S07.E14: Chimera

[John Potts]

I just caught this episode a couple of days ago - it's not the greatest, but clearly Kira is a believer in the saying, "If you love them, let them go" - I do wonder if Sisko ever found out what Kira did & if so what he did (I suspect he did but let her off with a stern talking to, though there wasn't a lot of time before the end of the series).

But the main thing that struck me was: This episode is SO GAY. I mean you literally have two men (well, protoplasmic goo beings that look like men) swapping bodily fluids - and yet despite that, it was only on this (I think third) viewing that it struck me. It was far more effective in making an issue of gay rights than previous attempts Trek has made to address the issue (like NextGen's The Outcast or DS9's Rejoined).

Either that or I'm totally oblivious when it comes to MESSAGE Episodes!

[blueray]

Odo doesn't really have a biological sex, though I suppose he associates with male.  That being said I never got the impression that linking was the same as sex, it is how they communicate and how they are naturally. Its like talking but more imminent (as discussed in the episode).  Odo is in love with Kira.

[John Potts]

I agree linking isn't exactly the same as sex (it's not exactly clear how Changelings reproduce, but I would bet dollars to doughnuts that Linking is involved) but it is clearly sex-adjacent. And Rejoined was supposedly about well, rejoining and not about lesbianism, but that was obviously what was implied. You could argue that this episode is (meant to be?) more about racial profiling (with the Klingons claiming that a Changeling cannot "fairly" judge another Changeling) than sexual politics (probably why it didn't occur to me until now), but I'm sure the undercurrent was there.

I agree that Odo's true love is Kira - and I loved Rene's comment that at the end that Kira (well Nana Visitor) makes him look like a fantastic lover in a way you can actually show on TV!

[starri]

  On 2/10/2017 at 11:20 AM, John Potts said:

than sexual politics (probably why it didn't occur to me until now), but I'm sure the undercurrent was there.

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It's more than an undercurrent.  Quark tells Odo that the war is not the time for a "Changling Pride" parade on the Promenade.  And when Laas and Odo Link for the first time, the way their forms melt into each other looks like they're kissing.

[iMonrey]

  Quote

But the main thing that struck me was: This episode is SO GAY.

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Yeah, I was wondering if maybe I was reading too much into it, but the subtext seemed pretty blatant on second viewing. Kira is obviously jealous when she finds out that Odo linked with Laas, and there's a whole conversation on the promenade where Laas wants to link with Odo and Odo pulls away and says "Not here!" and then Laas accuses him of being ashamed of "who he really is." I mean, if this wasn't a deliberate metaphor then someone on the writing staff was subconsciously trying to come out. 

[readster]

  On 8/25/2017 at 5:38 PM, iMonrey said:

Yeah, I was wondering if maybe I was reading too much into it, but the subtext seemed pretty blatant on second viewing. Kira is obviously jealous when she finds out that Odo linked with Laas, and there's a whole conversation on the promenade where Laas wants to link with Odo and Odo pulls away and says "Not here!" and then Laas accuses him of being ashamed of "who he really is." I mean, if this wasn't a deliberate metaphor then someone on the writing staff was subconsciously trying to come out. 

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My thoughts too when I first saw the episode. I was like: "This is like someone is purposely trying to come out." Because you know in the late 90s and early 00s we had to bring in people who wanted to come out because the writers or producers were gay themselves. (Dawson's Creek anyone?)

[Maverick]

 Uh yeah, half the dialogue in this episode was totally based on being gay.  'I'm happy with who I am but I'm not going to do something that in public makes people uncomfortable'   Translation:  'I'm totes cool being gay but I'm not going to kiss my boyfriend in public and make a scene'   Translation translation:  'I'm totally not comfortable being gay and I'm afraid people laugh at me and beat me up'.

 As if the conversation wasn't enough,, later in the episode Quark tells Odo 'this is no time for a Changeling Pride demonstration'.   Doesn't get any more on the nose than that.  Seriously, all you had to do was drop the makeup and put Laas in an ACTUP! t-shirt and you drop these scenes in any 90s drama.

 The only thing I remembered about this episode was Laas being one of the thought-to-be-dropped-plot-point 100 Changelings and him flying through space.   After re-watching the episode I realize I must have blocked it out of my mind because I really didn't like this.  Laas was a total dick and we get a return to Odo about to turn on the people he's chosen to stay with.   Are we really supposed to believe Odo has't been shapeshifting since he started dating Kira?   Why?  And since when is Odo afraid to shapeshift on the Promenade.  He's done it many times before and I doubt it scares anyone.  With the things you'd see in an open port like DS9, I highly doubt Odo changing into a bird is going to be the most traumatizing thing they see.  And Quark's bit about only being tolerant of people with two legs and two arms?  Um, no.   Different types of races have been established in the Trek universe and the reason we don't see more of them is because it's hard to make human actors look like anything other than a being with two arms and two legs.  I was also annoyed at the notion of a Changeling existing as mist, much less as fire.

 As annoying as this episode is, I suppose it could have been worse.  Originally, Laas was supposed to convince Odo all solids are racist and Odo was going to leave with him.  Odo only decides to stay when Sisko goes to him and says he's right, solids are racists, that's just the way it is and always will be.  Impressed that Sisko would be so self-aware and honest, Odo decides to stay.  Which, WTF?  Seriously?  

[legaleagle53]

You have to admit, though, that Quark nailed it when he lectured Odo about the origin of prejudice:  As he put it, our ancestors had learned the hard way that what they didn't know could kill them, so they developed an instinctive fear of anything that was unknown or different from them out of self-preservation.  This instinctive fear was what evolved into prejudice against anything or anyone who was considered strange or different: racism, sexism, homophobia, and religious intolerance all stem from the primal fear that anything or anyone who is different from "us" is a deadly threat that must be eliminated at all costs.

I hate to say it, but for someone as self-absorbed as Quark usually was, he really had a very good read on humans and human nature.

[readster]

  On 9/3/2017 at 7:01 AM, legaleagle53 said:

You have to admit, though, that Quark nailed it when he lectured Odo about the origin of prejudice:  As he put it, our ancestors had learned the hard way that what they didn't know could kill them, so they developed an instinctive fear of anything that was unknown or different from them out of self-preservation.  This instinctive fear was what evolved into prejudice against anything or anyone who was considered strange or different: racism, sexism, homophobia, and religious intolerance all stem from the primal fearA that anything or anyone who is different from "us" is a deadly threat that must be eliminated at all costs.

I hate to say it, but for someone as self-absorbed as Quark usually was, he really had a very good read on humans and human nature.

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That's what really set Quark appart from other Frengie, he was had a great read on everyone from Solid to Changling, he even got Q. It also helped that Armin Shimmerman was also a great actor in the part. 

[John Potts]

  On 9/3/2017 at 7:01 AM, legaleagle53 said:

for someone as self-absorbed as Quark usually was, he really had a very good read on humans and human nature.

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Well, Ferengi are meant to be salesmen if you can't understand what your purchaser (or mark) wants, it's hard to convince them to buy your goods. It's just a shame that TPTB forgot that because they seemed completely baffled by other cultures, for the most part.

[rmontro]

  On 2/6/2017 at 10:35 PM, John Potts said:

But the main thing that struck me was: This episode is SO GAY. I mean you literally have two men (well, protoplasmic goo beings that look like men) swapping bodily fluids

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I've got to admit, when I saw Odo and Laas melding into each other, it did have a homosexual look to me.  But I never thought that they were intentionally trying to beat a gay tolerance message, even with Quark's "Changeling Pride" comment.  I thought the anti-racist tones were stronger, but I could well be wrong.  They were certainly sending a very general anti-prejudice message.  As for Odo and Laas linking, as odd as it looked, they're aliens whose species actually spends most of their time linked.  They said it was as natural to them as talking.

Boy, Laas sure acted like a jerk talking to the "solids".  Killing the Klingon was kind of shocking, but Klingons should remember when you live by the sword, you die by it.  Shouldn't go looking for a fight if you can't finish it.

I also didn't much care for changelings being able to survive the void of space, or change into fog.  But I guess it was no worse than Kira's ecstacy over Odo's gassy light show at the end.  I don't even want to think about what's going on there.  It might be worth noting that this sort of thing has been spoofed on The Orville with Norm MacDonald's Yaphit character.

[blueray]

I didn't like that they could survive in space either. As this didn't seem to make much sense. In the show it has shown that Odo uses oxagon. However, minor detail in a pretty good episode.