Quodo in Every Episode discussion: "Vortex"

[chacusha]

This week we're discussing... episode 1x12 "Vortex"!

Episode synopsis: Odo is stuck guarding a prisoner named Croden, a murderer and wanted criminal from the Gamma Quadrant who potentially possesses a clue to Odo's origins -- information about a colony of "changeling" shapeshifters like Odo -- which he's willing to divulge in exchange for his freedom.

What The Boys are up to in this episode: Omg, so much... This is an Odo-centric episode where the focus is on Odo's interactions with Croden, but Quark plays a major role in it. In the opening, he and Odo discuss the Miradorn and other disreputable characters currently on the station and whether Quark has been in contact with them. Quark orchestrates an armed robbery, which Odo interrupts, ending with one Miradorn dead and Croden in jail. When Croden claims to know a colony of changelings, Odo presses Quark for information that could corroborate this knowledge, but Quark doesn't have any. Odo ends up escorting Croden to be tried on his home planet, but is pursued by the second Miradorn who has threatened Quark in order to find out Odo and Croden's location. After wading through Croden's many lies, Odo finally discovers his truth: he lives to be reunited with his daughter. Having worked together to successfully escape the Miradorn, Odo decides to sneak Croden and his daughter on a Vulcan ship to give them a shot at a new life rather than turn Croden over to his government.

One screencap from this episode:


Transcript: http://chakoteya.net/DS9/412.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+s01e12+Vortex+%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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Comments

[chacusha]

Random thoughts:

- The boys are Interacting, lol.

- I like how Quark is actually kind of right here about Odo's species being paranoid?

- Quark hissing, lol.

- Oh, I never realized that Quark uses the term "objet d'art" in this episode. I knew he used it later in the series (I think "Who Mourns for Morn").

- I also didn't realize that "changeling" is used for the first time in this episode.

- I don't know if I'm just so Quodo-pilled now, but "I couldn't get so lucky" just sounds like straightforward flirtation from Odo??

- I like the element here of Odo having a chink in his armor, which is his curiosity about his origins. He's being very indirect in his feeling out for relevant information from Quark (presumably because he doesn't want Quark to know that he's searching for any info he can find about his people), to the point where that indirectness is kind of hindering his ability to get a straight answer from Quark, who I think would actually be willing to pass along any info he had about Croden's connection with Changelings (if he had any), just because it would help Odo and not incriminate Quark, lol. But Odo is touchier about inquiring about his own origins than he is about interrogating Quark about crimes. I really like this scene because Quark seems so stressed out and trying to play the role of an "innocent friendly bartender" when his criminal plans have gone really really wrong, but you can see his demeanor change when it becomes more apparent that there's a personal stake in this for Odo.

- "Unfortunately, the only one who can tell me is less reliable than Quark." -- It's always interesting to me how frequently Odo compares people's characters to Quark or to Ferengi in general, as if Quark is a moral measuring stick for him.

- This episode is so shippy. XD It's clear that Quark is more upset about endangering Odo than he can let on. I like the contrast here between Rom who doesn't seem at all upset about Odo dying (probably more worried about what happens when Odo survives), and Quark who is supposed to be the more ruthless and criminal brother clearly having pangs of guilt. Because yeah, Quark actually does care about Odo. XD

- It's also interesting how there's this recurring theme of endangering other people's lives to save one's own. Like, Quark sells out Odo to prevent Ah-kel from killing him, but is troubled precisely because he knows that Odo won't do the same and sell Croden out to save his own life. At the end, Croden is also faced with this choice when he has to pick whether to leave Odo behind or endanger his own chance of survival by sticking with Odo (and therefore increasing his chances of being turned over to his government). (Also, during the robbery, Croden kills Ro-kel to avoid being killed.) Another theme in this episode is that of being racially alone in the universe (i.e. living among strangers as the only person of your race) and what Croden/Odo are willing to do in order to find their (remaining) family. Also, like a lot of DS9 episodes, another recurring theme is finding a balance between lying and sincerity. At first, Croden cynically exploits the similarities between him and Odo (aloneness in the universe) in order to try to manipulate him, but then by the end, Croden actually does find himself faced with living a life similar to Odo's -- something where a cynical lie does end up becoming a vulnerable truth. Then there's also the way both Quark and Croden are constantly lying in all their interactions with Odo, who is also maintaining a pretense of his own.

- Huh, I never realized that the Miradorn twins here are actually played by the same actor. Wow. Now I'm wondering how they filmed all the shots where both twins appear.

- I also find the casual "both my wives" mention here interesting. It's far from the first time that Star Trek uses alien cultures to depict other kinds of marriage arrangements (Phlox in Enterprise is another major example of this), but it's very understated here. I also don't know if it was the intent or not, but I also always felt like Ro-kel and Ah-kel are also a way of perhaps trying to depict something romance-like between two men -- obviously, they're twins here so that's not the surface/textual read in any way, but I always thought sci-fi mechanics were also being used here to get away with having a plotline that features one guy hellbent on avenging his male life partner, essentially. Maybe I'm reading too much into it, though!

- Also kind of interesting that Odo is capable of being knocked out here by a falling rock. I always wonder if this is early installment weirdness where they haven't quite worked out the capabilities of shapeshifters yet, or if it's canon that Odo actually does possess the vulnerabilities of whatever form he has currently taken on. While the latter can be helpful for power-scaling reasons, I generally think it contradicts what is shown/established elsewhere, which is that Odo is goo on the inside (i.e. no brain or nervous system to disrupt via head trauma), and it takes a lot of force to stun or disable a Changeling regardless of their current form, so a falling rock is probably not enough to disrupt goo Odo either. But it's an interesting detail in this episode!

Overall, while this episode is a bit clumsy as most of the season 1 episodes are, I am kind of feral about it (as you can tell by the length of this write-up XD). Despite Quark being a bit of a side character here, especially compared to Croden, there are still SO many A+ scenes between Quark and Odo here. Also, such a big Odo character episode, fairly early on in the series, where some of Odo's core traits are on full display here.


Thoughts on Quodo potential:

- I'm surprised this episode doesn't have any Quodo fics for it... I feel like it's pretty straightforward, for example, to make Quark and Odo in a secret relationship, so Rom (not aware that Odo and Quark are in a relationship) is all happy for Odo to get himself killed, but Quark has to hide his worry.

- (Also, as with a lot of season 1/2 episodes, the exes read of that scene is very viable... Here, Rom WOULD be aware that Quark and Odo were dating, and assumes that Odo dying would be good riddance for Quark, but Quark still has feelings lol.)

- I also feel like there is a lot of subtext between Croden and Odo in this one (like, I feel like the episode is two steps away from Croden and Odo working out a co-parenting arrangement; also, Odo does a lot of manhandling, lol) that very much mirrors the tension between Quark and Odo -- like the whole, "you're a criminal and a liar and I don't like/trust you" going to "actually, you do have a heart buried under all the cynicality and we have a fleeting moment of sincere but awkward connection." Anyway, I feel like you can use that Quark-Croden parallel to have a Quodo subplot here, like Quark feeling jealous at being temporarily displaced in Odo's attentions by another criminal, or Croden flirting with Odo and pointing out to Odo that Quark is constantly doing the same (much to Odo's confusion), or that kind of thing!

- You can also play up the whole "my hero" moment with Odo intervening in the business deal/robbery in the holosuite. I always thought it was strangely ambiguous the way Shimerman delivers the "Five glasses for four people?!" line because I think on its face, it's meant to be a kind of "Rom, you idiot!!" sort of moment where he's pissed at Odo being there, but also, Shimerman delivers it in a way that makes it sound like a bit of a "oh this is fortunate, hallelujah!" kind of moment (even including a glass-clink that comes off as celebratory). So yeah, you could definitely play the moment here as Quark being like "Odo! You rescued me! 😍"

- Have Quark and Odo talk about Odo's people and how Odo feels about being the only shapeshifter in the Alpha Quadrant? Intimate conversations like that.

- Or AU where Odo does end up raising Croden's daughter, and Quark helps. One of three episodes where Odo and Quark could conceivably co-parent an adopted kid together...

The Convo between Rom and Quark

[zee0b]

I'm a big fan of slow burn, so I definitely loved that bit where Rom was talking about how Odo dying would be a win-win situation for them, but Quark was seeing it as a pyrrhic victory kind of thing. (I suppose part of that is impacted by Rom still not being super fleshed out - I can't imagine later series Rom ever cheering on someone else's death, even before Rom started working as an engineer on the station). I love "cat-and-mouse" type ships

Re: The Convo between Rom and Quark

[chacusha]

I'm glad you're a fan of that bit too! Odo and Quark definitely have feelings for each other that aren't just the rivalry they're expected/supposed to have. It's such an appealing part of their relationship/interactions!

And yeah, early season Rom's personality is certainly SO different from late seasons Rom. XD I kind of explain his behavior here that he's mainly following Quark's lead in these early seasons so (from what he knows of Quark) he thinks that orchestrating a situation where someone kills Odo without Quark having to lift a finger sounds like a masterstroke, and he's going into a kind of fawning "brilliant work, boss!" type mode. But in this PARTICULAR case he's read the room wrong and failed to predict that Quark would not be happy with this outcome.

That said, I subscribe to the headcanon that Rom always has a kind of low cunning/subtle ruthlessness to him that never really goes away. XD Switching jobs makes him have different, more harmless outlets for that aspect of his personality, and I think he's good at concealing that ruthless streak under a pleasant demeanor, but I think when he DOES show his teeth, it's always going to be more unexpectedly ruthless than when Quark shows his teeth. (I guess what I'm saying is that Rom can be a little yandere, as a treat. XD)