Weekend Trek “A Simple Investigation”

So, Odo had a one-off love connection, as is often the case on episodic TV shows, and that’s fine.

But I have a few questions.

OK, so, let’s get some basic stuff out of the way first:  Odo meets woman who appears to be human by the name of Arissa.  She says she is trying to get her estranged daughter back from a crime lord, but that turns out to be a lie.  There was a murder on the station by the crime lord’s goons, Arissa needs some protection, and the whole thing comes down to a crystal of some kind that the crime lord wants, Arissa doesn’t know what it’s for, and so forth.  Arissa and Odo hit it off, sleep together, but then it turns out Arissa is an Idanian in deep cover, so deep even she doesn’t know it.  The Orion Syndicate would have found her if she didn’t get her face and memory altered, and her real identity was on the crystal.  There’s a scuffle, Arissa is saved, and when she recovers, she’s given her usual face and memories back, but she can’t stay on the station.  Turns out she has a husband already.  She and Odo have a tearful goodbye, and that’s it.

So, really, not a bad episode, but it made me think I was missing a few things.  For starters, I really wish the episode spent more time with Dr. Bashir’s holosuite program.  He had himself, O’Brien, Dax, and Odo lined up to do some playacting.  Never knew Odo was the type, but he bowed out quickly enough.  O’Brien was a wee bit upset that he was playing the villain again, but Bashir told him he was so good at it.  The only time I saw anything of the program itself was when Odo interrupted Bashir mid-holographic seduction to ask for advice on women.  O’Brien used that to get the jump on Bashir, saying hello to Odo in the process, and yeah, he does play a good bad guy.

But I was left wondering a bit about Odo and his physiology.  So, here goes:  how does Odo have sex with a solid?

There are a few basic questions I have about Odo.  I mean, his clothes are part of his body, so…does he undress or just shapeshift?

Why does he have nipples?  I mean, the basic answer is because Rene Auberjonois had ’em.  Sure, a chest piece could have been done, but why would they need to?  I just don’t know why Odo had nipples since he’s back to his shapeshifting ways and this is the first time I have seen the character shirtless except for a bit when he was a solid.  It’s just an odd detail I picked out.  I mean, he does say he changes his face slightly every time he wakes up, but I’ll have to take his word for it on that.

But here’s the big one:  how exactly does Odo have sex?  I mean, he can probably give himself some genitals.  He had ’em when his people made him a solid, I am sure.  Did he…use them when he was a solid?  He says he was never with a solid woman before.  Does he enjoy sex when he makes himself some junk?  He seems to.  I just…I don’t know that I get this.  I don’t spend a lot of time worrying about alien anatomy, but Odo has been rather consistent on his biological needs that as a Changeling he doesn’t need food or sleep in the conventional sense.  He probably doesn’t need to breathe.  So…really, how did the sex work?

I suspect I put too much thought into this.  I’m moving on.

Next time, please show more of the holosuite.