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Quodo in Every Episode discussion: "A Man Alone"
New discussion this week! This week we're discussing... episode 1x04 "A Man Alone"! (Fun fact: This episode was originally scheduled to be the very last episode discussed in the random ordering. So it got bumped up in the schedule by QUITE a lot!)
Episode synopsis: Odo is framed for the murder of Ibudan, a formerly-convicted criminal whom Odo put away during the Cardassian occupation. As public opinion turns against Odo, he discovers that people are not as tolerant or trusting of shapeshifters as he thought.
What The Boys are up to in this episode: This is an Odo-centric episode, so he's in various scenes confronting Ibudan, conducting a murder investigation, clashing with Sisko over his role as security chief, and being hounded by hostile mobs. Quark has two scenes with Odo, one at the beginning where they discuss "coupling" and one later when Quark visits Odo in his trashed office, and another scene where he defends Odo's honor from various critical Bajorans.
One screencap from this episode:
Transcript: http://chakoteya.net/DS9/403.htm
Quodo fics tagged with this episode: There are two fics in the tag, which I've added to the masterlist already:
https://archiveofourown.org/works/46479091
https://archiveofourown.org/works/46668310
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
Episode synopsis: Odo is framed for the murder of Ibudan, a formerly-convicted criminal whom Odo put away during the Cardassian occupation. As public opinion turns against Odo, he discovers that people are not as tolerant or trusting of shapeshifters as he thought.
What The Boys are up to in this episode: This is an Odo-centric episode, so he's in various scenes confronting Ibudan, conducting a murder investigation, clashing with Sisko over his role as security chief, and being hounded by hostile mobs. Quark has two scenes with Odo, one at the beginning where they discuss "coupling" and one later when Quark visits Odo in his trashed office, and another scene where he defends Odo's honor from various critical Bajorans.
One screencap from this episode:
Transcript: http://chakoteya.net/DS9/403.htm
Quodo fics tagged with this episode: There are two fics in the tag, which I've added to the masterlist already:
https://archiveofourown.org/works/46479091
https://archiveofourown.org/works/46668310
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
no subject
- Interesting opening here establishing the kind of "old soul" wisdom of Jadzia Dax vs. Bashir's callow youth.
- I love Odo's Grumpy Old Man take on romantic relationships lol. (And of COURSE he and Quark are casually talking about romance.)
- There are a lot of fun things established in this episode -- Jake and Nog's friendship and pranking; Odo's attitude toward laws and his policing authority (also, his regeneration cycle); Keiko's dissatisfaction and becoming a teacher; Rom as Nog's father (although with a very different personality here); Sisko and Dax reacquainting and trying to figure out how to relate to each other now.
- Interestingly, Quark's bar in this episode (as seen in Ibudan's itinerary) is called "Quark's Place." I'm reading a DS9 tie-in novel that uses "Quark's Place" too, which is interesting. I think later they change it to "Quark's Bar, Grill, Gaming House, and Holosuite Arcade" or just: "Quark's Bar."
- How many ways can two characters say "I care about you" without saying "I care about you" 😂
- Aw, I love all of the micro-expressions in Auberjonois's acting here. Odo is so deeply sad while pretending to be unbothered.
- I always kind of wondered from the acting/delivery here, if Quark knew that he had a key to exonerating Odo in the PADD he gave, and that's why he gives it to him meaningfully while smiling. IDK. Okay, so I looked at the script and I think the way it's acted on screen is quite different from the script, which is more minimal:
This makes sense to me, because even though Quark here is behaving a bit like he just gave Odo a ticket to his exoneration, it also looks like the PADD he picked up is just some random PADD lying on the floor of Odo's trashed office (and so presumably DOESN'T have any important info already loaded on it; it's just Quark helping Odo clean up his office) and the critical exoneration moment seems to come later, delivered by Bashir. But I do like Quark helping Odo out here in a way that does end up paying off later.
- One of my favorite moments in this episode is when Sisko asks Dax, "Care for lunch?" and Bashir immediately answers, "Sure!" because, with his back turned, he's not aware of who the question is addressed to. It's just such a small but good character moment for Bashir -- he's a bit of a social butterfly and getting asked to lunch by his boss is just normal to him. Also, Bashir's eager smile of anticipation at Sisko telling a wild Curzon Dax story. XD
- When Morn stands up and leaves the bar when Odo sits down: greatest anime betrayals. 😂
- One thing that is interesting to me in this episode is that probably half or more of the male Bajoran characters in this one don't wear an earring. I initially thought that this was meant to be something odd about Ibudan, but there are a lot of other Bajoran characters including background security guards etc. who aren't wearing one. Kind of interesting. It makes me think also about how Dr. Mora has no earring in the first episode he appears, but then in the second episode he appears, he is wearing one. No idea whether this is meant to be a worldbuilding thing or just that there weren't enough earrings to go around or what, but it makes my brain go crazy.
- I always love in these early episodes when Kira gets a random hand-to-hand fight scene.
- This episode was apparently the second one written and produced, but they made a decision to swap the order of this one and "Past Prologue," which made Armin Shimerman nervous because he appears in this one but doesn't appear in "Past Prologue" so was worried the swap meant that the showrunners thought something about Quark's character wasn't working. But actually, I think "Past Prologue" just works better as a second episode because I feel like Kira and her themes of post-colonialism are closer to the center of the show and the main thing going on in these early seasons than an episode that mainly does character-establishing for Odo, so I think "Past Prologue" establishes more critical things. The last-minute swap does create some minor continuity errors in terms of costuming, though.
Overall, I really like this episode! Very classic episode for Odo and Quark's "enemies but really friends" dynamic (very heavy-handed about it, even XD), and I like the sci-fi murder mystery here of an untraceable murder pinned on Odo accomplished by growing and killing a clone! Again, not particularly central to DS9's themes, but just a really fun self-contained episode.
Thoughts on Quodo potential:
- Well, there's already fic written featuring Quark comforting Odo in his office (above), which I think is an excellent fit for this episode. (This episode is already so shippy; you just need to say the quiet parts out loud. XD)
- I've also long been working on a canon divergence fic featuring Odo actually joining Quark's "organization" -- as a waiter in his bar! It's pure crack. But more generally, I think it would be fun to play with Criminal!Odo AU, because Odo's skillset actually *is* really suited to being a criminal, and it would be SO fun to see Odo encounter his people later and they're both mutually in shock at the contrast between Odo's profession and what the Founders are up to. So you could use this episode to explore what it would be like for Odo to live a life of crime with Quark as his boss. XD
- There's also a lot you can do with the opening conversation, like Odo and Quark in an established (but frequently bickering) relationship to mirror Miles and Keiko's marriage, or play up Odo being jealous of Quark's crush on Dax, or Quark daring Odo to try out a romantic relationship and Odo agrees to try it out... with Quark, etc. etc.