Honestly, they made it somewhat clear that changelings are a type of gestalt consciousness.  In the Link, they are one entity.  Individuality only exists when a portion breaks off and had to operate on its own.  It’s like an organic version of the Borg.  So, when Odo links with the Founder, he is losing himself and she has more influence over him.  It’s why Kira urges him to NOT link with the Founder.  They also revealed (not sure of the timeline), that Odo desperately wants to return to the Great Link is something he has to deny himself because of the war.

It was terribly frustrating, but I think it was an important arc to show that there are no perfect people.  Odo has his weak spots, and he fell hard, but at least he realized it and returned to his right mind again.

There's a lot to be said for being with someone who understands you, someone who speaks the same language as you, especially when you've spent your whole life feeling alone.

Peppermint Puddle is a once in a lifetime burn lmao

12:38  I believe that she or another Changing tells Odo or a solid that they have no need to want to look more humanoid than they need to be.  So unless trying to infiltrate a species, they won't bother trying to look more realistic of that species.  And perhaps there are just some Changelings that never bothered to practice the art or are simply better at doing so innately, although she obviously can from previous meetings.  Would have been freaky if she shape shifted into a perfect Kira duplicate for the joining though...

Odo did admit to Garak under torture that he still wanted to return to the Great Link even after all the Founders did.

Also, Odo is an immortal amorphous shapeshifting alien, I don't think our understanding of sex and love really apply to him.

Every guy has had that friend (or been the one) who fell under the spell of some "good, good".

Edit:  When someone rejects you, it is, from that point on, impossible to "cheat on" them.

The barfight between Cardassians and Jem Hadar is one of my favorite scenes, especially when one Cardassian gets a Bane style knee to the back 😂

9:15  Don't forget, the same bit€# that almost had Odo fire a weapon to kill, which he does not do.  😮

PEPPERMINT PUDDLE 😂

Personally, I feel like they portray the Link as like Changeling Crack, which would go along way to explain how Odo would get wrapped up into it so easily.

At first he was like "hell no" but since he has linked before, and knows its highs he is easily persuaded by the hoe changeling to go take a walk, into his quarters, and than convince him to get some. It would also explain why he sounds so weird after kira confronts him, and how he lost track of 3 days. The only thing that truly breaks him free of her/its influence was the threat of Kira's death.

That's why its probably hard for him to describe being in the link, if its basically "paradise" he literally is fighting against his urge to return to paradise just because he loves Kira that much more. Though tbf, odo was being a complete dumby, like the guy has so much self control but instantly takes a hit when easily presuaded by Evil play doe lady. So the link must really be that overpowering.

1:31 maybe is that alternate timeline Odo knew what this Odo was about to say he wouldn't have changed the Defiants course lol

Interesting idea, that if Odo & KIra hadn't had that tiff (which Kira later said, was basically nothing to her, but it devastated Odo), he wouldn't have been vulnerable, & rebounded with the Female Changeling.

I never REALLY blamed Odo for this. I think him being a changeling was meant to be shown as having been far more difficult to overcome than he had previously shown. Remember it is said multiple times that changelings sent out have a strong (presumably near uncontrollable) desire to return to the link. This doesn't at all justify his actions, but I think that it's why everyone trusted him so soon after these events occurred. I think it also kind of shows us how much character Odo really has. None of us have ever experienced anything close to the kinds of strong desires that Odo would have been experiencing. The only analogues we have in the present day all turn out to do horrific things. Odo, when all was said and done, manned up and did the right thing. Also, as far as the cheating thing is concerned? I think I'd let that slide too. They were never a thing. Odo felt like they never COULD even be a thing, and adding those confusing emotions into what he was going through only exacerbated an already jacked situation.

Overall, I think Odo's character was strengthened in this arc, not assasinated. But I understand how you could come away with the opposite opinion.

I actually think it was very in character for him. As much as the show is keen to emphasise he's organised, when it comes to things like love or caring, hes very emotionally immature.

I know it's never made explicit in any episode and it might just be the way the actor played Odo when he was daydreaming, but I got the serious impression that he was somehow drugged or under mind altering influence from linking and was literally unable to actually think clearly.

"Peppermint Puddle!" That's hilarious!

Why I think the writers did this to/with Odo - everyone on the show had times when they fell, when they fell short of what was expected of them (both by the other characters in-story, & by the audience), when they did something bad (Sisko In the Pale Moonlight, for example), this was simply Odo's turn. No one on the show was all good, or all bad (even WInn & Dukat), everyone was gray, that was DS9's strength, and what set it apart from ST's other series, especially TNG, where everyone was supposed to be a 'pedestal person,' perfect & virtuous at all times - in other words, completely unrealistic. Almost no one is all one thing, most everyone has moments of virtue & weakness, it's what made DS9's characters so relatable, IMHO. It's why I think of the DS9 characters differently than I think of the characters of all the previous series & Enterprise. I think of them as my friends, they're real to me, more than any other ST character, even ones I really love. And to answer your question, no, it didn't ruin Odo for me, it just made him a richer, even more complex character, It showed he wasn't the rigid, 'above it all' person he portrayed himself as, and probably thought he was...deep down, he was like everyone else - he wanted to be loved & accepted, and, in that moment where Kira was (justifiably) angry with him (over the bar fight), he sought that love & acceptance elsewhere, and, unfortunately, the Female Changeling was right there, to take advantage.

emo!Odo is now something I'm going to use when watching Star Trek. . . and maybe in real life, "Oh, stop being such an emo!Odo."

As frustrating as Odo was in this story arc, I think the reason Kira and everyone else were able to trust him after everything is because the realization that made him come to his senses was so foundational that he would never let himself fall for "Gelatinous Geraldine's" platitudes again. He showed where his loyalties were in the end, and his mistakes, while devastating, were not made out of malice or deliberate treachery.