Well, it is really kind of a moot point. Had Kira not freed Laas, he would no doubt have been turned over to the Klingons who would have killed him, and then Odo would not have had anyone to leave with. I think Odo was resigned to staying on the station, and with Kira, because he believed Laas would be executed. Kira's freeing Laas gave Odo a choice he didn't think he had, but also cemented his decision to stay with Kira.

Have to agree. I was involved in an interesting debate with a co-worker who is convinced that he still would've stayed out of love for Kira.


An interesting point I brought up, however, is that he and Kira had pretty much ended things in his quarters. Things were said, admissions made, that were honest and painful. Odo explains that he WANTED to be out there with Laas (well, a large part of him did). So where would that leave Kira - with somebody she now knows is miserable pretending to be a humanoid in order to maintain their life together? How could she come back from that? If he was resigned to staying, it was not exactly out of love but of a certainty that was safe. It's not in Kira's spirit to chain Odo to her or the station based on love. Letting him go was much more moving, mature, and in character.

I liked the way they had it ... not to mention the beautiful love scene at the end.

Interesting to speculate on what sort of future there would have been for Odo and Kira had Laas been executed. Clearly their relationship was pretty much in tatters after that confrontation in Odo's quarters. Thing is, Odo would have been miserable either way - losing Laas AND losing Kira. I think he would have tried to repair his relationship with Kira, but not sure if she could have gone back, knowing she was his second choice. Plus, she would have to be constantly wondering what would happen if another Changeling was to show up.

I do think Kira recognized that Odo would leave her in the end in favor of his own people, which was why she wasn't more upset in WYLB.

Interesting ... part of me always wondered if she was merely maintaining her promise to him in "Behind the Lines" when she says, basically, "When the war is over, if you feel you need to rejoin the Great Link, I won't stop you ...." She is clearly surprised when he tells her, and it looks like she's hurt, but she wouldn't chain him to the station if he felt like he needed to be out there with his own people. She loves him, they both know that. Yet she loves him enough to trust his judgement and decision. Clearly, for him to tell HER that he's leaving it must mean that he feels it supercedes what they have, as powerful as it is. I always wondered if she was the reason he made that choice ... for instance, if there was an implied threat to her life that he didn't mention and that's why he allowed himself to be "coerced" into returning to the Link to obtain the Founder's surrender.

Then again, the "Unity" reunion was great too ... I always knew that Odo would find a way to come back to her!

This discussion has sparked a couple of speculations/questions.

1) Once Odo learned that Laas escaped, even though he was awfully smug that Laas outfoxed Star Fleet (displaying his pride in his people), he didn't seem to me that he was anxious to leave the station and find him. Don't know if this was because he lacked the confidence in his own shapeshifting abilities to be able to accomplish that, or if doing something that spontaneous just wasn't part of his nature. It wasn't until Kira confessed her part in enabling Laas to escape and gave Odo Laas' location that he was impelled to leave - and by then he'd already made his decision to return to Kira. Of course Kira wouldn't have freed Laas if she didn't intend to tell Odo, giving him the choice. As she said, she didn't want him to stay out of a sense of obligation (and you know how much that must have hurt Kira to be considered an 'obligation' by the man she loved).

2) Do you think if Odo would have had the courage to show Kira his 'real' self, and if they had consummated their relationship with Odo in his true nature, that Odo would have been as infatuated with Laas? I know linking with another Changeling isn't the same as making love to Kira, but we know from Laas that Odo hasn't been embracing his Changeling self in a long time. That self-denial might have made Laas even more enticing to Odo.

As to your comment:

"I always wondered if she was the reason he made that choice ... for instance, if there was an implied threat to her life that he didn't mention and that's why he allowed himself to be "coerced" into returning to the Link to obtain the Founder's surrender."

I think in principal the Founders might have presented a threat to Kira, but by the time Odo linked with the Female Founder on Cardassia and secured her surrender, the Great Link was so weak from the Changeling disease there probably wasn't any way they could have acted against Kira. Judging from the FF's condition, she wouldn't have a posed a threat, and I think the wormhole was still blocked, so even if the Great Link was strong enough, they had no way to send someone into the Alpha Quadrant to kidnap/kill her. There's no mention of other Changelings besides the FF in the Alpha Quadrant, and if there was, they would have been struck down by the disease.

Really, the opportunities to kill Kira would have been "Heart of Stone," "The Adversary" and during the Dominion Occupation. I believe the Founder would have done it (but where would that have left us to kill off a major character in the series).