WHY WE LIKE IT: Georgiou's growth. The look (give or take the fright make-up).
WHY WE DON'T: No reference to Empress Hoshi? Come on!
REVIEW: Since we know Georgiou must, somehow, head a Section 31 show in the future, Terra Firma may be pushing her towards that fate, and I won't be surprised if she ends up in an earlier century by the end of the story. There are even (odd?) heartfelt goodbyes between her and the main characters. It's also the first use of a god-like being who creates surreal and anachronistic trappings around itself. This has been part of the show's DNA since the Original Series, but was perhaps seemed too silly for the CBS All-Access live action shows to date. I've like Paul Guilfoyle at least since his short arc in Wiseguy, and he has a sort of Seventh Doctor vibe about him as Carl, an entity who opens a surreal door back to the day Georgiou was betrayed by Lorca and Michael in the Mirror Universe. Have fun freeze-framing his newspaper for references to various past episodes, including The City on the Edge of Forever and TNG's Parallels, but you may need to crisp up the image with PhotoShop... is there a clean copy to look at somewhere online?).
It's an experience that is going to contrast the evil Emperor Georgiou to the person she's since become. We may not think there's a difference, especially in the discombobulated state she now finds herself in. Physically, she's painfully going out of phase, something Cronenberg - I really have to start calling him Kovich - says is a byproduct of her crossing both time and dimension (check for a fun reference to the Kelvin timeline, looks like Spock would have had a similar fate had he lived longer, or is this how he died?), but mentally, it's even worse. She's throwing tantrums, she's childish, she's trying to provoke everyone into fighting or killing her (there's a visual reference to Crouching Tiger here that sadly doesn't go the full 9 yards), and having given up, shows the ugliest side of herself. And yet when we get to the Mirror Universe, we realize how she's actually softened. She's ruthless, but not needlessly cruel, whereas everyone around her (except for slave Saru) is the worst example of humanity (or Terranity, I guess).
Like Enterprise's Mirror episodes, this is a Mirror Universe story seen from the inside, with no Prime Universe characters as reflection, but the twist is that Georgiou plays that role here. How much have Federation ideals infected her? And can they help her change what once went wrong, Quantum Leap style. Captain Killy's back, and there are nice bits for Owosekun and Rhys, and both Airiam and Landry are still alive. It's hard to know just when history is changed, but by all accounts, Mirror Burnham already thinks her "mother" is weak and ripe for a coup, and her new demeanor only exacerbates the situation. The Emperor knows Lorca and Burnham will make a move that day, needles Burnham about it, angers her to the point where she calls for Saru's butchering ahead of schedule, and a more knowing Philippa saves Saru and takes him into her confidence. All of this pushes the coup forward, which is perhaps why Stamets doesn't get a chance to betray Burnham and instead gets killed by Georgiou here. At that point, we definitely know things have changed. Georgiou won the day last time, but it is clear she regrets having killed her "daughter" (those were the flashbacks brought on by her seizures), and that's what she really tries to change. Can she be brought back on side (cuz she's real genocidal, yo)? And if it works, what does that mean for Georgiou, her condition and her fate? This is a great-looking episode too, with a real snowfall on Carl's planet, bright light shining through Georgiou's crown in a show of power, and the Terran sense of pageantry manifested as a Cirque du Soleil floor show!
The episode also advances Discovery's story as subplots. The Admiral has warmed to Disco's crew and is giving them more latitude (stating Terra Firma's theme of questioning what decisions one can live with). Adira is burning the candle at both ends. And the message from inside the Burn's origin point is partially decoded to reveal Kelpiens sent it. The message sender has "radiation burns" that I bet are something else. But this is all for another day.
LESSON: Do not confuse growth with weakness.
REWATCHABILITY - Medium-High: Mirror episodes are always a little arch, but this looks to be a great send-off for Georgiou's character (from this particular show at least).
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