“Who Mourns For Mourn?” is lightweight affair that ends up being an entertaining and engrossing episode, despite the fact that it’s not all that good or well-written. What this installment has going for it is a consistent approach which, no matter the circumstances, keeps events moving along at a pace which is brisk enough to keep the story from getting entirely bogged down in minutiae. It’s a comedy and, to that end, it plays on one of the more subtle (and consistent) comedic elements in the entire Deep Space Nine series: the character of Mourn.

Mourn is one of those legendary fan-favorite characters. He’s the ubiquitous barfly at Quarks, appearing with astonishing consistency throughout the series — all without uttering a single line of dialogue (despite how much the characters complain about his verbose personality). It’s the kind of in-joke which can keep even the most serious of episodes somewhat balanced. And so what we have here is an episode which, finally, explores Mourn as a character, instead of simply keeping him as a wallflower.

The trick, of course, is in how to create an episode about a character has never (and in this episode will not) utter a single word. The solution? Kill him off. Why not? The memory of Mourn is enough to spur characters to action, comment on his past, and reveal something about him — all without having to break with tradition. Of course, it’s fairly clear from early on that Mourn isn’t exactly dead — more likely it’s all some sort of ruse — but that hardly matters. It’s in the audacity of the episode to focus on Mourn in the first place that is significant.

But how do you do a Mourn episode without Mourn? The reality is that this is as much a Quark-centered story — and an unoriginal one at that — as it is about Mourn. Inevitably, Mourn has left his entire estate to Quark, who quickly learns that Mourn had almost nothing to his name. In short order, though, shady characters arrive to lay claim to a mysterious (and substantial) fortune of which Mourn was reportedly in possession. The episode follows Quark’s misadventures as he tries to find Mourn’s fortune, keep everyone else satisfied, and keep himself alive.

The four characters — including a woman claiming to be Mourn’s ex-wife, a man claiming to be a member of a royal security force, and two brothers who are a cross between Jack Nicholson and the Smothers Brothers — are entertaining enough, but essentially hollow and empty and meaningless. There isn’t much new ground here. In fact, as an ensemble, they’re fairly mundane. But they do manage to pull off some amusing moments, just enough to keep the episode chugging along.

In the end, Quark learns that they (along with Mourn) were part of a famous heist and that the fortune is the profit from that heist. With the statute of limitations for their crime having expired, they want to collect on their proceeds and head off into the sunset. The problem, though, is that no one knows precisely where the money is. And even when it does seemingly arrive, it turns out to be missing once again. The subtle twists of the plot aren’t exactly profound, but there’s enough entertainment value to them to get us to the final reveal:

Mourn is alive and has been carrying the latinum (which is a liquid) inside his second stomach ever since the heist. Go Mourn.

There are a handful of amusing scenes on the side, particularly from bar patrons wanting to keep Mourn’s seat warm and from Odo who is back to tormenting Quark with obvious joy throughout the episode’s proceedings.

“Who Mourns For Mourn?” won’t be remembered as the best that Deep Space Nine has to offer, but for what it sets out to be — a middling and fluffy comedy — it manages to find a measure of success.

Filed under: Deep Space Nine