Quodo in Every Episode discussion: "Once More unto the Breach"

[chacusha]

This week we're discussing... episode 7x07 "Once More unto the Breach"!

Episode synopsis: Worf pulls strings to get the aging hero Kor a place aboard Martok's ship, not realizing that the general bears a grudge against Kor and also that Kor's wits are starting to go. Meanwhile, Quark, mistakenly thinking that Ezri is considering getting back with Worf, makes an embarrassing confession.

What The Boys are up to in this episode: Quark has two scenes: One where he misunderstands a conversation Ezri and Kira are having, and Odo seeing Quark looking shaken, asks him what's wrong (this is Odo's one scene in the episode). In the second scene, Quark confesses to Ezri that he thinks she should move on from Worf and live her own life.

One screencap from this episode:


Transcript: http://chakoteya.net/DS9/557.htm

Quodo fics tagged with this episode: None -- no tag for this episode and a search for the episode title turns up no Quodo fics (https://archiveofourown.org/works?commit=Sort+and+Filter&work_search%5Bsort_column%5D=revised_at&work_search%5Bother_tag_names%5D=&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=once+more+unto+the+breach&work_search%5Blanguage_id%5D=&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?

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Event info & rules
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Comments

[chacusha]

Random thoughts:

- I love all this drama between Martok and Kor. I find the Klingon class system fascinating.

- This conversation between Ezri and Kira is fascinating to me. Kira is so lighthearted and joke-y here, she feels a bit more like Nana Visitor than Kira. Maybe it's an effect of jumping straight from season 1 Kira to season 7 Kira.

- Love the early hint of Kor's mental decline.

- Oh, fascinating that Klingon ships have "Defense Condition 1." I also couldn't tell if the announcement was meant to be the office speaking over the comm or a Klingon computer voice. Oh, apparently it's the officer speaking over the comm. I was curious what a Klingon computer voice would sound like, though. In the show, we hear Human and Cardassian.

- Amazing facial expressions from Kor when he's commanding the ship. XD

- Omg, Jake just smiling in the background XD It's fun seeing Jake and Quark being friends.

- Fascinating. I looked up the script for this episode and there's a long cut scene where Quark pours his heart out to Jake:

After hours. Quark is sitting at the bar pouring out his heart for a change. JAKE is playing bartender to him, with a towel draped over his shoulder as he tries to mix drinks for the forlorn Ferengi.

QUARK: I'm not a bad man, Jake. I don't hurt people. I don't steal from them. I don't even overcharge them much. In a universe filled with pain and suffering I offer people an oasis. (beat) I offer them love. But does anyone offer love to me? No.
JAKE: Come on. I've seen you with women.

Jake pushes the drink toward him. Quark glances at it and sends it back.

QUARK: Too much rum, wrong garnish.

Jake frowns, consults a PADD and then throws out the drink before starting over.

QUARK: Of course I've been with women. But none of them were Jadzia. She was perfect. She played tongo. She had a sense of humor.
JAKE: She was tall.
QUARK: (loves it) And she was tall...
JAKE: Well, you did have your chance. Jadzia was here for three full years before Worf showed up.
QUARK: I was playing a deep game. I'm not the kind of man who just rushes in and declares himself. I like the chase. But then Mister Today-is-a-good-day-to-die shows up and spoils everything. (beat) And now, it's going to happen all over again with Ezri. New body, new personality, but she'll make the same mistake.

Jake pushes over another drink.

QUARK: Too much syrup. Can't you read?
JAKE: (off PADD) It says two fingers.

Jake puts his fingers alongside the outside of the glass.

QUARK: That's not two fingers.

He grabs the jar, sticks two fingers into the syrup, and shakes off the syrup into the glass.

QUARK: That's two fingers.
JAKE: (gross) Oh, God...
QUARK: Some bartender you'd make. Can't mix drinks and can't dispense advice.
JAKE: You want my advice? Okay. You think Ezri's making a mistake? Tell her. Sit her down, look her right in the eye and tell her that you think Worf is the wrong man for her.
QUARK: She won't listen.
JAKE: Then she won't listen, but at least you'll have tried. If you don't say anything and they do get involved...
QUARK: I'll hate myself.
JAKE: And enough people hate you already. Why add to the list?
QUARK: You know what? You're a really bad bartender. (beat) But... I think you're right. Thanks, Jake.

He heads for the EXIT.

JAKE: No tip?

Fascinating... I feel like the Quark/Ezri plotline is a bit overplayed, but I guess this makes sense why Jake was in the background later, giving the most approving grin. (Also, I hope Brunt doesn't overhear that "I don't even overcharge them much" bit. XD)

- I like in this episode you see Kor from a lot of different angles. He's kind of terrible but he's also kind of piteous and he also has a dignity to him.

Overall, a kind of forgettable episode, but the ending is sweet and I appreciate an episode that explores aging and experience (and specifically, aging in a militaristic society like the Klingon Empire).


Quodo thoughts:

- I feel like you can easily do an AU that makes the pairings in this episode Kira/Ezri and Odo/Quark instead of Kira/Odo and Quark->Ezri. Both pairings have very interesting scenes with each other that also kind of echo each other, even. Like Nerys here is trying out being a "therapist" for Ezri and they're joking with each other about how she's doing. And then right afterward, Quark is looking distraught and Odo prompts him to open up about what's upsetting him so much, so both Kira and Odo are trying on the therapist hat here as a way of flirting.

- Alternatively, if you want to be more canon-compliant, you could have Odo hearing about Quark's feelings for Ezri and getting jealous or something.

- Or maybe add a scene where Odo either returns the favor from when he was pining over Kira, and comforts Quark when he's hung up on Ezri. (Maybe Odo gives Quark purposely bad advice XD)

- Or maybe something bantery where Odo teases Quark over embarrassing himself or something like that.

[callicles]

Love this! Some comments:

1. I feel like one thing they had to do to quickly establish Ezri's character is have other characters be really ostentatiously different with her. Sometimes they use this well (so we get to see Julian's character growth quite well in this way, for instance) and other times it can be a bit jarring. I don't mind it and I understand they were under some constraints, but yeah I think that might be what was happening with the Kira being a bit odd.

2. I love the Quodo potential suggestions, but to me the one that stands out is a slight variant on the "return the favour" idea. Like you say there is this parallel with Quark helping out Odo, and Odo is a smart fella so he would see that and cos he's also quite moral would try to do something out of gratitude. But also he's far far less worldly than Quark so his advice would be nowhere near as good. To me that could have a funny and sweet sorta dynamic or feel, idk.

3. To be a bit of a hater, I will just add that I think part of what makes Kor's character so fun and even touching is that he sincerely buys into very different (and often bad!) cultural values and tries to live up to them. The writers take that seriously and thereby take him seriously, even where he is comedic. Whereas in NewTrek (other than Lower Decks) they tend to think that everyone's values are really that of a middle class professional from North America. They are tolerant in so far as they do not condemn people for being otherwise... but they do tend to psychoanalyse it away. So if you don't share that value scheme it's because you have some unresolved trauma, and coming to be healthy will involve coming to share the one true value system. It just makes for more boring writing, and Kor is a nice counterpoint.

Anyway love the write ups keep them coming!