Quodo in Every Episode discussion: "The Passenger"

[chacusha]

This week we're discussing... episode 1x09 "The Passenger"!

Episode synopsis: The officers at DS9 rescue a security officer transporting a dangerous prisoner. Despite the prisoner apparently dying in the transport ship accident, the security officer is convinced her prisoner is still alive and actively making preparations to hijack an upcoming deuridium shipment arriving at DS9.

What The Boys are up to in this episode: Odo and Quark share a scene toward the beginning where they talk about Dax, desire, and deuridium shipments. Odo has several scenes where he is talking to Primmin and/or Sisko about who is in charge of security on the station and responding to breaches of security, and a scene where he talks to Kajada about Vantika. Quark has several scenes where he arranges/speaks to mercenaries that he has hired at the request of Vantika. Odo and Quark have a second scene together where Quark is questioned about an attempt on Kajada's life that happened in his bar. In the rest of the episode, Odo is in Ops responding to Vantika's hijacking.

One screencap from this episode:


Transcript: http://chakoteya.net/DS9/409.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+s01e09+The+Passenger+%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]

General thoughts:

- Random but I love the fire extinguisher Kira uses here.

- I'm sorry, but it's cracking me up that we've now had THREE episodes in a row where Odo is being all jealous about people Quark is flirting with (first, Vash and Quark, then Odo fishing for whether Quark would close down his bar for Dax's sake, and now in this episode, him obviously sitting at the bar and paying attention to Quark flirting with Dax). This show is killing me. Also, "It's good to want things. / Even things you can't have? / Especially things I can't have," is such a good exchange and just kind of kills me.

- Also, this is just one of many episodes where Bashir is a secret villain/saboteur.

- I love Odo being so pissy about being displaced by Starfleet security. He's so childish here that you kind of empathize with Sisko. XD

- I love this scene with Quark having a shady conversation with some shady characters. I feel like Quark's character softens a bit over the course of the show, but here he's pretty criminal. I think aiding Vantika is one of the sketchiest things he's done, along with what he does in "Invasive Procedures."

- I really like Primmin and Odo's dynamic. I like to imagine that in some alternate version of ST:DS9, Primmin became a recurring guest character and we got a lot of buddy cop plotlines for the two of them. :')

- Lol at these deuridium transport crew members just standing and staring at the intruders before flying backward.

- Siddig's villain acting is so bad, though. XD

Overall, I really like this episode! Part of it is that Odo and Quark's interactions are GREAT in this one, but I also just like Kajada's character (always surprising when Star Trek manages to write an engaging female guest character, unfortunately...) and her close/obsessive relationship with Vantika. It's a bit darker than Odo and Quark's relationship, but I also think there's a definite parallel there.


Thoughts on Quodo potential:

- While it is again pretty hard to top the Quodo shippiness already in this episode, at the same time, I think it's also pretty easy just to make the subtext text here. I mean, Quark and Odo having a conversation about desire, where the very-repressed Odo muses about wanting things you can't have -- like, come onnnn. Sure, ostensibly he is talking about Quark wanting Dax and deuridium, but to me, this is Odo knowing that being in a relationship with Quark is a bad idea but wanting it anyway.

- Just like in "Way of the Warrior" (where a very similar thing happens with Worf), you could have Primmin here wondering what the heck is up with Odo's treatment of Quark.

- Quark repudiating Odo for not liking company, not understanding love, and being miserable is a recurring dynamic between them -- like, it already came up briefly in "A Man Alone," it pops up again in "If Wishes Were Horses," "Profit and Loss," "The Ascent," etc. and it's also part of what makes their dynamic in "Crossfire" so complex. It's kind of unclear to me whether Quark can tell that Odo is more interested in those parts of life than he's letting on, or if he actually does believe the front that Odo puts on here. Could do some character study here?

- I love Quark and Odo in the infirmary. They both look so chastened to be there, lol. Anyway, I feel like you could extend their dialogue a bit here, like Odo grilling Quark on what he was doing in the bar, or trying to figure out what he's up to, or trying to warn him off of being an accomplice for Vantika, etc.

- Actually mmm I just realized that Quark never actually gets any punishment for assisting Vantika in this episode... Is that because the DS9 administration couldn't concretely connect him to the mercenaries Vantika hired? Or did he work out a deal with Odo again? It's also so weird to me that Odo wasn't keeping closer tabs on Quark in this episode, even when warned by Kajada. Maybe Quark times his business meetings to coincide with Odo's regeneration cycle. Lots of food for thought!