Question about Odo's disease / Founders / Section 31.

[AlphaDrone]

Hello everyone.
Please bear with me, as it will take a little while for me to get to the point.

During the course of Deep Space Nine, Odo was infected with a disease twice.

In the episode "Broken Link" (the 1st illness that was discovered) it was mentioned that the Founders intentionally infected Odo so he would return to the link to be judged for killing a fellow Changeling.

Then, in the Season 7 Episode "When it Rains...", Dr. Bashir discovered Odo had an illness (the 2nd disease) which he traced back to the episode "Homefront", the original point of infection. (he first thought Starfleet Medical infected him, but then discovered it was actually Section 31.)

My questions..

Odo had to be infected TWICE in Season 4, no?
With the first illness, it had to be BEFORE "Broken Link" (the last episode of Season 4), but AFTER "The Adversary", the last episode of Season 3. So, the Founders HAD to infect in at some point in Season 4.

Now, the "Homefront" episode, where Odo was infected by Section 31, also occurred in Season 4.

Doesn't anyone find this a bit odd? That he would be infected twice in one Season? And that one illness manifested itself in a short time, but the other illness took about 3-4 years?

My second question- We never saw Odo "meld" with a fellow changeling in Season 4... so when exactly did the Founders infect him?

In the episode "Chimera", he merged with Laas... didn't he get sick from the Section 31 virus?

and lastly, when Odo was judged and became Human... shouldn't that had negated/destroyed any "changeling" virus?

Thanks for taking the time to respond!

-Jay

 

[eastman23]

Section 31 probably doesn't have the same level of knowledge about Founder physiology as the Founders themselves do, so they may not have known how long it would take for their disease to manifest itself. As for when the disease was transfered to the Great Link, I think it was during "Broken Link" since they did merge with Odo so the disease was able to spread before they judged him.

As for the illness that sent Odo back to the Great Link in the first place, I seem to recall him linking (very briefly) with a changeling impersonating Admiral Layton in Homefront/Paradise Lost. I haven't watched the season in a while, so I can't say for certain.

 

[Felkin]

AlphaDrone said:
Doesn't anyone find this a bit odd? That he would be infected twice in one Season? And that one illness manifested itself in a short time, but the other illness took about 3-4 years?

In "Homefront" (mid-season 4), Odo was infected with the disease by Section 31. Since Odo wasn't too fond of his people, the disease was engineered to take years to take effect, since 31 didn't know when Odo would next meld with a Changling.

As it happens, they did not have to wait long. At the end of season 4, Odo lost control over his shape-shifting due to his people (was it a virus? It's been a while since I watched the episode), and had to return to his people to face judgement... at which point, the entire Great Link was infected by Section 31's disease.

Yes, it seems like an odd coincidence, but please remember, being infected in "Homefront" was a retcon by the writers three years later, so it's not like the events were planned to be so close together, it just happened that way.

My second question- We never saw Odo "meld" with a fellow changeling in Season 4... so when exactly did the Founders infect him?

When Odo melded with the entire Great Link at the end of season 4. And it was Odo who infected them, not the other way around. It was a pretty big coup for Section 31; instead of having Odo infect just one Changling and have the disease gradually radiate out to every Changling over many months / years, almost the entire species got infected in one fell swoop!

In the episode "Chimera", he merged with Laas... didn't he get sick from the Section 31 virus?

He would have done, although he might not have become sick until several years after melding with Odo.

The DS9 Relaunch books...

Spoiler: Spoilers for 'Worlds of DS9'

show Laas joined the Great Link within a year of meeting Odo, at which point he would have received the cure from the other Changlings.

and lastly, when Odo was judged and became Human... shouldn't that had negated/destroyed any "changeling" virus?

As we saw in later episodes, namely "Things Past", Odo still retained some Changling attributes. It could be that becoming human halted the disease for a while, laying dormant in a body it wasn't engineered to infect, but when Odo became a Changling again, the disease was free to resume attacking his system. For all we know, this temporary transformation into a human is what kept the disease from effecting Odo for so long, compared to his people; the disease couldn't develop for the six months or so that he was a human.

Thanks for taking the time to respond!

Any time.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

The degenerative disease that made him return to the Founders in "Broken Link" was, according to the writers, given to him by Weyoun in "To The Death." So he would have acquired that after acquiring the S31-engineered disease.

 

[toughlittleship]

The writers wanted to bring Laas back, but the huge number of plots in the Final Chapter prevented it. Presumably they would have seen him cured of the disease in his second appearance.

 

[AlphaDrone]

As for the illness that sent Odo back to the Great Link in the first place, I seem to recall him linking (very briefly) with a changeling impersonating Admiral Layton in Homefront/Paradise Lost. I haven't watched the season in a while, so I can't say for certain.

If that's the case, then Odo was infected with 2 viruses in the same episode?
Admiral Layton= Diease from Founders to Odo.
Starfleet Medical / Section 31= Disease Odo was supposed (and did) transmit to the Great Link.

Hmmmmm.

 

[stupidname]

AlphaDrone said:
lastly, when Odo was judged and became Human... shouldn't that had negated/destroyed any "changeling" virus?

-Jay

I'd always assumed that becoming solid defeated the virus and then odo was re-infected by later contact with a changeling. That also helps to explain why the female changeling showed symptoms of the illness before odo since she would technically have been infected before odo.