Episode 5.17: A Simple Investigation

This is a clever little episode. The Odo investigation/mystery episodes are well done, and this one has a nice Sci-Fi twist in there. Odo’s prowess as a policemen is so casually presented here. His unique security protocol against hackers with data ports and his letting Arissa go so he can follow here are nonchalantly brushed off. But in the end, the truth is so convoluted that Odo hasn’t cracked the case before the Idanian arrives. I think the true identity of Arissa (her personality being saved on the chip she seeks) has an excellent Sci-Fi flavor to it. It lets the show maintain a status quo, but doesn’t force Odo into doing anything unsavory. The Orion Syndicate is a small theme that delivers well. This is the second of only four episodes featuring them, but there’s some excellent plots on morality. This episode doesn’t have any moral grey areas, but I think it delivers much better on exploring Odo’s loneliness and the heartbreak that comes from rejection.

Odo’s had many ups and downs between his loneliness and satisfaction with solitude. Up until now, he’s tried to be happy with solitude, confronted his feelings for Kira, buried his feelings for Kira, and now opened himself up in a deeply vulnerable way to a woman who then rejects him (through no fault of her own). At the end of this episode, Odo is emotionally raw. Bashir at one point says if Odo doesn’t tell Arissa about his feelings, Odo’s heart would break from loneliness anyway. Life is funny like that. Doing nothing and doing something can both lead to the same outcome, yet tending toward action seems to be the norm. Or at least, if we do something, we regret our choice less so. I think a big part of the raw emotional state Odo ends the show in is because he still has latent feelings for Kira. He’s learning that he isn’t a stone, and that love is for more than humanoids.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t think that everyone is best off being romantically involved with someone. Some people truly embrace and love the solitary life. I just think that here, Odo learns that he isn’t one of those people. What’s elegant is that Odo’s personality at the start of the series was a profoundly solitary figure. He gradually learns that he is a social creature, which culminates in him joining the Great Link at the end of the series. He transitions from being Nanook of the North, to someone in love with one other (Kira), to a creature literally in liquid communion with the entire rest of his species. I think that’s a poetic path for Odo.

Random Thoughts: 1) As I was writing this, I realized the English language has a word for loneliness (or dissatisfied with solitude) but does not have a word for “satisfied with solitude”. That’s telling about our culture, I think. 2) Bashir’s supplier of Bond-like holosuite programs is someone named Felix. 3) I think a key thing that attracts Odo to Arissa is how observant she is. 4) Kira both encourages Odo to seek Arissa, and then has a nervous face when she learns he spent the night with her. I think she’s starting to realize her feelings too. 4) Odo noticing the imprint of the chair after it was moved is an excellent detective story element. 5) Hasparat is apparently a burrito. 6) Using the data port as a way for Arissa to sell herself is another nice Sci-Fi element that lets the writers add some depth to her, but not go too far for television. 7) Odo made a huge mistake of walking out of his quarters after bringing Arissa there. He should have beamed back to the other quarters, then walked out of that. If no one saw him leave the first quarters, some might have realized Arissa was moved. 8) I was highly amused Bashir knew about “bedroom eyes”. 9) Speculation is over. Odo can copulate as a humanoid.

~ by Joshua Black on June 27, 2018.