In the twenty-fifth and penultimate episode of the fourth season of\u00c2\u00a0Deep Space Nine<\/i>, Quark is dying (not really) and Kira is pregnant. (REALLY.) Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0Star Trek<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Well, that was a weird one.<\/p>\n
Kira<\/b><\/p>\n
I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve never seen a consensual mystical pregnancy\u00c2\u00a0ever<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0until this episode. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even know what to do with it. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve gotten so used to writing critical analysis of that bored trope that now? I feel useless. HOW DO YOU CRITICIZE THE SUBVERSION OF IT??? Kira consented to taking Keiko\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s son during a shuttle accident, and she actually seems to be enjoying it, and everyone is happy given the circumstances and WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON HERE. Beyond it being surprising \u00e2\u20ac\u201c trust me, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m still floored by the very idea of\u00c2\u00a0consensual mystical pregnancy<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u201c it produces a largely frictionless plot for the O\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Briens and Kira. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s some awkwardness, especially since the writers address the fact that Keiko was pregnant one moment and then\u00c2\u00a0not<\/i>. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a traumatic, bizarre thing to go through!<\/p>\n
But the arrangement that these people come to is so\u00c2\u00a0adorable<\/i>. Kira moves in! Molly gets a new aunt! Everyone is joyous! THERE\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S NO DARK AND GRIM TWIST TO THIS, IT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S ALL GREAT. And honestly, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s kind of the thematic point of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Body Parts.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0Good things actually happened<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Quark<\/b><\/p>\n
I know it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not a secret that I have a hard time with Ferengi-centric plots, and there were moments when this episode tested my interest. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a bizarre story because of how often the focus changes. First, Quark is dying of an incurable disease in six days. Then, Quark\u00c2\u00a0isn<\/i>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0dying, but gets to sue a doctor for malpractice. Then this is dropped once Brunt shows up to demand Quark honor the contract made when he\u00c2\u00a0was<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0dying, but which now requires his death. Then we learn that Brunt purposefully exploited the situation so that he could either embarrass Quark or make Quark die. Which is\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 kind of complicated. Was Brunt just\u00c2\u00a0waiting<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0for a situation in which to go after Quark???<\/p>\n
The impetus might have been confusing to me, but\u00c2\u00a0<\/i>\u00e2\u20ac\u009dBody Parts\u00e2\u20ac\u009d became interesting to me once Quark was faced with a genuinely difficult conundrum. Did he break the contract with Brunt and face ostracism and exile? Or did he prove himself a loyal, obedient Ferengi and let Garak kill him? Now, I couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t seriously entertain the idea that Quark would die at the end of this episode, so it was hard to believe the tension. Quark was going to survive somehow; that was a given. Yet the\u00c2\u00a0way<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0in which the episode reached that conclusion was more satisfying than I expected. It was through the story in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Body Parts\u00e2\u20ac\u009d that I realized that despite Quark protesting to the contrary, he\u00c2\u00a0hasn<\/i>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0been a model Ferengi up to this point. Over the four seasons of this show, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s compromised his morals multiple times, and many of those instances are named outright by Brunt. He spared his mother; his nephew is in training for Starfleet; his brother, who started a union, is still working alongside him.<\/p>\n
He never even knew that he disagreed with the strict rules of Ferengi society. Like I said, he protested the very idea that he wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t a perfect Ferengi businessman. But his actions speak so much louder than his words, as did his sense of self-preservation.\u00c2\u00a0That<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0is where \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Body Parts\u00e2\u20ac\u009d was most intriguing: Who is Quark\u00c2\u00a0without<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0the Rules of Acquisition?<\/p>\n
I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know that the episode fully answers that question, but we get a hint of it after Brunt orders the complete liquidation of Quark\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s bar. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an odd sight on the show, and I admit that even though I figured Quark wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t die in this episode, I was still unnerved by the imagery. However, over the years, Quark\u00c2\u00a0has<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0made an impact on the people around him, enough that many of his patrons and much of the DS9 staff decide to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153store\u00e2\u20ac\u009d supplies in Quark, providing him with exactly what he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d need to operate his bar. But he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be doing so detached from Ferengi culture. How is that going to manifest in future episodes? Will he rely on his own business sense or the rules he was brought up to obey?<\/p>\n
I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t say. But I was touched by the end of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Body Parts.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Like the O\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Brien\/Kira plot, I thought it was nice that there was no cynicism here. Which means the finale is probably going to destroy me, isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t it?<\/p>\n
The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Body Parts\u00e2\u20ac\u009d can be downloaded\u00c2\u00a0here for $0.99<\/a>.<\/p>\n Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n – I am now on Patreon<\/a>! There are various levels of support, from $1 up to whatever you want! You’ll get to read a private blog, extra reviews, and other such rewards.<\/b> In the twenty-fifth and penultimate episode of the fourth season of\u00c2\u00a0Deep Space Nine, Quark is dying (not really) and Kira is pregnant. (REALLY.) Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0Star Trek.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[640,614],"tags":[615],"class_list":["post-5756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-deep-space-nine","category-star-trek","tag-mark-watches-star-trek"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5756"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5756\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n– I\u00c2\u00a0will be at numerous conventions in 2016! Check the full list of events on my Tour Dates \/ Appearances page.<\/a>
\n– My Master Schedule<\/a> is updated for the near and distant future for most projects, so please check it often.\u00c2\u00a0My next Double Features for Mark Watches have been announced here.<\/a>
\n<\/b>-\u00c2\u00a0Mark Does Stuff is on Facebook!<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0I’ve got a community page up that I’m running. Guaranteed shenanigans!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"