34. Mirror, MirrorFORMULA: The Enemy Within x4 + The City on the Edge of Forever
WHY WE LIKE IT: What's not to like? The mirror universe's crew are deliciously skewed, and, oh yeah, Uhura's abs!
WHY WE DON'T: The fight scene at the end AGAIN disappoints.
REVIEW: Sure, the premise is a silly one as far as hard SF goes, since there's no way the two parallel crews would be at the same place, at the same time, given such drastically different attitudes and actions over the years. The two universes would have come farther and farther apart as time went on. As an example, Mirror Spock has Vulcan henchmen which are not on our Enterprise; a crewman killed by Nomad in the last episode is still alive in the Mirror universe; and so on. The main characters are just lucky to have the same jobs as their counterparts, I guess.
But you don't think about that when you watch Mirror, Mirror. It's just so much fun! Fish-out-of-water stories work well in Star Trek, and here, instead of being in the past somewhere, they're in the present, but a much-changed present, wherein they must try to fit in. It leads to equal parts drama and humor, none of it straining credulity. The actors who got to play Mirror versions of themselves are having fun too, with Sulu's smarmy scarface being especially memorable, though less so than the bearded Mr. Spock, who is quite close to our own.
The four exchangees get the bulk of the action however, though Scotty and McCoy stand out less. You still get their usual competence and compassion however. Uhura is great here, especially in dealing with Sulu's advances. I can't believe they have her wavering in an early scene, because by the end, she's jumping Moreau for the phaser. Without a doubt her best episode, and the cut of her uniform certainly helps. My, how fit she is. She could probably break me in half. As for Kirk, he's his usual adaptable self, but I love how he plays logician with Spock in this episode. He's played these games with Landru and Nomad before, and here he shows why he can beat the Vulcan at chess. Great stuff. I also think Marlena Moreau is more than equal to the task of being the "captain's woman", a very interesting and sensual character. Kirk is a bit shameless when walking up to her at the end of the episode, however, but that's where he got his reputation.
If the episode lets us down anywhere, it's on the production side. For example, while flipping the Enterprise back and forth during the beam-in is an excellent device, they didn't keep the outer space shots reversed. That's too bad. And then there's the horrible fight at the end, where the stuntmen look nothing like the characters. Spock in particular grows curls and loses his beard in the wideshots. Can't believe so fragile a skull would have 1) knocked him out, and 2) almost killed him.
LESSON: Right now, somewhere in the multiverse, there's a Mirror Siskoid writing a negative review of this episode. It boggles the mind.
REWATCHABILITY - High: You can watch it for the story, you can watch it for the small details, you can watch it as a Uhura fan... I'm just surprised it took until DS9 to revisit this universe. The novel "Dark Mirror" has an interesting take on it though, if you like that sort of thing.
Comments
I would have liked to see Dark McCoy, for example, complain about the lack of torture instruments in his sick bay.