DS9 Flashback: The House of Quark

With Star Trek: The Next Generation finished at the start of Deep Space Nine season three, many of the crew members behind the older series transferred to the younger one (or to the soon-to-come Voyager). Deep Space Nine also took full "ownership" of all the established Star Trek history and characters, as Voyager would be headed to the Delta Quadrant and changing the setting entirely. From this combination sprang the quirky (and Quark-y) episode "The House of Quark."

Quark gets into a fight with a hopelessly drunken Klingon and kills him accidentally in self-defense. Hoping to spin the incident into publicity for his business, he claims to have slain the warrior in honorable combat. This soon brings more Klingons calling, including Grilka, the widow of Quark's victim. Grilka demands he take control of her House lest it be dissolved by a political adversary on the Klingon High Council. Meanwhile, Keiko's school has dwindled for lack of students, and she decides to close it down. She's depressed and uncertain about what might come next, and Miles is at a loss to comfort her.

The pitch for this episode came from series editor Tom Benko, who suggested that Quark gain a reputation as a "gunfighter" after killing a Klingon. But the story was reportedly fleshed out by the entire staff working even more collaboratively than usual. Everyone threw ideas into the pot, and the one ultimately assigned to hammer out the script itself was new staff writer Ronald D. Moore. He had been the go-to writer for all things Klingon over on The Next Generation, from the moment his spec script for "The Bonding" got him hired to that series in the first place. Humorously, he said of the Klingons that he "didn't miss them" when coming over to a new series. Yet here he was, back again, writing about them.

This episode has a decidedly lighter take on the Klingons, however. Everything that was taken so very seriously on The Next Generation is treated with a playful irreverence here that totally works. Actor Robert O'Reilly, who played Gowron for years before this, gets a chance at comic relief. (His mangling of Quark's name, "Quirk," is surpassed only by his shock/disdain when getting it right.) The culture clash of Klingons against the Ferengi is often hilarious, from Quark's marriage with a kiss-and-spit to his divorce with a vicious backhand. In between, we get Klingons hopelessly trying to follow along with Quark's financial presentation, and a portrait of at least one Klingon in particular more cunning and ambitious than honorable.

Similarly, one Ferengi in particular is allowed to be different than the established cliche. Quark actually shows both honor and conscience here, though he's accused of having neither. He finds a way to save the day using his cleverness, a way that doesn't betray the character we've come to know. It's a deft handling of Quark that gives him more dimension to play with in the future.

Meanwhile, the episode continues a trend of actually providing good material for the Miles/Keiko relationship. The decision to write Keiko off the show for a while actually came for reasons that had nothing to do with her character or actress Rosalind Chao. The writers wanted to make space to further explore the O'Brien/Bashir relationship, and also were dealing with Colm Meaney's contract, that allowed him some leeway to go take movie roles even as Deep Space Nine was still being filmed.

Instead of making Keiko a shrewish obstacle as she so often had been on The Next Generation, here she has a relatable depression about a sudden loss of career. Miles doesn't seem burdened by her, but rather has the sincere desire of a spouse to do something -- anything -- to relieve the pain of the one he loves. His increasingly large gestures don't address the underlying problem, something that Julian Bashir of all characters wisely points out (in a nice moment adding dimension to his formerly rocky character too).

Other characters play around at the margins of the O'Brien story line, to small but good effect. Sisko gets to speak to the feeling of hurt when your spouse is unhappy and you can't help. Dax gets to joke about how she's dealt with "wife trouble" in former lives. Kira speculates that this sort of relationship drama must just be a "human thing." In all, it's a very honest take on a realistic problem in this science fiction setting.

Other observations:

• The comedy here isn't just for Klingons. The episode opens with Morn giving a lecherous thumbs up as he's leaving for a hookup. Odo also gets some good laugh lines, poking at the implausibility of Quark's version of how he killed a Klingon.

• Speaking of that kill, what's the point of all that Klingon armor if their knives can just stab right through them? And the fact that neither redundant Klingon organs nor Bashir's medical abilities can save Kozak's life is a bit of a stretch. Necessary for the story, sure, but a stretch.

• Even as the Klingons are being depicted in a more humorous way this episode, there's plenty of continuity with the past. The verbal command to activate the transporter is exactly the same as established way back in Star Trek III, and we also get the Klingon ritual of discommendation as established in "Sins of the Father."

• I mentioned earlier that the idea for this episode came from one of the series' editors. Because of that unusual connection, Tom Benko got to edit his own episode.

Star Trek can be a bit hit-or-miss when it tries comedy, but I think this is one of the hits. I give "The House of Quark" a B+. Plus, bringing the character of Gowron over to Deep Space Nine for the first time, it was something of a milestone for the series too.