Broken Link (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)

"Broken Link" is the 98th episode of the science fiction television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the final episode of the fourth season. Odo becomes ill which affects his ability to hold a solid form, so the USS Defiant goes to the Founders' homeworld for a cure.

"Broken Link"
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode
Episode no.Season 4
Episode 26
Directed byLes Landau
Story byGeorge A. Brozak
Teleplay byRobert Hewitt Wolfe
Ira Steven Behr
Featured musicDennis McCarthy
Production code498
Original air dateJune 17, 1996 (1996-06-17)
Guest appearance(s)

On its premiere, "Broken Link" achieved a rating of 6.2 Nielsen points.[1]

Plot

Aboard the space station Deep Space Nine, the shapeshifter Constable Odo suddenly collapses, having difficulty maintaining his form, and is taken to the infirmary. Dr. Bashir can't find an explanation for Odo's condition, but advises him to take a rest from his duties. Odo is reluctant to do so, but when he leaves the infirmary to investigate a crime, he collapses into a puddle on the floor.

Odo decides that the only people that can help him are his own people, the Changelings, who are the Founders of the hostile Dominion. Captain Sisko agrees to take Odo to the Gamma Quadrant aboard the Defiant; the Cardassian spy-turned-tailor Elim Garak asks to come along as well. They are met by a spokesperson for the Founders, who tells Odo that the only way he can be cured is by physically joining the Founders in the Great Link, where he will be judged for the crime of being the first Changeling to kill another of his kind. Odo realizes that the Founders themselves must have infected him in order to coerce him into returning to the Great Link.

Garak asks the Founder if there are any Cardassian survivors from the failed Cardassian–Romulan attack on the Founders' homeworld a year earlier. She bluntly replies that there were no survivors and Cardassia is doomed. Later, Worf catches Garak attempting to fire the ship's weapons on the Founders' planet, and stops him from committing genocide to protect Cardassia.

Sisko and Bashir accompany the Founder and Odo to the planet and see the Great Link: a sea of Changelings in their liquid form. Odo and the Founders' spokesperson walk into the sea, leaving Bashir and Sisko to wait for them. Eventually, Odo is expelled from the Great Link; Bashir notes in astonishment that Odo's body has become human. The Founders' spokesperson explains that this is Odo's punishment.

After they return to the station, a message from Gowron, leader of the Klingon Empire, is received, declaring the initiation of hostilities against the Federation. Watching the message, Odo realizes that the Founders were trying to hide something from him while he was in the Great Link: Gowron himself has been replaced by a Changeling.

Story arc
  • In the season three episode "The Adversary", where Odo wrestled with another Changeling, inadvertently causing its death.
  • In season 5/12 "The Begotten", Odo regains his shapeshifting abilities when he absorbs a dying changeling infant.
  • The female Changeling lies to Garak: a score of Cardassians and two Romulans did survive to be captured, as shown in season 5/14 "In Purgatory's Shadow",
  • The female Changeling becomes infected with the Virus herself only to be cured by Odo; Odo becomes part of the Great Link in the series finale. "What You Leave Behind"

Reception

In 2019, Tor.com noted this as an "essential" episode for the character of Odo, remarking how it presents the character with major problems that are resolved in later seasons.[2]

References
  2. Britt, Ryan (2019-12-09). "Remembering René Auberjonois: 8 Essential Odo Episodes of Deep Space Nine". Tor.com. Retrieved 2020-01-07.
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