378. Shattered MirrorFORMULA: Through the Looking Glass + Defiant + Star Wars
WHY WE LIKE IT: See "Fun" below.
WHY WE DON'T: See "Stupid" below.
REVIEW: The series goes from powerful and dark (Hard Time) to totally trivial (this). Though the 24th-century Mirror Universe started out pretty well, it's now gotten into it's "George Lucas" phase, where things happen and characters show up just because it would be be cool. It's bubblegum, not to be taken seriously despite the emotional core of the story regarding Jake meeting his Mirror mom. Felecia Bell's performance undercuts that element anyway, and I still believe her to be ill-equipped for the role (see lesson). Still, you can't help but feel bad for the Siskos at the end there.
Fun: The Defiant pulling a Millennium Falcon on Worf's giant ship. Smiley's "pattern suicide". The Intendant on having killed a man's wife, "I was hoping you weren't married". Mirror Garak finally shows some wit. The bit with key in the boot found AFTER Garak gets slit open. Nog hating Jake (and another Ferengi bites the dust). Agonizers make their first reappearance since Mirror, Mirror.
Stupid: Worf of course joins the Mirror cast in what seems to be a pretty fortuitous position (and is it me, or is Worf pretty much the same?). Shoddy wigs. Badass innuendo (like Garak not being Worf's type). Smiley's been robbed of any three-dimensionality he had and is just another jerk now. Jake forgets about Kasidy Yates and tries to match his dad to Mirror mom. But most of all, there's the idea that from stolen files, the rebels could build a Federation ship, complete with paint job and carpets. Suspension of disbelief has never been so tightly stretched.
LESSON: Be careful of who you cast as the dead wife in a science fiction program.
REWATCHABILITY - Medium: Sit back and enjoy the show, it's got its fun bits. But leave your brain at the door.
Comments
While I initially appreciated DS9 taking a TOS element and running with it, this episode was where I thought the Mirror Universe concept (as far as DS9 was concerned) had overstayed its welcome.
All the "stupid" aspects of this can and should be overlooked because this episode took place in the beard universe. Continuity is necessarily a mess there, and so you utilize it for whatever fun you care to have.
Hell, just the scenes of the beard Defiant zipping around Terok Nor justify this episode.
(although, if they were going to replicate everything else...)