A visit to the Ferengi's home planet leads to a slew of misadventures for the Cerritos crew: Captain Freeman and Admiral Vassery navigate the treacherous world of Ferengi negotiations with the Grand Nagus, Rom, and his wife, Leeta; Mariner blows off some steam with an old Ferengi friend; Rutherford and Tendi are instructed to pose as a married couple to receive and review a couple's discount at a Ferengi hotel; and Boimler gets sucked into the world of Ferengi primetime television.
Tropes:
- Actor Allusion: Rom semi-pretends to be a baseball nut. Max Grodénchik, who plays Rom, is an accomplished Baseball player and considered going pro before settling on an acting career. (For the Baseball Episode of Deep Space Nine, in which Rom is profoundly bad at the game, Grodénchik played the character left-handed.)
- Adam Smith Hates Your Guts: On Ferenginar practically every utility is latinum operated. In Boimler's hotel room, there's a for-profit minibar, a for-profit toilet, and a machine that charges you to pay to use the minibar and the toilet. One of the capital's most popular bars is actually a library, with Quimp noting that no one has read a book from there in a thousand years.
- Alcohol-Induced Idiocy: After consuming a lot of alcohol, Mariner starts a Bar Brawl with a biker gang after one of the members accidentally bumped and spilled his drink onto Quimp, despite the biker apologizing and offering to reimburse Quimp and Quimp not taking it personally.
- Arms Dealer: The Ferengi ship was transporting weapons, but thanks to Grand Nagus Rom deciding to focus on hospitality, they have to get rid of their cargo rather than sell it.
- Bad "Bad Acting": Tendi and Rutherford's newlywed act, which Mariner sarcastically calls "nice and natural and definitely the way people talk".Tendi: We sound natural, right?
Rutherford: Totally. [shouting to passers-by] We got married at a wedding! - Bar Brawl: Mariner gets extremely drunk and then picks a fight with a biker gang at the bar.
- Benevolent Boss: Ransom continues to assert this attitude, purposely pulling strings to secure an easy and sought after job for Mariner, Bomiler, Tendi, and Rutherford. And despite her difficulties in accepting it, Mariner continuously comments that Ransom has been entirely supportive and understanding of her lately. Even when Ransom learns that Mariner was involved in a drunken brawl he seemed more concerned than anything. And was understanding and even complimentary when Boimler lost track of all time watching Ferengi entertainment.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Rom has regularly been noted as being far kinder, gentler, and especially more selfless than the usual Ferengi, and his wife Leeta is notably outgoing and sociable. However, just because they are both kindhearted rulers doesn’t mean that they are idiotic rulers, and certainly not the pushovers that Vassery had initially assumed them to be. The majority of the episode shows off exactly why Rom was seen as a worthy successor of the title of the Grand Nagus, with him and Leeta spending the entirety of the negotiations not only giving the Federation delegation a Secret Test of Character, but giving Vassery a completely embarrassing runaround the whole time that could’ve ended in a very lopsided and lucrative deal for them had Captain Freeman not stepped in just in time.
- Biting-the-Hand Humor: When watching Ferengi TV, Boimler lampoons the idea of placing advertisements within the shows, saying it's "like mind control." As he says this, there's a picture above him of a suspiciously familiar mountain as the stars around it twinkle and start spinning... Careful viewers will also note that the Ferengi viewscreen in Boimler's hotel room is shaped like the CBS logo.
- Bittersweet Ending: The negotiations with the Ferengi joining the Federation are a success thanks to Freeman, and after Rutherford and Tendi have an awkward time pretending to be married they are fine with being Just Friends and resuming their usual work together (while being blissfully unaware of the chemistry that comes naturally when they aren't being forced into acting romantic). However, Mariner is left depressed wondering why she feels the need to rebel and start fights even when everything is going perfectly for her, and Boimler accidentally gets obsessed with watching Ferengi television instead of doing his assignment and is dragged out by the authorities, but is praised by Ransom for going with the flow and getting out of his own way for once. Also, the mysterious ship is still on the loose, going after a Ferengi ship this time and it's implied that it's part of some greater plan rather than random acts of destruction.
- Blatant Lies: In-universe, the Slug-O Cola commercial assures the viewer that their lobes doubling in size after one drink will definitely happen. Boimler is amused that the commercial just straight-up lies.
- Blind Shoulder Toss: Happens twice in the episode, with Mariner tossing aside an empty shot glass and Parth tossing away two padds containing the standard menu. Both times, they hit someone offscreen.
- Bond One-Liner: After Pog is shot, Dar kills the tenant and says "You just surrendered your deposit, and your life."
- Call-Back:
- The Ferengi freighter is carrying a Genesis device. This one is smaller, as the Ferengi lampshade, the technology having been refined.
- Quimp, Mariner's Ferengi friend from all the way back in "Envoys", makes a return in this episode. Apparently they go way back.
- Admiral Vassery mentions the planet Moab IV, which appeared in the TNG episode "The Masterpiece Society."
- Canon Immigrant: The rule Freeman uses to win over Rom and Leeta, "Small Print Equals Big Risk", hails from an old Star Trek: Deep Space Nine book called The Ferengi Rules of Acquisition, which listed a number of canon and non-canon rules alongside screenshots from the series.
- Cardiovascular Love: The couples suite Rutherford and Tendi receive has heart shapes everywhere, even as the shape of the doorframes, which require ducking to get through. Rutherford discusses how arbitrary it is that an abstract representation of the heart came to be accepted as the universal symbol for love.
- Cash Gate: Boimler's hotel room has a for-profit minibar, a for-profit toilet, and a machine that you have to pay before you can pay for either aforementioned amenity.
- Character Overlap: Rom and Leeta return for the first time since the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Series Finale, reprised by actors Max Grodénchik and Chase Masterson.
- Comically Missing the Point: Rom and Leeta offer Vassery a diplomatic gift in the form of a golden bust of his head. Then they offer the customary invoice for the gift, which from Vassery's reaction was not cheap.
- Continuity Nod: It was established in DS9 that Ferengi women were not allowed to wear clothing in public. This was later changed when Ishka (Rom's mother) asserted her influence over then-Grand Nagus Zek. This episode shows that the changes have mostly caught on, with many Ferengi females shown fully clothed. However, there appear to still be some who do still go out naked, as one can be seen behind Tendi in the Federation-themed restaurant.
- Cringe Comedy: Most of the comedy surrounding Rutherford and Tendi this episode is from how uncomfortable they are over pretending to be married once all the talk of romance and erotic activities start to take their toll on them. Though they have a legitimate reason to be nervous and uncomfortable once they find out that if they are discovered to be a fake married couple, they'll be sent to work in the sub-aquatic sulfur mines for life.
- Culture Clash: Ferenginar being ultra capitalist and Starfleet being a Post-Scarcity Economy is put in the center for this episode as the Cerritos is on a diplomatic mission to oversee the former joining the latter. Our four protagonists are sent down to the planet on a travel guide mission, and Boimler in particular gets completely sidetracked by the novelty of commercialized television.
- Damn You, Muscle Memory!: Mariner immediately falls into bad habits and starting a Bar Brawl for no reason. Quimp questions her about it since her career is actually starting to progress and she has a legitimate support network. Frustrated, she can't explain why because she is just so accustomed to this behavior she never considered it might have been coming from a bad place.
- Disproportionate Retribution: On hyper-capitalist Ferenginar, simply lying about your relationship status to get a couples discount is enough to earn you a one-way trip to the sulfur mines.
- The End... Or Is It?: The episode of Pog & Dar: Cop Landlords that Boimler watches ends with the caption "The End?", after Pog is shot and transfers all his latinum to Dar before he dies.
- Erotic Eating: Invoked by the Ferengi's honeymoon couple's dinner, which is just erotically-dressed chocolate statues of the couple in question. What's more, it's apparently seen as customary to eat the chocolate statues while saying something that you love about your newlywed spouse with each and every bite — and while sitting in a pair of chairs that are both set up to be able to detect if you are lying about anything.
- Exact Words: Freeman tells Rom and Leeta that they'll get massive signing bonuses in the agreement if they can bring a planet into the Federation. It's only after they sign that she points out that in the contract, "a planet" doesn't mean "any planet", it's "a specific planet": Qo'nos, the Klingon homeworld.
- Foreshadowing: In the teaser with the Ferengi vessel, one of the crew members seems to be aware of what is about to happen. Not much can be said before the vessel is apparently vaporized. This is explained three episodes later where it's revealed that the mysterious ship wasn't somehow shutting down the vessels- Nick Locarno was simply bribing members of the lower decks to sabotage the systems so they could overthrow the ship and boot their commanding officers off.
- Forgot Flanders Could Do That: At first it seems like Rom has been Flanderized from "appears to be an idiot by Ferengi standards because he doesn't have the ruthless pursuit of profit" to "is actually an idiot", but in fact the episode remembers something DS9 sometimes didn't: he's not completely terrible at being a Ferengi.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: One of the items in Boimler's to-do list is to check out the Ferengi Hall of Fame gift shop, with a note that the actual hall of fame itself is coming soon.
- Funny Background Event: Rom throws his baseball at a viewscreen in the Toronto's conference room. In the next shot, the ball is embedded in the screen and half of it is flickering due to the damage.
- Future Imperfect: Boimler mispronounces commercial as "commer-seal". Justified in that the Federation is a Post-Scarcity Economy and commercials have no reason to exist anymore.
- Genius Ditz: Though Rom and Leeta are both fairly ditzy in nature, they've also got a lot of smarts as well, with Rom being an engineering expert and Leeta having experience in sociology. This gets shown off here where they play up a lot of their ditzier traits so that they can lure the Federation representatives into a false sense of security and try to swindle them blind.
- Gentle Giant: The Ferengi biker that Mariner starts a fight with. He's soft-spoken, apologizes to Quimp for spilling his drinks on him, and does his best to deescalate the situation once Mariner becomes belligerent.
- Good Cop/Bad Cop: Captain Freeman brings up this trope, telling Admiral Vassery that Rom and Leeta are playing "dumb cop, reasonable cop" to get him to agree to their terms.
- High-Class Glass: As before, Quimp wears a monocle.
- High Heel Hurt: Tendi initially has a difficult time walking in the high heels the Ferengi give her, as though this is her first time in a pair. This being Tendi, she seems to have mastered them by dinner.
- Hypocritical Humor: After an episode of awkwardness with them Undercover as Lovers, Rutherford and Tendi say they have zero chemistry together before giggling over some maintenance repairs where Rutherford bridal carries her to the Jeffries Tube and lay on top of each other to do the task.
- I Need a Freaking Drink: Mariner is so upset about... something that even she's not so sure about that when she arrives on Ferenginar, she immediately goes to see her friend Quimp and nearly goes blackout drunk with how much alcohol she ends up consuming during their hangout.
- Impossible Task: Freeman tricks Rom and Leeta into signing the agreement by saying that, once they meet the one requirement of bringing a planet into the Federation themselves (which sounds easy because lots of planets owe them big debts), they will receive all the signing bonuses. She reveals after they sign that the planet they must get to join is already selected for them, specifically the Klingon home planet Qo'Nos, which is acknowledged as being impossible.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: As soon as Mariner makes an order for three drinks to the waiter, she’s already shown drinking one as the waiter walks away, with Quimp even lampshading how the waiter didn’t even have any drinks on him when taking their orders. Mariner lampshades that they don't even care where it came from.
- Liar Revealed: Narrowly subverted. Migleemo comes into the restaurant and ignorantly outs Rutherford and Tendi as not being already married. Thinking quickly, the pair act as if it's a three-way relationship and browbeat Migleemo with constant accusations so he won't realize what's going on, then act as if they're breaking up because of him. This gets them out of having to consummate their "marriage" and earns Migleemo a "homewrecker discount". Everyone wins.
- Making Love in All the Wrong Places: Invoked by the Ferengi, as the final part of their "Honeymooner Couples Discount Package" is to have them get into a blind box and consummate the marriage right then and there where everyone in the restaurant can hear them.
- Manchild: Rom pretends to be one during negotiations— though it may not entirely be an act.
- Military Maverick: A further Deconstruction brought about by her actions in this episode as Mariner laments the fact that she rebels and acts up when things are going perfect for her. It makes it quite clear that Mariner’s 10-Minute Retirement and her promotion has affected her more than she had realized and she’s heading for I Hate Past Me territory.
- Mythology Gag:
- Rutherford and Tendi go to Quarks Federation Experience Bar and Grill, a themed restaurant with models of the Enterprise-D and Voyager hanging above them and Ferengi dressed in Starfleet uniforms. This is in reference to Star Trek: The Experience, a Las Vegas attraction that ran for ten years in the Hilton Hotel and had several motion control rides along with a themed restaurant based off Quarks. In dialogue Rutherford even shortens it to Starfleet: The Experience.
- In the Cop Landlords TV show, the landlords arrest a tenant for having a pet over 25 pounds. The pet is the horned antennae'd dog from "The Enemy Within".
- Noodle Incident: Mariner and Quimp's conversation reveals that she apparently crashed an Oberth-class science vessel
at some point in the past, with no further details or context being specified. - Obfuscating Stupidity: Rom feigns being a baseball-obsessed Manchild as part of his and Leeta's negotiation tactics, though the first part isn't an act and he invites everyone to his batting cages after the deal is signed.
- Oh, Crap!: Leeta and Rom are horrified at the idea of trying to recruit Qo'nos into the Federation.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Mariner is in a very crabby mood throughout the episode despite things going well for her, leading her to get herself knock out drunk and get into a bar brawl. It makes it quite clear that Mariner has bigger deep-seated issues.
- Open Mouth, Insert Foot: Rutherford unintentionally makes an art form out of this:
- While he and Tendi are joking around about pretending to be married, Rutherford unthinkingly blurts out "I love you, too!" Cue mutual Luminescent Blush as they both realize what he just said.
- He suggests at one point that "gorgeous green eyes" might make a better universal symbol for love than hearts.
- He later calls the sight of Tendi all dressed up "captivating"— then immediately tries to backpedal as she blushes again.
- Perplexing Plurals: When addressing our former Lower Deckers, Ransom gets momentarily confused on whether to refer to them as Lieutenant Junior Grades, Lieutenant Juniors Grade, or Lieutenants Junior Grade.note
- Product Placement: Boimler is delighted to see this happen In-Universe in a Ferengi television program.
- Read the Fine Print: Unsurprisingly, this is one of the top ten Rules of Acquisition. ("Small print leads to large risk.") Freeman pulls this on Rom and Leeta. She pretends to be willing to give a massive signing bonus in order to save Vassery from any more embarrassment, while noting the only condition is that the Ferengi must bring a planet into the Federation themselves. They believe that will be easy due to how many planets are in debt to them and sign the agreement, but Freeman points out afterwards that they don't get to choose the planet, with the fine print specifying it as the Klingon homeworld, an Impossible Task. This act of managing to successfully swindle like a Ferengi impresses Rom, who agrees to sign the original papers.
- Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: The Ferengi lower-decker, Jeef, has dialogue that implies he's arranged for his ship to be attacked as part of a scheme. For his treachery, he is vaporized with everyone else, who are only stopped from dragging him from his bridge console when the mysterious ship is the one to show up. Notably, this is the first time the ship has warped in and attacked immediately; it usually allows others to find it and then attacks.
- Scenery Censor: A nude Ferengi female can be seen at the restaurant, with her upper body obscured by a bowl.
- Secret Test of Character:
- Though Rom and Leeta were always more than on board with signing an agreement with Starfleet, they are still very much the Ferengi's ruling couple and wanted to put the Cerritos crew through the wringer during the negotiations to make sure that A) they weren't just going to be signing on with "a bunch of suckers and rubes", and B) that the crew would be willing to respect the Ferengi's uniquely income-based culture. As soon as Freeman shows off some shiftiness of her own in their agreement instead of trying to bend over backwards for them as Vassery had been the entire time, they are more than willing to drop their initial difficulties with the negotiations and immediately sign off on the original papers.
- Ransom gave Boimler the job of reviewing different resorts to stay at, which Boimler took as maximizing all his time going down a checklist for every resort possible and not taking any personal time. At his first place Boimler gets caught up binge watching a Ferengi cop show, overstaying his reservation and needing to be dragged out. He was embarrassed but Ransom commends him for actually relaxing, even commenting that he's growing fond of Boimler.
- Sequel Episode: A loose one to DS9's "The Dogs of War", picking up Rom's ascension to the office of Grand Nagus and showing more of what's become of Ferengi society since the end of Deep Space Nine.
- Serious Business: As commerce is so central to Ferenginar, lying to defraud a business out of a discount is considered so heinous as to be punishable by life in the sub-aquatic sulfur mines. Rutherford and Tendi are scared off from coming clean by watching another fake couple get found out and sentenced.
- Sex Sells: The commercial for Slug-O Cola has a Ferengi drink the product, which instantly doubles the size of his lobes and makes the woman he's trying to woo ditch the other man.
- Sexy Shirt Switch: Tendi at one point jokes about wearing Rutherford's gym shorts around their shared quarters and nothing else. She doesn't appear to understand the effect this image might have on Rutherford.
- She Cleans Up Nicely: Tendi and Rutherford both look quite impressive in the dress and suit that the Ferengi give them.
- Ship Tease: This episode puts quite a bit of focus on the chemistry between Tendi and Rutherford. It should be noted that while the two do feel uncomfortable during their married couple act, it mainly seems to be because of them being ordered to do so by the Ferengi concierge and feeling awkward about all of the extra pressure from it. Once the two try to just go back to their regular friendly banter, their chemistry with one another becomes much more obvious and is able to flow more naturally.
- Shout-Out:
- The title is a nod to Garth Marenghis Darkplace of all things.
- The Starfleet Experience attraction is a reference to the real Star Trek: The Experience, an attraction in Las Vegas from 1998 to 2008.
- Show Within a Show: Boimler ends up sidetracked watching Ferengi programming such as Pog & Dar: Cop Landlords, a Buddy Cop Show about two Ferengi cops who are also landlords, and Will They, Won't They, a Work Com where everyone is secretly in love with each other.
- Sickeningly Sweethearts: Rutherford and Tendi do this early on, with Mariner pointing out that people do not talk like this.
- So Proud of You: When Boimler realizes he watched eight hours of Ferengi television instead of doing his assignment, he apologizes to Ransom for letting him down. Ransom, however, states he is proud of Boimler for enjoying himself and going with the flow for once. Even as Boimler is assaulted by the authorities and dragged out (with Ransom's permission), he says to himself how he likes Boimler.
- So You Were Saying...?: When Rutherford and Tendi were about to confess they're not a real married couple to their waiter, they're interrupted when the restaurant calls out a couple who tried to get a discount by pretending to be married and they send the couple to work in the sub-aquatic sulfur mines for all eternity. When the waiter returns to ask what they were about to admit to, Rutherford and Tendi changed their mind about confessing and resume pretending to be a couple.
- Space Clothes: In an aversion, several Ferengi can be seen wearing shirts and neckties on the shows that Boimler watches.
- Super Gullible: Admiral Vassery ends up being this, bending over backwards for every request Rom and Leeta makes. It's only when Freeman is able to swindle the two through an Impossible Task that they are able to reveal the whole this was a Secret Test of Character.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Mariner's backsliding into her old, bad behavior in this episode is something that actually happens with people who are attempting to correct poor behavior or heal from trauma; it would be unrealistic for someone to do a complete 180 after a few pep talks.
- Mariner starting an unprovoked drunken fistfight in a library results in a significant amount of bribes on Quimp's part to keep Starfleet's mission on (apparently taking the form of a predatory loan to him on Mariner's end). For his part, Quimp plays it off with a joke about losing money but is clearly concerned about Mariner's recent attitude.
- This Is Unforgivable!: As expected of a species with such a greed- and income-based culture, the Ferengi consider lying about being a married couple just to get a free discount to be an unforgivable insult and one of Ferenginar's worst felonies and could send anyone who is caught for said action to work in the sub-aquatic sulfur mines for all eternity if they felt like it.
- Thrown Out the Airlock: The captain of the Ferengi ship orders Jeef to be spaced for his apparent treachery, which gets Jeef to admit to his scheme. They're all killed before any more can be said.
- Translation Convention: Even though the Ferengi have their own written script, all of the signs on Ferenginar are in English.
- Undercover as Lovers: Rutherford and Tendi pretend to be a married couple so they can experience and review the activities for married couples on Ferenginar for the Starfleet visitors guide, as according to Ransom there are no married couples serving together on Cerritos. They initially have fun with the whole play acting, but when they get to their room and switch into attractive formal wear they suddenly start feeling awkward and shy about the scheme. It doesn't help that Ferengi actually have laws against this, considering it fraud to earn discounts.
- Vomit Discretion Shot: Mariner vomits over a railing after the Bar Brawl.
- War Memorial: Ferenginar has one of these with a twist— it is a memorial to lost profits during the Dominion War. Mariner lampshades that the Ferengi keep it "on-brand".
- What the Hell, Hero?: After getting her out of a bar fight and having to bribe lots of Ferengi to make sure that they didn’t squeal about it, Quimp tears into Mariner for not only costing him an exorbitant amount of money, but putting her mother's, and by extension, Starfleet's, whole negotiation meeting the Grand Nagus and his wife at risk for a random bar fight. He also snaps at her accusation that he’s changed by stating that that's what happens when people aren't intentionally trapping themselves in a perpetual cycle of self-sabotage and immature rebellion. And while he notes that that's not exactly unusual behavior for someone like Mariner, it’s especially noticeable and frustrating this time because she doesn't actually HAVE anything to be upset about or rebel and rail against for once. Even after Mariner apologizes to him and the two make up, Quimp notes that she has really got to figure out what it is that has been eating her up inside so much.
- Will They or Won't They?: Deliberately invoked and parodied by the Ferengi TV series "Will They, Won't They", which is advertised as being "the workplace sitcom where everyone is secretly in love with each other". That the show appears in the very same episode where Tendi and Rutherford are forced into their own Will They Won't They plotline seems anything but unintentional.
