Not a bad episode, but it makes me think the writers didn't yet have a firm idea of where they were going with the changelings. Was the gas they encountered that put something strange into Odo a trap for changelings or something they left? Also wouldn't it have been super useful as a weapon against the changelings in later seasons? It is interesting to learn about Odo's early history on Bajor and how he cares/resents the scientist who helped make him who he is today.
The episode opens with Odo hassling Quark for selling the alleged remains of the Ferengi who invented the holosuite, not because there is something wrong with it, but because the man is still alive. They are interrupted by the arrival of Dr. Mora who despite Odo's protestations is clearly the person he most identifies as his father. After meeting with Mora Odo contacts Sisko to request the loan of a runabout to investigate a planet that may have some clues as to Odo's origin. Dax goes along with Mora, Odo and another Bajoran scientist. They arrive and find some ruins and a mysterious shapeshifting blob of something. Also some sort of monolith that for some reason Dax and Mora decide needs to be brought back to the station. As soon as they beam up the monolith though a deadly gas starts pouring out from the ground and they barely escape.
On DS9 everybody on the mission except Odo are temporarily paralyzed by the gas. With Dax down for the count O'Brien is in charge of investigating the possibly related alien goo they retrieved from the planet. It seems to be growing at an alarming rate so he has it in an isolation chamber. That night Sisko gets awoken from a deep sleep, something has happened at the science lab. When he arrives he finds the place has been torn apart and the sample has been taken. It looks like whatever did it is in the ventilation ducts and O'Brien starts crawling around looking for it. He finds some goo, but it seems to be dead. Bashir is treating the remaining scientist when he is attacked by a blob like creature in the infirmary. He manages to cut a bit of it off with a laser scalpel and starts working on analyzing the sample.
Dr. Mora works with Bashir but leaves before it is done. He stops by Odo's security station to first say how proud he is of what Odo has accomplished, but that isn't the real reason he is there. It seems he recognized the DNA sequence of the attacker as belonging to Odo. Also all the attacks have taken place while Odo was regenerating in his bucket. Odo is alarmed and seems to lose control of his shape. He flees into the ventilation ducts. Sisko and Mora come up with a plan to trap him on the promenade by using Mora as bait. It works and Bashir is able to get the last of the gas out of Odo so things seem to have returned to normal.
Review: Learning about Odo is interesting, but I remember enough about where they eventually go with the changelings that it honestly feels like a lot of this episode gets undone later. Also not much gets resolved in terms of whether the sample they recovered is another changeling and what the nature of the gas was. Not terrible, but not great either.
5 out of 10
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