“Parth Ferengi’s Heart Place”
What They Say:
The Cerritos visits the Ferengi homeworld.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
I had a whole lot of fun with the Betazoid episode the last time around and the number of things it tapped into it. It did lean into the whole larger storyline that’s going on this season but it did it lightly enough that going into the sixth episode you can assume that there’s not going to be anything too significant overall with the storyline until toward the end. It’s been fun watching the various crews that we’ve seen over the season so far dealing with the mystery alien that’s causing problems and this episode gives us some time with a Ferengi ship, showing us some of the lower decks side of that – with portable genesis devices! – before that ship ends up blasted like the others were. It’s an amusing enough thread to have to tie the season together and I’m still not convinced each season needs something like that. But this one is being kept minimal enough that I don’t mind it so far.
What’s fun with this is that we get to have Grand Nagus Rom arrive with his wife Leeta on the USS Toronto where the Cerritos have joined them for a negotiation mission. Getting the original actors back is always fun and I love getting to see these two again – and that we get more self-sealing stem bolt jokes. What we end up getting from this is that Mariner and the gang get sent to Ferenginar for a “travel guide” mission that hasn’t been done there in years and that means visiting lots and lots of bars. The city is basically as garish as you’d expect and Mariner nails it perfectly before they all split up for their own things. Rutherford and Tendi playing as a married couple in order to do the actual mission is amusing while Mariner looks to get drunk and Boimler goes for experiences. Of course, once Rutherford and Tendi start roleplaying they realize that it’s a lot more awkward because of unrealized feelings and they’re cast into the serious role of newlyweds.
There’s a lot to love in seeing Rom and Leeta negotiate the pact with the Federation side of things and how cutthroat they are because it’s so them. Same with watching Boimler critiquing Ferengi popular entertainment, which in itself is hilarious. Mariner getting to party like she loves to is great as well as she’s trying to cope with her growth and hold onto her wild ways some. I wish more time was spent with Tendi and Rutherford as they’re a delight to watch as they deal with the anxiety of a situation like this with the hotel pushing them closer together. It’s fun and silly for all the right reasons and watching the way Mariner later has to deal with the fallout from it works well. I do wish Boimler had more time with the programming he was watching and how Ransom basically managed everyone just right.
In Summary:
This episode has a lot of fun stuff in very different ways and it delivers well. I especially liked the way Freeman had to handle the negotiations and finally figured out the right way to deal with it, which impressed the Ferengi as you’d expect. There’s a lot going on in this episode and while it is cohesive as a whole, you can just narrow focus on a particular subplot and just enjoy that to its fullest. You just may want more of one storyline than another though but this is a pretty packed and fast episode with a lot of good gags and subtle character growth moments. And a baseball!
Grade: A-
Streamed By: Paramount+
