It's an ok episode, I found myself losing focus part way through because it was playing out kind of predictably, but the twist save was nice and delivers on the opener's Chekhov's gun.
The hook is confusing because it seems like the range and time shouldn't work for a Ferengi in a Marauder to have made it to the Delta Quadrant the long way, but I guess she had been traveling that way for decades and then circled back. It still doesn't seem right. It also seems like her Maurader is extra small. More interesting is the fact that the captain is a Ferengi Woman which indicates she must be extremely capable despite needing help, or a patsy, to get what she wanted, and ultimately failing.
I was dismissive of people saying Prodigy is like Star Wars but this is the first episode where I got strong vibes of that. The cubic robot speaking untranslated alien language and being treated like a person is very Star Wars, as are the cargo ramps. Most of the episode they seemed to forget about transporters.
I have the impression the reason the Ferengi uses her ramp is actually a show-it-don't-tell-it explanation of why Dal doesn't know about transporters, the Marauder's transporters must have been broken, sold off, or were stolen. We also know Ferengi look down on engineers and scientists, so doing anything but the bare minimum would be beneath her, especially paying for repairs.
We can also infer that her lack of transporters is also why she was unwilling to attempt the theft of the crystals on her own. She had no safe way in and out, but with patsies as a distraction she had a decent chance, though her impulsive theft seems uncharacteristic for what must be an experienced and capable pirate/trader/etc. Perhaps that's what gets her into and out of trouble on a regular basis.
As for the first contact itself, kind of predictable, but it also cranked up the weirdness really nicely. The aliens and their techniques are interesting. I'm iffy on the communication explanation since it makes it sound like they are just using different sound frequencies than what we use, but the rest is believable enough in Trek's normal soft scifi fashion.
Also Trek Yards has pointed out a few times how the ship looks very Star Trek 2009, and I agree with them, and they think it indicates transdimensional origins, which I think is a stretch at this point, but this beaming effect used is straight out of 2009 Trek. The former I could dismiss to some degree, but the beaming effect is a little too much. Now I find myself agreeing with Trek Yards that the ship could be interdimensional and transtemporal, though I still want more evidence of the former.
It is also interesting how Janeway is, in part, upset by the botched first contact because the crew had no pressing need to perform the mission for their own sake. She has a problem with it because it was personal to Dal and left a bad impression. And that's interesting because none of that has to do with "destiny" nor Prime Directive dogma.
