Hey, “Playing God” is a Dax episode where her agency is integral to the plot! Hey, “Profit and Loss” is a Quark episode that’s not a comedy! Hey, we appreciate the effort, but you’re still not batting a thousand, show!
Hey, “Playing God” is a Dax episode where her agency is integral to the plot! Hey, “Profit and Loss” is a Quark episode that’s not a comedy! Hey, we appreciate the effort, but you’re still not batting a thousand, show!
Mindy
-Don’t really like "Playing God" all that much. Except that Jadzia seems to be a fun person to hang out with. So, that’s good, I guess. The main plot is ridiculous.
"Profit and Loss" is much more interesting in retrospect. It drops a surprisingly large amount of background information about the characters and the political situation surrounding DS9. The tidbit about Quark trying to help out Bajorans during the Occupation. The way Quark relates to Garak. The idea that there is a Cardassian civilian movement pushing to reform the government – a movement which the military is trying to quash. The information that Garak is in exile. The info that Garak would arrange a prisoner swap just to try to end his exile. Most interesting is the reveal at the end that Garak actually prefers the civilian dissident movement. Yet, he was originally willing to sell them out in exchange to end his exile. But, when that option was removed, he then had to choose between supporting the military or the civilians, and chose the civilians. Which I am sure left him in even worse position with the Central Command.
This episode is kind of a silly Casablanca parody (with Quark playing Humphrey Bogart!!). But, the sheer amount of info dropped in the background makes it a far more interesting episode than "Playing God".
At this point I really wish Richard had seen the whole show, because there is a LOT of stuff to talk about here, especially in relation to Garak’s character development and the specific choices he made along the way. And also how he intersects with the politics of Cardassia over time. I mean, think about this episode in relation to what happens with the political situation in S4-5. (Not to mention S6-7!)
Ah well. This is why Garak is an awesome character. It will be interesting to re-examine his choice to support civilian dissidents after episodes 3×20-21, and especially after 4×1, and 5×14-15.
Also, I’ll be interested to hear Richard’s response to episode 2×22, as that is another episode that I think plays a LOT better in retrospect.
Eric Brasure
-These are good points–I’m sure as the podcast conversation develops over time, we’ll revisit topics of conversation later on, just as we did once we had a body of conversation for TNG!