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The House of Quark

Willieck

Commander
Red Shirt
Probably not everyone's cup of tea but I watched this again last night and it is still one of my favourite quirky (or Quarky :rolleyes:) episodes. Don't you just love Mary Kay Adams as Grilka ?
 
I'm not a big fan of this episode, but not because it's a Ferengi episode, but because it's a Klingon episode. The Klingons were overused, IMHO, and I got tired of their "honour" all around the place.
 
It wasn't so much the Klingons but the way the men were increasingly presented as two-dimensional simpletons. The Klingon women were written much more interestingly.
 
It's one of my favorite episodes. I'm not a fan of the Ferengi episodes, but this is not a Ferengi episode, it's Quark episode - and it's also another great Ron Moore Klingon episode. Like all the best Klingon episodes, it reveals that Klingons aren't really that simple and all about honor as they pretend to be, and that in fact, 'honor' is often just a catchword used to justify greed (in this episode), political expediency (Sins of the Father) or lust for power (anything with Duras or Gowron). Quark is at his best whenever he is used to highlight some of the less pleasant aspects of human, humanoid, or, in this case, Klingon nature/society. I love the way he reveals D'Ghor's hypocrisy and gives the Klingon council a lesson in bravery and honor. It's a wonderful denouncement of all those 'warrior' cultures that pretend to be about honor but in fact mostly rely on brute strength and violence.

Quark: Go ahead - kill me! That is why I'm here, isn't it, to be killed? Well, here I am, so go ahead and do it. You all want me to pick up that sword and fight you, don't you? But I don't have a chance, and you know it. You only want me to put up a fight so that your precious honor will be satisfied. Well, I'm not gonna make it so easy for you. [he kneels down] Having me fight D'Ghor is nothing more than an execution. So, if that's what you want, that's what you'll get - an execution. No honor, no glory. And when you tell your children and your grandchildren the glorious story of how you rose to power and took Grilka's house from her, I hope you remember to tell them how you heroically killed an unarmed Ferengi half your size.

One of my favorite speeches in DS9.
 
Ferengi episode can be hit-or-miss (and when they miss, boy, do they miss!), but this is one of my faves. Not only does Quark kick ass with his speech daring the Klingon to kill him, I love the humor - his rapport with Grilka, and one of my favorite parts, him presenting the evidence of D'Ghor's financial treachery while all the Klingons looked pissed and confused reviewing it. Hee!
 
This is one of my favourites too - certainly one of Quark's finest hours.


"I am Quark, son of Keldar, and I have come to answer the challenge of D'Ghor, son of... whatever."
 
My favourite Quark quote ever was when a very depressed character comes into the bar and Quark says 'what can I get you' and the guy says something like 'nothing will ever help me now' and Quark says 'A challenge!'
 
Ferengi episode can be hit-or-miss (and when they miss, boy, do they miss!), but this is one of my faves. Not only does Quark kick ass with his speech daring the Klingon to kill him, I love the humour - his rapport with Grilka, and one of my favourite parts, him presenting the evidence of D'Ghor's financial treachery while all the Klingons looked pissed and confused reviewing it. Hee!

They all sit there looking like kids in school not understanding a word which is being said. I particularly like Gowron with his his bulging eyes.
 
an enjoyable episode, but a couple of things got me puzzled. qo'nos must be right there in the bajoran solar system, because quark's flight can't have taken more than a few hours, and rom also popped up almost instantly when the circumstances required it. on ds9, no one seems to have noticed that quark and rom vanished. ds9 bent common sense in many cases, though.
 
Disclaimer: On the whole I like Ferengi episodes with one exception, guess which one.

Anyway, this episode wasn't just a Ferengi or Klingon episode, it was both which is refreshing. It also wasn't a huge episode in terms of the Klingons but that was refreshing as well. It was nice to see Gowron and the Klingon empire on a normal business day if you can call it that with The Klingons.

As for the Quark stuff, I've always loved how Quark can't help but him self no matter how dire the situation. It was really nice to see how two cultures so radically different can come together, however briefly it may be. Getting back to Quark, I love when he does the right thing after dragging his feet to get to that point.
 
The Quark episodes are a great relief against the very heavy story arc and help show why the federation is probably worth all the trouble of a galactic war.
 
I think Quark and Grilka played off one another very well, espcially when Grilka came to the bar and challenged Quark and he jumped across the bar to get away from her. Absolutely hilarious! All around good episode. It's follow up episode "Looking for par'mak in all the wrong places" was just as good with Grilka and Quark finally getting together, even for just one episode.
 
I absolutely love this episode. Shimerman's acting is amazing. I especially love when he tells epic stories to the bar patrons.
 
Definitely one of my favourites. One of the first times DS9 did the Klingons in a big way, and it's typical DS9 that they did it with Quark.

I love that scene with Quark trying to explain D'Ghor's financial schemes to the High Council. It makes Gowron look a bit stupid, given he was introduced in TNG as the arch political schemer, but so what, loads of people aren't good with numbers. What's great is that he's aware that this Ferengi is making him look like a fool, and he doesn't like that one bit.

It was probably the first time we see Quark do something genuinely heroic and selfless too. He could easily have died then and there, so it's great to see the pay off. Excellent cast in this one too. I probably like it more than The Search...
 
Definitely one of my favourite Klingon/Ferengi episodes. It's got humour (courtesy of Quark, and his interactions with Grilka and the Council), courage (again courtesy of Quark) and an interesting look at the mindset of 2 cultures in situations we don't usually see them in. :techman:
 
What I love is that at the end of the episode Gowron seems to have developed some grudging respect for Quark (something Worf never managed to do). It's the same feeling I got when little cadet Nog told Martok and his men to move along and Marok said, "Courage comes in all sizes." I like it when Klingons recognizes that a true warrior spirit/bravery doesn't actually have anything to do with physical strength. It's actually easier to be braver when you're strong.
 
I really enjoyed this episode. Klingon family law looks like it can be pretty basic -- a quickie mariage, and an even quicker divorce. Just smack him in the face and spit a few words at him, and -- voila! -- you're divorced! But it was obvious Grilka felt very differently about Quark by the end of the episode than she did at the beginning.
 
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