Profit and Loss (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)

"Profit and Loss" is the 38th episode of the science fiction television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. It is the 18th episode of the second season.

"Profit and Loss"
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode
Episode no.Season 2
Episode 18
Directed byRobert Wiemer
Written byFlip Kobler, Cindy Marcus
Featured musicJay Chattaway
Production code438
Original air dateMarch 20, 1994 (1994-03-20)
Guest appearance(s)

Set in the 24th century, the series follows the adventures on Deep Space Nine, a space station located near a stable wormhole between the Alpha and Gamma quadrants of the Milky Way Galaxy, in orbit of the planet Bajor. In this episode, the bartender Quark is reunited with a former lover, only to discover that she is engaged in dangerous political intrigue. This episode develops the storyline of the Cardassian government, which previously controlled Bajor, and of the Cardassian spy-turned-tailor Garak.[1]

This episode was being filmed when the 1994 Northridge earthquake occurred on January 17 of that year. Armin Shimerman and Edward Wiley left the Paramount Pictures lot in full Ferengi and Cardassian makeup respectively.[2]

The episode aired on television on March 20, 1994.[3]

Casting

In this episode, the main guest star is Mary Crosby, playing the role of Natima Lang. Mary is the daughter of Bing Crosby and Denise Crosby's aunt.[4] Denise Crosby had played the character Tasha Yar on Star Trek: The Next Generation.[5] (Season 2 of Deep Space Nine aired at the same time as season 7 of The Next Generation.)

Michael Reilly Burke, who plays the Cardassian Toran had also worked in other parts on Star Trek: The Next Generation, but not as the same character.[6]

Plot

A damaged ship arrives at Deep Space Nine carrying Cardassian Professor Natima Lang and her students, Rekelen and Hogue. Lang and Quark were once lovers, and he still has feelings for her, but she tells him she wants nothing to do with him.

Lang and her students are political dissidents intent on reforming the oppressive Cardassian military government. When Lang sees Garak at Quark's bar, she panics, guessing he will inform the Cardassian government of their presence.

In the guise of a conversation about Cardassian fashion, Garak hints to Quark that Lang's radical beliefs and companions are likely to lead to her death. A Cardassian warship arrives, targeting the station with its weapons. Garak visits Ops to explain that Cardassian Central Command wants Hogue and Rekelen, whom he describes as terrorists, handed over. Sisko warns Garak that if the Cardassians try to take them by force, he will respond in kind.

Quark offers Hogue and Rekelen a contraband cloaking device to help them escape, on the condition that Lang stay with him. She tries to reason with Quark, explaining that she cannot stay, but after accidentally shooting a phaser at him, she declares her love for him.

The Bajoran government agrees to turn Lang, Hogue, and Rekelen over to the Cardassians in exchange for the release of several Bajoran prisoners, and Lang and her students are arrested. A former rival of Garak's, Gul Toran, tells the tailor that Central Command wants the prisoners dead; in exchange for killing them, Garak will be allowed to return to Cardassia.

Quark convinces Odo to release Lang and her students. Garak greets them at their ship, where he laments that he must now kill Quark as well as Lang and her students. Quark attempts to reason with Garak, but before Garak can respond, Toran appears, revealing that he only used Garak to learn Hogue and Rekelen's whereabouts; the offer of a return to Cardassia was a lie. Garak shoots him and allows Lang, Hogue, and Rekelen to escape. Before Lang leaves, Quark tries once more to convince her to stay; she tells him she must return to Cardassia until her work is done.

Once she leaves, Quark asks why Garak shot Toran, and Garak asks why Quark helped Lang. "I had no choice—I love her," Quark says. "And I love Cardassia, which is why I had to do what I did," Garak responds.

Themes

The story takes inspiration from the film Casablanca. The initial title for the episode was "Here's lookin' at you", which was changed due to legal reasons.[7]


References
  2. Erdmann, Terry J.; Paula M. Block (2010-03-29). Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion. ISBN 0-671-50106-2.
  7. http://www.startrek.com/article/21-years-later-profit-and-loss
  • Star Trek: Deep Space Nine DVD set, volume 2, disc 5, selection 2.
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