This episode was recorded on June 29, 2025.
We recap "Ferengi Love Songs" and discuss how Ferengi girl boss feminism is pretty much liberal girl boss feminism.
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Transcript
[Note: Transcripts are autogenerated and may contain errors.]
This is Southpaw Deep Space Nine Season 5. We are your hosts, Scott and Sam. On this Stardate, June 29th, 2025, we are discussing Ferengi love songs. Scott, can you tell us about this episode?
It's an old Ferengi love song. There's a wall raised on you.
Anyway, as the war rages on, Jadzia talks to Quark, who is upset because a vole infestation has made his bar unmanageable. And they make a little joke about the Tribbles, which we know we saw a little time ago. Quark reveals that he hates his life. He is sardonic. He is morose. He is...
not that fun to be around. He's been, as we know from previous episodes, he's been blacklisted from the Ferengi business world. So any business he does has been illegal. And I mean, I think a lot of the Ferengi business is probably illegal as well. They're sort of war profiteers, but that's an aside.
The way he's making money now is few and far between. And that's what brings him joy, and he is void of joy. Yeah, he's lost that capitalist sense of winning. Ram announces to Kork that he and Leta, his beloved Davo girl and Bajoran person, they're getting married. Kork just responds with sadness and darkness.
Ram and Leta both sort of note that Hork needs help, and also Ram is sort of dressing in some Bajoran garb, got some earrings and stuff. He's doing it. And Ram reminds him that when times are dark, there's always someone lovely and someone wonderful in their life that always cares. Mugi, their mom.
Quark decides to go to Mugi's house on Feranganara, and he shows up crying, asking for help, literally in tears. On the promenade, we see Ram. He's rocking the Bajoran swag. He's citing Bajoran poetry. He's talking to Jadzia and Miles. Jadzia knows the poem of which he speaks. Lita has requested for a traditional Bajoran wedding,
and Ram wants to provide that to her as what is important to her is important to him. And as this is happening, Miles is like, well, is Lita studying Ferengi culture? What is she doing? Is she learning the rules of acquisition? And she is not. Ram, again, just wants Lita to be happy.
And then Miles and Jadzia say that Ram is the least Ferengi Ferengi they ever met, which, when you pull that aside, is incredibly offensive. And opens up for discussion, and Ram doesn't know what to do with that. On Ferengenar, Cork explains he is alone, poor, and unhappy, and hopes to stay with his mom for a while.
You don't have to be a clinician to notice that he is depressed. And although he and Mugi never really saw eye to eye, She agrees. And he's looking for his toys from his old room. They've disappeared. He's looking for his things. And for whatever reason, the Negus, Zek, basically the leader of Ferengi,
is in his closet with his servant, Mai Hardu. Nonplus Quark asks why Zek is at the house, because he is worried that she is in trouble. Because, you know, Mugi is wearing clothes. Ferengi women are not supposed to wear clothes. Mugi has been making investments. Women in Ferengi are not supposed to make investments.
And also, she's really good at it. And it turns out that the Grand Negus and Mugi are an item. Ishka, Mugi, and Zek are like they met at a Tongo tournament. Tongo is a game we've learned about before. And she was sort of like giving him Tongo advice. He was sort of giving her Tongo advice.
They met up. He was surprised that Mugi was a woman and they've been seeing each other quietly for a while. Quark at first is confused and then he realizes that that in a very Quark way, that this is something that he can use to his advantage. This might be something that will get his business license back.
But then, um, Zach leaves to go handle some business. And in Quark's head, he's like, we are so back, baby. At Deep Space Nine, the vols are gone. And Ram asks for a long lunch. He's been working with Miles. He asks for a long lunch so he can talk to Lita and asks where to sign the waiver
of property and profit, which is a Ferengi prenuptial that basically leaves the bride destitute if a marriage is to dissolve. Ram gets this strange paranoia that Lita is... acting like his ex-wife, which is also Nag's mom, and after his not very high sum of latinum. And Rom posits, since he's wearing Bajoran clothes, why shouldn't she do that?
Lita says, absolutely not, and they call the whole thing off. Totally logical thing to do. Back on Franginar, Quark, Zek, and Mugi eating dinner, eating worms, eating grubs. Quark tries to use flattery to get Zek to get him to stop the FCA punishment. And Zek is like, no, I can't do that. If I were to...
If I were to give you back your license, that would create a precedent, which is unfair. And Mugi kind of agrees. We're not trying to undermine Ferengi culture here. I mean, not too much, because Mugi is already like, you know, she's a wonderful, subversive person. And then Brunt...
the FCA goon shows up, who's the guy that is responsible for Quark losing his license. He's cantankerous, boisterous. He's always up to something. And the thing is, he knows about the love affair of Mugi and Zek. And Quark tries to feign ignorance, but As the oldest man of the family,
Mugi is technically Quark's responsibility under the Ferengi Court of Law, and Brunt worries that Mugi will continue to want more things like freedom and equal rights and start a Ferengi feminist revolution. Brunt wants to blow up Zek's spot, but tells Quark that if he breaks up the relationship on the quiet style, he will give his business license.
back quirk obviously says i would never do that psych quirk agrees that's what quirk does quirk goes to zach's office to pay his respects say nice things and plays silly and is being like passive aggressive and talks about all the profit that moogie made which zach said he knew about but quirk suggests that she still
has more money which Quark helps her launder, and worries she will start a revolution. But again, Quark plays coy about the rumors. He's passive. He just sort of plays Grand Negus Zek like a puppet. And he bites. Zek is like all types of worry.
And I was going to do a Zek impression, but I don't want to do that. Because also the actor... He's a good dude. Of course, House Cork talks about how depressed he is about not being able to make profit to Mugi, how she could never understand what it's like to have lost what he's done. And she states,
well, the law actually makes it that I can't even do the thing that you had taken from you. And he says, don't get political. We will talk about this later. Mugi says Quark is a mean, manipulative jerk and will, you know, on his behalf, go ask Zek to reconsider the business ban.
Is Quark playing both sides or knows what he's doing? On Deep Space Nine, Worf is doing some stuff with Odo and they're trying to figure out why Martok is fighting everybody. And Ben and Odo hear a loud, dramatically crying Ram. Odo and Ben try to console Ram, who cries supposed tears of joy over the wedding cancellation.
Then we see Kira and Lita have a very funny argument. It felt like a play. I have this. No, you don't. I need this. No, you don't. Blah, blah, blah. About how she is also not okay with all of this. And they're breaking up over something that neither of them feel strongly about, and they love each other.
You know, we don't have to compare people to different parts of a race to measure someone being a good person. Ram is just a good dude. Not because he's Ferengi, not despite of being Ferengi. Some people are good people, some people aren't. Rom has a good heart, despite being raised in a culture that doesn't value these things.
At Quark's, Quark comes home to see a forlorn, sad Mugi crying loudly. Insensitive Quark asks if he is back in business. Mugi asks if Quark ever thinks of anyone but himself, and Quark says he does, but he always thinks of himself first. Mugi got dumped. Zack thought Mugi was trying to use him to take over the government,
though Mugi and Zack really loved each other, and Mugi implies that this is not good for anybody. Quark FaceTimes Brunt and gets his business license back. What is political and what is human rights, you know? Quark tries to feed Mugi, who is sad. She feels Quark is feeling guilty for something,
but she feels that he's guilty because he's going back to Deep Space Nine now that the voles are gone. Zek calls Quark to his chambers. As a reward for saving Zek from Moogie, he makes Quark his first clerk, which means he does numbers and support and consigliere stuff. Immediately, as they are doing money math,
Quark realizes Zek is having considerable recall problems and showing a decrease in mental acuity and possible memory loss. And being first clerk is going to be harder than owning a bar. At Rom's quarters, Miles comes to see a sad Rom who is trying to figure out a way to get Leta to sign the form.
Rom tries to lie to himself that latinum outlasts lust, but it's obvious he doesn't believe it. Rom goes to Leta and gave all of his money that he had to Bajoran War Orphans, the charity run by Kira, so he has no money, so therefore there's no need for a form. They kiss.
They are now a one-income house in a post-scarcity world. Quark goes to see his mom and informs her of his new job as the first clerk, and she notes that it must have been difficult to do. And in fact, it was. There was a really bad market crash, one of the worst one in ages. See,
Mugi knew that Zek was having memory problems and has been helping him with all this to keep the economy afloat. Because again, something that we keep on returning to is like, Mugi is really good at this. When we allow people to do the things that bring them joy, they might just succeed.
And she's sort of been the puppeteer, just propping Zek up to not show weakness. And that is when she realized that Quark chose her relationship for his license and did it for Brunt. And hopes that his license is worth the destruction of the Ferengi economy. Because that's what's going to happen. Quark sees Brunt.
And Brunt is curiously happy that the market has a 199-point plummet, which seems like a lot. And the FCA has questions about it. They want to speak to Zek. They're closing the market for the day. And we find out this is what Brunt wanted all along. Brunt knew of the memory loss.
He knew that if he stopped the relationship, he would pull the strings away. And this would allow him to make Zek look bad, Zek look stupid, and Zek look unable to be the Grand Negus. So Brunt could be the next Grand Negus.
And Quark is able to keep his license and also able to go back to Deep Space Nine. At his family home, talking to Mugi, Pork realizes that he has unfortunately developed a human conscious and feels bad and feels sad and feels all these emotions that he normally would suppress.
And Mugi's like, that's all good and great, but you're kind of a jerk. We got to stop Brunt. Let me tell you what to do. So at the meeting where they're going to makes Zek look bad. We don't see it. We just see after it. Zek passes the exam with Quark's help,
and Quark recommends that they take Zek to go to see some Vulcans who might be able to fix his brain because they, you know, in the lore, Vulcan science often works with the mind. Zek asks Quark to be his advisor, but Quark points out that actually he needs a different advisor. He needs the best advisor.
He needs Quark's advisor, Mugi, who came up with all of the plan. Because again, Mugi does this shit. Mugi is about this. Mugi is really good at this. If there's anything you take from this episode, Mugi is really good at this. And before Quark leaves, he was looking for his action figures earlier. Mugi brings him them.
And she just put them away in the event that he would want them. And he points out that they might be worth a lot. And she's like, well, I told you that if you kept them in the box, they'd be worth more. And he's like, oh, wow, you've been giving me business advice since I was a kid.
Like, you're really good at this. As he puts his stuff away, Brunt shows up, is upset, and says, Zek might be untouchable, but you are not. You can have your license, but I'm going to watch you fail. And if I have to, I'm going to watch you die. And as Brunt disappears, Quark starts playing with his toys,
which is one reason you take him out of the packaging.
Because playing with your toys is fun. Yep. So I've been looking for a light episode and the Grand Nagus delivered. Now, even with that said, this episode still continued with the theme of parents and children. But this time, instead of exploring how parents can hurt their children, it's how children can hurt their parents. Yeah.
Yet the parent forgives. A child doesn't have to forgive because there is this expectation that a parent should always forgive their child. But, you know, parents are also people with their own interior lives. And I think sometimes we forget that. Like Quark forgot in this story. And another thing I like about these stories that are building,
rather than just being one-offs, is there's a different bad guy, right? There isn't just Cardassia. There isn't just the Dominion. There's also the FCA and Brunt. And it's a different kind of villain. This is very much about capitalism. So you have all these different villains, but then Brunt is growing to be a very poignant villain,
especially for these times, especially for people who are anti-capitalists. And here, there is also a Ferengi feminism story or liberal feminism or girl boss feminism, which we've spoken about before with Ishka. I can see why on Ferenginar, this is radical. This being radical in the U.S., for viewers, is actually a receipt because that means the U.S.
is very much like Franginar, plus Cardassia, like we've talked about, which is not how the U.S. would like to paint itself. But its paint is made of blood. The B-plot with Rahm and Lita reinforced the themes of this show, which were subtle anti-patriarchy and liberal feminism. But also, more than the last episode, Ties of Blood and Water,
this episode, all about the Ferengi, had a clearer message of the importance of family. The thing about having characters like the Ferengi is that it allows you to make more biting criticisms of humans. Because then you have characters that you think you're supposed to be better than, but then they set bars that are higher than yours. Rom,
Quark, Ishka, aka Mugi, are all different, but at the same time, you can see how they're all from the same family tree. Scott, what did you think of this episode?
I'm going to give it a solid four because I love Mugi episodes. The actor who plays Granigas, who has been an awesome ally to a lot of political ideals, is just a gem of a human. And it brings up some really good topics. And it's this interesting episode that's both mythological and also kind of fun.
So it is important. Oh. Yeah. Come on. This is actually a fairly important episode, dude. Because we're developing a few things. We're getting this idea that people are starting to rethink that the way of Ferengi might need to change. Because the leader of Ferenginar, his lover, is just like girl bossing, gatekeeping, gaslighting her way. Like,
we don't know how many brilliant people, how many brilliant women in Ferengi, in Ferengenar, didn't get to do shit because of this oppressive politic. I mean, Ferengenar, the religion is capitalism, and amongst that is... the subjugation of all women Ferengi. Can't have jobs, can't have money, not supposed to wear clothes.
So the fact that Mugi is the greatest economist of this generation just shows that they're probably even just as good or greater economists in an equitable world. where people have access, people can do what they want. Now, even though a lot of movies, things have to do with economics,
it also happens to be with the world that she's in centers around economics. So being good at economics actually shows you're a really good for ranking. And if we can move past it, then people can be artists and people can do all this stuff. So we're on the precipice of of a changing Farangana.
Because I have been noticing, even though this is a recurring kind of one-off episode with Mugi, right? They're not self-contained. They've been building off of each other. Right. So that's been interesting to watch. The Mugi story has been independently, right? We're not always watching it, but it continuously builds upon itself.
And that's all I'm saying.
Okay.
Because we're just like seeing a bunch of stuff just change. And that's really cool. And it makes me happy.
Kind of like every time Quark goes there, it's like a snapshot where we get to see things have changed since last time. And now the Grand Nagus recurring character and the Mugi character are converging together. So all those different things are building now together. Yeah.
And you're forgetting another thing, dude. Rahm is about to get married to Lita. And Rahm is this dude who is just like a sweet guy. Rahm is just a sweet person who, like many people we grew up with that are just too sweet for the environment they grew up in.
But he has this gift where he's gone to this cool place, met someone not from Ferengi because he tried to date somebody there and it didn't work. And He's met this person whose values are so very different from the values that he's grown up with. And we do know that opposites attract.
There's some very famous lobbyists that are married that are like Democrat and Republican. I would argue the Democrats aren't that Democrat, but whatever. That's a different story. But in theory. In theory, opposites do attract. So it's important. So also remember, I've said this before, we're at the good place.
And we're at the place where now a bunch of writers have come to Deep Space Nine, like Ronald D. Moore and other people who are really excited about developing characters and races that were introduced in other Star Treks, but weren't able to develop. So what you're going to see without giving away spoilers,
is we've already seen this development of the Cardassians, and we've already seen a lot of growth from the Ferengi. We're also going to see more about Bajor, more about Klingons. When you don't have to move a lot, you have time to grow. So this episode is a really special place in the Ferengi part of this story.
Fun and important. I like that.
Yes. Yeah. It's a good episode, but it also brings up some important stuff. So I don't know if you were going to bring up the thing about like, quote unquote, don't bring up politics.
Go ahead.
Okay. So... There's this scene which is very prescient in arguments that people have now where Mugi is pining that she doesn't have rights either because Quark is like, you have no idea what I lost. And she's like, I never had it. And he's like, why do you have to get political? Yeah.
And this is a default that a lot of mostly white, cis, hetero dudes, and sometimes gay and sometimes non-white, but mostly people of a certain group, they do that. They say, why do we have to get political? To me, trans rights or human rights is not a political statement.
I have curiosity of how much taxes should go towards road infrastructure. That is a political statement. There was a time where I could have political conversations with people on the right where I didn't really have questions about their moral caliber at the end of the conversation, because these conversations used to really be about quote-unquote politics.
Calling rights politics just shows your privilege.
I think the last time we had that was like during the Occupy era, not even just during, but a little bit even after where people just were like, yeah, that's fair. That's not political, right? That's all right. That's important.
Yeah. Or like, I remember I was, I was taking a, I, you know, you need some like, what is it called? Like when you need like extra classes, optional classes for college classes, Elective. I took an elective at Brooklyn College because I needed a couple English classes for my degree.
And the class was feminist literature in America in the 1900s. And I remember there was this, like, well-meaning but, like, really kind of childish kid there is, you know, white, cis, hetero dude. And we started talking about stuff. And me and him were the only male-identified people in that group, right? Everyone else were not dudes. And...
we started talking and we're talking about Octavia Butler and in parable of the sower, they're talking about make America great again. And he was like, why are we getting political? And I was like, dude, do you know the name of the class we're in?
And he was like, but I don't want like, like you, you took the wrong class, my brother, like, We're going to talk about what you call politics. And then he just started talking about the all-female Ghostbusters movie and how he's not sexist. He just thinks that stories should be right to the stuff.
And those kind of nerds are very dangerous. Because I could go on a tangent about how The all-women remake of Ghostbusters led to MAGA. And I have before. And I'm not blaming that movie because there's nothing wrong with that movie. But the reactionary reaction to it radicalized a lot of people. Because it's such a harmless, innocuous movie.
It's actually not that good of a movie. But I rarely say that because it gets the wrong people excited.
Because their problem with it isn't that it's a bad movie. Correct. Their problem with it is the premise.
Yeah, there's this Instagram TikTok comedian I really like, MoHatesMedia. And he talks about how he does not like The Legend of Korra, the sequel to Avatar The Last Airbender. But because people often dislike it for the wrong reasons, he never talks about it because...
The reason why he dislikes it and the reason why a lot of other people dislike it are very different things.
Yeah, I'm the same way.
I mean, I really like Legend of Korra, but that's not what this show is about. This show is about Deep Space Nine, leftist politics, and how a show from 30 years ago is prescient in the world we live in now and how it's a micro and macrocosm of the world we live in.
But this all does relate to the feelings that Mugi is feeling. Because Mugi is at that first, second wave feminism kind of vibe. She just wants to be able to be part of the world and has frustration that she hasn't. Very interesting character. And her acknowledging... that her and Quark never really got along allows building in Quark.
Can you tell us about the next episode?
Another Klingon episode. Ronald D. Moore is on the show now, dude. So we're going to have some Klingon episodes.
Until then...