Television Review: Rules of Acquisition (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, S2x07, 1993)
Rules of Acquisition (S02E07)
Airdate: 6 November 1993
Written by: Ira Steven Behr
Directed by: David Livingston
Running Time: 46 minutes
Deep Space Nine distinguished itself from its predecessors by the sheer weight of its narrative ambition, a luxury afforded by its longer seasons. The creators had the unique opportunity to cultivate a rich, living universe where the smallest details would eventually blossom into catastrophic events, slowly revealing the complex geopolitical landscape that would culminate in the series' apocalyptic finale. What began as a mere mention in what seems like a seemingly unremarkable comedy episode set near the beginning of Season 2, Rules of Acquisition, is in fact a crucial foundation stone for the entire series' conflict.
The titular reference to the fictional collection of precepts that shape Ferengi society serves as the perfect vessel for exploring the alien culture. The episode opens with a character study of Quark’s bar. In the opening titles, we are introduced to another aspect of Ferengi society – the game of tongo, which is being played in Quark’s bar; all the players are Ferengi, with exception of Jadzia Dax, who, by own admission, thanks to experiences of Dax’s previous host Curzon, developed certain fondness for Ferengi despite their greed and misogyny.
The actual plot begins with the arrival of the Ferengi leader, Grand Nagus Zek, who entrusts Quark with an important task: to make deals and establish business connections with alien races beyond the Wormhole, in the Gamma Quadrant. The first to arrive from Gamma Quadrant for that purpose are two representatives of the Dosi race – Inglatu (Brian Thompson) and Ziree (Emilia Crow). Quark is given an assistant named Pel (Helen Udy) to help him with negotiations, an arrangement that quickly becomes complicated.
Pel begins to act towards Quark in unprofessional and strangely protective manner, hinting at a depth to her character that goes beyond a simple clerk. She later admits to Jadzia that she is actually a female pretending to be a male, because in Ferengi culture women are barred from taking part in business and wearing clothes. This revelation is the backbone of the episode's character development, forcing the audience to re-evaluate Pel’s competence and her relationship with Quark. Her secret stays kept until both, in an attempt to secure even more valuable deal, travel to Dosi home world; there they find that the contract can’t be sign, but their host refer them to representative of race known as Karemma, known as the part of entity known as "the Dominion".
During their absence, Rom was rummaging through Pel’s belongings and discovered truth about her sex; this is secret he tries to use to blackmail Quark, knowing that the scandal would destroy his position within Ferengi society. The episode shines in its negotiation scenes, where Quark, on the other hand, offers Pel large amount of latinum to leave station and never come back, while she insists that two of them together start new life in Gamma Quadrant. Quark refuses after which Pel reveals the secret to Zek who reacts angrily, threatening both Quark and Pel with prison; both escape this punishment by reminding Zek that Pel also conducted business in his name, making Zek too guilty by association. Zek decides to bury the scandal and Pel is allowed to leave.
Written by Ira Steven Behr, the episode is important for two reasons; one is the introduction of Ferengi female characters, which also gives more exposition to Ferengi society, culture, their treatment of women and first seeds of change through individual attempts to challenge this institutional sexism.
Another, even more important addition, although it became more apparent with the passage of time, is the Dominion, introduced as mysterious but powerful force that dominates Gamma Quadrant; it would be gradually revealed through the cause of series culminating in last two seasons.
The episode is nevertheless very light-hearted and relies a lot on simple farcical comedy of gender confusion and Zek’s comically ineffective attempts to seduce obviously disgusted Major Kira. The visual effects and make-up for the Dosi relied more on make-up and prosthetics, leading some critics to compare episode more akin to TOS than more refined Golden Age of Star Trek. However, thanks to David Livingston’s direction and some very good work by Armin Shimmerman, it is a solid and mostly entertaining episode that should be recommended for more reasons than merely serving as foundation for much bigger and better things.
RATING: 6/10 (++)
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