A really fun episode that demonstrates what the writing staff changes behind the scenes brought to the show. Quark has always been far from a typical Ferengi and was used a means to change our perception of the race, but this episode really lets us see what he can be capable of. Mixing Klingons and Ferengis isn't an obvious choice, and it inevitably leads to some really funny stuff (I love seeing Gowron and the High Council flicking through financial documents with confused looks on their faces).
This was also an opportunity to finally give Keiko something to actually do. She's been kind of underused and her character's potential squandered, so it's nice to see an attempt to get things back on track for her. I like the genuine feel that her marriage has, at least at this point in the show, and both she and Miles make quite an adorable couple. I also found it quite cute the way that people were giving him advice and seemed to know all about his problems; the Julian/Miles friendship is beginning to feel like a friendship here, although you'll notice they're still not quite on first name terms.
Grilka is a joy to watch, and there's some hilarious stuff between her and Quark ("get your hand off my thigh"). The final scenes with him in the council chamber are excellent, and Armin Shimmerman really knocks it out of the park. Because TNG had finished, the Klingon storylines from there transitioned to this show, and they were always something to look forward to.
First thing to notice: after this breathtaking season start, they tell this fun but humble story. What a welcome change of pace. Perfect timing!
It's a great episode tbh. It's in fact one of my favorite DS9 episodes. By now, it's not a secret anymore that Quark has a lot of talent for comedy. They paired him with Odo before. The contrast between those two very different characters worked well. Here Quark is pitted against the Klingons. What an awesome idea that was. This contract leads to some of the most hilarious scenes of this show. Plus, learning about Klingons is always great. This episode proves another point: Ferengi are no idiots and they can stand up for themselves when that's necessary. They can be much more than ordinary traders and shop owners.
And since this is DS9, we'll hear of Grilka again in a later episode. I'm looking forward to it.
PS: There's also a little B-plot about Miles and Keiko. That's a very little story. But it's told decently. They found the right episode to tell this story: after all, the A-plot is about wife problems too ;-)
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2022-09-27T22:52:02Z
[7.7/10] Amid all the earth shaking changes that come from the Dominion making its presence known, it’s nice to have an episode focused on how this new power in the galaxy affects the station in smaller ways too. Quark has lost business with there being less commerce in general on DS9 and ends up in a zany, escalating escapade in his efforts to drum more up. Keiko closes her school because the families have left the station due to the danger, and she’s aimless and unhappy without a greater purpose to follow.
These are smaller stakes stories compared to seeking out the Dominion’s leaders in a Borg battleship or Odo finding his long lost home, but they’re just as important to filling out the world of the show and making Deep Space Nine feel like a living, breathing ecosystem where changes to the status quo affect these characters in ways both big and small.
Quark’s does feel like a shaggy dog story. How he goes from haranguing a patron over his bar tab to defending his wife before the Klingon Chancellor is an exercise in ridiculous escalation. But it’s also a fun one, as each lie Quark tells in the name of self-preservation only lands him in deeper and deeper predicaments. The A-plot has a screwball comedy vibe to it, with some unlucky dope getting caught in a larger-than-life situation, where each fumbling attempt to settle things once in for all makes things worse for him, not better.
Not for nothing, it’s also nice to have Ronald “the Klingon whisperer” Moore back in the fold for an episode focused on the machinations of humanity’s ridge-headed neighbors. Despite being a mostly comic plotline, Quark’s story here hinges on the complex protocols and baroque traditions of Klingon society, and there’s no one better positioned to bring those to life than Moore.
The storyline makes its hay from Quark as a fish out of water, whose efforts to feather his nest or save his skin create unexpected problems down the line. The way he goes from turning a Klingon patron falling onto his own knife into a daring barfight to spur more business, to presenting his attacker as a noble warrior to a threatening brother under duress, to admitting the bumbling, accidental nature of the exchange to a menacing widow under even more duress, to unwittingly marrying that widow and being thrown into a dispute between spouse and sibling and their warring houses, is ridiculous in the best way.
Quark’s misadventures are counterbalanced by the quotidian, but more down-to-earth travails of Chief O’Brien and Keiko, and it’s a good balance. The core of the B-plot is simple but powerful -- Miles recognizes that, with her school closing, Keiko doesn’t have a purpose on the shift and is unhappy, and he wants to do everything in his power to fix that.
It’s rare to see caring, functional married couples on television. There’s little drama in a happy marriage, and so it’s not the stuff most T.V. plots are made of. But there’s something heartening about Miles recognizing that despite appearances, Keiko is, or at least will become, unsatisfied without something worthy of her talents to do, and making every effort to brighten her day, lift her spirits, and in the end, sacrifice in the name of her happiness.
Theirs is a relatable domestic story. The sensitivity the episode shows to Keiko’s plight, of being a talented individual with nowhere to ply her talents, is laudable. The characterization of Miles, as well-intentioned but needing to learn not to just accommodate Keiko but vindicate what will truly make her happy, is even better. And the conclusion, that despite and maybe because of her willingness to give up her role on the Enterprise in the name of Miles’ career, he needs to help find an opportunity worthy of her abilities and make sacrifices of his own to make it happen, is a wholesome one.
Granted, it’s also an excuse for the writers not to have to come up with stories for Keiko or Molly for six months, and free up the Chief in the meantime, which is convenient. Convenience aside, though, it reminds me of another happy, functional married couple, the Taylors from Friday Night Lights, and the way their shared happiness hinged on recognizing that each’s success and fulfillment was as important as the others.
In a weird way, the same principle extends to Quark’s story. His marriage is the Klingon equivalent of a shotgun wedding to someone he just met, and a match made purely for the purposes of securing lands and titles. And yet, the turn in the story is still founded on a husband recognizing that the needs of his wife require some courage and self sacrifice.
Granted, it strains a bit of credulity that Quark would be able to survive, let alone thrive, within Klingon society. But Moore and company are clever in how they depict the Ferengi using his own distinctive talents to prove valuable to Grilka’s cause. Under ordinary circumstances, his ability to show that rival Klingon D’Ghor used financial malfeasance to undermine his brother’s house wouldn’t mean much within this warrior culture. (And Gowron and his court’s confusion over the intricacies of Quark’s accounting lecture are a hoot.) But the fact that they show D’Ghor attacked his enemies through “scheming” rather than through honorable combat, is a smart way to let Quark’s particular talents undermine his enemy’s position in a community that otherwise doesn’t care about what Ferengi are good at.
More than that, we also have another sign that for all his bluster and self-interest, Quark is quietly compassionate, clever, and even brave. Rather than shirk from combat, he uses his own overmatched helplessness to show that D’Ghor has his honor, thereby preserving Grilka’s house, even if it means putting his life on the line and hoping that Gowron recognizes his point time to save his neck. That ploy plays fair, a believable way for Quark to solve the problem, but one that requires a little bravery from him in more than unusual circumstances.
The irony, of course, is that this whole thing started with Quark trying to generate a barside story good enough to lure folks into his watering hole, and the fib that started this rigamarole ended up giving him a genuine yarn to tell, one that even Rom wants to hear. The bloom will come off the rose eventually. Quark will have to find other ways to generate business. But there’s a clockwork, character-focused nature to the proprietor’s escapade that makes it a comic highlight of the young season.
Not every Star Trek episode needs explosions or galaxy-shaping consequences. The beauty of Deep Space Nine is that it was as concerned as how the conflicts of nations shaped the lives of everyday people. “The House of Quark” isn’t the most dramatic installment in all of Trekdom, but it takes that idea seriously, despite the comedy, showing how for Quark, Rom, Miles, Keiko, and many more, the arrival of the Dominion means much more than just another threat to the Quadrant.