This episode is about two different relationships on the station being tested in actually kinda similar ways. The A story has Odo and Quark trapped on a barely habitable planet trying to save each others lives while openly discussing how much they hate one another. Meanwhile Nog has returned home and has moved in with Jake and they immediately start fighting about cleanliness standards and what qualifies as work. The Jake/Nog bit seemed to be a pretty direct reference to The Odd Couple while the Odo/Quark story is more of a tale of survival. Also disappointment for Odo since he takes way to long to figure out Quark is being summoned by the grand jury as a witness, not a suspect.
The episode opens with Ben struggling to accept that his own son would rather live with his buddy Nog than with the old man. Cut to Rom getting everything just right in the new quarters when Quark shows up to show his scorn/deliver root beer as a welcome home gift. But before they can get to celebrating Odo walks in and hauls Quark off to appear before a grand jury. The trip will take about a week by runabout and Odo is in full gloat mode while Quark is in full complaining freak out mode from boredom. On the station things go well for about a quarter second before Nog is laying down the law about early bed times, early morning exercise and daily cleaning. On the runabout Quark starts complaining about a buzzing noise which Odo ignores until Quark locates the source and it gets louder. They remove the panel and find a bomb which Quark recognizes as the work of the Orion Syndicate. Odo both wants to gloat that Quark is such a serious criminal but also tries to save them by beaming the bomb into space. It kinda works and the craft is only crippled and forced to make a hard landing on a barely habitable planet.
The first thing Quark notices when he wakes up is how cold it is. As they look over the vessel the find that almost everything is broken and Quark discovers the com unit lacks an amplifier so they can't call out of the atmosphere unless they get much higher up. Luckily they are on a mountain, unfortunately they have almost no rations and only one survival suit. Back home Jake and Nog keep arguing about everything to the point that Nog moves out. Ben and Rom run into each other and realize both boys are just being the extreme version of themselves and if they could be a little more like each other they would both be happier so they come up with a plan. Odo and Quark's plan of dragging the transmitter up the mountain isn't going great and gets worse when Odo breaks his leg. Quark insists on dragging him along too claiming he will eat Odo after he dies, but it seems more likely that he doesn't want his frenemy to die.
Ben shows up in Jake's quarters to tell him he will have to move back home if he can't get a room mate. Jake eventually agrees to try living with Nog again and this time they both are a bit more reasonable and seem to be back as friends again. The marooned Quark and Odo aren't doing so well. Quark is desperately hungry and can't keep dragging Odo along and is eventually forced to leave him behind. Odo is finally giving up hope and makes his final log entry, but just as he gets to the part about Quark having failed and being a terrible person he is beamed aboard the Defiant.
Review: A well structured two part story with actual well thought out parallels. This may be some sort of freak accident or something, but it works well in this episode.
7 out of 10
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