In the twelfth episode of the first season of Deep Space Nine, Odo’s perception of himself is challenged by a thief and a murderer. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Star Trek.Â
I honestly think this kind of story works best on Deep Space Nine. I feel like this might become a bit of a repetitive refrain, especially as this first season settles into itself. It’s a question that I think is fair to ask: What makes Deep Space Nine different than The Next Generation? What warrants there being a third Star Trek show, and one that was airing at the same time as the second one? What things will the showrunners and the writers do differently this time around?
It’s not like The Next Generation hasn’t explored identity and culture before. Hell, “Birthright” bears some similarities on the surface when you consider it. But there’s a grittiness to the story in “Vortex” that isn’t found in most of the Star Trek canon. It opens with two thieves trying to sell an obviously stolen product; those thieves are enabled by Quark. A third party claims it belongs to him, a fight breaks out, one of the thieves is killed, and we’re thrust into a revenge plot. Except then, magically, this becomes a journey of discovery for Odo, who is teased with the possibility that there are other beings of his species in the Gamma Quadrant. Even then, you’ve got themes of xenophobia, moral ambiguity, and violent revenge woven into a story with no easy answers and a bittersweet ending. When Deep Space Nine examines Odo’s identity, it does not make it easy for us, and we do not get a pleasant resolution.
Why is that? Why is the show willing to dangle a carrot and then take it away from us? I’m hoping that Deep Space Nine will one day provide this answer to us. I say that because there has been some serialization thus far, and I don’t think they’d reference such a major development for Odo without ever intending to address it again. At the same time, I think the experience of this episode warrants the ending. Odo had to re-think his own paranoia; he had to consider that his tendency towards suspicion might not always be warranted. I mean, I don’t blame him! He had never met Croden before, nor did he know anything about his species. On top of that, the story that Croden offered Odo was fantastical. Was there really a colony of Changelings on an asteroid in the Vortex? Or was Croden lying just to benefit himself?
The line between truth and fiction blurs constantly in “Vortex.” Croden seems like a liar in the early parts of the episode. Then, he offers up the locket with the living matter that resembles Odo’s own biological make-up, and with it comes a story that is believable: that Croden’s species had a xenophobic hatred of the Changelings and oppressed them to the point of exodus. That’s… believable, right? But is it believable coming from someone like Croden? That’s the prime concern of Odo here, and he spends the entirety of this episode questioning everyone and everything. It is apparently in his nature to do so! Except… perhaps it’s not! Croden never actually met another Changeling, so his words about their behavior are a lie, too. So how could Croden have known that suspicion and a dedication to distrusting everything was a part of Odo’s nature?
I think that harkens back to “A Man Alone” in some ways while also highlighting the experience of being “alien” within this world. Odo is alone at DS9, and for a long time, Croden knew exactly what this felt like. He was the sole person of his race at DS9 for some time, and he’s used to feeling like an outcast after killing two security officers in self-defense. It’s necessary for survival to save trust for a select few. And yet? Odo sees another option here. It takes a long time, and it’s only after he discovers that the Changeling story was a lie that he realizes what it was that Croden was trying to do. Croden found a way to give his daughter a home, albeit one where she’d still be alone. She’d be the only member of her species on DS9, but to Croden, that was worth the risk. So what does Odo do?
He gives both of them a chance to live with each other.
As I said earlier, it’s a bittersweet ending. (It’s also rather brutal, too. Ah-Kel is portrayed entirely negatively in this episode, when really, he wasn’t all that bad. And his twin brother got killed by Croden! So his attempt for revenge was somewhat understandable, and yet, he dies in the end. WHOMP WHOMP.) Odo gives hope to Croden and his daughter Yareth, but he gets none himself. All he has is the necklace with a tiny glimpse of a possible future, and that’s it. No leads, no direction. And he has to go back to DS9, where he’ll be alone all over again. IT’S VERY EMOTIONAL, OKAY. As incomplete as this ending is, it felt very satisfying to me than some sort of quick resolution, you know? It respects Odo’s characterization while leaving the chance for development open to future storylines. I dig that.
The video for “Vortex” can be downloaded here for $0.99.
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