![]() ![]() Any time a Trek show tries to muddle about with the vaguely supernatural, the results are dicey. The device’s last owner tells a story straight out of the Twilight Zone-he didn’t just make some bad financial calls, he believes the device itself destroyed his life through vaguely supernatural means. There’s the fact that the device he finds is established for much of the episode’s running time as a magical, vaguely threatening thingy, without any real history or clear purpose. Then there’s the fact that Martus’ story doesn’t fit in the Trek-verse. I have little to no interest in seeing this character again, and I like Sarandon. He ends the episode in roughly the same place he started it, and if this is the introduction to a recurring guest star, it does a lame job selling the idea. I would guess that Martus exists so the narrative can have a one-off character who can suffer or succeed however much story needs him to-but nothing happens to the guy. While it can be rewarding to have an outsider come and give us a new look at the same old surroundings, that’s not what Martus is here for apart from reminding us that Quark doesn’t like competition and that Odo has a tendency to arrest criminals, he barely interacts with the main ensemble. Which is problematic, since the character dominates the first half of the episode. ![]() Sarandon is a fine actor (See also: The original Fright Night he makes a terrific vampire), and he’s appropriately oily and charismatic as Martus, but this isn’t someone we have any investment in. But solid or not, it doesn’t really work. That’s solid stuff, and the episode follows it note by note, right up to the underdone conclusion. This is a setup with a very clear arc: A just-charming-enough-to-be-sympathetic bad guy is tempted by a too good-to-be-true offer he accepts after some initial reservations, briefly succeeds beyond his wildest dreams then, at the moment of his greatest triumph, everything falls apart in the worst way, and the bad guy suffers a suitably ironic comeuppance. ![]() Odo catches him in the act and throws him in a cell, where he meets an alien with a purple egg, and that, as the saying goes, is where his troubles begin. We meet Martus Mazur (Sarandon) in the cold open, trying his best to run a con on a sweet old lady who happens to be widowed, wealthy, and waiting for it. ![]()
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