WARNING: Contains SPOILERS for Star Trek: Lower Decks, season 4, episode 6, "Parth Ferengi's Heart Place."

Summary

• Rom and Leeta's unconventional love story on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is weird, but great because they see each other for who they truly are and bring out the best in each other. They defy stereotypical expectations and support each other's unconventional beliefs.
• Rom gains confidence through his relationship with Leeta and learns to speak up for himself and his beliefs, which go against traditional Ferengi values. Leeta encourages Rom to pursue his passion for engineering and helps him find respect outside of Quark's exploitation.
• In Star Trek: Lower Decks, Rom and Leeta continue to prove that their unconventional pairing is a great match. They use their underestimated personas to their advantage and test whether others will truly see and respect the truth about them. Their love story is ultimately weird, but truly great.

On Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the love story between Rom (Max Grodénchik) and Leeta (Chase Masterson) is weird, but it's also great. Both of them are introduced as employees in the bar and casino owned by Rom's older brother Quark (Armin Shimerman) on DS9's Promenade. Rom works as a seemingly hapless waiter in the bar who occasionally fixes mechanical breakdowns, and Leeta is a gorgeous Dabo girl who entices customers to the gambling table. Neither of these jobs have a particularly prestigious reputation, but that's where their love story begins.

Quark's strict adherence to the Ferengi Rules of Acquisition dictates exploiting his workers to maximize profits. Quark berates Rom regularly and makes him believe that he's incompetent when the truth is that Rom's talents are more mechanical than entrepreneurial. Leeta is likewise subject to Quark's toxic behavior, receiving sexually suggestive comments in addition to the financial exploitation common to Ferengi managers, despite her high emotional intelligence and social skills. Rom and Leeta first join forces to challenge Quark with a union in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 4, episode 16 "Bar Association", but it's still a while before their romantic relationship develops.

Rom & Leeta Are A Weird But Great Star Trek: DS9 Love Story

Rom and Leeta's weird Star Trek: Deep Space Nine romance is actually great, especially because DS9 frequently highlights truth and perception as story themes. It seems unlikely that an unassuming Ferengi and a beautiful Bajoran would make such a great romantic match, but neither of them are stereotypical. Rom and Leeta see each other for who they truly are and bring out the best in each other, even before they're together. Rom respects Leeta's agency, and never dismisses her profession or expects her to be anything other than herself. Leeta encourages Rom to pursue his love of engineering in the Bajoran militia, where he can be respected instead of pushed around by Quark.

Both start out playing into others' expectations of them, but Rom and Leeta both develop the confidence to express the truths that lie within themselves. They become a couple in DS9 season 5, episode 16 "Doctor Bashir, I Presume", when Rom can't bear to see Leeta leave the station with another man, and finally confesses his feelings for her. Through Leeta, Rom learns that he can speak up for himself and his unconventional beliefs, which run counter to traditional Ferengi values. This makes him the best choice for new Grand Nagus after the former Grand Nagus Zek (Wallace Shawn) implements social progress on Ferenginar and retires.

Star Trek: Lower Decks Updated Grand Nagus Rom & Leeta After DS9

Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4, episode 6, "Parth Ferengi's Heart Place" updates viewers on Grand Nagus Rom and his wife, First Clerk Leeta, after Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Captain Carol Freeman (Dawnn Lewis) of the Cerritos is tasked with the theoretically easy assignment of rubber-stamping the Ferengi application to the United Federation of Planets, but faces some pushback when dealing with Rom and Leeta. While Leeta rolls out the new fine print as First Clerk, Rom distracts Freeman and Admiral Vassery (Fred Tatasciore) with increasingly odder requests and baseball talk. True to form, however, their behaviors are part of a test to ensure Starfleet's respect.

Both Rom and Leeta play their roles brilliantly, proving that their unconventional pairing remains a great match. Rom's not a fool, Leeta's more than a pretty face, and they know that people will underestimate them, because people always have. Their common strength is being able to turn that into a benefit for themselves as well as the more modern Ferengi Alliance, as they see whether others will see what they already know about each other, or just take them at face value. The fact that they still support and complement each other so wholly, and love so openly despite others' expectations, makes Rom and Leeta a weird, but ultimately truly great love story from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.