Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Looking for par'Mach in All the Wrong Places

"Looking for par'Mach in All the Wrong Places" is the third episode of the fifth season of the American science fiction television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, originally airing on October 14, 1996 in broadcast syndication. The story was written by Ronald D. Moore and directed by actor Andrew J. Robinson, who played the recurring character Garak. The episode received a Nielsen rating of 5.7 percent, a slight decrease from the previous week. Set in the 24th century, the series follows the adventures on Deep Space Nine, a space station located near a stable wormhole between the Alpha and Gamma quadrants of the Milky Way Galaxy. In the episode, Worf (Michael Dorn) becomes infatuated with Grilka, but is unable to pursue her as a result of his dishonor among Klingons. In an adaption of the 19th-century play Cyrano de Bergerac, Worf instead helps Quark (Armin Shimerman) win Grilka's love. When Quark—wholly inexperienced in Klingon fighting and mating rituals—is forced to fight Grilka's bodyguard to legitimize their relationship, Worf employs a device to remotely control Quark's body movements in combat, enabling him to defeat his opponent. Jadzia Dax (Terry Farrell) attempts to console the dejected Worf, and becomes the aggressor in a romantic scene between the two. It is revealed that "par'Mach" is the Klingon word for "love" with an aggressive connotation. Michael Dorn had originally proposed a story along the lines of Cyrano de Bergerac. Writers were deliberately vague in their depiction of the technology used to help Quark defend himself; viewers are shown a transmitting device on Worf's head and a receiver concealed behind Quark's head, but given no indication of its workings. "Looking for par'Mach" has been met with mixed critical reception.