Chimera
chimera \ki-'mir-e, ke-\ n 1 a cap : a fire-breathing she-monster in Greek mythology having a lion's head, a goat's body, and a serpent's tail b : an imaginary monster compounded of incongruous parts 2 : an illusion or fabrication of the mind; esp : an unrealizable dream [a fancy, a ~ in my brain, troubles me in my prayer _John Donne] 3 : an individual, organ, or part consisting of tissues of diverse genetic constitution
It's anyone's guess just exactly which of these meanings Rene Echeverria had in mind, but number 2 seems the most likely candidate. Number 3 is a possibility, too, though Odo does not not consist of tissues of diverse genetic constitution, he is a combination of many heritages: changeling, Cardassian, and Bajoran.
Spoilers Below
"Chimera" was everything a good episode of DS9 should be. It was emotionally involving, it advanced the overall story, it examined characters in a deeper way. In addition, like all of the best Star Trek episodes, it worked as a metaphor for experiences that are very real.
But first, the story. We knew that Odo and the baby changeling in "The Begotten" couldn't be the only infant changelings found in all of the Alpha Quadrant, so in that sense, it was good to meet Laas, another unaffiliated, if you will, changeling. Interestingly, Laas was just as paranoid and disdainful of the humanoids as the Founders, without having known at all that the Founders existed. Having spent much of his life alone, Laas had the same antisocial behavior many humans have after a long period of isolation and rejection.
I did not like Laas. But I didn't feel entirely comfortable with this dislike. Certainly he was obnoxious, but it was a result of the way he had been treated. I'm sure he didn't simply make up or imagine the prejudice he had suffered in the 200 years since he had been found. But what cemented my dislike of him was that not only did *he* distrust humanoids, he seemed to be terribly disappointed that Odo didn't share his point of view, and dedicated himself to convincing Odo to see things his way. He was paternalistic, condescending, and disrespectful, even though Odo was of his own kind, only of a different opinion.
"I, too, was fascinated by humanoid life in the beginning." he said, implying that Odo was going through some sort of juvenile phase. He dismissed the mutual tolerance of different life forms on DS9 by saying, "Basically, they're alike. They're bipeds that eat, sleep, breathe . . . you and I are nothing like them." He refused to listen to any point of view besides his own. Yes, he knew it all, and Odo was naive not to see things his way. Upon seeing Odo's shapeshifting "gymnasium," Laas became judgmental. "This hasn't been used in some time!" he said, implying that by not changing form, Odo was somehow betraying his heritage.
I'm not saying I don't understand how Laas became the way he was. Many of his charges against the humanoids were valid. That is, if you assume, as I feel we were meant to, that other humanoids were just as destructive to their planets as we humans are to Earth, and just as callous about the other life forms they share those planets with. As for his view of humans in particular, the first thing they did upon his discovery was put him in jail. Odo practically had to beg Sisko to let him out. Not a promising beginning.
However, I also understand the Federation's point of view. Not to excuse their intolerance, but they were at war. As far as they knew, Odo was the only changeling who was not to a part of the Dominion. Now a changeling shows up and claims to be independent of them. Being cagey and suspicious was an outgrowth of the war, not an outgrowth of prejudice. If Laas had come along before the war, his welcome would have been much different.
But any lingering sympathy I had for Laas disappeared when he met with Odo's friends. It seemed he had no compassion, in fact, no more concern for these "lower life forms" than he accused humanoids of having for animals. When they were kind, he was cutting. When they were trying to be tolerant, he dismissed their attempts with sarcasm.
To Ezri, as she admired his ability to fly through space: "It's a shame you're incapable of ever experiencing it."
Of his former "home" planet, "It's just the same as any other planet, overrun with humanoids. . . I prefer the so-called primitive life forms."
He accused the humanoids of being self-important, but he was just as self-important in his own way. Though he accused them of hypocrisy and deceit, they treated him better than he treated them.
When comparing animals to humanoids, he said, "They exist as they were meant to by following their instincts. No words get in the way. No lies, no deceptions."
Since Laas was evidently not interested in a civil conversation, it's no surprise that Miles finally lashed out, saying: "We're not the ones who can disguise ourselves as anything we want."
Even Odo seemed offended by this statement, snapping, "Meaning?"
Laas answered for Miles, "Meaning shapeshifters can't be trusted."
Whoa, there, a minute. Miles was only pointing out, quite accurately, that changelings were no strangers to deception themselves. Why, one of them had spent 2 months on DS9 masquerading as Dr. Bashir. How could Laas imply that changelings were somehow more honest than humanoids? I thought Odo was being overly sensitive as well. After all, far too often, the Founders have used their shapeshifting abilities to deceive the humanoids. And when Odo was in the link, they deceived him into thinking that Gowron was a changeling, thus setting the stage for their own spy to take over from Gowron as the head of the Klingon empire. Yes, what Miles said is true. When you can masquerade as anyone or anything you like, it's hypocritical to accuse humanoids of being deceptive.
Miles' answer, however, was, "I trust Odo."
Laas had an answer for that too. "Of course, you trust Odo. Look at him. You've convinced him that he is as limited as you are."
Ezri replied sarcastically, "You've seen through our evil plan." Everyone shook off Laas' insults after that. Except Kira, who, naturally, was deeply upset.
For whatever reasons, Laas was a first class pain.
He became a very real threat to Kira, especially when, after having linked with Odo, Laas invited him to join in a new link, which would look for the other changelings scattered throughout the Alpha Quadrant.
"It's very alluring," Odo said to Kira, quickly adding, "to *him*!"
This lure was even stronger than Kira knew. Only Laas knew that despite Odo's moral objections to the Founders, he would be with them if it weren't for his love for Kira. The idea of living the way changelings were meant to live instead of as a humanoid, finding others of his own kind, perhaps even creating a link based on tolerance and understanding instead of hatred and suspicion -- all of these were powerful enticements. But Laas underestimated the strength of Odo's love. And in the end, that was the determining factor. Love.
Odo's love for Kira was strong enough to resist the lure of being with his own people, not once, but twice. First in "Sacrifice of Angels," and now, in "Chimera."
Though Kira didn't know all of this, she did feel limited and threatened by Laas. "I'm sorry I can't link with you." she told Odo.
Odo: "It doesn't matter, Nerys. I love you." He said it with a remarkable combination of gentleness and force that was very convincing. When he said, "I love you," I felt that he really, really did. They weren't just words. Again I was impressed by the powerful acting ability of Rene Auberjonois. He can make a few simple words, or a simple gesture, mean so much.
Kira's turn to demonstrate her love for Odo wasn't long in coming. Laas, claiming to be relaxing, decided to mimic fog on the promenade. Truthfully, I think Laas enjoyed provoking humanoids, and meant to demonstrate to Odo how unreasonable humanoids were by showing him how they would react to this "innocent" activity. When he was forced to return to humanoid form, he drew the ire of two Klingons. In my opinion, he deliberately provoked them, and then, quite intentionally, killed one.
Was it "self-defense?" Perhaps technically. The Klingon definitely meant to kill him if he could. But Laas had other defenses at his disposal. Octopus-like arms could have disarmed both Klingons at the same time, or choked one until he released his weapon. I don't think it ever occurred to Laas to solve the situation any other way, because I believe Laas killed that Klingon the way a humanoid might swat a fly. His life wasn't any more important to him than that.
That said, however, there's no doubt in my mind that Odo was right when he said that a) there was no chance of a fair trial for Laas and b) the Klingons wouldn't have pressed charges if Laas wasn't a changeling. The first assumption was directly attributable to the war, not to mention the fact that the highest reaches of Klingon government had once been breached by a changeling. The rest of the Alpha Quadrant didn't have Odo's insight to assure them that Laas wasn't a Founder in disguise, and this incident seemed to confirm the fact that he was up to no good. The second assumption was neatly summed up in Odo's question, "Since when do the Klingons resort to legal quibbling?" Only in "Rules of Engagement" did we ever see a similar ploy -- and the Klingons had a political motive there as well. It is totally uncharacteristic of Klingons to press charges when one of them is killed in "honorable combat."
So Odo, already deeply influenced by Laas, was torn between his knowledge that justice would never be served in a Klingon court and his responsibility to uphold the law. I feel that the circumstances combined to make him even more distrustful of humanoids than ever before, to buy into the extreme views Laas held.
"If he weren't a changeling, the captain would find a way to intervene . . . I'm starting to see things more clearly now. . . Look at me, Nerys, what do you see? . . . This is just a form I borrowed."
When Kira asked him if the man she fell in love with ever really existed, I was reminded of Odo's similar comments about Arissa in "A Simple Investigation." Would Odo see the connection? Would this soften his heart? Arissa was sure that her alter ego _had_ existed and that she had loved Odo. Odo wasn't even sure of that. "I don't know." he said.
Things seemed even more bleak in her eyes when Odo began saying, "I care for you, more than anyone I've ever known. These last few months have been the happiest of my life. But even so, part of me wishes that Laas and I were out there right now, searching for the others, existing as changelings, because that's what I am, not a humanoid. I'm a changeling!" It was fascinating to watch Kira's body language as he said these things, the clenched fists, the turning away . . . to her, it sounded like goodbye. This was a passion with which Kira felt unable to compete.
To Kira, the dilemma was even deeper than that. She didn't want Odo to have to stay because of a sense of obligation, to her, to the Federation, to the rule of law, or anything else. She wanted Odo to take this chance to be free, to live as a changeling, and the only way to do it was to release Laas.
"Why?" asked Laas.
"I love him." said Kira. No other explanation was needed.
But even this selfless act left Laas untouched, as we saw when Odo met him.
"I knew you would come. This is a new beginning for us, Odo. A new beginning for our people."
"I'm not going with you."
"Why are you here?"
"I've come to say goodbye."
"Don't be a fool. What are you holding on to, Kira? Even she knows that this is what's best for you why else would she have helped me to escape?"
"You really don't know, do you? You have no idea what it means to love someone enough to let them go."
"She let you go so that you could find out where you belong."
"I know where I belong. Laas, humanoids are not the petty limited creatures you perceive them to be. What Nerys did should prove that even to you . . . I'm sorry you can't understand. You've done many things, been many things. But you've never known love. "
"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."
"Perhaps the fact that it's not easy is what makes it worthwhile."
It was a relief to hear Odo sounding like himself again. For all the shortcomings humanoids have, and they are many, his love for Nerys helped him to see that no race should be dismissed simply because they are different. And coming from a person whose people seem to lack it, his description and defense of love was eloquent and touching.
I had a problem, however, with the oft-repeated implication that Odo was accepted on DS9 because he doesn't go out of his way to remind people that he's a changeling. This seemed inconsistent with past episodes. Everyone is very aware of Odo's ability to conduct surveillance in any form he likes, especially Quark. Time and again, the Federation and the Bajoran government have used Odo's shapeshifting abilities to investigate, spy, and deceive enemies and criminals. When Odo was made a "solid," all his friends on the station recognized it as a loss. If it's true that lately, Odo has been using his changeling abilities less, it could easily be explained by the war, which encouraged distrust of changelings, and by his relationship with Kira, which kept him too occupied to indulge in shapeshifting.
So why did this episode try to imply this? Was it simply Laas' warped viewpoint? No. I think the writer might have been trying to draw a parallel between Odo's situation and that of minorities who are not easily identifiable by sight. This is true of many Jewish people, but I think it was mainly a metaphor for the experiences of homosexuals, who may feel accepted as long as they don't "flaunt" their sexuality. Or perhaps this metaphor comes to my mind because I live in San Francisco, where this sort of thing is constantly being discussed.
Another reason this parallel may have come to mind may be that even before this episode there has been a sexual implication to the idea of one-on-one linking between changelings. In "A Simple Investigation," Odo compared his experience of linking with the female changeling on his home planet to sexual intimacy. And in "Sacrifice of Angels," after linking again with the female changeling, Odo showed her how humans "experience intimacy," by having sex with her. "Chimera" is the first time we've seen two male changelings involved in one-on-one linking.
Kira's jealous response to Odo's having linked with Laas strengthened this impression. Odo explained that it was as natural to changelings as talking was to humanoids. "It's a little more personal than, than talking, isn't it?" she asked in a small voice.
Later, when Quark referred to Laas' fog act on the promenade as a "changeling pride" demonstration, it confirmed in my mind that this was the intended analogy. However, I think that the analogy was flawed.
From a strictly DS9 point of view, I think that the implication that Odo made people "uncomfortable" when he changed form is just plain silly. It was Odo who felt uncomfortable reverting to his natural state in front of others. ("The Forsaken") Other times when Odo was reluctant to change shape, it was mainly because he didn't want to be a dog-and-pony show for curious humanoids. ("Shadowplay"). That Odo is only accepted because, as Quark put it, "You're smart enough to know that people don't want to be reminded that you're different," didn't ring true. Odo's "differentness" is valued by his friends, though, perhaps, they cannot completely understand it. In my opinion, the writer bent DS9 reality for the sake of his metaphor. Lines like "Don't change form in my presence again," just sounded wrong to me, even coming from a brutish Klingon. If people have a problem with Odo being a changeling, generally speaking, they have it no matter what form he is in. We have never previously been given the impression that the very act of changing form was somehow offensive to humanoids.
This episode was a more successful metaphor for experiences of those who look like "the enemy" during times of war. The experience of Japanese Americans during World War II is an infamous example of a group of people who thought they belonged until a war began with those who looked like them, in a country many of them had never even seen. Right now, in a local nuclear research lab, many Asian Americans who work at nuclear plants feel they are under suspicion because of the recent charge of sensitive documents being turned over to China. Reginald Denny discovered during the Rodney King riots in L.A., that though he had not raised his own fist in anger against Mr. King, for some it was enough that he looked like those who did. In Kosovo, some returning Albanians feel that any person of Serbian heritage is fair game, and many beatings and shootings have resulted. This problem is indeed pervasive, and it continues to be a scourge in our world today. This episode accurately examined the intricacy and complexity of these problems. I don't accept Quark's evolutionary excuse for these feelings, however. It's too simplistic, for one thing, and for another, implies that mutual distrust is essential for survival.
Odo's feeling torn between what he is and how he has come to live also reminds me of children of one culture or heritage raised in another culture. In their cases as well, love is often the determining factor in what culture they choose to identify with.
This episode also helped clarify something that hasn't been explained very clearly, at least on camera: Odo's near seduction by Ms. Changeling in "Favor the Bold" and "Sacrifice of Angels." What had made him, in the end, refuse to join his people, and why had he nearly betrayed his friends? Laas provided the answer to the first question: Kira. Despite his moral objections to the war, despite his disgust at being worshipped like a god, Ms. Changeling almost succeeded in bringing him back to the link. Her decision to kill Kira, undoubtedly, was the turning point for Odo.
Though the second question, "Why had he nearly betrayed his friends," wasn't directly answered, only here did we find out how close Odo was to defecting to the Dominion. Only now to we fully recognize the strength of the link, its power and intimacy. The same urge that Laas awakened in him to "exist as he was meant to" as a changeling and not as a humanoid, undoubtedly was similarly awakened by Ms. Changeling's repeated linking with him. It wasn't long after linking with Laas that Odo began not even to sound like himself. His ideas, his "humanity," if you will, finds its greatest threat in the link. But Kira or no Kira, the link is the one place in the galaxy where Odo feels he completely belongs.
The final scene in which he surrounded Kira with a shimmering light was beautiful. At first I thought he was going to melt into a goo around her, but this was much more appealing, and, in my opinion, represented the fact that Odo is not simply one form, that he can choose to surround, and float, and glow. And I like to feel that even in this form, Kira could feel his love surrounding her.
My score: 9.0
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