Star Trek: Lower Decks serves up another big episode that expands the world of Star Trek as it visits Ferenginar in “Parth Ferengi’s Heart Place,” a fun expansion of Ferengi culture that adds a significant new detail to the Star Trek canon. The USS Cerritos has been sent to support the USS Toronto in negotiating the first stage of the Ferengi Alliance’s application for membership in the Federation, while the Lower Deckers are assigned to contribute to updating Starfleet’s guide book entries on Ferengi culture.
 
“Parth Ferengi’s Heart Place” is another confident big swing: the Ferengi have started the process of seeking Federation membership. By the time of Star Trek: Discovery’s jaunt into the 32^nd century this seems like a done deal; there are (more) Ferengi Starfleet captains. But the first steps on that road are set here, under the leadership of Grand Nagus Rom.
 

It’s wonderful to hear Deep Space Nine vets Max Grodenchik and Chase Masterson reprising their roles of Grand Nagus Rom and First Clerk (what a great title!) Leeta, and the scenes between Captain Freeman, Admiral Vassery, and the Ferengi delegation are great. Vassery is the perfect dumb admiral not aware of the con being run on him, Freeman sees right through the swindle, and Rom and Leeta make an excellent team as they taunt the Federation to show a little Ferenginar backbone.

That the whole episode’s plot line comes down to Starfleet showing that it respects Ferengi culture by being willing to swindle the swindler makes total sense. The Ferengi are a very proud people, and it is interesting to see how as their culture has continued to evolve that fact has remained constant. It also previews how a Ferenginar within the Federation would work — law-abiding and progressive (thanks to Rom’s reforms), but still valuing the art of the deal and quick to take advantage of any opening.

I could have watched easily another three or four scenes of contract negotiations of Ferenginar preparing its application for Federation membership. This is a big moment in the Star Trek universe, and it’s brought to us by Lower Decks. Obviously, the show can’t do this all the time — because then it wouldn’t be Lower Decks anymore — but it is always a fun treat when it does (and harkens back to the show’s other Deep Space Nine themed episode, “Hear All, Trust Nothing”).

The episode also makes a significant contribution towards expanding our understanding of Ferengi culture. While we’ve seen some fun details of Ferenginar thanks to the many Ferengi episodes of Deep Space Nine, “Parth Ferengi’s Heart Place” expands outwards our understanding of the planet and does not just repeat the parts we’ve already gotten a good look at through Quark’s family.

The Ferenginar created by Lower Decks’ writers and animators is authentic, true to what we already know about the culture, and vivid. This is typified by the Dominion War Memorial (A Sober Farewell to Lost Profits) that feels authentically like the kind of memorials that the Ferengi would actually build. Memorialize the Dominion War? Of course. It was a galaxy-defining conflict. But what do Ferengi really value and mourn? Their lost profits. What a perfect Star Trek joke!

The episode also does not turn down an opportunity to make some biting commentary on our own current stage of capitalism through Boimler’s time on the planet, and Mariner’s storyline with the returning Quimp (previously seen in “Envoys”) allows for a continuation of the season’s arc of Mariner continuing to mature.

But while most of the episode is an absolute triumph, it does falter a little with the Tendi-Rutherford storyline. Firstly, for reaching for some easy and convenient awkwardness that strays a little too far into unbelievable sitcom type situations, but also because sometimes the awkward humor of Tendi and Rutherford’s situation is just… well… awkward.

These two characters clearly care very deeply for each other, and potentially do have romantic feelings for each other. It’s actually put a really interesting spin on the usual “friends to lovers” storyline to just have them not progress in that direction and remain something more than friends and something less than lovers. But what’s obvious, and dialed up in “Parth Ferengi’s Heart Place” to mine the humor of the situation, is that both are clearly inexperienced in romance, feel too awkward and uncomfortable to have a deeper conversation about their relationship (or just don’t want to), and are both totally comfortable with that.

It ends up being a bit too uncomfortable, and not always in a funny way, to see the sweet dynamic between these two characters played for laughs like that. Maybe I am just being over-protective of two characters that I care about very much, but their storyline did not quite land the laughs with me in the way that I hoped — and it detracts from what is otherwise my favorite episode of season four of Lower Decks so far.

TREK TROPE TRIBUTE

“Parth Ferengi’s Heart Place” features the other big trope involving Starfleet admirals. Not the one where they’re secretly evil… but the one where they’re much dumber than our heroes. Admiral Vassery is an idiot!

CANON CONNECTIONS

• The movement of Ferengi culture away from illegal to legitimate business — as seen in the teaser where the Ferengi courier is dumping its weapons — is a direct continuation of the reforms put into place by Grand Nagus Zek and continued by Grand Nagus Rom from the end of Deep Space Nine.
• By the 24^th century, the Genesis Device is apparently being used to terraform planets.
• The 62^nd Rule of Acquisition, “the riskier the road, the greater the profit” was previously cited in “Rules of Acquisition,” “Little Green Men,” and “Business as Usual.”
• The Vancouver class was introduced in the Lower Decks episode “Much Ado About Boimler.” This one is the USS Toronto, the current home of most Star Trek live action productions.
• Admiral Vassery’s comment about Moab IV and its dome refers to the genetically engineered society seen in The Next Generation episode “The Masterpiece Society.”

• Grand Nagus Rom has his own Hupyrian servant, who appears to be female. Grand Nagus Zek’s Hypyrian servant was Maihar’du.
• Boimler observes that Mariner has been “weathering that stem bolt for so long, it probably can’t even self-seal anymore.” Yes… but what does that mean???
• It is, appropriately, raining on Ferenginar.
• The Ferengi law enforcement who is sent to round up Boimler at the end of the episode uses the famous energy whip seen in the TNG episode “The Last Outpost” and in the Enterprise episode “Acquisition.”

OBSERVATION LOUNGE

• The episode title is a play on Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace, a short-lived British horror-comedy television series which aired in 2004 and has since gained a cult following.
• The Ferengi ship introduced at the beginning of the episode appears to be a new design to Lower Decks. I couldn’t find any concept art or anything of that nature that it could have been based upon.
• According to Ransom, the USS Cerritos is “statistically the horniest and least romantically committed crew in Starfleet” with no married couples aboard.
• The establishments viewed by the Lower Deckers as their shuttle lands include “All You Can @#$%!,” a giant Slug-o-Cola billboard, “Acquire Pour Homme,” “Uncle Quark’s Youth Casino,” “Lobe’s Lodge,” and the “Maximum Oo-Mox Rub Dungeon.” There is also a sign for what appears to be a movie theater playing “Latinum Lost!,” while Boimler also points out the Museum of Gambling and the Museum of Haggling.
• The mountain-and-stars artwork on Boimler’s hotel room wall strongly resembles a stylized version of the Paramount logo.

• The Ferengi TV shows Boimler watches are Pog and Dar: Cop Landlords and Will They? Won’t They? the workplace sitcom where everyone is secretly in love with each other.
• The villain in Pog and Dar has a horned dog pet which originated in “The Enemy Within.”
• This episode has a wonderful tribute to Star Trek: The Experience with Quark’s Federation Experience Bar and & Grill (which is called the “Starfleet Experience” in dialogue.) The Starfleet Experience has a giant model of the Enterprise-D and Voyager hanging over the entry way, just like the old Experience did. As a huge fan of the Experience, this made me very happy.
• The Starfleet Experience waiters are wearing TOS uniforms, which Tendi and Rutherford remark are “those old velour uniforms that used to catch fire all the time.” The TOS uniforms worn in Season 1 and 2 of the original show were velour.
• This episode adds a new Rule of Acquisition to the list: Rule 8 is “Small print leads to large risk.”

Despite the Tendi/Rutherford story not completely working for me, I love “Parth Ferengi’s Heart Place” for a myriad of reason: a star turn by Max and Chase returning as Rom and Leeta, a great face off with Captain Freeman, a nice continuation of Mariner’s arc this season, funny Boimler stuff, and some really nice Ferengi worldbuilding.

All that, and the Ferengi Alliance’s formal application for Federation membership. All that together makes this my favorite episode of the season so far.

Star Trek: Lower Decks returns October 12 with “A Few Badgeys More” on Paramount+.