‘WHO MOURNS FOR MORN?’ (DS9)
Please feel free to comment on my review.
It’s time to talk about a character in ‘DS9’ that I’ve tried my best to avoid talking about until this episode. That’s because the character hasn’t really done anything apart from sitting in Quark’s bar. 🙂
The character I’m of course talking about is Morn. He’s an alien space merchant – a Lurian specifically – who often sits in Quark’s bar and drinks a lot. He’s like the Norm character off ‘Cheers’.
In fact, Morn’s name is based on Norm in ‘Cheers’. 😀 Morn’s been a running gag throughout ‘DS9’. Most of the characters have made the point that Morn is quite a chatterbox. Quark’s said the same!
Yet every time we see him, Morn doesn’t say a word. 😀 Now I get the joke and it’s really funny whenever he appears in a scene or whenever he’s talked about, he’s just sitting there in Quark’s bar.
It’s a credit to make-up supervisor Michael Westmore and the actor who plays him, Mark Allen Shepherd. And thus we have an episode dedicated to Morn and the development of his character. 🙂
But how can you do an episode about Morn when the guy doesn’t actually talk. Well, as this episode turns out, it starts off with Morn being proclaimed dead. Yeah, no joke! Morn is dead at the start. 😀
It comes as shocking news to the DS9 community when it’s revealed that Morn was killed in an ion storm. A memorial service is held in Quark’s bar dedicated to Morn. He gives a very heartfelt speech.
Incidentally, Mark Allen Shepherd who plays Morn also plays a Bajoran mourner at Morn’s memorial service. Quark asks him to keep Morn’s chair warm during the service. That was really amusing here.
Captain Sisko interrupts the memorial service at some point to tell Quark some surprising news. Morn has left him his entire estate. Quark is surprised and is looking forward to what Morn left him.
He’s disappointed to find that Morn’s ‘assets’ are his recent cargo of spoiled beets and the contents of his quarters – a large mud bath which was Morn’s bed and a painting of a matador. No latinum. 😐
Hmm. Not what he expected was it? 😀 He later meets a woman in Morn’s bed ( 😀 ) who claims to be Morn’s ex-wife, Bridget Ann White as Larell. She tells Quark of some latinum that Morn owned. 😐
Latinum happens to be a valuable liquid kept in bricks of gold to make it easier to handle. I think I got a better understanding of latinum now. 😀 Quark offers to give Larell 10% of the loot once he finds it.
He later meets two reptilian-like brothers, Brad Greenquist as Krit and Cyril O’Reilly as Nahsk, who claims to be business associates of Morn’s. They claim that Morn owes them all of the latinum in this.
Quark becomes in a quandary as he has to deal with Morn’s ex-wife and these two devious brothers who want Morn’s latinum whilst he wants it for himself. Quark later finds a claim slip in a painting. 🙂
It gives him access to a latinum brick with a message inscribed on where the rest of the latinum is in the Bank of Bolias. He returns to his quarters to find his inheritance before someone else stops him.
That happens to be Gregory Itzin as Hain, who claims to be a security officer from Morn’s home planet. He tells Quark that Morn is a prince and that his latinum is the property of his royal family. 😐
Quark makes a deal with Hain in order to get a reward out of capturing Morn’s ex-wife Larell. It isn’t long before Quark meets Larrel, Kirt, Nahsk and Hain in his quarters and they all told a pack of lies. 😮
The four are involved in a bank robbery which Morn was involved in too. They’ve come to collect their share of the latinum that Morn stole. Quark persuades the group to share the money five ways.
Once they get the money, the ‘partner’ try to double-cross each other. A shootout ensues but Quark survives as he hid for cover. But it turns out that the gold bricks don’t have any latinum inside them.
Quark is very angry about this, but it turns out that Morn isn’t dead at all. He’s alive and well. He faked his own death in order to leave Quark to get rid of those wanting the latinum as well as him. 😀
Upset and angry with Morn for deceiving him, Quark later discovers that he kept the latinum in his second stomach. He gives a few millilitres of the latinum to Quark as a reward for helping him out. 🙂
I like how the episode ends on that note, especially with Morn turning out to be alive as well as Morn not saying anything when Quark’s talking to him. It is well-handled in the episode throughout.
‘Who Mourns For Morn?’ (DS9) rating – 8/10
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