Quodo in Every Episode discussion: "Favor the Bold"

[chacusha]

This week we're discussing... episode 6x05 "Favor the Bold"! (Also, sorry for not announcing with a post here, but Quodo Mini-fest V sign-ups are now open! You have until Friday 10 January to sign up. Yayayay!)

Episode synopsis: The fifth episode in the six-part Dominion occupation arc that opens season 6: Things are not going well on the station as Rom is scheduled for execution and the minefield blocking the wormhole is about to come down. Unable to get Odo to take action, Kira presses Ziyal to speak to Dukat on Rom's behalf, leading to a breakdown in Ziyal and Dukat's relationship. The Federation moves up the timeline of its operation to retake DS9 when it hears about the imminent removal of the minefield.

What The Boys are up to in this episode: Quark attempts unsuccessfully to gain admittance to Odo's quarters to speak to Odo; visits his brother in his cell and promises to get him out; finds out from Damar that the minefield is coming down; and urges Kira to send a message to the Federation. Odo has two scenes where he converses with the female changeling, and then tries to apologize to Kira, who does not accept the apology.

One screencap from this episode:


Transcript: http://chakoteya.net/DS9/529.htm

Quodo fics tagged with this episode: None (https://archiveofourown.org/works?work_search%5Bsort_column%5D=revised_at&work_search%5Bother_tag_names%5D=Episode%3A+s06e05+Favor+the+Bold+%28Star+Trek%3A+Deep+Space+Nine%29&work_search%5Bexcluded_tag_names%5D=&work_search%5Bcrossover%5D=&work_search%5Bcomplete%5D=&work_search%5Bwords_from%5D=&work_search%5Bwords_to%5D=&work_search%5Bdate_from%5D=&work_search%5Bdate_to%5D=&work_search%5Bquery%5D=&work_search%5Blanguage_id%5D=&commit=Sort+and+Filter&tag_id=Star+Trek%3A+Deep+Space+Nine)

Tell us:
- What did you think about this episode?
- Have you written a fic set during/after this episode?
- 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

Comments

[chacusha]

Random thoughts:

- I like seeing Jadzia as the Defiant's captain here, and the battle couple dynamic she has with Worf who is commanding the Rotarran (kind of builds off the last episode we watched!).

- Another comedic Quark/Morn conversation-as-episode-opener here -- it's so funny and I love how it's even plot-relevant later.

- Goddd I have so many feelings about this episode as a Quodo and an Odo fan. Quark furiously showing up with Kira to Odo's quarters; "I have known Odo a long time. He's not a collaborator" and "Odo will make an exception for us" -- trying to charge past the Jem'Hadar guard! Odo straight up having sex with the Female Founder and her being like, "wow thank you for showing me that inadequate form of intimacy" and then all, "But you like doing it...?" It's sooooo uncomfortable and I love it. 😂 Rene's facial expressions in this scene are amazing. Anyway, I feel we were kinda robbed of a Quark/Odo plotline here. The fact that Quark still has faith in Odo when Kira is already totally Done with him is such a good dynamic and says so much about Quark and Odo's relationship, and this whole arc would have made more sense and had more weight if there had been some kind of payoff or resolution to Odo betraying *Quark* rather than Odo betraying Kira. Like, it just makes no sense from a story beats point of view for Odo and Quark to not have at least some kind of heart-to-heart/reconciliation/apology as part of this arc or in the denouement after, given that Quark keeps up his faith in Odo for so long (and so there's more tension/it's more emotionally crushing when Quark ends up having to be the hero he believes Odo is), and he has more personal stakes in the situation that Odo's betrayal created. Even just a brief/very lightweight thing where Odo apologizes to Quark and Quark is just like, "Nahhh, I knew you'd do the right thing in the end :)" would go a long way to resolving some of the unresolved character tension here.

- Kind of interesting to me that it's established here that not all races have sex, but Humans and Bajorans do.

- Rarepair idea inspired by this scene that opens with Weyoun staring at Ziyal's art: Weyoun/Ziyal. It would make Dukat so annoyed.

- Quark's annoyed but calm/dismissive tone when actually talking to Rom vs. how angry he is that Odo hasn't arranged Rom's release is so tsundere. Also: "They must have done something to his mind." "What mind?" Sooo tsundere 😂 "The bar's doing fine, but thanks for caring." Omg this scene is killing me XD

-

Quark: If we could only get to Odo, make him see what's going on. Then maybe he could help us.
Kira: Forget about Odo. First, we can't get to him. Second, even if we did he wouldn't help us.

Again, see? Quark's unshakeable faith in Odo throughout this episode is killing me ToT

- The Kira/Dukat/Damar/Ziyal dynamics in this arc are sooo good. Damar is so pathetic in this part of the timeline, I love it. He's such a toadie. Such a great/inauspicious starting place for his character given what he becomes later. Also, I love Dukat being like, "My daughter won't speak to me? Talk some sense into her, won't you, Damar?" Some real A+ parenting right here...

- To add to my thoughts above, I think another thing that kind of bothers me about this arc is that I feel like the writing here for Odo is a bit muddled. Like, to me it DOES make sense that the Founder would use Odo's feelings of loneliness and desire for physical intimacy and pining for Kira to draw him into the Link and away from the world of solids -- that I find great. But then they never really explain what brings him back, and I think that it *really* can't be his love for Kira, at least not on its own, because that is kind of cheesy and unsatisfying -- "betrayed Kira to forget about her then turned sides again to protect her" kind of sucks as a motivation and it isn't supported by the elements they included in this arc either. There are plenty of other alternative motivations that would work better -- Odo's sense of justice coming back (although you'd have to explain why it was successfully suppressed so long), Odo not liking/trusting the fact that the Founder is withholding information from him/shuffling him away from decision-making processes or recent developments on that station, etc. Or alternatively, I think it would actually be narratively very satisfying if Quark was the one to talk Odo into rejoining the world of the solids. It wouldn't even have to be shippy -- we have seen in the past that Quark actually is weirdly good at verbally smacking people upside the head and talking sense into them, and they have a friends/enemies dynamic that could very plausibly be motivating for getting Odo to turn his back on the Link after having experienced it so thoroughly. Anyway, I think the overreliance on Odo's romantic feelings for Kira as his sole motivation for taking certain actions and underreliance on his sense of justice and other odd psychological traits (e.g. how much he enjoys his cat-and-mouse dynamic with Quark) is generally a weakness of his writing in various late-season plots. For example, in 5x22 "Children of Time", too, I just don't think the plot there works either because Odo's sole motivation to save/have a shot with Kira (over any other moral qualms he might have) is just TOO much and too one-note for his character IMO. :/ But I guess I can save that rant for when we get there. XD

- Garak has a small part in this episode, but he has some great lines -- I appreciate his presence here.

Overall, I have mixed feelings about the writing in this arc (as I detailed in the piece linked above). This episode of the set is pretty good, though, IMO, because I really like the building tension between Kira and Damar here over Ziyal and Dukat (I'm also generally a fan of the Kira/Damar ship and I find this such an interesting beginning for them!). "I don't know what Dukat sees in that woman" / "Then you need to get your eyes examined" works SO well for both Kira/Damar and Damar/Dukat.


Thoughts on Quodo potential:

- I'm not sure whether this applies to this episode or the next, but you could definitely do an AU where Quark makes it into Odo's quarters, talks to Odo, and manages to snap him out of his Link addiction.

- Alternatively, you could have more of Quark's feelings about Odo ignoring him, or his reaction to finding out that Odo slept with the female changeling, or Quark and Kira debating with each other about whether Odo is a lost case, which maybe reveals some of Quark's feelings for Odo?

I'm also not sure if this fic should count as episode-specific for THIS episode or for "Sacrifice of Angels" (please let me know what you think!) but if you're looking for a fic that deals with the fallout of Odo betraying Quark's trust during this arc, you should read Quark's Day. It's not particularly shippy but Quark and Odo's relationship is central to the fic and it's kind of a fix-it for canon IMO, so I'm definitely going to put it somewhere in the masterlist, but maybe for "Sacrifice of Angels"?

Also, for various reasons, I don't think this fic counts, but I folded a lot of my opinions about how this arc should have incorporated Quark and Odo's hate relationship as something that keeps Odo attached to the world of solids into this soulmarks AU fic.