2.7 — “Rules of Acquisition”

2.7 — “Rules of Acquisition”

Plot: A Ferengi waiter, Pel, becomes Quark’s new business partner, as the Nagus returns to the station with a proposal to make Quark the first Ferengi emissary to the Gamma Quadrant.

Thoughts: Love it! Pel knows she is as capable as the next Ferengi (moreso tbh), and rejects the sexist pigeonhole her sisters are trapped in. Is this the first feminist episode of Star Trek?

TNG 5.17, “The Outcast” is progressive about gender (a rare exception in a series more prone to serve up episodes like 5.21, “The Perfect Mate”). Other episodes ranging from “The City on the Edge of Forever” to “Ensign Ro” have featured strong female characters, but that’s not the same thing as being feminist. Here is an episode smart enough to take the yuk-yuk grotesquerie of the established Ferengi canon and turn it inside out as a critique against privilege and oppression.

This episode scores a victory if it just makes it impossible to leer again at a line like “Why do you let your women wear clothes?”

As an episode flush with Ferengi, “Rules of Acquisition” features a lot of actors in masks. They are basically clowning, even the Dosi trading partners. To see it handled well is to be reminded that clowning is an art form that can be profound.

These Ferengi wear their emotions on their sleeves. They seem to be about as capable of sustained dissimulation as a dog at mealtime. It’s stylized, but Pel wins me over as she throws caution to the winds, headlong. Strategy goes overboard as she impulsively trusts Jadzia, bares her heart to Quark, and her lobes to the Nagus. Teleplay writer Ira Steven Behr makes a case for Jadzia’s declaration that once you accept that you can’t turn your back on a Ferengi, they can be a lot of fun.

It would be amiss to not to observe the first mention of the Dominion. It’s exactly the right introduction.

The Nagus’ early scenes are over the top. Someone combs his ear hair? The makeup seems exaggerated since the first Nagus episode. Wallace Shawn’s voice is also sillier. He’s like the Ferengi Palpatine.

Quark’s character drifts quite a bit between episodes. Is he a mastermind, or fool? Treacherous, or loyal? Malevolent, or cute?

Still, this episode is too fun. I love the gambling game, and all the new Rules. It’s one of Jadzia’s best episodes.

4.5 out of 5 Nagus staves.

http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Rules_of_Acquisition_(episode)