It surprises me, given the popularity of Odo and Quark, it took five seasons before there was an episode exclusively centered on the two of them. They are two of my favorite characters as well, so ’The Ascent” counts as one of my favorite episodes even though time is taken up way too much with another lackluster B-story.The two stories are supposed to complement one another. While Odo and Quark, sworn enemies, have to cooperate with one another in order to survive marooning, Jake and Nog, best friends, are at each other’s throats as roommates. The former is a revealing character study that reveals more about two good characters with banter similar to Waiting for Godot. The latter is a send up of The Odd Couple. Take a wild guess which one is more entertaining.
Full disclosure; I played Felix--minus the hypochondria. I really am ill-to my roommates Oscar. We had incidents that mirrored the one’s between Jake and Nog, so irksome memories may be the root cause of my distaste for the story. That and I do not much care for Jake and Nog as characters in the first place. Yeah, this was doomed from the beginning.
But Odo and Quark more than make up for it. Odo is giddy to learn Quark will be testifying before a grand jury. He assumes the authorities have finally caught up with the Ferengi and wants to be there to watch him squirm, so he decides to fly Quark to the hearing on a runabout. They get on each other’s nerves for the first few days of theeight day trip in predictable ways, but when a bomb blows up on the ship, they are forced to crash on a icy planet and struggle to survive.
Yes, I do wonder how a bomb could have been placed on a Federation ship without anyone knowing about it. It is a mystery that is quickly lost in the story, so shrug and move on like I did.
The communications relay was damaged by the bomb to the point it does not have the power transmit through the atmosphere. The two have to haul the relay up to a snow covered mountaintop in the aint hope a nearby ship will pick up the SOS. In the vast reaches of space, you have to assume the chances of that are next to nil, but it is either that or take bets on whether they freeze or starve to death first.
There are three highlights here. One, Odo was wrong about Quark’s being a suspect. He was going to be a witness for the grand jury so there is Quark‘s twisted, but still existent, sense of justice. Two, Odo’s new fragility as a humanoid is vividly on display. He is caught by quark reading a romance novel before thec rash and is totally dependent on Quark when he breaks his leg shortly afterward. Finally, the symbiotic relationship between the two is never more prominent. They need each other asa foil to te poit that even though they despise one another, they are both desperate to keep the other alive.
Quark makes it up the mountain. Almost implausibly, the Defiant is close enough to receive the SOS and rescue them in the nick of time. Convenient.
I like ‘The Ascent” a lot because of the interaction between Odo and Quark, but virtually everything else is either a distraction or laughably dumb. Jake and Nog are the distraction. I could have done without them. As for the laughably dumb, how about the bomb on a federation ship, the predictable one man gets injured bit, and the Defiant just happening to be in the right place at the right time. I would be inclined to give “The Ascent” four stars otherwise, but I have to rate the episode as a whole.
Rating: *** (out of 5)
