Quodo in Every Episode discussion: "The Siege"

[chacusha]

This week we're discussing... episode 2x03 "The Siege"!

Episode synopsis: The final part of season 2's three-part opener! Kira and Dax are tasked with getting proof of Cardassian support of the Circle to the Chamber of Ministers; meanwhile, Sisko and a crew of Starfleet officers have chosen to remain on DS9 in order to delay its handover to Bajoran forces to buy time for the evidence to come out and Bajor's provisional government to be restored. This episode concludes Li Nalas's story of becoming a Bajoran folk hero.

What The Boys are up to in this episode: Quark implements a scheme to resell seats aboard the evacuation runabouts and winds up getting stuck aboard DS9 as it undergoes a siege. Odo briefly appears in one scene to tell Jake and Nog to get to the evacuation point, has one scene with Quark where he brings him to Ops regarding his ticket scalping scheme and Quark gives him a fond goodbye, and appears in several scenes assisting the Starfleet defense of the station.

One screencap from this episode:


Transcript: http://chakoteya.net/DS9/423.htm

Quodo fics tagged with this episode: None (https://archiveofourown.org/tags/Episode:%20s02e03%20The%20Seige%20(Star%20Trek:%20Deep%20Space%20Nine)/works)

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:

- I like all the minor Starfleet staff featured in the opening scene here. Very unusual to get so many!

- I like the dynamic between Quark and Rom here, where it's almost like Quark is like a teacher quizzing Rom on his business knowledge and Rom (bless his soul) clearly not knowing the answer and just trying to guess something.

- Aww Jake and Nog are so cute. They sure bring a "going on a field trip" vibe to a station evacuation. XD

- Also, love how terribly Miles and Keiko communicate. Every conversation between them is full of passive-aggression like this. XD Also, I like Molly's hair here.

- "...I might have overbooked slightly." -- Quark is so awful in a comedic way. I love him. XD

- Odo's emotional confusion at Quark saying something caring to him, haha.

- I'm imagining Rom gleefully waving goodbye to Quark from the runabout. Good for him lol.

- I like the Dax + Kira team-up here, and how Dax is (for once) clearly a bit shaken/out of her element here. Love their banter. Getting some Star Wars vibes from these ship effects. XD

- So many interesting sets and costumes in this episode!

- Love Odo turning into a tripwire. He deserves a little Looney Tunes shapeshifting antics as a treat.

- "So what do you think?" "Think?" "The nose." -- Very cute.

- This exchange between Bashir and Quark is also very cute. They vibe.

- I like how Colonel Day is just The Worst. XD

- "Well fought, sir." -- It's also interesting to me that General Krim attributes the resistance's victory to Li Nalas like this, even though most likely the strategizing was entirely done by Sisko -- another instance of the thing that has plagued Li Nalas his whole life, which is having a halo effect around him that causes him to accumulate undeserved acclaim.

- Interesting episode -- a lot of scrappy guerilla tactics going on in this one. I'm not sure I really get why it was important for Sisko and co. to stay behind and mess with the Bajoran military forces trying to secure the station, though. Like, did it make a difference to how things played out or would things have gone much the same and it's really up to whether Kira and Dax were able to make it to the Chamber of Ministers?

I know DS9 ended up shying away from the Bajoran politics episodes because they weren't very popular, but I like them! I enjoy in this episode getting to see so many different Bajoran characters and factions all facing off against each other (Li, Jaro, Winn, Bareil, Day, Krim, Kira).

And this episode has one of my favorite Quodo scenes -- the mix of antagonism and genuine sentiment is just the perfect Quodo vibes. The script doesn't have much that isn't just there in the episode itself. There is this little note, though: at the end, after Quark exits, telling Odo to take care of himself, the note on Odo's reaction is: "Odo shrugs it off. But the subtext is there... he will miss him..." Aww, Odo will miss Quark. 😆 They're so cute.


Thoughts on Quodo potential:

- In these early-season episodes, either Quark or Odo are constantly considering leaving the station -- the first episode, "A Man Alone," "The Circle," and now this one. You could have something where Quark or Odo are having to seriously reflect on the possibility of never seeing each other again.

- Or alternate goodbye where they kiss lol.

- Both Odo and Quark having stayed behind on the station opens up SO many possibilities for a missing scene in this episode! Odo finding out Quark missed the runabout and gloating about it (while also feeling simultaneously relieved for Quark to be there and also worried for his safety, haha). Or Odo and Quark bantering over the comm and annoying each other and everybody else in doing so. Or Quark checking in on Odo while all the sneaking around is going on or vice versa.