funny!) with it being mentioned that Quark and Odo regularly have sex.

Lobeless Love: There's a short Quodo(ish?) scene at the end of this, but the main star of the show here is Bashir/(f!)Quark.

There's also an art piece tagged Quodo and this episode, but I didn't feel it was particularly themed around this episode aside from featuring a genderfluid Quark.

Anyway, I haven't been able to find any Quodo fics for this episode yet.