Quodo in Every Episode discussion: "The Collaborator"

[chacusha]

This week we're discussing... episode 2x24 "The Collaborator"!

Episode synopsis: A collaborator who has information regarding the circumstances of the suicide of Prylar Bek during the occupation gives Vedek Winn the chance to sink Bareil's candidacy for kai. Kira finds herself pressured into investigating Bareil's role in the Cardassian massacre of Bajoran resistance fighters in Kendra Valley and the prylar's ensuing suicide.

What The Boys are up to in this episode: Odo has several scenes where he arrests Kubus and helps Kira investigate the communication that happened between the Vedek Assembly and Prylar Bek shortly before his suicide. Quark has one scene with Odo, where Odo and Kira press Quark into unsealing a locked file in the Vedek Assembly's records.

One screencap from this episode:


Transcript: http://chakoteya.net/DS9/444.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+s02e24+The+Collaborator+%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?

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Event info & rules
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Comments

[chacusha]

Random thoughts:

- Bareil's acting is so wooden 😭
*gratuitous shirtless shot* Ah okay then, I guess...

- God, I feel so disoriented watching this episode because I literally have no idea when Kira and Bareil got together so I have no idea what to think about their dynamic in this opening scene?? Okay, apparently they got together in 2x16 ("Shadowplay"), so like ~two months before this episode. But the scene was a bit weird to me -- even now I don't really know what to think about the quality of their pillowtalk! That said, one thing I think is interesting is that Bajoran clergy clearly don't have to be celibate or anything.

- Vedek Winn amazing as always with her passive-aggression.

- When I first watched DS9, I always interpreted this scene with Kira and Odo where Odo is like, "I was just wondering when you were going to figure it out" re: Kira's feelings for Bareil as confirming that Odo doesn't actually have feelings for her but now I'm not so sure? I thought the writers only got the idea for Kira/Odo around "Meridian" so maybe my first impression was correct, but when I watch this scene now, it does feel like it could be read as shippy.

- The scene with Odo, Kira, and Quark is one of my favorite scenes. Great dynamic -- Odo and Kira ganging up on Quark; Quark hugging his cash box so protectively lol; Odo being so casually tactile with Quark in turning him by the shoulders (and Quark being the same with him later!); Odo trying to snoop on what Quark is doing and Quark shooing him away lol. I looked at the script and it's much more pared down/minimal than what we got on-screen, so I'm guessing the director asked Rene and Armin to inject some humor/physical comedy into it? Whatever the reason, it's cute! Odo, Kira, and Quark all being on the same side is just an A+ dynamic, and I like Quark getting the chance to shine and show his expertise here ("if I wanted to barge in like a RANK AMATEUR" lol). It's fun seeing a scene that functions to explain why Odo/the station keeps Quark around (aside from, you know, the "Quark and Odo are fucking" explanation), and I also like seeing the dynamic where Odo uses Quark in order to learn about vulnerabilities of security systems (which comes up again in 4x12 "Paradise Lost"). Just such a good frenemies dynamic!

- This scene with O'Brien doing techie forensic stuff to find out who deleted the sealed files is kind of ridiculously elaborate and time-wasting (they have an animation! which O'Brien explains!), but fun. XD

- It's a bit cheesy but I *do* like when Bajoran architecture incorporates the oval shape of the Bajoran insignia. It just looks cool!

- The uniforms for Bajoran clergy always kind of confuse me? Like, there's at least two costumes for vedeks and for kais (Vedek Bareil's vs. Vedek Winn's, and Kai Opaka's vs. Kai Bareil/Kai Winn's), but it seems like some other people (also vedeks?) also wear Vedek Bareil's outfit, so it isn't just "you can wear anything you like"??

- Winn canceling her appointment with Sisko just because she doesn't need his support anymore and so is back to being uninterested in working with him is SO petty and I love it.

- Kind of interesting how self-sacrificing Bareil is here. I think that if you consider, like, global utility, it was probably better for everyone if Kai Opaka took the hit for her own decision -- it would be the truth, she's not around anymore to need protecting of her legacy/reputation, and people would have had more mixed feelings about Opaka selling out the terrorists (including her own son) to save innocents than they would have about e.g. Bareil making that same call. So it's a bit weird for Bareil to be so honorable here. That said, I guess Bareil saw the writing on the wall -- once Winn started digging, explaining the full situation would have looked sketchy anyway because he'd be throwing Opaka's reputation under the bus just to salvage his kai candidacy, which isn't a particularly good look either. I think he knew his kai bid was sunk whether he explained himself to Kira or not, so he decided to take the honorable path and throw himself under the bus to protect Opaka's legacy and take no credit for it either. And that probably saved his relationship with Kira in the long run (which was maybe the only thing that could be salvaged in this situation), so maybe it was better? IDK.

- Hm, one thing I wonder is whether it's meant to be that Winn already knew Kubus's connection to Prylar Bek + Bareil, and so had worked out a deal with him in advance/invited him back to DS9/Bajor so that she could give Kira a trail to follow, or if it was just coincidence that he had valuable information and she only found out about the connection after he visited and approached her with it? Kind of ambiguous, or maybe I just missed something. It's also kind of interesting that the title kind of sets Kubus up as a main character of this episode, but he drops out entirely pretty early on, and the title refers to someone else.

Overall, I felt the acting/dialogue/shots in this episode were kinda weird, but I generally like the plot and just the high drama of Winn correctly guessing that if she leaves this breadcrumb for Kira, Kira will chase the mystery to an outcome that is favorable to Winn. Winn/Kira is a fun rarepair, and I feel like this episode is just really good for that. Like, heck yeah, Winn breaking Kira and her boyfriend up? Good for her.


Thoughts on Quodo potential:

- Okay but you could do secret relationship Quodo here -- like Outsider POV with Kira trying to figure out why Odo and Quark are so casually touchy-feely with each other.

- Or write an extension of this scene where Odo and Quark take a bit of time after Quark is finished with his work to banter or flirt with each other.

- Or (I know I've already suggested something like this for another episode, but) Quark asks for payment for his services. 😏