Why You Need To Watch Ferengi Love Songs

As we all know, I love Ferengi hijinks. I LOVE it. Throwing Ferengi cultural norms into chaos by letting Rom/Quark/Nog clash with anyone non-Ferengi (but especially Klingons and well-meaning humans) is pretty much TV magic. "Ferengi Love Songs" is wall-to-wall Ferengi hijinks with Rom freaking out over his impending marriage to Leeta and Quark totally losing it over his mom's new boyfriend. You need to watch this one and here's why:

1- Any time Wallace Shawn shows up it's bound to be awesome. Same goes for Jeffrey Combs. Both are in rare form here.

2- Farcical antics abound--including Grand Nagus Zek in a closet:

3- Quark's pissed-off-about-step-dad attitude is almost Hamlet-level-epic.

4- O'Brien coaches Rom in matters of love and (as literally the only person on the station capable of holding a relationship together for more than five years) it's actually pretty sweet.

5- Ferengi Action Figures:

6-  Rule of Acquisition #229: Latinum lasts longer than lust.

7-This episode had the working title, "How Quark Acquired His Groove Back."

8- Aside from the cartoony aspects of this episode there's a lot of real stuff here dealing with both cultural and personal identity. As men displaced from their traditional culture, raised by a woman who herself is breaking from her people's mandates toward females, Quark and Rom are actually doing something pretty radical. This episode might be 75% shtick but at its core is an earnest and surprisingly emotional heart.