Odo: badges, buckets and being a mess

[Effie]

Odo is basically what happens when you give an institutional nervous breakdown a badge and a bucket.

Nobody asked for a shape-shifting constable on DS9. The Bajorans just looked at this weird gelatinous guy cleaning up the post-occupation mess and went, "Fine, you're security." And he took the job because order is just his coping mechanism. When your internal life is an absolute mess, making sure the promenade is swept and the paperwork is alphabetical is the lowest-effort way to keep from losing your mind.

The best thing about him is that he’s trying so hard to be this unshakeable, emotionless monolith, while completely falling apart over Kira.

And then you have Quark. Half of Odo's daily routine seemed to involve turning into a piece of furniture just to spy on a Ferengi, only to pop back into his humanoid form looking like he personally hates everyone in a five-mile radius.

He doesn't learn a neat little lesson and he doesn't change into a warm, cuddly guy by season seven. He just stays a grumpy, judgmental disaster all the way through.

Honestly? Same.

 

[Tosk]

Nobody asked for a shape-shifting constable on DS9.

I mean...technically, Dukat kinda did.

The Bajorans just looked at this weird gelatinous guy cleaning up the post-occupation mess and went, "Fine, you're security."

Weirder, the Bajorans looked at the goo-cop they already had working on the station under the Cardassians and said, "Just keep doing the same job I guess?"

 

[Boo-khat!]

Weirder, the Bajorans looked at the goo-cop they already had working on the station under the Cardassians and said, "Just keep doing the same job I guess?"

Quite true. Wouldn't the Bajorans consider Odo to be a collaborator? It's not like Odo was being coerced against his will to be head of security. Or does being an alien give him a get-out-of-jail-free card?

 

[Gore-ac]

Didn't an angry mob of Bajorans riot because of Odo keeping his job in season 1?

If memory serves the episode was called A Man Alone.

They only accepted him after Space Jesus told them too.

 

[Tosk]

Odo wasn't seen as a collaborator apparently due to his severe adherence to "justice" (though with at least one notably large slip). It probably helped that his first official job ever had him not turn in Kira for sabotage when he could have.

Didn't an angry mob of Bajorans riot because of Odo keeping his job in season 1?

Because he was framed for murder. Then he's cleared.

They only accepted him after Space Jesus told them too.

Sisko tells the mob to disperse and they don't, they throw rocks.
After it's all over, despite "Space Jesus" telling them off, Odo received no apologies.

 

[Gore-ac]

The murder charge was the trigger for the riot, but it seems to me there was already implicit distrust of him for them to react that way.

 

[Tosk]

But not before Ibudan intentionally started stirring things up. Setting up whispers about being afraid Odo would kill him right before the murder. And it all almost worked, thanks in no small part to Odo's recalcitrance.

Regardless though, a group of Bajorans getting angry on the Promenade are not the ones who decided that Odo could keep his job once the Occupation ended.

 

[Gore-ac]

You remembered the episode better than I did. I think even if Ibudan was stirring things up, a demagogue doesn't create prejudices they just use them for their own personal gain.

 

[Tosk]

Indeed. Ibudan set the pieces, started the play, and then sat back and watched it all come together.

But again, the malcontents on the Promenade didn't give Odo his job.

 

[Crewman6]

I mean...technically, Dukat kinda did.


Weirder, the Bajorans looked at the goo-cop they already had working on the station under the Cardassians and said, "Just keep doing the same job I guess?"

I mean, the Bajorans trusted him because at least (with one notable exception), he didn't just round up random people willy nilly and convict them of crimes, which the Cardassians would have been perfectly fine with.

 

[Crewman6]

It probably helped that his first official job ever had him not turn in Kira for sabotage when he could have.

Certainly that was not common knowledge and no one outside Kira and Odo knew about it. But Kira trusting Odo could have been contagious amongst the Bajoran residents of the station. (even though Kira didn't really spend much time there.)

 

[Tosk]

no one outside Kira and Odo knew about it

You don't think Kira would have reported back to fellow freedom fighters? If so, I disagree.
They potentially have a new pseudo-ally. Or at worst, a cop on the beat who might actually treat them fairly.

 

[matthunter]

You don't think Kira would have reported back to fellow freedom fighters? If so, I disagree.
They potentially have a new pseudo-ally. Or at worst, a cop on the beat who might actually treat them fairly.

Depends whether Kira felt guilty at hoodwinking him - she WAS guilty of the crime he was investigating. Either way, letting the Resistance know he was a fair cop - either out of respect or, pragmatically, that he could be manipulated again, risked pushing her luck - if more Resistance members show up in his investigations who could be tied to her, he might piece it together.

 

[Tosk]

At the very least they're gonna wanna know why she isn't in prison or dead. "I told him I didn't do it" probably wouldn't cut it as an explanation.

 

[Crewman6]

You don't think Kira would have reported back to fellow freedom fighters? If so, I disagree.
They potentially have a new pseudo-ally. Or at worst, a cop on the beat who might actually treat them fairly.

Depends whether Kira felt guilty at hoodwinking him - she WAS guilty of the crime he was investigating. Either way, letting the Resistance know he was a fair cop - either out of respect or, pragmatically, that he could be manipulated again, risked pushing her luck - if more Resistance members show up in his investigations who could be tied to her, he might piece it together.

Also, being in the Resistance, secrecy was exceedingly important. Sure, I can believe she may have mentioned very discreetly to a couple close allies that the new "investigator" wasn't just a mindless Cardie stooge, but I can't imagine she was blabbing about it willy nilly.

She wouldn't have shared any actual details. You don't volunteer information in the Resistance for no reason.

 

[Crewman6]

At the very least they're gonna wanna know why she isn't in prison or dead. "I told him I didn't do it" probably wouldn't cut it as an explanation.

No one would be owed an explanation in such a circumstance. Besides, there'd be nothing to explain. She was questioned, but she was never even arrested for the crime.

Kira did a mission, successfully, and came home. Nothing more to tell.

You don't think Kira would have reported back to fellow freedom fighters? If so, I disagree.
They potentially have a new pseudo-ally. Or at worst, a cop on the beat who might actually treat them fairly.

They're not looking for a "cop to treat them fairly." They're looking to commit crimes against the Cardassians and not get caught. Whether Odo is a "fair" cop or not is irrelevant. Even Odo would arrest them and turn them over if they were legitimately guilty.

 

[Tosk]

Sure, I can believe she may have mentioned very discreetly to a couple close allies that the new "investigator" wasn't just a mindless Cardie stooge, but I can't imagine she was blabbing about it willy nilly.

So we actually agree.

 

[Crewman6]

So we actually agree.

Not really. I still think it's unlikely she shared any information about Odo's investigation at all.

 

[Frightscape One]

Odo was seen by enough Bajorans as an impartial and fair arbiter between parties, which was why Dukat sought him out to begin with. Of course, he did it really because he wanted to be as far away from that investigation into Vaatrik as possible since it would show he had his collaborator network connection. But since Bajorans saw Odo as a legitimate third party, Dukat knew he was better suited to find out what he wanted.

Obviously, that case was never solved until years later in "NECESSARY EVIL", but Dukat was obviously impressed enough with him that he kept him on Terok Nor. He seemed to be fair enough to the Bajorans that he was never viewed as a collaborator. He definitely didn't go out of his way to hurt Bajorans.

There's possibly another reason. He was found and lived his initial years in a Bajoran lab under Cardassian rule. For all intents and purposes, Odo was their property and probably wasn't treated that well. Treated better than Bajorans, sure... but certainly not as an equal to other Cardassians. They could have seen Odo as a sort of victim of them, too.

Ironically, Dukat might have been the first Cardassian to actually see something more in Odo than his fellow brethren. (He basically said as much when he described how useful his shapeshifting abilities would be in solving crimes.)

 

[Leviathan]

Grumpy after being experimented on, used as a party favor, and being all alone in a crowd? Not surprising really. Paraphrasing Guinan, If I felt nobody wanted to be around me I'd probably be grumpy too.

Some notable dimensions other than 'grumpy disaster as the series progressed:

• Defending Miles on Cardassia and consoling Keiko.
• Giving Quark the win once or twice
• Adding sound deadening to the floor for Quark
• Forgiving Dr Moira
• Telling the great link that many solids were good
• Kindness to Lawaxana Troi
• Trying to nicely raise the baby changeling
• Looking out for the young jem hadar
• Telling bashir that we was still int he running for the Carrington award

He was widely respected by both the Bajorans and Starfleet for his fierce neutrality, deep commitment to justice, and fairness. Being respected is a key part of a good security official. 'Respected' and 'liked' are rarely aligned...

HOWEVER!

...none of that should destract us from most critical response to the thread title: