Who Mourns for Morn? (episode)

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"Who Mourns for Morn?"
DS9, Episode 6x12 Production number: 40510-536 First aired: 4 February 1998
←	134th of 173 produced in DS9	→
←	134th of 173 released in DS9	→
	{{{nNthReleasedInSeries_Remastered}}}th of 173 released in DS9 Remastered
←	501st of 726 released in all	→

Written By Mark Gehred-O'Connell Directed By Victor Lobl
Unknown (2374)
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Morn dies, leaving his entire estate to Quark, but some of Morn's old acquaintances want a piece of the action.

1 Summary
2 Memorable Quotes
3 Background Information
- 3.1 Awards
- 3.2 Video and DVD releases
4 Links and References

[edit] Summary

Odo enters Quark's to inform Morn about his Livanian beets. When Morn doesn't respond to Odo, he tries to spin Morn around on his chair, only to find it is a hologram. Quark states he installed it for when Morn was off the station, as his prior absence caused a five percent decrease in profits. Chief O'Brien and Dr. Bashir enter Quark's and greet Morn's hologram, proving Quark's point. Lt. Commander Dax and Captain Sisko enter, shocked to see Morn as they just found out Morn died when his ship hit an ion storm.

A funeral is held at Quark's under Lurian traditions, including gifts of food and drink for the deceased so they will have something to sustain them in the afterlife. Quark attempts to sell off stock claiming it as being "Morn's favorite". Sisko unseals Morn's will and discovers that he left everything to Quark. Odo follows station procedure of inspecting all contents left, and takes delight in toying with Quark in where Morn had spent all his money. They go to Cargo Bay 3 and only find a shipment of spoiled Livanian beets. Odo suggests Morn might have spent his income on decorating his quarters. They journey there only to find a 'hot tub' of mud and a painting of a matador.

Odo leaves Quark to pine in Morn's quarters, and after he leaves a nude woman appears out of the mud. The woman identifies herself as Morn's ex-wife Larell. She states that Morn won the Lissepian Lottery and has one thousand bricks of gold-pressed latinum. Larell threatens to tie Quark up in court for years if he doesn't split it with her, but Quark has no idea where this money is kept. Later Quark encounters two green alien brothers (race unknown) named Krit and Nahsk, who claim they were business associates of Morn who had money owed to them. They threaten Quark if he doesn't pay them from, and break the matador painting over Quark's head. After they leave Quark discovers there was an access chip hidden inside the painting that gave access to a storage container on the station. Bajoran security brings a small container to Odo's security office, that contains only a single brick of latinum. Quark notices Morn wrote a bank account number on it, and returns to his quarters to arrange delivery of Morn's savings. On the way he encounters Larell again, who steals the brick from Quark; however Quark remembers the number and knows the bank will only deliver it to him. Just as Quark is about to contact the bank, a disruptor is held to his head by a human named Hain. Hain claimed to be working with Lurian Security, and said Morn was the crown prince and that his riches belonged to the royal family. When Hain learned about Larell, Hain claimed she'd been trying to blackmail the family for years. Instead of arresting Quark, Hain would ensure Quark got a sizable reward for helping capture Larell.

Later, Larell and Quark meet up her in his quarters to discuss when the latinum will arrive when someone tries to pick the lock. Larell hides while Krit and Nahsk bypass the lock and threaten Quark. Quark's doorbell goes off, so Krit and Nahsk hide when Quark answers the door. Hain enters and Quark attempts to warn him of Quark's "guests" but he doesn't catch on while everyone in hiding comes out. It is revealed that Hain, Larell, Krit and Nahsk were all lying to Quark, and they (along with Morn) had been the ones behind the infamous Lissepian Mother's Day Heist. It turns out that Morn had betrayed them all and left with all one thousand bricks of gold-pressed latinum they had stolen, and they knew he was waiting for the statute of limitations to expire - which it did two weeks previous. At first they decide to kill Quark as he's not needed, but Quark advises them they need his thumbprint and they can't walk up to the cargo bay with a severed thumb to retrieve it. Since they were going to split it five ways anyway, they agree to let Quark take Morn's place.

Quark and his "friends"

Refusing to leave Quark alone, they all go to Quark's Bar. Odo arrives and asks why the bar is suspiciously closed, and Quark is able to tip Odo off that something is happening at 1600 hours - the time the shipment of latinum will arrive. After accepting the shipment, Quark goes to count the bricks only to find Hain, Larell, Krit and Nahsk have all drawn weapons on each other. Krit calls Nahsk "slow", causing Nashk to turn on his brother. A firefight breaks out, so Quark jumps into the cargo container. Odo and security arrive and apprehends the four, then Quark discovers the bricks were filled with gold dust instead of latinum - leaving Quark with only some "worthless" gold.

That evening, Quark is alone at his bar angry and attempts to rip Morn's stool from the floor. Odo arrives and says someone's here to see him - and out walks a very alive Morn. It turns out Morn faked his death, knowing that would draw out his former robbery associates and that Quark would do whatever it took to get the latinum. Morn spits out about 100 bricks worth of liquid latinum into a glass, revealing he had stored the latinum in his second stomach, which had caused his hair to fall out. Morn gives the glass to Quark as compensation, while Quark and Morn discuss selling the gold bricks to a primitive culture who would find it valuable.

[edit] Memorable Quotes

"You know Morn, he never shuts up."

- Quark

"I wonder who came up with the idea of suspending liquid latinum inside worthless bits of gold."
"Probably someone who got tired of making change with an eyedropper."

- Quark and Dax

"Someone's extracted all the latinum! There's nothing here but worthless gold!"
"And it's all yours."
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

- Quark and Odo

"Take that gold dust of yours. It doesn't have to be a total loss. I hear there are some primitive cultures who consider it quite valuable."

- Quark to Morn

[edit] Background Information

As most fans know, the main conceit of the character of Morn is that he never speaks on-camera, whereas off-camera he allegedly never shuts up. Ira Steven Behr has likened this to the character of Maris on the show Frasier; a character whose physical appearance is constantly described as being unique, but whom viewers never see. This silent aspect of the character however proved to be a stumbling block for writers wishing to do a 'Morn episode', and it wasn't until Mark Gehred-O'Connell came up with the idea of doing a Morn episode which barely features Morn that the producers found something they were willing to make. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion)
Mark Gehred-O'Connell 's original idea for this show involved Morn mysteriously disappearing from the station, and the rest of the cast trying to hunt him down. Then during their search, they realize that although they have all known him for six years (apart from Worf), none of them actually know very much about him. René Echevarria removed the detective aspect from the story, and introduced the characters of Hain, Krit, Larell and Nahsk. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion)
This episode's title is quite similar to that of the episodes TOS: "Who Mourns for Adonais?" and TNG: "Who Watches The Watchers".
When Quark pleads that Morn's chair should never be empty, he brings a person to it and says, "Keep it warm... for Morn". This person is Mark Allen Shepherd (who played Morn), playing the part of an unnamed Bajoran.
The painting of the matador that is smashed over Quark's head was purchased by Morn in the fifth season episode "In the Cards".
The noise Morn makes when he regurgitates the latinum at the end of the episode took supervising sound editor Mace Matiosian several days of foley recording and over six hours of editing to complete. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion)