This was looking like a nice little episode, but then the Ferengi turned up and stunk the place up.
The romance between Troi and the negotiator was a little abrupt for my tastes, but it at least felt real. For a while I was wondering if there was some kind of devious mind control going on. Troi’s ethical problems were worrying me, but then the negotiator threw her ethics in her face nicely.
But overall the episode doesn’t work for me. The romance is with a character (Troi) I have no interest in, and there’s nothing else of interest in the episode.
Side Simpsons note: when the Federation ambassador struggles to sick bay, I couldn’t resist a good shout of “Mendoza!!!!” (OK, you do have to have watched a few episodes of The Simpsons to get that one).
163 down, 574 to go.