Q was important to TNG as a foil for Picard (and thus Starfleet), and its most prominent recurring character. If he was a poor fit for DS9, it's understandable the fledgling spinoff had to learn the hard way.
DS9 was designed to add grit to a Star Trek that had grown complacent: these flawed characters couldn't warp away from their choices. They were subject to political blowback. Omnipotent Q knocks this reform all to hell. (Even DS9's wormhole prophets, though localized and thus limited, never quite paid off.)
Indeed, Q seems to disappear from the second half of "Q-Less" as Sisko and company sleuth the station's beeline for the wormhole, discovering a homesick alien, evidently related to those in (Q's debut) "Encounter at Farpoint."
The theme of "Q-Less" seems to be the frustrations of male control amid more instinctive or intuitive forces, such as Vash and her relics, and the alien refugee. In the best scene, Q himself spoofs human machismo, impersonating a 19th century bare-knuckle boxer (Sisko punches him out). Like the title pun ("clueless"), however, it never ties together, or even makes sense: when Vash rejects him, why doesn't Q respond with his usual coercive punishment?
Q and Vash make a great team, but not between the pylons.
Indeed, Q seems to disappear from the second half of "Q-Less" as Sisko and company sleuth the station's beeline for the wormhole, discovering a homesick alien, evidently related to those in (Q's debut) "Encounter at Farpoint."
The theme of "Q-Less" seems to be the frustrations of male control amid more instinctive or intuitive forces, such as Vash and her relics, and the alien refugee. In the best scene, Q himself spoofs human machismo, impersonating a 19th century bare-knuckle boxer (Sisko punches him out). Like the title pun ("clueless"), however, it never ties together, or even makes sense: when Vash rejects him, why doesn't Q respond with his usual coercive punishment?
Q and Vash make a great team, but not between the pylons.
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