derry | DS9, Odo, and Garak feels

★ What the absolute FUCK was Indiscretion (4x05)?! Dukat essentially got a giant thorn stuck in his ass and Kira pulled it out while he was bending over and that camera angle cannot have been a mistake. I hope everyone involved had a lot of fun. We certainly had--the roommate and I were literally clutching at each other, laughing hysterically. -- But aside from the hilarity, I really love when Kira and Dukat get screen time together & this episode was such a treat!

★ Despite my own best efforts, the Kira/Odo developments are really starting to tug on my heartstrings. ;_; Crossfire (4x13) was brutal to watch. I felt so bad for Odo when Kira was gushing about her new relationship with Shakaar, and then she hugged him and the look on Odo's face made me want to yell at someone. ;__; I am now quite ambivalent about the ship. I prefer Kira and Odo as very good platonic friends, yes; still, I can't help but be utterly enamored with René Auberjonois' performance, and I won't deny that the romantic angle is starting to grow on me. At any rate I'm intensely invested in Odo's happiness.

★ I fucking perished of feels during The Muse (4x21) when Odo got fake-married to Lwaxana (what the fuck kind of fanfic-ass plot point was that even) and put words to the impact she's had on his life--honest words, I think, even if spoken under some type of duress. I love them! Odo shifted his arm into a blanket for her! He got to feel her baby kick (the LOOK ON HIS FACE jfc bury me)! They played shapeshifting hide-and-seek!!! Seeing others, and Odo himself, delighted by his abilities never gets old and I want to read 300k of fanfic involving exactly that and nothing else.

★ There were so many gorgeous Garashir scenes and episodes that I'm not sure I can list them all! EEEE. Distant Voices (3x19) was so good. I don't think that Julian's subconscious mind cast Garak as 'the enemy' in his prolonged hallucination; Garak did help him out a lot, and although his role was somewhat ambivalent, his behavior wasn't as villainous as I think the episode tried to make us believe.

★ The spy episode (Our Man Bashir, 4x10)!! I can't believe Julian straight up SHOT Garak, jfc. Those two need to get their flirting in order. Garak in a tux was a sight to behold. Also, is it just me or was that the first moment Garak openly acknowledged his ties to the Obsidian Order (while not out of his mind with pain from the implant, that is)? When Julian quoted Garak's little speech back to "Sisko" word for word, I giggled and got goosebumps, which is a great combination.

★ Tora Ziyal!! omfg I LOVE HER and if anything bad happens to her I will murder everyone in this bar. She's such an interesting character, I love what we saw of her and Dukat's relationship, and I squeaked happily irl when it became clear she was going to be staying on DS9. I'm so curious as to how she'll fit in, and what her life on the station will be like, and I really want her to bond more with Kira!

★ Even if I hadn't already been completely enamored with Garak, and Andrew Robinson's portrayal of him, I would have fallen in love after Garak & Ziyal's turbolift scene, when Garak nervously asked her if she was going to hurt him. I'm 110% sure that Garak knew Dukat must've told her all sorts of ghastly things about him, and chose submission as a way to set her at ease. What a fantastic, thoughtful, shrewd, and in many ways kind character he is, although I'm sure he'd protest that last bit.

★ Speaking of Garak, oh my God, Improbable Cause & The Die Is Cast (3x20, 3x21) were a fucking treasure. Just, ADFKJS,FSJDGFZDMFJ oh my God??? I teared up multiple times and don't even have words for how much I loved these two episodes, even if they also expertly shredded my feels and stepped on my heart. Just. Garak. ;__; Odo (!!!). TAIN YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE. I hope he died, though I doubt it. I'm so relieved that nobody held Garak's temporarily shifted allegiance against him, and that even Odo forgave him for, y'know, the torture. (Oh God, the horrible reluctance on Garak's face throughout that whole section, and when, by the end of it, he sat with his head in his hands I damn near cried for real.) Those two do share some parallels, and I'm so happy they're now going to forge some type of friendship. ;__;

★ ODO IS SOLID NOW WTF

That is all.