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DS9 2-18

DS9 2x18
"Profit and Loss"

Original airdate: 3/20/1994
Rewatch date: 7/5/2013


A former love interest of Quark comes to the station, but it turns out she is a member of the Cardassian underground.

Spoiler-free notes:

I'm a big fan of Garak's dialogue. He plays whatever role the person talking to him expects him to play, and you can never quite figure out what his real intentions are.

The idea of a Cardassian underground is interesting, and I hope we hear more about it as the show continues to develop its larger mythology.

This episode is basically an homage to Casablanca, but aside from how it gives us a bit more information about Garak, it's kind of a waste. The whole thing depends upon a chemistry between Quark and Natima, but there isn't any. At no point do you care about Natima or root for their romance, which makes their inevitable separation at the end yawn-worthy instead of emotional. Like "Necessary Evil," it's just trying too hard, and it gets ruined by its own cleverness and self-awareness.





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