Copyright 1993, Jennifer A. Hawthorne. All rights reserved,
but I'm not stuffy about it as long as you don't go overboard.

Synopsis: "The Nagus"

Episode Number: 411
Air Date: 3/20/93

	As the show opens, an unidentified Ferengi enters DS9
through an airlock. He motions to someone behind him, and 
is followed onto the station by a tall, wrinkle-faced 
humanoid escorting a short, black-shrouded figure. The 
mysterious stranger carries a walking stick topped with a 
gold Ferengi-head icon.
	In the Sisko quarters, Jake is scrambling around the
apartment gathering his school materials and pulling on 
his boots, when his father comes in. Sisko has plans to 
take Jake down to Bajor for the "Gratitude Festival", a 
major celebration, and then to see an attraction called the 
Fire Caverns, which Jake had expressed an interest in 
visiting. Jake is startled but pleased, until Sisko informs 
him that they will be leaving that afternoon and staying 
away three days; at that point, Jake begs off of the trip, 
to Sisko's consternation, because Jake and Nog have made 
other plans for the time. Sisko is distressed that Jake 
would rather spend time with Nog than with Sisko himself.
	Down in Quark's, Quark is reprimanding his brother and
assistant, Rom, for finding a customer's purse and 
returning it to her with the money still inside it. 
Furious, Quark tells Rom to polish every rail in the place: 
"...Now, get out of my sight, before I toss you out the 
nearest airlock!"
	In another part of the bar, Nog is playing around, building
a rickety stack of glasses and padds. Rom enters, causing 
the young Ferengi to upset his construction. Rom berates 
Nog for his activities, and as punishment tells him to 
polish every rail in Quark's.
	The odd threesome of Ferengi, alien, and mysterious cloaked
figure that were seen entering the station arrive at 
Quark's, where Quark is telling Andorian jokes to his most 
loyal regular. The strange Ferengi announces that he is 
looking for Quark; when Quark identifies himself, the 
Ferengi says his name is Krax, and introduces the shrouded 
figure as his father, "The Grand Nagus, Zek". Quark is 
flabbergasted, and turns to see the wrinkled alien pulling 
back the hood from the cloaked figure to reveal a very aged 
and decrepit-looking Ferengi. Quark kisses the gold 
Ferengi-head icon on the old Ferengi's scepter. The younger 
Ferengi engages Quark in conversation on his father's 
behalf, telling Quark that the Nagus will discuss his 
reasons for coming later, but would like to use the 
holosuites now. Quark is concerned that the Nagus might not 
be able to tolerate that much stimulation, but Krax insists 
that the Nagus be allowed to indulge himself.
	Elsewhere, O'Brien enters a room full of noisy and active
children, and tries to get them settled down for class. 
O'Brien is playing the substitute teacher for Keiko until 
she returns from Earth in two weeks, and is apparently not 
enjoying the duty very much. O'Brien calls on Nog to hand 
over his homework, an essay on ethics, but Nog tells a 
disapproving O'Brien that he doesn't have it because "a 
bunch of Vulcans stole my padd." O'Brien is dubious in the 
extreme, but Nog calls on Jake to verify the preposterous 
story. Jake, unhappy but loyal, confirms the excuse, and 
O'Brien permits Nog to turn in the essay the following day, 
though it's clear he's aware that Jake is lying.
	Down in the bar, Quark is listening with unease to the
gleeful cackling coming from the Holosuite. Rom is very 
impressed that the Grand Nagus is honoring them with his 
presence, but Quark is less than pleased by these events; 
he's worried that the Nagus will force him to sell his bar 
to him for a fraction of its value. The Nagus emerges from 
the Holosuite, and "requests" that Quark treat him to 
dinner.
	O'Brien is making repairs to the station when Sisko comes
up to him with yet another maintenance job that needs 
doing. The two begin to chat about O'Brien's duties as 
substitute teacher, and O'Brien expresses concerns about 
Jake's association with Nog. He suggests strongly to Sisko 
that Nog is a bad influence on Jake, and that the two boys 
should be separated. Sisko replies that he trusts his son 
-- and besides, if he forced Jake to choose between Nog and 
Sisko himself, he would probably lose.
	Back in Quark's, the Nagus and his entourage are dining at
Quark's expense. The Nagus compliments Quark effusively on 
his profitable and unscrupulous business dealings and his 
perspicacity in planting his bar right next to the 
wormhole. Krax is irate that Quark is being given credit 
for what was nothing more than sheer luck, but the Nagus 
ignores his son.
	The Nagus calls on Nog to act as a waiter. Nog sullenly
carries a tray over to the old Ferengi, and then asks if 
he can leave to go do his homework. The Nagus is aghast at 
the thought of a Ferengi boy studying, and even more 
affronted when he learns it's a Federation school taught by 
a human female. Rom instantly swears that it will never 
happen again, and forbids Nog to ever return to the school. 
As a distraught Nog leaves the room, Rom is quick to blame 
the situation on the meddling Federation people.
	The Nagus then turns the conversation to the topic of his
business on the station. He wishes to use Quark's as a 
conference facility for an important Ferengi gathering to 
discuss the business opportunities presented by the Gamma 
Quadrant, at nine tomorrow morning.
	The following day, the staff in Ops notices the influx of
Ferengi onto the station with some unease. Sisko orders 
Odo to keep an eye on their visitors.
	In the conference room, Krax harangues Quark about some
errors in his preparations, and Quark brusquely orders Rom 
to fix the problem, once again threatening to throw his 
brother out an airlock. After Quark chases away his 
regular, the Grand Nagus enters and calls the conference to 
order, sending away all of the outsiders -- except for 
Quark, whom he specifically orders to stay.
	Up on the Promenade, Nog is sitting on the second level
looking over the railing, disconsolate, when Jake finds 
him and sits down next to his friend, asking him what's 
wrong. Nog, clearly upset, tells Jake that he won't be 
going to school anymore because he doesn't belong there and 
there's no profit in it. When Jake offers to try and help, 
Nog lashes out at the other boy and runs off, leaving an 
angry and hurt Jake behind.
	At the Ferengi conference, the Nagus expresses his feelings
that the Ferengi have about exhausted their opportunities 
for advancement in the Alpha Quadrant; too many people have 
heard of them now for them to operate at maximum profit. 
The Gamma Quadrant races, however, represent a whole new 
arena in which to pursue Ferengi business, where the 
Ferengi reputation has not (yet) preceded them. The Nagus 
then states that he himself is too old to head up this new 
wave of expansion, and thus, he has selected a successor -- 
Quark. The rest of the Ferengi react with angry and 
incredulous shouts, and then storm from the room, leaving a 
stunned Quark behind with the Grand Nagus.
	In the Sisko quarters, Jake tells Sisko about Nog's being
pulled out of school. Jake states that it's not fair -- 
Nog can't even read. Sisko tries to console his son by 
saying that he and Nog can get together after school. Jake 
doesn't understand why the Ferengi and the humans don't get 
along; Sisko tries to explain that Ferengi and humans have 
different, incompatible value sets. Jake fails to see why 
this should apply to his friendship with Nog. Sisko asks 
him to play baseball after school, but Jake, suddenly 
determined, says he has something else to do and stalks 
away from the table, leaving a thoughtful Sisko behind.
	In Quark's, the new Grand Nagus is parading with the
symbols of his office, enjoying his new status, when he is 
approached by an unctuous Ferengi named Gral. Gral warns 
Quark that he may be in danger from other Ferengi jealous 
of his position, which gives Quark pause for thought. Gral 
says suggestively that he can "protect" Quark from these 
people if Quark allows him his pick of the choice 
opportunities in the Gamma Quadrant, and his manner becomes 
menacing.
	A disturbed Quark goes to Zek, the ex-Nagus, for advice,
finding the aged Ferengi involved in a contemplation of 
possible vacation spots. Quark is frightened by Gral's 
implied threats on his life, but the Nagus is not 
surprised; Gral may have been the first, he says, but he 
won't be the last. Again, Quark begs for help, and Zek 
tells him to surround himself with people who are loyal but 
not *too* loyal, and "When in doubt -- think *ruthless*." 
As Quark mulls over Zek's advice, he fails to notice the 
elderly Ferengi stiffen, and then slump in his chair. As 
Quark turns back, he realizes that the former Nagus has 
died, and wails, "I didn't *do* anything!"
	At Zek's memorial service, the gathered Ferengi are
haggling over a stack of flat, round containers, each 
containing a chunk of something green. Quark asks Rom to be 
his bodyguard, because Rom is the only one Quark can trust. 
Rom wants to know if, now that Quark is Grand Nagus, Quark 
will let him take over the bar. Quark spits out his drink 
and begins laughing uproariously at this idea. Rom, 
humiliated, runs off.
	Odo walks in, and begins asking questions about Zek's
sudden death. Krax protests that his father's death was 
not an unexpected event; Zek suffered from a chronic 
infection of the tympanic membrane. Odo threatens to call 
in Dr. Bashir to do an autopsy, which causes the Ferengi a 
great deal of amusement. One of the Ferengi hands Odo one 
of the flat containers, and explains that it contains a 
piece of Zek -- who, as a Ferengi of stature, was vacuum 
dessicated and is being sold in pieces.
	Up on the second level of the Promenade, Jake and Nog are
sitting, not talking to each other. After a few moments 
silence, each tries to speak at the same time. They have a 
brief conversation about their situation, and quickly 
reconcile, deciding to be friends even in the face of their 
fathers' joint disapproval. Jake gets a sudden inspiration, 
and heads off without explanation, calling to Nog to 
follow.
	In Quark's, Odo enquires of Quark what it means to be
"Grand Nagus". Quark replies that from now on, Odo should 
schedule appointments with Quark through Rom, and that in 
addition, Odo should show respect by kissing Quark's 
scepter. Odo, not in the least impressed, snorts in disdain 
and walks off.
	Quark spots a coin dropped by another Ferengi, and heads
over to claim it, just as a small robotic device, 
unnoticed, floats around the corner in his direction. At 
the moment Quark bends over to pick up the coin, the device 
homes on him and accelerates, just missing the crouching 
Ferengi and striking the wall beyond instead, where it 
disintegrates in a sizable explosion. Quark cowers under a 
table, shaking.
	Later in the bar, Sisko, O'Brien and Odo examine the
smoking crater in the wall. O'Brien tells them that the 
device was a Ferengi locator bomb that was designed to lock 
onto Quark's body odor, then home in and kill him. Bashir 
enters, reporting that Quark is shaken but unhurt, and the 
three investigators go off to have a word with the Grand 
Nagus. As they exit the bar, Sisko notices Jake and Nog 
running off together on the Promenade's second level, and 
is worried.
	Down in the infirmary, Odo and Sisko question an
uncooperative Quark about the attack. When Odo asks for 
possible suspects, Quark fingers Krax, and Rom points out 
that Gral is also suspect for his earlier threat to Quark. 
But Quark points out that since both Krax and Gral were in 
the room at the time, neither of them could have triggered 
the device. Sisko suggests an associate might have be 
responsible, and Odo asks whether the old Nagus' Hupyrian 
servant was present at the funeral. On being told that the 
servant, Maihar'du, was *not*, he is suspicious, for 
Hupyrian servants are reknown for their loyalty to their 
employers. For Maihar'du to miss Zek's funeral is odd, 
indeed.
	In Sisko's apartment the next day, Sisko reprimands Jake
for staying out past midnight the previous evening. Jake 
says he was out with Nog, and Sisko asks what they were 
doing; but Jake refuses to say, telling his father that 
it's private, and that he has to leave for school. Sisko, 
angered, orders him to be home in time for dinner.
	Quark is entertaining petitioners in his official capacity
as Nagus, being attended by Krax and Rom, who are being 
deferential. After dealing with a petitioner, Quark heads 
over to check on his bar, leaving his two assistants alone 
in the room. Krax comments sourly, "If he keeps handing out 
these choice opportunities, he's going to become very 
popular." Rom replies, "We'll just have to come up with a 
new plan...something more reliable than a locator bomb."
	In the Sisko quarters, Sisko is sitting alone at the dinner
table, when the door chimes and Dax enters. She apologizes 
for her bad timing, but Sisko says he's been sitting at the 
table for half an hour, waiting for Jake. Sisko confides 
his troubles with Jake to Dax, and she suggests that he sit 
Jake down and talk to him. Dax comments that although she's 
been a mother three times and a father twice, she wasn't 
very good at either, so maybe Sisko shouldn't ask her for 
advice, but she thinks Sisko should go get Jake and bring 
him home for dinner. Sisko is unsure, but then asks the 
computer for Jake's location, and is told he's in Cargo Bay 
Fourteen. Sisko heads out after his son.
	As Sisko enters the cargo bay, he hears the boys talking,
and closes in on their position stealthily. As he peers 
around the corner of a crate, he discovers the secret of 
Jake and Nog's mysterious activity: Jake is teaching Nog to 
read. Ashamed of his suspicions, Sisko withdraws without a 
word, leaving the boys oblivious to the fact that they were 
being watched.
	In Quark's quarters, Quark, with the help of Rom and Krax,
is preparing to take a trip through the wormhole. 
According to Krax, Zek began a business deal with a rich 
world in the Gamma Quadrant before his death, and it is 
Quark's duty to complete the negotiations. As Quark exits 
the room, Rom begins to make one more plea to Quark to 
share his riches, and Quark again rebuffs him.
	Odo, sitting at a table in Quark's, sees Maihar'du heading
out of the room, and follows him.
	Krax and Rom hustle Quark toward the ship, overriding his
suggestion that the take a Dabo girl along on the trip to 
help Quark make a good impression.
	Maihar'du goes to an airlock and enters; Odo, right behind
him, flows underneath the door and continues his stalk of 
the Hupyrian servant.
	Krax opens the airlock and Quark enters, then notices that
there is no waiting ship outside. He turns around, only to 
see the inner door closing, trapping him inside the 
airlock. Quark yells at Rom and Krax to open the door, 
first in anger, then groveling in panic as he realizes what 
their intent is. As Quark pleads with Rom for his life, Rom 
says in scorn, "*You* were going to shove *me* out an 
airlock."
	Krax generously offers to let Rom do the honor of pushing
the airlock release button. But as Rom goes to do so, a 
creaky voice shouts "Release him!"
	The conspirators whirl to see Zek, the Grand Nagus,
standing in the corridor with Maihar'du and Odo. Odo steps 
forward, shoving the stunned Ferengi aside, and lets Quark 
out of the airlock, saying drily, "Well, Quark, looks like 
you needed my help after all."
	As Krax and Quark express their astonishment at Zek's
living presence, Zek tells them that he hadn't died, only 
entered into a sleeping trance. The Nagus had staged his 
own death as a test for his son, to see if Krax was ready 
to take his place -- a test that Krax has failed miserably 
by trying to seize power through the murder of Quark. Zek 
continues to berate his son's poor performance over Krax's 
protesting defense of his actions.
	Back in Quark's, the Nagus reclaims his scepter and again
compliments Quark on his business, promising to let him 
know of any really nice opportunities he finds in the Gamma 
Quadrant, and walks off, cackling. Quark sees Rom scurrying 
by and shouts to him. Rom comes over and begins pleading 
for forgiveness, but Quark, instead of being angry, praises 
Rom's initiative.
	On the Promenade, Jake and Nog are buying a treat, when
Jake sees Sisko approaching. Looking guilty, Jake asks 
what Sisko is doing here, and Sisko says that he was 
looking for Jake, and gives his startled son a warm 
embrace. "You're a great boy," says the commander. "Go on. 
Be with your friend." Jake runs off to rejoin Nog.

Copyright 1993, Jennifer A. Hawthorne. All rights reserved,
but I'm not stuffy about it as long as you don't go overboard.


Hawthorne's Deeply Spaced Reviews: "The Nagus"
[Formerly "First Impressions Reviews"]

Editorial note: As you can see, I have indeed decided to
change the name of my reviews. Thanks to all who offered 
suggestions. I hope people like the new packaging :-) The 
change comes just in time to catch the last new episode 
before a long dry spell of reruns.

On with the review.

One-line opinion summary: Ferengi, my dear, I don't give a
damn. (**Yawn**)

Rating: 4 out of 10

There are SPOILERS below! You have been warned.

Ye who enter here, all hope abandon of remaining unspoiled.

Well, this review may well be shorter than previous
editions, because I just don't have that much to say about 
"The Nagus." It wasn't aggressively bad like "The 
Passenger", but it committed the cardinal sin for a 
television show: it was dull. "The Passenger" at least kept 
the action going. While watching "The Nagus", I even found 
myself switching over to "Murder She Wrote" once, if you 
can believe it -- that's never happened to me before while 
watching DS9. It's a shame they couldn't give us a stronger 
episode before going into reruns again, but oh well, I 
guess beggars can't be choosers.

For starters, this was the first "two plot" show we've had
since "A Man Alone". This is a notoriously weak story 
structure that does not suit Trek well at all, unless there 
is some strong link between the two plots. Here, the two 
plots were connected only in the most marginal way, through 
Nog, and in the more important thematic sense, they had no 
connection at all. It showed, too; the transitions between 
the two subplots were jarring, and there was no flow at all 
to the episode.

And of the two plots, the marginally stronger one involving
Sisko and Jake got less time than the interminable 
"Ferengi Godfather" plotline, which I tired of almost 
before the teaser was over. The opener to this show was a 
real yawner; there wasn't a single element of tension or 
drama in the entire five minutes. Not a good beginning. And 
even the Sisko/Jake scenes, while well done, lacked a 
feeling of real tension or movement; they were static. This 
is almost certainly the director's fault, as all of the 
principal actors in that part of the show (Brooks, Lofton, 
and Aron Eisenberg as Nog) did admirably with their lines, 
but, dramatically speaking, the scenes just *sat* there. I 
liked the interplay between Jake and Sisko very much, and 
appreciated the portrayal of Sisko as a father torn between 
a desire to trust his son and a desire to keep him safe and 
out of trouble, but I dearly wish there had been a stronger 
story to spur that interaction. Perhaps if they had gone 
more deeply into the topic of the differences between 
Ferengi and human outlooks, or had explored why Nog likes 
school and how this is making him different from the 
average Ferengi (as it undoubtedly will), or...well, or 
*anything* with a little weight, I would have enjoyed it 
more.

And speaking of Ferengi outlooks and the average
Ferengi...with the advent of Quark on DS9, I had thought 
that the writers were going to be showing us a different 
view of the Ferengi race than we had seen before. And up to 
this point, they've been doing so; it has been commented 
many times by myself and others that Quark actually has a 
personality. So why is it that in this episode, the Ferengi 
are reduced back to caricatures? Now, I'm sure someone is 
going to object and say that this episode was meant to be 
played for laughs, and I would agree that that was what was 
intended. Unfortunately, it didn't make me laugh. Not 
*once*. Every single one of the Ferengi jokes that was made 
was entirely predictable and unimaginative, and could be 
seen coming from a mile away. The key element to successful 
humour is *surprise* -- and all the Ferengi jokes were 
downright pat. (The only thing that was original and 
imaginative with the Ferengi plot in this episode was that 
marvelous decrepit makeup on Wallace Shawn, complete with 
the tufts of hair coming out of his ears.)

And as for this disdain the Ferengi have for
schooling...are we expected to believe that it's possible 
to become a starfaring race, especially a race of 
*businessmen*, without the ability to read and write?? I 
know it wasn't specifically said that adult Ferengis can't 
read and write, but Nog couldn't, and given the attitude of 
the adult Ferengi to the Federation school, it seems likely 
that we're supposed to believe they can't. This is 
ridiculous on the face of it.

While I recognized that a lot of this episode was a
deliberate "Godfather" pastiche, I found the scenes of the 
Ferengi doing mob-like business to be slow and pointless, 
especially the grand Ferengi conference and the scene where 
Quark hands out a Gamma Quadrant concession to another 
Ferengi. The dialog lacked the snap and verve it would have 
needed to bring those scenes to life. And I never believed 
for a second that the Grand Nagus was really dead; the 
timing of his death was entirely too convenient -- and for 
pete's sake, if someone suddenly keels over, you call for 
medical assistance immediately! Unless, of course, you 
don't *want* medical assistance. Still, you'd have thought 
Quark would have at least tried.

One positive thing I can say about the plot, however; I was
not expecting Rom to be in on the assassination attempts. 
And when I went back and viewed the episode a second time, 
I realized that his involvement had, in fact, been decently 
foreshadowed well in advance. But I thought Quark's 
reaction at the end was...well...stupid. If Rom wouldn't 
hesitate to conspire to kill Quark as the Grand Nagus, how 
does Quark know Rom won't try again now that Quark has no 
lofty official status? This isn't sensible. And speaking of 
not sensible, I can't believe that Quark, who should have 
been truly paranoid by this point, fell for that 
transparent "we have to go to the Gamma Quadrant" line from 
Rom and Krax. I thought Quark was supposed to be *smart.* 
Sheesh. (Especially after the bit with the Dabo girl.)

In fact, the characterizations in this episode were
seriously off in a couple of places. The first, as I just 
mentioned, was in portraying Quark as stupid. The other, 
*MUCH* more serious problem was the fact that Odo, 
presented with two Ferengi who were guilty of attempted 
murder not once, but *twice*, with one attempt that he 
personally witnessed and one that could easily have injured 
innocent bystanders, *LET THEM WALK AWAY*. That's just 
completely wrong for Odo. He'd have had them locked up so 
quickly their heads would have spun. They set off a bomb on 
the station, for Heaven's sake! Inconceivable! (Oops. 
Sorry. Too much Wallace Shawn :-) Odo's dialogue was also 
off in several spots; for example, he should been able to 
come up with a much more biting, sarcastic response to 
Quark's pretentiousness, instead of just a disgusted snort. 
(I'm talking about the "make an appointment and kiss my 
scepter" scene. And...kiss my scepter?? Okay, maybe I've 
got a dirty mind :-)

As for the rest of the crew, well, Sisko and Jake and Nog
came off well. Jake is seeming more real every time we see 
him, and it's just great. Sisko's portrayal of a very 
human, imperfect father who is trying very hard to do right 
by his teenaged son is also right on target, and very 
welcome. Dax also got a good scene, and an intriguing bit 
of backstory was dropped about his/her having tried 
parentage in the past. It raised a lot of questions about 
whether it was the host or the symbiont who had kids...and 
were they symbiont or host children? Maybe we'll get to see 
one or more of them in a future episode, which would be 
intriguing. Come to think of it, Trill family relationships 
must be amazingly complex. (What do you do on the day your 
grandfather the Trill comes home in a different host body? 
Is he related to you or not? And just how *do* symbionts 
reproduce??) O'Brien's back, and I'm glad to see him; he 
got a couple of nice scenes with the kids in the classroom 
(once more, we see a DS9 crewmember failing to be good at 
something :-) and with Sisko when discussing Jake and Nog's 
relationship. Though, like Sisko, I wonder what O'Brien's 
reaction is going to be when Molly turns fourteen and 
starts dating boys Miles doesn't approve of. Odo I've 
already covered, and Kira and Bashir got exactly one line 
each, so there's nothing to be said about them.

Aside from the parts where he comes off as stupid, Quark's
characterization was fairly good. This is the second week 
in a row we've seen Quark groveling, now -- I sense a 
pattern in the making. And a lot of his reactions to the 
events in the story were good. It's just unfortunate that 
the story itself was so dull and the dialog so lifeless; 
Armin Shimerman didn't have much to work with here.

So, that's about it. No deep themes to reach for here,
sorry. Sigh. And at least a month of reruns. Phooey.

Short Takes

** So if Nog can't read, why was he given an assignment to
write an essay? I can't believe that Keiko wouldn't have 
told Miles what the level of each student's ability was 
before she put him in charge.

** "Tympanic membrane" = "Eardrum". So the Grand Nagus died
of a terminal earache. Cute. Not.

** If that wasn't dried Zek in the Petri dishes, who was
it?

** We see Odo morph again.

** I think that animal Quark was playing with while doing
his Godfather thing was the same hand-puppet that was used 
as the endangered species in the TNG episode "New Ground".

** Please don't tell me that there's no security on those
airlocks!!! Odo is *not* that stupid, and neither is 
Sisko. There had to have been security interlocks on the 
airlock precisely to keep that sort of thing from 
happening. I wish they had put in a line about the Ferengi 
having sabotaged the security somehow.

Copyright 1993, Jennifer A. Hawthorne. All rights reserved,
but I'm not stuffy about it as long as you don't go overboard.
