Please explain Odo Garak Breakfast remark

[argon]

I don't quite understand what is going on in s03e21 where the following exchange takes place:

Odo: Garak... I was thinking that you and I should have breakfast together sometime.
Garak: Why, Constable - I thought you didn't eat.
Odo: I don't.

Is that Odo's way of telling Garak that he is still mad at him and they will never be friends, or was this an actual invitation?

Or what else does it mean?

 

[Tosk]

It means Odo is being very nice to Garak. He's inviting him to spend time together, even though the meal itself is useless to Odo.

 

[argon]

I see, thank you.

 

[Tosk]

You're welcome. That is, of course, my interpretation of the scene. No guarantees.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

I thought it was a very elaborate fuck you.

I invite you to participate in something with me that I am unable to participate in. That is how much I actually care.

 

[Sindatur]

I thought it was a very elaborate fuck you.

I invite you to participate in something with me that I am unable to participate in. That is how much I actually care.

I can't fathom this interpretation? Odo values his time and is a very methodical thinker. How would he get any kind of spiteful satisfaction or feeling of oneupmanship from wasting his time listening to Garak prattle on with pretty lies just so he sit and there and not eat in front of him? IIRC, Garak has even told Dr. Bashir, the breakfast isn't important to him, the conversation is.

Nah, I think Odo, gained a respect for Garak's complexity and wanted to share time getting to know him (Well, as well as one can get to know Garak through the lies)

 

[Pavonis]

Garak and Odo did have breakfast together regularly, even if it was only depicted once. How could that invitation be an "elaborate fuck you" when there was an actual follow through?

 

[DS9Continuing]

Yeah, not an elaborate fuck-you. More like an elaborate "I forgive you."

.

 

[Mage]

Yeah, not an elaborate fuck-you. More like an elaborate "I forgive you."

.

Exactly.

Odo realized that even though what Garak did was wrong, he understands why Garak did it; Garak wanted to go home.

 

[Pavonis]

I don't quite understand what is going on in s03e21 where the following exchange takes place:

Odo: Garak... I was thinking that you and I should have breakfast together sometime.
Garak: Why, Constable - I thought you didn't eat.
Odo: I don't.

Is that Odo's way of telling Garak that he is still mad at him and they will never be friends, or was this an actual invitation?

Or what else does it mean?

I think I understand your view on the exchange - did you think that Odo was saying that before the torture, he was considering starting a breakfast routine with Garak, but that because of the incident, Odo wasn't going to do so now? I can see how the dialogue could've been misinterpreted that way, but that is definitely not the intention of the exchange. Odo was forgiving Garak.

 

[Melakon]

Odo knew Garak was distressed interrogating someone he considered a friend, and the offer was to ease Garak's pain.

Though those breakfasts must have been interesting, each trying politely to get classified information from the other.

 

[argon]

I thought it was a very elaborate fuck you.

I invite you to participate in something with me that I am unable to participate in. That is how much I actually care.

I can't fathom this interpretation? Odo values his time and is a very methodical thinker. How would he get any kind of spiteful satisfaction or feeling of oneupmanship from wasting his time listening to Garak prattle on with pretty lies just so he sit and there and not eat in front of him?

No, the idea is not that Odo would actually eat breakfast with Garag.

The idea is more like saying "You and I will be friends when we eat breakfast together", which will never happen because Odo doesn't eat, therefore implying they will never be friends. This is similar to saying "We will be friends when hell freezes over".

That was my first interpretation of the scene, and I can see that I am not alone. I am still confused though, as I do not remember if the suggestion is being followed up on as is stated elsewhere in this thread. Good thing I am rewatching the show right now and will find out sooner or later.

 

[Pavonis]

Odo doesn't need to eat food, but he can and has done so in the past, remarking that it was "messy". But he can simulate breakfast, as you'll see.

Odo is not a human, and doesn't have the same hang-ups and beliefs that humans do. So Garak tortured Odo - big deal. It was awkward for both of them, and Odo understood Garak's desire to return not just to Cardassia, but to his old life in the Obsidian Order. It wasn't a sadistic act on Garak's part, and Odo understood it. If somehow the roles had been reverse, well, maybe Odo would've reluctantly tortured Garak, too. Maybe.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

I thought it was a very elaborate fuck you.

I invite you to participate in something with me that I am unable to participate in. That is how much I actually care.

I can't fathom this interpretation?

Well.. I think most everything is a very elaborate fuck you so that might explain it

 

[Melakon]

Well.. I think most everything is a very elaborate fuck you so that might explain it

Isn't it Australia's National Motto?

I mean, since the license plates in The Fifth Element all said "New York-- The Fuck You State"...

 

[JarodRussell]

"We should have dinner."
"Sure, when?"
"In a dousand years."
"Too soon."

 

[InklingStar]

The meaning has always been obvious to me. Odo offers to have breakfast with Garak. The fact that he does not eat makes the gesture even more meaningful. It is not an FU, or a way of saying that they could have been friends before the torture.

 

[Dal Rassak]

To me it's very plainly a declaration of "ceasefire". A way of saying, perhaps I'll revise my opinion of you.
Watch Garak's expression as he gives an ironic little smile and that tells you plainly "message received".
These two understand each other very well in their ambivalent little exchange, because both of them know there's always a lot more subtext with the other apart from what's said out plain.