Grand Nagus Zek is coming to the station to resign from power and name his successor. When Brunt arrives to suck up to the next boss, Quark learns that changes to Ferengi society are more extensive than he realized, and resolves to return to the the old ways. On Cardassia, Damar, Garak, and Kira are forced into hiding when their Resistance movement is betrayed and wiped out -- but a way forward appears when popular sentiment for their cause rises. And meanwhile, Julian Bashir and Ezri Dax continue their delicate stepping around sharing their true feelings for one another.
There are more than a few nits one can pick at in the Ferengi story line of this episode. It's jarringly light in the midst of the seriousness of the larger final story arc. The idea that Quark thinks he's going to be Nagus was already covered before. So has Quark's resistance to progressive change. And it doesn't seem very realistic that so much could have changed on Ferenginar in such a short time without Quark being aware of it. Or that the Nagus could still hand-pick his successor after implementing a Congress to provide oversight.
But... the thing is... this is pretty much the perfect ending for all these characters. In a final season touching on every significant recurring character throughout the series, Zek and "Moogie" deserve their due. There's no need to preserve a status quo for Star Trek: Voyager, set in another part of the galaxy. Having Moogie's feminist crusade succeed is the really the only choice that comports with Star Trek's ideals. Having Quark resist is true to who his character has been all along. And making Rom the Grand Nagus of this kindler, gentler Ferenginar? It's the cherry on top of the sundae.
So it all may feel rushed, but it also feels quite natural. And we get some fun laughs along the way. Quark's paraphrase of Picard's First Contact "the line must be drawn here" speech is Trek fan gold -- Armin Shimerman even gives it a little British accent twist. (Ronald Moore, who co-wrote both this episode and that movie, said "I take great glee at mocking my own work.") Maihar'du gets one more bit of physical comedy for the road. Brunt grovels, and grovels some more.
And while I'm on Brunt... it's a big show for actor Jeffrey Combs, who plays both Brunt and Weyoun in the same episode for the first (and only) time. The two characters could not be more different, and the show is so confident in his ability to separate them that there are even two back-to-back scenes going from one character to the other. In the real world, there was apparently one day of filming where Combs played Weyoun in the morning, then went back to makeup and played Brunt in the afternoon. What I'm saying is: Jeffrey Combs rocks.
Where the Ferengi part of the episode is the ending to the story, the rest of the episode is putting the final pieces in place for the series ending. I suppose our heroes needed a new ship to take into battle for the last installment, though it does feel to me like it undermines the emotions of destroying the Defiant to replace it so quickly. (Even changing the name of the new ship to Defiant!) Elsewhere, Julian and Ezri skip through a handful of quintessentially rom-com scenes on their way to finally beginning their romantic relationship. And Kasidy Yates reveals that she's pregnant.
This last plot point was, as many pregnancies are, unplanned. Staff writer René Echevarria had been mulling over the Prophets' warning to Sisko that marrying Kasidy would bring him "sorrow," and felt that they weren't paying off that idea. Any death-like sacrifice Sisko made would mean him saying goodbye to Kasidy and Jake, so what about the marriage in particular were the Prophets warning against? Echevarria sold the team on a pregnancy as a way of tying up that loose end... but in the process created another problem that Avery Brooks would bring to their attention. (More on that when I talk about the finale.)
Speaking of Avery Brooks, this is his last turn in the director's chair for the series, and he has some fun with it. He gets great performances as usual, particularly in the comedy -- Worf's disdain for the childish Bashir, Mila's cranky old woman routine, and the gallows humor surrounding Damar's "secret mountain hideaway." Brooks also employs great camera work, such as the arch upward angle as Quark sneers down at Brunt, or the dance around the jewelry shop as Ezri and Julian dance around their relationship.
Other observations:
- Damar has a great reaction to learning that Enabran Tain was Garak's father: he cannot stop staring at Garak.
- Another great and subtle moment is when Kira tries to rally them all: "We are not spending the rest of the war in this cellar! Are we? Are we?" The first "are we" is defiant. The second betrays a trace of doubt.
- The static-garbled "phone call" between Quark and Zek is a plot device to confuse who will become Nagus, of course. But it's also a fun opportunity to imply the use of some foul language that wouldn't fly on Star Trek of this era.
- It's a fun detail that Sisko -- not Kasidy Yates -- missed taking his birth control.
As I said, this feels like the right ending for the Ferengi characters. But it does feel a bit rushed. So I think I'd give "The Dogs of War" a B.
Just one final episode to go...
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