Entry tags:
Quodo in Every Episode discussion: "The Jem'Hadar"
This week we're discussing... episode 2x26 "The Jem'Hadar"!
Episode synopsis: The last episode of season 2, which introduces the Dominion as an adversary! What starts as a camping trip in the Gamma Quadrant for Ben, Jake, Nog, and Quark, ends with Sisko and Quark captured by Jem'Hadar. This first encounter with the Dominion leaves the Federation reeling.
What The Boys are up to in this episode: Quark and Odo have a scene at the beginning where Quark asks Odo about the status of his advertising proposal. The rest of the episode is very Quark-centric, where he complains about camping and human bigotry against Ferengi, and helps Sisko escape and discover Eris's plot. Odo has several scenes where he volunteers to go on the rescue mission to the Gamma Quadrant (specifically because he wants to make sure Quark is safe) and pilots a runabout during the skirmish with the Dominion.
One screencap from this episode:

Transcript: http://chakoteya.net/DS9/446.htm
Quodo fics tagged with this episode: There is one fic in the tag: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11930214
Tell us:
- What did you think about this episode?
- Have you written a fic set during/after this episode?
- Have you read any of the fics linked above? Let us know if they fit! Do you know of any other fics set in or that build off this episode that weren't linked above?
- What do you see as the Quodo potential for this episode?
Anonymous comments are on, so feel free to chime in even if you don't have a Dreamwidth account! If you prefer, we are also available on Discord:
https://discord.gg/VaCnMYvKu6 (18+ proship Quodo Discord - there is a dedicated channel for this event)
https://discord.gg/Htz4crCdCt (general Quodo Discord)
Event info & rules
Fic masterlist
Episode synopsis: The last episode of season 2, which introduces the Dominion as an adversary! What starts as a camping trip in the Gamma Quadrant for Ben, Jake, Nog, and Quark, ends with Sisko and Quark captured by Jem'Hadar. This first encounter with the Dominion leaves the Federation reeling.
What The Boys are up to in this episode: Quark and Odo have a scene at the beginning where Quark asks Odo about the status of his advertising proposal. The rest of the episode is very Quark-centric, where he complains about camping and human bigotry against Ferengi, and helps Sisko escape and discover Eris's plot. Odo has several scenes where he volunteers to go on the rescue mission to the Gamma Quadrant (specifically because he wants to make sure Quark is safe) and pilots a runabout during the skirmish with the Dominion.
One screencap from this episode:

Transcript: http://chakoteya.net/DS9/446.htm
Quodo fics tagged with this episode: There is one fic in the tag: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11930214
Tell us:
- What did you think about this episode?
- Have you written a fic set during/after this episode?
- Have you read any of the fics linked above? Let us know if they fit! Do you know of any other fics set in or that build off this episode that weren't linked above?
- What do you see as the Quodo potential for this episode?
Anonymous comments are on, so feel free to chime in even if you don't have a Dreamwidth account! If you prefer, we are also available on Discord:
https://discord.gg/VaCnMYvKu6 (18+ proship Quodo Discord - there is a dedicated channel for this event)
https://discord.gg/Htz4crCdCt (general Quodo Discord)
Event info & rules
Fic masterlist

no subject
- Jake: "Learn how to pilot a runabout?" -- Lol, and then he actually does end up needing to do that. XD
- Omg 10/10 Quodo scene -- Odo is so affectionately mean to Quark here, and they are standing two inches apart and leaning into each other. XD (But also I'm totally with Odo here -- why the heck would Quark think that Sisko would agree to that?! 😂)
- Poor Morn. 😂
- I love Avery Brooks' annoyed vocalizations in this XD
- Love Quark being a nightmare person. Also, immediately hiding behind Sisko once Sisko recovers from Eris's blast and is standing up again.
- It's always so weird to me how Jadzia's response to a Gamma Quadrant power showing up and demanding that the Federation should stay on its side of the galaxy is, "You're making a mistake if you think that detaining Commander Sisko will stop us from exploring the Gamma Quadrant." ??? Like, I dunno, detaining Commander Sisko probably shouldn't make a difference to policy, but just the existence of a government there that doesn't like exploratory ships coming over... should?? The "no, we gotta explore" response here is insane to me. I know the Federation is Too Science To Live, but this is taking that a bit far. Presumably, the Federation *did* offer to not go through the wormhole anymore as a peacekeeping measure (because... it would be extremely out of character to not offer some kind of hard boundary/line in order to prevent war), and the Dominion just rejected this and said they would only accept an arrangement that gave them control over Bajor/DS9/the wormhole (and for various reasons the Federation did not find that acceptable), but that's me just trying to mentally fix the cosmopolitics of the show. It's not actually stated whether the Federation was willing to take Gamma Quadrant exploration off the table as a peace-keeping measure, only that the Dominion really wanted Bajor/DS9/the wormhole, which the Federation interpreted as the first step of an Alpha Quadrant expansion.
- Assuming Jem'Hadar weapons are lethal, THIS might actually be the first episode where Quark kills someone? IDK.
- Overall, this is quite an interesting episode. In addition to introducing the Jem'Hadar and the Vorta, it's a very rare episode that focuses on Sisko and Quark's relationship, and also the relationship between the Federation and Ferengi, and gives Quark the chance to give his opinion on Human culture. Which I think is kind of needed because both TNG and DS9 frequently have Federation people kind of casually racist toward Ferengi and it isn't really addressed until this episode (not saying the Federation characters are wrong about Ferengi having terrible values/being untrustworthy, but they're also just weirdly mean/rude/racist about it).
- The episode is a bit rough -- a lot of things in this episode end up getting retconned, for example (ability of Dominion soldiers to go through forcefields; Vorta telekinesis), but I do think the episode overall succeeds in establishing the main antagonists for the series. So many of the Dominion plotlines involve really odd and plot-twisty schemes (like the whole scheme to plant Eris in the Federation in this episode, and then the "it was all a simulation" plot in 3x01/02). I guess it's kind of character-establishing for the Founders and how they tend to operate (deceptive and underhanded), but sometimes it is hard to believe why these schemes are necessary and I just end up getting confused what is actually being established as canonical about the Jem'Hadar/Vorta/Dominion vs. what is just fake, made-up info. I find it confusing, personally!
Thoughts on Quodo potential:
- They feel very married in this one, lol. You could definitely do a take on this episode with that read. (For example, maybe it's a regular frustration of Morn's that Quark has a tendency to drop their conversations the moment Odo walks in, and Quark isn't very self-aware of this tendency -- could work either with Quark and Odo in a relationship or not. XD)
- Alternatively, you could have something introspective focused on Odo, where he's legit worried about Quark, or they talk afterward and Quark is like, "Admit it, you were worried about me!" and Odo is like, "I have no idea what you're talking about. 🙄"
I read the fic linked above and it's a coda for the episode where a worried Odo checks in on Quark after he returns to the station. It definitely counts, so I added it to the masterlist!