4.26 — “Broken Link”
Plot: Odo starts melting on the concourse, afflicted by a Changeling disease that is beyond the ken of Doctor Bashir. He soon reaches the conclusion that the only cure for him is on the other side of the Wormhole at the new Homeworld of the Founders.
Thoughts: This is a big episode and may convince me to stop reading about the backgrounds of the episodes before blogging, because I swear there are spoilers for ten different upcoming episodes that connect to this one. Fortunately I forget things very easily now that I’m over 40. Well, closer to 50 than 40….
Like, I didn’t remember the alien smuggler chick who looks like a supervillain, at all. The one with purple hair and the jumpsuit that looks like she’s in the X-Men? What what? It turns out she appeared in two previous episodes, DS9 2.1, “Homecoming,” and 3.6, “The Abandoned.” She gets a name here, Rionoj, but don’t worry about remembering it, we won’t see her again.
That was only a minor spoiler.
“Broken Link” hearkens back to episode 3.26, “The Adversary,” in which Odo killed a Changeling infiltrator on the Defiant to protect the others on board, and also the pivotal episode 3.21, “The Die is Cast,” in which retired Obsidian Order leader Enabran Tain attacks the Founders’ original homeworld with a Cardassian-Romulan fleet, only to discover that the Founders have abandoned the planet and set a deadly trap for Tain.
I was quite chilled by the Founder representative’s response to Garak’s query:
FOUNDER: There were no Cardassian survivors.
GARAK: You mean, they’re all dead?
FOUNDER: They’re dead. You’re dead, Cardassia is dead. Your people were doomed the moment they attacked us. I believe that answers your question.
This points out something of a contradiction. Much hay is made of Odo’s guilt in being the first member of his race to harm another Changeling, but apart from this scene no mention at all is made of the untold destruction that the Founders have visited upon other civilizations through the Dominion. I think Odo could have, even through his contrition, raised this protest.
The Dominion’s response to these events from Third Season seems a bit delayed, doesn’t it? I understood that the Fourth Season is supposed to be the point at which the Dominion War begins in earnest, but these long-arc episodes have been few and far between. The Dominion bides its time.
A lot of drama is wrung from Odo’s travails, and his humiliating walk across the concourse to the Defiant, which left me confused. Doesn’t he have to spend half the day in liquid form anyway, even when healthy, and isn’t that his most comfortable shape? Why wouldn’t they just be carrying him around in a bucket? I’m no fun.
Would the Dominion really have left the Defiant’s weapons systems active, giving such an opportunity to Garak? Maybe they find Odo distracting.
Odo–now as a human. He can’t be pleased. When did he start getting tongue-tied around attractive females?
DS9 isn’t resting on its laurels. I’m looking forward to next season already.
4 out of 5 Great Links.
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