Day 162: DS9, Chimera

Show: Star Trek; Deep Space Nine

Episode Particulars: S7EP14, “Chimera”

 Summary: On their way back from a conference, Odo and O’Brien encounter a changeling (Garman Hertzler). But instead of being one of the Founders, he’s one of the hundred infant changelings who were sent out to learn more about the universe, just like Odo was. Happy to find another changeling who’s not evil, Odo takes custody of the changeling (who calls himself Laas) and tries to bond with him. But Laas has actually been shapeshifting for longer than Odo has—two hundred years as opposed to thirty—and has independently come to the same conclusion as the Founders, that humanoids aren’t to be trusted, though he subscribes to avoiding them rather than conquering them. And the more time Odo spends with him, the more Odo starts to question his place among humanoids.

Standalone Thoughts: I know what the writers were going for in this episode. They wanted to re-open Odo’s struggle against being with the people he’s spent his whole life with and cares about and being with his people, who are currently doing terrible things but who understand him better than humanoids can. And when the episode is focused on that, it’s not too bad. The problem is, the episode couches it in material that starts to feel preachy the longer it goes on.

It starts out small, at first. Laas is generally suspicious of humanoids, but we chalk it up to him having been treated poorly in the past. Then he has a whole speech where he talks about preferring primitive lifeforms that starts to sound like a “humans are destroying the environment” rant. Then you start getting a lot of the “You don’t belong here/come be with your own kind” message, which the episode refutes but doesn’t necessarily have the proper impact because of all the other material. Next you start realizing how easy it would be to replace “changeling” with any minority and have it still mostly work in context. And to top it all off, Quark has a speech about how humanoids have evolved to be mistrustful of the “other”, which culminates in him saying Odo shouldn’t through a “changeling pride” parade. The language is loaded enough that it’s hard not to read a message into that, and even if the episode’s making a good point, that doesn’t mean we want to have it shoved down our throats.

Like I said, though, there is some good stuff. Odo and Kira’s relationship is very believable, and I like that Kira’s actually talking about her concerns, which indicates a healthy approach to a relationship (Odo is trying as well, but isn’t quite as open due to what’s going on). Odo’s situation and Auberjonois’ acting does sell the conflict, even if it starts to get tangled up in the message the further on we go. And Laas himself is an interesting character, sharing a lot of the negative traits of the Founders without wholly crossing the line (to a point). But overall, I’d say the episode missed its mark. I’d say it needed another rewrite, but the truth is, I think it would have felt somewhat preachy no matter what they tried to do. The best we could hope for is that they could have toned it down to the point where it didn’t interfere with the story.

How it Relates to the Whole: While the episode does explore Odo’s nature and internal conflict, which may in part lead to his eventual fate, it doesn’t have that big an impact on future events. That being said, if one particular plot point turns out as I remember it, there’s a bit of, as TV Tropes would say, fridge horror that comes out of this episode. But we’ll discuss that in more detail when that plot point actually comes to pass.

Other: *The effects at the beginning of the episode, when Laas is some sort of space fish, are actually pretty good given that they were made in 1999. The fish looks very fluid, and the odd coloring disguises some of the effects work. Well done there.

*When I first saw that Laas was played by someone named Garman Hertzler, I assumed that he was the son or relative of J.G. Hertzler (aka Martok). The fact that some of his vocal inflections were very similar to J.G. Hertzler’s seemed to confirm it. Then I went onto Memory Alpha to figure out the exact family connection…and was astonished to discover that that was, in fact, J.G. Hertzler, who just was using his middle name for this episode, probably to avoid confusing people. I’m not sure if I should consider myself fooled or impressed.

*While the ending scene is pretty and strikes a nice emotional chord, I can’t help but feel like the very final shot is implying something a bit sexual. I can’t tell if that’s intentional or just my dirty mind at work.

Best Line/Exchange: I had some trouble picking something today. There were a few lines that worked here or there, but they were part of a larger context I wasn’t very fond of. So I ultimately went with something that’s a little cliché, but can also be words to live by if you’re in the right mood to hear them;

(Odo and Laas are talking about love)

Laas: Compared to The Link, it is a pale shadow. A feeble attempt to compensate for the isolation that monoforms feel because they are trapped within themselves.

Odo: Perhaps the fact that it’s not easy is what makes it worthwhile.

You can apply Odo’s line there to practically anything. Love, working on a project, owning a pet…it fits in a wide variety of circumstances. Sure, something can be easy and satisfying, but there are times when the satisfaction is greater because of all the effort you put in to get to that point. This may just be a rephrasing of “anything that’s worth doing is worth doing well”, but that doesn’t mean it’s incorrect.