“What’s one life compared to the lives of 28 million people?”

“Business As Usual” is one of those “typical” Star Trek episodes which puts its characters into tight spots to prove a point about one thing or another. It’s a fairly straightforward and usually successful formula. And in this installment, the story works. The problem, though, is that it doesn’t really do anything spectacular, interesting or particularly noteworthy. The result is an episode which is, simply, average.

As the episode begins, we learn that Quark is suddenly in a great deal of debt. His cousin, Gaila, arrives on the station with an immoral proposal: If Quark allows Gaila to use his bar as a place to sell weapons, Gaila will help repay his cousin’s debts. And so right away, the episode establishes its moral dilemma. Quark obviously loves (and needs) to make money. But it had previously been established that selling weapons was a line he was unwilling to cross. But now, with no other options, he crosses the line.

It’s just a question of when and how Quark will extricate himself from the arrangement. To make matters as difficult as possible, there is the character of Hagath (Tim Halligan). As Gaila’s ruthless partner, the episode establishes, early on, that if Quark ever decides to “cross” Hagath, the consequences would be … deadly.

And really, none of this is especially new or unexpected. The plot is fairly straightforward (aside from the use of the holosuite to sell “holographic” weapons, thus circumventing the law). The beats of the story are predictable. But what makes the episode enjoyable (or at least passable) are the performances. Hagath works very well as a charismatic and ruthless merchant. And Quark is his usual amiable self. But where Quark really excels is in his portrayal of a conflicted soul. His desire for profit runs completely contrary to his sense of right-and-wrong. He tries fooling himself. He tries rationalizing his actions. But when confronted with a deal that is designed specifically to kill twenty-eight million souls … Quark finally stops waffling and makes a stand.

Quark’s final solution, though, is a bit suspect. His initial willingness to sacrifice himself, saying, “What’s one life compared to the lives of 28 million people?” is well executed. But his decision to bring the two factions together and let them shoot it out with one another is a particularly ruthless decision. Sure, the deaths of a handful of villainous and greedy people are preferable to the deaths of tens of millions … but in an episode about morality, it’s the least moral solution Quark could have come up with.

Him laughing it off with Sisko and Dax afterward doesn’t do much to underscore the gravity of what he had done. The episode could have elevated itself had it given a bit more time and thought to the ethical and moral fallout from Quark’s actions. As it is, the episode ends with the typical “reset button” ending and all is well on DS9.

There’s not much to say about “Business As Usual” because it’s not a particularly noteworthy episode of Deep Space Nine. It’s neither great nor terrible. Merely unremarkable. One might say it’s … business as usual?

Filed under: Deep Space Nine