The Nagus

DVD, DS9 S1 (The Nagus)

From the mysterious appearance of a be-hooded figure grasping a Ferengi gold-headed stick, you can guess this is going to be special. There are too many little moments that are worth recalling to go through them all, but some highlights are: Odo raining on Quark's parade - he's always there to put a damper on Quark's good mood and this time the newly Nagus-ed Ferengi is laughing at brother Rom's unfounded hope to run the bar now Quark is busy with more important things. Odo arrives in time to make the sarcastic observation that he's not 'overcome' with grief, it seems, since they are at the Funeral auction for Zek.

The dripfeed of Ferengi culture is another source of great interest and fun. That they sell the remains of their dead, eat unpleasant gribblies for lunch, and admire treacherous behaviour sets them apart as one of those very alien species, more so than most. That's what the episode's about. It illustrates the vast differences in their culture in the A-story, while in the B-story they show Jake and Nog learning to find a way round such things. It's that ability to carry a comedy story, with cultural discoveries, yet also play a more serious character plot, that synchronises with the other storyline and feels just right, that would make the series so much stronger in the long run. This episode is a mere taste of the goodness to come, but it is also a very good episode in it's own right.

I love the occasional references dropped in, such as the Andorians, or Nog's excuse for not having his assignment: he says Vulcans stole his homework! And at the end Zek compares trying to get through to his son Krax, with talking to a Klingon! One thing confused me a little. We see the school, with O'Brien as substitute teacher, Keiko not having returned from Earth, but I'm sure previously it was said that the whole family had gone there. Maybe O'Brien's leave was finished so he had to return early.

Jake and Nog's friendship goes to a new level. In the first few episodes they meet and kind of make friends out of convenience since they're the only children of a similar age on the station. But with their Fathers seemingly against the friendship, and a frank realisation they'd be bored otherwise, the friendship blossoms with Jake teaching the Ferengi to read. Sisko gives his blessing near the end when he calls his son over on the Promenade and embarrasses him a bit by showing affection in public. But he then sends Jake back to be with his friend. Brilliant.

The other characters are more in the background, as they were heavily part of the preceding episode. Dax still has a nice scene in the Sisko quarters, and shows a healthy appetite for Sisko's food, one of the early examples of the Commander's soon to be famous cooking I presume, since she tucks in once Benjamin's out the door. It shows their friendship that she can come and give advice and feel free to come and go in his quarters, which is nice. The music, too, is a touch of what was to come, with more comic or mysterious tones.

The series has pulled itself together, from it's dual personality of being a new entity, yet also a spin-off of a successful series. Many episodes of the first half of the season were trying hard to introduce characters (and did so well), and finding a unique style, but came off very much as 'TNG' stories. Now we're over the halfway mark, we're seeing the self-integration of the series, and it's working.

****