Brilliant moments of levity

Matt’s Take on Episode 6: “Q-Less”

Salutatorian?

I can’t get enough of Dr. Bashir’s epic retelling of his perilous Starfleet medical exam which he summarizes as “the toughest battle of my life.” There are three distinct elements that make this absolutely brilliant:

1. Julian’s cavalier and self-satisfied confidence in his tale’s allure.

2. The Bajoran woman seems to be genuinely taken in by Bashir’s wiles here.

3. O’Brien reacting and rolling his eyes the entire time; it’s funny to think how their relationship evolves beyond this point!

A Vash from the Past:

It is always fun to see TNG characters show up in Deep Space Nine, and I wish that it had happened more often. Vash is an excellent choice, as she is a dynamic character with a lot of scene-stealing personality. Matching her up with Quark for this episode was a great idea, and I love that we get a front-row seat to the, shall we say, sensitivities of Ferengi lobes. The fact that Q is still hanging around is a nice call-back to the continuity of the TNG episode as well.

Picard Never Hit Me!

“You hit me. Picard never hit me!”

“I’m not Picard!”

While it is cool to see Sisko dropping Q like a bag of gold-pressed latinum, I think that Q’s next line here is pretty important.

“Indeed not. You’re much easier to provoke.”

Sisko’s temper can be a liability, and Dax will warn him about it in the next episode, so this is a recurring flaw in Sisko’s personality. 

Q-Less?

It seems, at the end of the episode, that Vash might never be able to fully renounce her partnership with Q as he suggests that he might “drop in.” I enjoy his line about how Earth used to have character because of the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, and Watergate. Those aren’t necessarily the disasters from Earth’s past that I would have chosen, but I guess that they made an impression on Q. Maybe you had to be there! I can only say that it is a shame that we don’t get to see Quark and Vash teaming up again in the future. They were quite a team! I also would have loved to see Q make a return, but at least he leaves us wanting more.

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