@dgw I know what you mean about reading the Ferengi but how can you contradict something that has yet to be established. That is from the point of the original release of course. It should be the other way around. Forgive me if I am nitpicking.
The thing with the shields was interesting as the writers didn't seem to be noticing what they were writing. Yes, Bok ordered the computer of the Stargazer thus preventing the Enterprise to beam Picard out. Not that they even had that idea as they clearly could have done so up to this point. Than Bok beamed out. When Picard contacted the Enterprise from the Stargazer at the end of the conversation he demanded "why aren't the shields at full power" and connection is lost. Lt. Yar declares "We lost him, sir" to which LaForge responds "When he (Picard) but up the shields". So, maybe Bok lowered the shields before beaming out and Picard raised them again ? But why they lost connection is beyond me as shields never seemed to have been prohibiting comms. Wouldn't make much sense. In any way it's a writing mess.
It's the kind of thing we fans like to wrap our head around, right ? Like your comments be the way. Might reply to others as well.
Review by dgwVIP 10BlockedParent2018-08-30T07:03:50Z
I thought this was a pretty great episode in spite of its numerous, shall we say, plot holes.
Troi is once again shown "reading" Ferengi in direct contradiction to later established canon that Betazoids cannot sense Ferengi emotions due to their unusual four-lobed brain structure. Bok also transports off the Stargazer while its shields are up—I suppose the Ferengi could have transporters that work through shields, but if so they'd be used in other episodes and this just smells like the writers forgot Bok had raised the Stargazer's shields earlier in that scene. (And at the end, Picard has the Enterprise beam him back without lowering the shields, too. We know Federation transporters don't work through shields.)
What really saves the episode is Riker's relationship with the Ferengi first officer, Kazago, whose actions begin the work of transforming the Ferengi from the underwhelming villain role originally assigned to them by the writers into the principled traders we come to know. He's reluctant at first, but comes around to demonstrate that the Ferengi do, in fact, have a sense of morality and ethics after all. Armin Shimerman might have been one of the Ferengi in their first appearance ever, but Douglas Warhit has the honor of kicking off their development as a proper Star Trek alien race with some kind of actual culture.