“Prophet Motive” is a clumsy, clunky, uneven episode which attempts to be a light-hearted comedy and ends up being dull and boring. Aside from one scene near the end, the story is wholly lacking in anything worthwhile – there’s no real character work being done, no real themes are explored, and the plot is … well … plodding. The end result is an episode which is substandard in every respect.

The episode opens with Quark on the verge of selling the stem bolts that, apparently, have been sitting around since season 1. Unfortunately for him, and for the audience, his deal is interrupted by a return of the Grand Nagus who is suddenly a very different person. He’s jolly, he’s generous, he’s genuinely concerned about the welfare of others … and he’s rewritten the sacred Ferengi Rules of Acquisition to reflect his newfound change of heart.

Clearly something is quite wrong with the Grand Nagus.

Much of the episode is devoted to Quark’s search for what is wrong, and how to fix it. But the mystery isn’t exactly executed with any particular craft or care. For starters, there’s a lot of interaction between Quark and the fawning Rom – who manages to eventually stand up to both Quark and the Grand Nagus. But their bickering is acutely tiresome and causes the episode to drag out much longer than it ought to.

Interestingly, the Grand Nagus has acquired one of the Bajoran orbs and has decided to present it as a gift to the Bajorans. His change of heart happened when he was in the wormhole and when the aliens who live there (the Prophets), decided that the Nagus’ greed was too vile to be left to continue. It’s up to Quark, then, to return to the wormhole and speechify his was toward convincing the aliens to reverse their decision.

Conceptually, it’s rather odd having Quark present a long-winded monologue to aliens whose experience is above space and time. But at least his words present an interesting argument: Namely that greed is, inherently good because, without it, people would be too lazy. Strictly speaking, the argument is a bit myopic but it certainly is enough to spark a more in depth discussion. In any case, for whatever it’s worth, it’s the best moment of the episode.

The subplot features a distinctly pedestrian tale of Bashir being nominated for a lifetime achievement award, called the Carrington, for the top Federation medical personnel. Bashir obviously would love to win, but his expectations are tempered by the fact that it is, afterall, an award for a lifetime of work – which, of course, makes highly suspect the decision by Dax to pull some strings to get him nominated. She obviously knew what the award was for, so why put Bashir through the experience? It was, I suppose, a nice gesture. But it smacks of disingenuous plot contrivance.

And for the record, Bashir does not win.

“Prophet Motive” barely works. Its comedy is forced and grating. Its plot is a shambles. And the performances do little to lift the entire production out of the muck.

Filed under: Deep Space Nine