{"id":5469,"date":"2018-12-20T06:27:55","date_gmt":"2018-12-20T06:27:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/425-Body-Parts"},"modified":"2018-12-20T06:27:55","modified_gmt":"2018-12-20T06:27:55","slug":"425-body-parts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relivethemajesty.com\/index.php\/2018\/12\/20\/425-body-parts\/","title":{"rendered":"4.25 — \u201cBody Parts\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n \n

4.25 — \u201cBody Parts\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Plot:<\/strong> Quark returns from Ferenginar with the news that he is going to die from Dorek Syndrome. Which is bad. But can he afford the cost of survival? Meanwhile, Keiko and Kira undergo a profound exchange of burdens during a runabout accident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Thoughts:<\/strong> I. Love. Everything about the Ferengi plot in this episode. I just want to quote its many great lines. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cMade a pilgrimage to the Great Marketplace.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cYou\u2019re going to wish you died years ago!\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cIt took me all my life, but I\u2019m going to die a winner.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cNot without paying a storage fee!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Somehow all this comedy makes room for serious character development and profundity. Quark has a dark night of the soul exploring his feelings of alienation and failure. I laughed as he rattled off all the shameful outcasts in his family, according to Ferengi tradition: Rom, Nog, Moogie–which brings us tantalizingly close to big realizations for Quark that his expectations are unreasonable and he should embrace his chosen family and their imperfections. But all the empty cultural ideals ingrained his head mean that he can\u2019t quite get there. It\u2019s a study in family dynamics and lack of self-acceptance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Quark hiring Garak to assassinate him by surprise is a tribute of course to Clouseau and Cato in the Pink Panther movies. Great acting abounds, with the best episode yet for Quark, Rom, and Blount. The sharp writing helps (good job with the teleplay, Hans Beimler!).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I haven\u2019t even mentioned the subplot, which takes a page from Voyager\u2019s<\/em> soap opera tendencies, but turns the volume all the way to eleven. Kira\u2019s \u201cYour son\u2019s living here now\u201d with a gesture to her abdomen is a cut-to-commercial for the ages. O’Brien: \u201cSo what you\u2019re telling me is . . . Major Kira\u2019s going to have my baby!\u201d The irony behind the scenes is that Nana Visitor is really pregnant, but the baby is Alexander Siddig\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Take that Voyager!<\/em> That’s how you do soap opera.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Keiko and Miles are asking a lot of Kira to move into their apartment. This should be a good source of drama going forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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5 out of 5 discs of Quark’s vacuum-desiccated remains.<\/p>\n\n\n

http:\/\/memory-alpha.wikia.com\/wiki\/Body_Parts_(episode)<\/a>