DS9 S02E11 & S02E12

In this installment:
(viewed Sunday, July 20th)

Star Trek:  Deep Space Nine, S02E11 - "Rivals"
Star Trek:  Deep Space Nine, S02E12 - "The Alternate"

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"Rivals"

• Martus Mazur, the dashing con artist listening to the careless widow explain all about her plans for her retirement money (before Constable Odo steps in) is an El-Aurian.
  
  One of only three members of the species that we ever seen in Star Trek*, they're permanent refugees since the Borg overran their native star system.  Martus takes advantage of being from this "race of listeners" to run cons on unsuspecting marks--like the monied window he's setting up for a scam in Quark's prior to Odo's arrival.
  
  (* - The others being Guinan and Dr. Tolian Soran.)
  
  Martus is played by Chris Sarandon, the first husband of actress Susan Sarandon and--yes--better known to us all as Prince Humperdinck in the film adaptation of The Princess Bride.
  
  
  
• "We were just talking!"
  
  "You were talking, madam.  He was listening."
• Chief O'Brien and Dr. Bashir play in their first of many games of racquetball in this episode, which is yet another chapter in the story of "O'Brien is annoyed with Bashir for a really long time, but eventually Bashir wears him down and they become besties" narrative. 
  
  I'd be bored, but their friendship winds up being really enjoyable to watch in the later seasons--so I'll put up with the somewhat silly "Bashir pesters O'Brien like an overly-eager puppy" routine for a couple of seasons.
• Dude.  That Tamagotchi killed that guy.
• If you're looking for some shirtless Colm Meaney action, this is apparently the episode.
  
  
  
• The 47th Rule of Acquisition:  "Don't trust a man wearing a better suit your own."
• You know, for a (we alter find out) genetically-engineered genius, Julian is frigging awful at letting someone win a game without being totally obvious about it.
• "Club Martus" sounds like someplace you'd take your spouse for a naughty weekend--sort of like The Sybaris (or as I call it "The Syphalis").
  
  (Note:  The link to the Sybaris hotels' website is totally safe for work.  And I didn't link to the Wikipedia article on syphilis because there are totally pictures.  YOU'RE WELCOME.)
• "I have a contract, for which I paid considerably.  All gambling at DS9 happens at Quark's..or it doesn't happen!"
  
  "A few bribes to the Cardassians when they ran this place does not constitute a contract, not in the eyes of the Federation."
  
  "He's a con artist!  A crook!"
  
  "One more won't make much difference."
  
  
  
  Commander Trollface
• I'm really hoping that Alsia, the "poor widow" that Martus was trying to con at the beginning of the episode, is actually conning him.  I don't recall if that's how episode turns out, but her sob story about not having enough money to complete her investment (but promising rich profits to anyone who helps her!) just reeks of a con job.
• And apparently you propose to a Bajoran woman with a special engagement earring.
• Don't feel bad about Bashir always kicking your butt, Chief.  Not only is he several years your junior, but--as we find out later in the series--he's totally genetically-engineered.  In fact, I think O'Brien even brings that up when they find out :)
• Quark trying to be a better listener than Martus is pretty funny.
  
  "Tell me your problems, all of them!"
• "Miles 'The Mechanic' O'Brien" vs. 'Julian "The Doctor" Bashir' are two pretty great--if not terribly creative--nicknames.
• Also?  The Bajoran Fund for Orphans is pretty much everyone's favorite charity on this show.  I guess it makes sense:  50 years of oppression probably left behind a crapload of orphans.
• "I understand how you feel.  But...think of the children.  The monks have already made a down-payment on blankets for the winter.  Oh, well.  I'm sure the little ones can...huddle together for warmth."
  
  
  
• "I always had smaller lobes than the rest of the boys.  They would tease me about it.  Quark was the worst.  He told everyone I was adopted.  On my naming day, Quark substituted old vegetables for my presents, then sold the presents for more than our father had paid for them."
• Apparently 10,000 isiks is approximately "one small-ish box filled with bars of gold-pressed latinum".
• The Karate Kid look works well for O'Brien.
• And I love that Quark tries to rig the match by drugging Dr. Bashir.
• Oh, it's all about the neutrinos!  That totally makes sense!
• "Quark, I'm cutting the transmission."
  
  "What?  You can't!"
  
  "Watch me."
• Something that actually has the ability to alter the laws of probability?  That seems impossible improbable.
• The 109th Rule of Acquisition:  "Dignity and an empty sack is worth the sack."

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"The Alternate"

• Dr. Mora Pol, the Bajoran scientist who spent many years "studying" Odo after his discovery in the Denorios Belt, is played by veteran Trek actor James Sloyan.
  
  
  
  The many faces of James Sloyan
  
  Among other roles, Mr. Sloyan played Romulan Admiral Jarok in one of my favorite TNG episodes ("The Defector"), and the future version of Alexander Rozhenko who went by the alias "K'mtar" in the TNG episode "Firstborn".
• A little travel trivia in this opening scene:  Odo is baffled as to why Dr. Mora didn't inform him that he was visiting.  When Dr. Mora says that it was a "last minute arrangement", Odo states that the trip from Bajor to Deep Space 9 takes five hours (presumably suggesting that the doctor would've had plenty of time to send him a subspace transmission informing him of his impending arrival at the station).
  
  This is presuming that one is traveling through the Bajoran System at sub-light speeds, which is going to be the case in all but the most dire emergencies.  Warp travel within star systems is sometimes depicted as permissible, but more often is described as ill-advised.  Most of the time, a starship will drop to impulse velocities as it approaches a star system--especially an inhabited one.
• They establish early on that Odo has difficulty perfectly mimicking humanoid faces (especially ears), even though he has no problems mimicking other detailed objects--like chairs, satchels, wheeled carts and even animals. 
  
  I've always thought that was kind of unusual, but it serves two important purposes:
  
  
  1. It gives Odo a distinctive look, rather than him just looking like a human (or a Bajoran, or whatever).
  2. It's a clumsy (but effective!) metaphor for his alienation from his humanoid colleagues and friends, and his continual efforts (whether he admits it or not) to become more like them.
• The story of Odo's formative years in Dr. Mora's laboratory is actually a pretty interesting insight into how humanoid lifeforms like ourselves (or Bajorans and Cardassians, in this case) would handle a first encounter with a non-humanoid sentient lifeform.
• The planet that Constable Odo, Lt. Dax, Dr. Mora and Dr. Weld visit in the Gamma Quadrant is designated "L-S VI".  It's not the Founders' Homeworld(s) that we'll see later in the series (those both lie much farther form the Bajoran Wormhole), but it's presumed to have been an outpost of their species at some time in the distant past.
• When he's trying to relate to Odo's feelings about the injured Dr. Mora (who is being continually mistaken as some sort of father figure to Odo), Cmdr. Sisko tells him about how helpless he felt when his own father became ill.  He uses phrases like "in the end", which clearly imply that his father died.
  
  Of course, they don't explicitly state that Sisko's father died...and we see him many times later in the series as Joseph Sisko, proud (although often concerned) father and grandfather, and proprietor of "Sisko's Creole Kitchen" in New Orleans.
• "I appreciate your thoughts, Commander.  But Doctor Mora is not my father."
• "Doctor Bashir gave you permission to be up and about?"
  
  "Doctor Bashir wouldn't listen to me, and hid my clothes so I wouldn't leave.  I had to sneak out to my quarters in a hospital gown that wouldn't close in the back."
• "Feel like getting a raktajino before calling it a night?"
  
  "My replicator or yours?"
  
  "I was thinking more of the Promenade."
  
  Dude, Julian.  Give it up.
• There's all of the stuff with Odo's daddy issues and whatnot, but there's also almost a horror movie quality to this episode:  An unknown (at first, at least) creature, skulking through corridors and conduits, attacking people with its menacing amorphous bulk...sort of like Star Trek meets Alien meets The Thing.
• You're the skulking blog monster, Odo.  Sorry.
• "I was in my pail during both attacks."
  
  Now there's an alibi you don't hear every day.
• Dr. Mora is very good at playing on Odo's fears of being alienated, quarantined, confined, exiled or studied.  So, you know.  An abusive father.  What a d*ck bag.
• Yeah, the whole "lure the monster out with human(oid) bait and into our trap" scheme at the end is very horror movie.  Although I guess in most horror movies, they don't try to make sure they stun the monster instead of killing it :)
• "I've done it to you again, haven't I, Odo?  Made you a prisoner?  Dear God, what have I done?"
  
  Don't you mean "Dear Prophets"?  O_o
• "I'm not going to try and explain what happened to you, Odo.  Because I haven't got the vaguest idea.  I can tell you that with Doctor Mora's help, we've managed to eliminate all traces of the gas from your cellular structure.  I prescribe rest--because it's hard for a doctor to go wrong with that one.  Otherwise, there's not much more I can do for you."
• By the end of this episode, Dr. Mora understands why how he treated Odo was wrong and the two of them mend fences a bit.  I believe he shows up in at least one other episode, a bit further into the series.