How did Odo keep his job?
- Thread starter JoeZhang
- Start date
It was explained how Odo got his job in the first place...because Bajorans respected him as an impartial mediator. And it also shows in that episode how Dukat couldn't corrupt him.
In other words, during the CU reign, Odo was the only employee of the station who wasn't handpicked by Dukat to be a Yes Man.
So IMO, yes, all that does make for a great explanation that was indeed put on-screen as to why Odo was allowed to keep his job.
In other words, during the CU reign, Odo was the only employee of the station who wasn't handpicked by Dukat to be a Yes Man.
So IMO, yes, all that does make for a great explanation that was indeed put on-screen as to why Odo was allowed to keep his job.
I found it odd, too. Especially because it was shown in the episode The Collaborator that collaborators were sentenced to exile. Odo even admits (in the episode A Simple Investigation) that he was a collaborator, and he feels guilty about it.
I'm guessing the Bajoran government chose to overlook that because it would be useful to have someone who is on good terms with the Cardassians in a position on DS9. Kira might have had something to do with it, too. She was the station commander between the time the Cardassians pulled out and the Federation arrived, and Odo saved her life during the occupation.
I'm guessing the Bajoran government chose to overlook that because it would be useful to have someone who is on good terms with the Cardassians in a position on DS9. Kira might have had something to do with it, too. She was the station commander between the time the Cardassians pulled out and the Federation arrived, and Odo saved her life during the occupation.
He wasn't really a collaborator though. He didn't even see himself, or at least admit to himself, that he felt that way until season five.
During the occupation he protected the Bajorans by being on their side and making sure no one was wrongly convicted and punishments weren't extreme. They respected im for it, and in season five (the name of the ep escapes me, the one set in his mind) it's said the Bajorans saw him as a hero.
Stands to reason they'd keep someone around who was more about justice and keeping the peace than he was being the Cardassians lap dog.
During the occupation he protected the Bajorans by being on their side and making sure no one was wrongly convicted and punishments weren't extreme. They respected im for it, and in season five (the name of the ep escapes me, the one set in his mind) it's said the Bajorans saw him as a hero.
Stands to reason they'd keep someone around who was more about justice and keeping the peace than he was being the Cardassians lap dog.
He happened to have a Bajoran uniform.
I don't agree that Odo was a collaborator or that he admitted to being one. Yes, he made some mistakes based on not having full knowledge of the situations he was involved in when he worked for the Cardies, because they manipulated his perception of the truth, but that is in no way the same as being a collaborator because collaborators' acts are deliberate and Odo's were not. Plus, the Bajorans didn't know that the Cardassians manipulated him to some degree at the point when he was working for them, nor did Odo himself.
It is really odd.
Granted, Odo was Schindleresque, but I don't recall Oskar Schindler being invited to run any Israeli military installations.
As for his own perceptions, by that metric you might as well have named Dukat the station administrator. Or kai, for that matter.
Granted, Odo was Schindleresque, but I don't recall Oskar Schindler being invited to run any Israeli military installations.
As for his own perceptions, by that metric you might as well have named Dukat the station administrator. Or kai, for that matter.
I'm not sure the choice of personnel on DS9 was worth much political wrangling or even rational thought to begin with. I mean, when Bajor emerged from the occupation, surely the provisional government's main policy would have been one of isolation from all those nasty aliens from outer space. So the Cardassian space station in orbit wouldn't have meant much, and wouldn't have aroused passions. Whoever agreed to run that place would be allowed to. And once Kira agreed to do this pariah job, her pick of personnel would not be interfered with.
Timo Saloniemi
Timo Saloniemi
He kept his job by bein' awesome.
The Militia wanted to keep him there, Kira's positon as the station's first officer and Sisko's desire for an integrated crew aboard the station kept Odo as the station's chief of security.
Besides, its not like he had anywhere else to go, right?
The Militia wanted to keep him there, Kira's positon as the station's first officer and Sisko's desire for an integrated crew aboard the station kept Odo as the station's chief of security.
Besides, its not like he had anywhere else to go, right?
Odo had always lived and worked by his own rules. At best, he had minimal respect for authority or the chain of command. He did things his way. And if any of his superiors had a problem with this attitude, he'd simply resign (he threatened to do so in "The Passenger", and again in "The Search, Part I", when he felt that Starfleet Security was trying to interfere with the way he ran things).
It's likey that Odo had the same "either I'm the Chief of Security or I'm not" attitude during the occupation. We can only assume that Dukat kept Odo around because he found him useful... maybe because Odo's independence and his disregard for Cardassian rules and authority appeased the Bajorans. It's also possible that Dukat found Odo and his attitude quite amusing.
It's likey that Odo had the same "either I'm the Chief of Security or I'm not" attitude during the occupation. We can only assume that Dukat kept Odo around because he found him useful... maybe because Odo's independence and his disregard for Cardassian rules and authority appeased the Bajorans. It's also possible that Dukat found Odo and his attitude quite amusing.
Sisko didn't make Odo his chief of security - Odo was there before Sisko even arrived. But, once he saw how awesome Odo was, of course he's goin' to keep Starfleet from replacin' him.
And it goes with Sisko's plan to have an integrated crew, not just a token Bajorian liaison surrounded by Starfleet uniforms.
It's not unrealistic. First Odo was seen as reliable by the bajorans. And second there's the fact that after terrible situations such as an dictature/occupation many administrative personnel usually keep their jobs after the governing change because it's simply not feasable to fire the whole country administriation and rehire new guys during an already chaotic situation.
Technically, he didn't have any uniform until the Founders took away his shapeshifting abilities - Note that when he gets them back, his uniform falls away and he reforms into his normal shape with the same coverings. And in the episode that Kira asks him about his belt that he stopped wearing he forms it right over his waist. And the times that he shifted right into a tuxedo...
Anyway, the way I look at it is that Odo stayed behind after the Cardassians pulled out and no one on Bajor really cared/noticed - they were a little bit more concerned with putting together a government and rebuilding the planet. By the tiem they did notice, Odo had probably been back at work, nabbing thieves and protecting people on the Promenade, so the government basically said 'you want the job, you've got it - we've got other things to worry about. Here's your commission.' Then Sisko arrived and made the arrangement official
It is kinda odd that during the Occupation, Odo just wore that drab outfit that they showed in season 7 when he and Kira go to teach the Cardassians how to be resistance fighters, but in Emissary he already has a Bajoran uniform. How long before Emissary did the Cardassians leave? It seemed like it took place very soon after. So when did the Bajoran militia find time to give him a commission? For that matter, when did the Bajorans have time to have a militia and make uniforms?
^According to Dukat, the Cardassians pulled out 2 weeks before the Federation arrived. Now that you mention it, that is a pretty short time to put together a militia. Perhaps they just rounded up any willing members of the resistance and called them a militia.
I speculate that the resistance, anticipating that the Cardassians were going to be leaving, put together a sort of government-in-hiding that, upon the Cardassian withdrawal, became officially recognized by the Federation (and interstellar community in general) as the provisional government of Bajor.
