Chimera is one of the best DS9 season 7 episodes... and in my top 30 or top 20 of DS9 episodes. Everything in the episode is great: a great examination of the relationship between the Founders and the 'solids' (especially in the light of the fact that THE DOMINION WAR is going on), and of the true alienness of the Founders, Quark's brilliant speech on the matter (once again, the writers use Quark as a spokesperson for some of the more unpleasant truths about human(oid) nature), the character drama of Odo's conflict feelings for his people, the answer to the long-standing question about him being torn between his desire to be with his own species and the emotional ties that bind him to the humanoids, the moving and wonderful portrayal of the love between Kira and Odo - if there were reasons to fear that this relationship would end up being one of the many lame Trek romances (the romcom of "His Way" wasn't incredibly promising), this episode justified the pairing completely. All this was perfectly wrapped in this episode about differences and whether they can be really overcome.
Not to mention that Odo showing the Founders that 'Solids' can in fact love Founders and should not be universally feared and mistrusted would play such a crucial role in ending the Dominion War (and certainly in the prevention of the possibility of another Dominion war breaking out not long after)
I agree with you, especially that last part. In fact I always took it for granted after finishing the series that Odo's experience in
Chimera was the primary message communicated to the FC in WYLB that persuaded her to stand down. From season 3 onward her argument has always been that a solid can never love a changeling, which perhaps remained true until
Chimera, but not after. I am always a bit surprised to see that this connection is not made more often. It's a case of the writers deciding not to beat us over the head with it (which I see as basically a good thing), but on the other hand, when the subtle approach is taken, there is also the possibility that viewers just won't notice. Sad face
Chimera is an arc episode in every sense, both for the main characters involved, and the eventual outcome of the Dominion War storyline. The Federation Alliance had the upper hand militarily regardless, but Odo saves what is left of Cardassia and the estimated 40% (or more? I don't remember the precise figure given) casualties that would have resulted from the final battle with the Jem'Hadar.
I will add that
Chimera is a good example of using a sci-fi concept (in this case changelings and the concept of "linking") to address issues that are relevant to our society/any human society without necessarily resorting to allegory or a one-to-one equivalency between the issue dealt with in the story and the "real issue" outside of the story.
In that sense,
Chimera is probably Trek's most probing look at non-traditional sexual relationships, since "linking" is treated in this episode as essentially a deviant sexual behavior. There are some interesting thoughts on this in a review I happened to find on Rene Auberjonois' website, apparently originally published in a fan newsletter of some sort (with some references to other reviews that picked up on those themes):
http://www.renefiles.com/credchimera.html
The review drifts perhaps a bit too far towards an allegorical reading, whereas I think the strength of the episode is that it is applicable to a number of different real situations without being an allegory of any single one, but at any rate, there are some interesting thoughts there.
