monkee reviews 'In a Mirror, Darkly'
First Impression: A deliciously evil romp in another universe.
First Contact: April 5, 2063, Bozeman, Montana. It's a familiar scene, as well it ought to be, since it's lifted directly from Star Trek: First Contact. A scruffy band of survivors looks up at the cold, night sky in awe and wonder. A Vulcan ship descends through the mist. The door opens, and the first extraterrestrial steps onto terran soil. He extends his hand in the traditional Vulcan salute. "Live long and prosper," he says. There's a moment of awkward amusement when Zefram Cochrane can't quite manage to do the salute in return. Instead, he extends his hand in fellowship.
But wait! It's not a handshake. He's reaching into his coat. And that isn't awe and wonder on the faces of his comrades - it's suspicion and anger. BLAM! Zefram kills the Vulcan where he stands. The scruffy band of survivors charges onto the ship, quickly dispatching the other Vulcans. "Board that ship! Take what you can!" one of them shouts.
Not your father's Star Trek, indeed!
Alternate Opening: Even the opening has changed. Instead of 'Faith of the Heart,' we have dark, operatic music. Instead of a montage of scenes of peaceful exploration, we have scenes of death, battle and military triumph. Mushroom clouds bloom. A man in a spacesuit aggressively jabs a flag into alien soil - he clearly hasn't come in peace for all mankind. Starships strafe alien cities. And the whole thing ends with something we first saw in TOS's 'Mirror, Mirror.' It's the symbol of the evil Terran Empire, a dagger through the planet Earth.
Very cool. Very cool, indeed.
Just Another Day: It's a typical day on Enterprise, a ship in Starfleet's 'Assault Fleet.' Captain Forrest and Commander Archer, his first officer, have gone to see security officer Reed and Doctor Phlox's latest invention, the agony booth. Although they wryly mourn the passing of good, old-fashioned floggings, Reed assures them that this form of discipline is far superior. "The sensors continually shift the stimulation from one nerve cluster to another, keeping the subject in a constant state of agony." The Tellarite who's in there now would probably be inclined to agree, if he could still talk. No one can even remember what he did wrong, but, as Reed points out, he's a Tellarite, so he must be guilty of something.
Oh my. This certainly sets the tone. These people are sadistic, cruel and bigoted, just the sort of people we've come to expect in Star Trek's evil alternate universe. There are other similarities, too, such as unbridled ambition and distrust...
Archer has a proposal for Starfleet. He has acquired information from the Tholian Empire that he's certain will be of interest - some kind of mystery ship is involved. Forrest shoots him down, though. The Terran Empire is fighting a rebellion, and they don't have time to chase after Archer's information. Besides, Forrest thinks Archer's just trying for some glory. He tells Archer to shut up about his proposal and return to the bridge, or he can experience the agony booth first-hand...
The Captain's Woman: Forrest is reading reports in his quarters when he's interrupted by his 'Captain's Woman.' Why, it's HOSHI! She slinks over to him looking like she just stepped out of the pages of the latest 'Viktoria's Insidious Plot' catalog. She speculates on what their lives will be like when the rebellion is put down, but Forrest admits, if only to her, that it's not going well. She doesn't care. "This is supposed to be your sanctuary," she purrs. "You're the one person on this ship that I don't mind giving in to," he says. They kiss passionately.
His Move: It doesn't take long for Archer to make his play. Forrest and his bodyguard are overwhelmed by Archer and his men (including Mayweather and Reed) as they enter a lift. Surprisingly, Archer doesn't kill him outright. In fact, when Reed implies that Forrest might have an unfortunate accident on the way to the brig, Archer threatens him. He wants Forrest alive. On the bridge, T'Pol has no choice but to stand aside while Archer takes over. He says orders for a special mission came in from Starfleet over a secure channel. He sits down in the Big Chair with undisguised pleasure.
Archer broadcasts a speech over the intercom. Across the ship, people look up from what they're doing, surprised, but not all THAT surprised, at the change in command: Hoshi in Forrest's quarters, Phlox in sickbay (where he's doing some nasty looking dissections), and Trip (with a badly scarred face) in Engineering. "Nothing will impede our march toward victory," Archer says. "Long live the Empire!"
Ah, isn't it nice to know that there is one constant across the alternate universes? Archer's tedious speeches! Woo hoo!
The New Captain's First Officer: Archer chooses T'Pol as his first officer, even though Reed's next in line. He knows Reed has his own agenda, and thinks he can control T'Pol because she's a Vulcan. Apparently, after first contact, humans maintained the upper hand in that particular relationship, taking the Vulcan's technology, and turning them into virtual slaves. He shows T'Pol one of his prized possessions as a not-so-subtle threat. It's an antique - the weapon Cochrane used to kill the first Vulcan who stepped on Earth soil. "You're Vulcan," he tells her, disdainfully. "Never forget that."
The New Captain's Bodyguard: It's Mayweather, and he's quite the suck up! Archer has to tell him to shut up before he brown-noses his way out of the job. A snarls comes from the darkness of Archer's quarters, as if to emphasize the point...
PORTHOS!!! It's the fearless space pup, only he's no sweet little beagle here! He's a vicious ROTWEILER! Hahahahahaha! God, I love this show!
The New Captain's Woman: A wary Hoshi is brought to Archer's quarters. He's not fooling her for a minute. She's the communications officer, and she knows damned well he didn't get a communiqué, secret or otherwise, from Starfleet. He tells her that she'll remain alive as long as she doesn't cause any trouble. Apparently, these two have a history. She used to be Archer's woman until she saw that Forrest was going to be promoted ahead of him. Because it's tradition for the new captain to take everything that belonged to the previous captain, she offers herself to him again. He seems inclined to accept, but when they kiss, she pulls a nasty looking dagger from its hiding place in her midriff-baring uniform top and tries to kill him with it. He foils the attempt just as T'Pol calls him to the bridge. Apparently, attempted murder isn't what they consider 'causing trouble' around here, because all he says to Hoshi as he leaves is "I expect you to be in a better mood when I get back." Hee.
Captive Tholian: They've found the warp signature Archer had ordered them to search for. It belongs to a small Tholian scout ship, which fires at them. Before the Tholian ship can complete its self-destruct sequence, they beam the pilot into the decon chamber. It shrieks its outrage, and Phlox laughs. "You're angry now," he chortles. "Just wait..."
The Tholian doesn't have to wait long. Archer arrives to demand information. He wants to know where the Earth vessel they've found is being kept. The Tholian, who looks like a crystalline insect, refuses to cooperate at first. Then Archer has Phlox lower the temperature until the creature's exoskeleton begins to crack. Ouch. The Tholian gives them the name of a system, but then starts broadcasting a distress call, which T'Pol thinks might be a natural defense mechanism. Archer needs the creature alive in case the information proves faulty, so he orders Phlox to 'knock it out' somehow.
Another Constant: Trip and T'Pol flirt, sort of, as they work together in engineering to install the Suliban cloak - another constant in the multiverse, I suppose: Trip is in love with T'Pol no matter where they are. Awwww. Love might be too strong a word in this case, though. Trip says now that T'Pol is First Officer, she could get him transferred out of engineering, where he's exposed to far too much radiation (hence the scarred face). He reminds her that he did her a favor once, and suggestively asks when her next pon farr will be. An explosion interrupts the sexual tension. A relay blows, delaying the installation of the cloak and knocking out internal sensors. Archer finds the accident suspicious, and orders Reed to investigate it.
Confrontation: Archer visits Forrest in the brig. Forrest says all this surprises him - he always trusted Archer because he had no ambition. Archer bristles at that, and nearly chokes his former CO to death. "Kill me and she'll never forgive you," Forrest gasps. Archer obliges. Can he care about Hoshi that much?
Saboteur? Trip is in the agony booth. It seems the evidence points to him - he's suspected of causing the accident in engineering. He vehemently denies it, but Archer tells Reed to 'break him.'
Pillow Talk: Apparently, Hoshi was 'in a better mood' when Archer got back. They are stretched out together on his bed, and she's telling him how good he is (monkee rolls her eyes and refrains from comment). He's not even listening, though. He's thinking aloud. "Tucker's a competent engineer," he says. "If he wanted to damage the cloak, he could have done a much better job." Hoshi reminds him that T'Pol was looking over his shoulder.
T'Pol. Uh-oh.
He can't locate T'Pol, of course, because the internal sensors are down. He grabs a phase pistol and goes out in search of her.
Rescue Operation: She's currently marching through the corridors, armed and with two Vulcan operatives. They shoot the guards and release Forrest from the brig. "What took you so long?" he asks. Archer intercepts them, but loses them in the ensuing firefight. Forrest and T'Pol retake the bridge. They're stymied, though, by autonavigation. Archer has it set, and they can't stop the ship or alter its heading. Archer arrives on the bridge in time to gloat. Even with a phase pistol pointed at his head, he can't release the autopilot. It's been randomly encrypted.
Give the man credit for preparing for all contingencies!
The Tables Turn Again: After ten hours in the agony booth, Archer's not having any fun, but because he's a man's man, a manly man, he is, at least, still standing. Forrest is forced to release him, though, because once again, Archer was prepared. He had sent his data to Admiral Gardener at Starfleet. Gardener is intrigued by the mystery ship, and orders Forrest to investigate it, with Archer's help. Forrest tells Archer to get cleaned up - he has to brief the staff in one hour. "You betrayed me," Forrest snarls, as he sends Archer away. "Don't think for one moment that I'm going to forget that."
Archer Explains it All: Archer briefs the staff. At first, they can't believe their ears. "A parallel universe?" T'Pol asks, incredulous. The Vulcan Science Directorate doesn't think that's possible. (LOL! Here's another constant - the Vulcan Science Directorate is skeptical in any universe!) Archer explains that the more open-minded Tholians detonated a tricobalt warhead, and the explosion created an interphasic rift, a doorway into another parallel universe. They dared not enter the unstable rift themselves, but they lured a ship into it by sending a distress call. Archer has a fuzzy picture - it looks like a Starfleet saucer design. What's more - the Tholians have quantum dated it - it's from the future. Archer figures that if the Empire could retrieve the ship and its futuristic technology; they'd be unstoppable.
Mirror Universe Vulcan Ethics: Trip and T'Pol are back in engineering again; this time, they get the cloak up and running without incident. Trip isn't as friendly now, though. He's figured out that it was T'Pol who sabotaged the ship. She corrects him. Trip did the actual sabotaging; he just doesn't remember it. She lured him to her quarters with the promise of sex, then mind-melded with him. He sabotaged the cloak and the sensors, and she modified his memory afterwards. Sheesh. That wasn't very noble, was it? I suppose it's all in how you look at it. T'Pol was convinced that Forrest should be in command. But Trip does NOT appreciate being manipulated.
The U.S.S Defiant: Enterprise reaches the coordinates, and finds the mystery ship. NCC 1764, the U.S.S. Defiant. They scan the vessel. There are no humans left alive, but there are thirteen alien biosignatures.
[Pause - A little bit of background. This Defiant appeared in the TOS episode 'The Tholian Web.' The ship, and Kirk along with it, disappeared into a spatial interphase. Spock's efforts to retrieve the captain endangered the Enterprise (NCC 1701) when the Tholians showed up and started constructing a web around the ship. Ultimately, Kirk was recovered and they escaped the Tholians. The Defiant, however, remained trapped in the spatial interphase. End Pause.]
[Pause - Wait, let me think this through. So apparently, the Tholians of the 'present,' circa 2155, created the rift and managed to lure the future 'U.S.S. Defiant' into it from the year 2264. So I guess the future Tholians will know this happened, which neatly explains what they were doing there in 2264. Cool. End Pause.]
The Reaction: The discovery that Archer was right elicits mixed emotions from the crew. None of them can quite believe it, for one thing. Forrest is visibly annoyed, because now Archer has been vindicated. Trip is awed by the size of the Defiant's engines. And everyone is excited, because this is big news, and they're greedy and grateful to be there to reap the rewards.
Forrest orders Archer to lead the assault team. He's to download the database, then destroy the ship. Archer is astounded by Forrest's lack of vision. "We have to take the ship!" he insists. Forrest disagrees. They are deep in Tholian territory, and there's no way they're going to be able to get both ships out unscathed. Archer obeys, but is not happy. Forrest takes T'Pol aside and tells her he doesn't want Archer to survive the mission. She understands.
A Trip Down Memory Lane: Archer's assault team doesn't encounter anyone when they board the Defiant. They take a look around - it appears that the Tholians are in the process of gutting the ship. They find some of the original human crew, though, all dead. (In 'The Tholian Web,' they were said to have contracted some form of space madness from the spatial interphase and killed each other.) Archer takes a phaser off one of the bodies.
This is all very interesting, but no self-respecting Trekkie really cares at this point, because we're all busy admiring the TOS era starship. Yowza! Those bright, shiny corridors! The red doors! The classic uniforms with the cute, flared pants! And, once they reach the bridge - oh, joy! Rapture! The flashing colored lights! The buttons! The red railing! The pop-up science station screen! The BIG CHAIR!
Wheeeeeee!!!!
Oh, What a Tangled Web...Back on Forrest's Enterprise, however, fun is in short supply. Whatever Phlox did to the Tholian to knock him/her/it out has worn off. The Tholian wakes up and starts broadcasting its distress call again. The timing is bad, of course, because the cloaked Enterprise is in Tholian space! The Tholians quickly detect and surround them, despite the cloak. Quicker than you can say, "Look out! These are Tholians! They build bad-ass webs!" the ship is ensnared in one.
[Pause. I have no idea why this happens so quickly. In TOS's 'The Tholian Web,' it took hours and hours. Maybe it's because there are so many Tholian ships this time around. Or maybe Tholian technology will actually regress in the next century. I don't really care that much, but I felt I should mention the inconsistency. End Pause.]
A Moment of Nobility: There's nothing Forrest can do. He can't escape the web, and the Tholians are quickly destroying the ship. He gives the order to abandon ship. Hoshi hesitates, but he tells her he'll buy them as much time as he can and makes her go. It looks like at least some of the escape pods get away before Enterprise blows up. Captain Forrest goes down with the ship, proving that even these sordid characters are capable of some small degree of honor.
The Survivors: The assault team gets Defiant up and running just in time to see the attack on Enterprise. They try to help, but are too late. They witness the destruction of their ship. To be continued...
The Missing Link: This episode provides an important connection between Enterprise and the TOS era. I almost wish they'd done it earlier, in one of the first two seasons. Because the look and tone of Enterprise was so different (for many reasons) from the look and tone of the original, it always seemed like they were unrelated. I enjoyed both, but didn't feel like they were part of the same whole. Even when DS9 did the tie-in episode 'Trials and Tribble-ations,' it seemed contrived. I LOVED it - don't get me wrong - it was cute and fun, but it didn't ring true. In this episode, it felt natural to see Enterprise era characters (not OUR characters, but definitely characters from the time frame) walking around on a TOS starship. I think they successfully bridged the gap, and better than I would have thought. And it will be helpful to the legacy of the franchise that they pulled it off.
Looking in the Mirror: The writers were constrained by the fact that in Kirk's time, no one had heard of this alternate universe until the events of 'Mirror, Mirror.' That's unfortunate, because half of the fun of having evil alter egos is seeing our good characters react to them! Wouldn't it be interesting to see what our Hoshi thought of the fact that her alter ego slept her way to the top? Yikes! It's okay, though. Thanks to DS9, this alternate universe has gotten a lot of airtime. It has its own arc in the world of Star Trek, and I can accept this two-part episode as the beginning of that. It was interesting that they made the divergence occur at first contact. It really was a turning point in Trek human history, and things could easily have gone the other way.
Divergence: It's not completely clear if this point in history was the divergence point, though. T'Pol's behavior is intriguing. She uses her Vulcan melding powers to manipulate people. Is this a reaction to a century of abuse from the humans, or does it go back farther than that? Was Surak noble in this universe? What does the Kir'Shara say? Was the first contact scout ship part of an invasion force, as Archer believes?
The Illogic of Waste: The mirror universe Spock understood that the brutality of the Terran Empire would lead to a revolt that would usher in a Dark Age. The good universe Kirk convinced him to act to put an earlier stop to the brutality. This turned out to be good advice at the wrong time, but that's another story. My point is that you don't have to be a Vulcan to see how illogical the Terran Empire system is. I can't understand how this particular group of people is going to survive the next MONTH! Every single person on the ship is wanted dead by at least one other person. And some of them are wanted dead by many people! This being the case, how can the Empire possibly survive for another century to exist in Kirk's time? Perhaps next week will shed some light on that.
Wildly Against Type: I read somewhere that this episode had given the actors an opportunity to act 'wildly against type.' That's certainly true in some cases. Hoshi gets to be a sultry seductress. Phlox gets to be a sadist. Reed gets to be a duplicitous jerk. Mayweather gets to be an opportunistic suck-up. T'Pol gets to be a beleaguered Vulcan almost-slave. Trip...well, Trip wasn't all that different, really. He seems to care more about his work than the conflicts raging around him. He loves T'Pol and is loyal to Archer, but hey - he has a scar.
The Saddest Thing: Everyone gets to play against type except...Archer! Honestly, he didn't seem all that different to me, and that's a sad commentary on the character! He fits right in! Not so much in his actions - he's behaved badly in the past, but usually under the direst of circumstances, with his back up against a wall. But no, the similarities are more in the character's tone. His belligerent attitude. His irritable delivery. I don't like feeling this way, but there you have it. In my own opinion, he's the least likable of the five captains, and who would have thought that would happen, given Bakula's talent for humor and affability? I thought he slipped into the evil alter ego role all too easily. And that's a shame.
It doesn't hurt this particular episode any, however, so let's move on.
Character Interactions: Well, they're not OUR characters, but that actually made their interactions more interesting. Reed and Phlox were deliciously evil together, and I also loved the subtleties of the Archer/T'Pol interactions. Everything he said to her carried a certain vague threat. Hoshi fascinated me. There's nothing admirable about what she's doing, but I found it easy to accept since it had already been established that women behave this way in the mirror universe. I loved her scenes with Forrest, in particular. She allowed us to see that these humans still possess kindness and softness - they're just vigorously suppressing them. Since I'm an optimist at heart, I liked seeing this side of Forrest. It made him seem more 'human.'
Alternate Archer Watch: Well, you can't argue with results. He prepared for every contingency, and he turned out to be right about how important the 'Defiant' could be to the Empire. The one major mistake was Forrest's. The Tholian should have been put to death the instant they found the Defiant. At that point, they no longer had any reason to keep him/her/it around - not when he/she/it posed such a threat. Ah, well. Live and learn. Or die and don't learn.
Mayweather Watch: Good for Anthony Montgomery! He's getting a respectable amount of action in this last season. He must have enjoyed this episode.
'shipper Watch: This universe is a veritable gold mine of 'shipper possibilities. There is, after all, a fine line between anger and lust. Hoshi/Archer, Hoshi/Forrest, and Trip/T'Pol were the only overt ones, but a case could be made for just about any two characters who appeared on screen together. Trip/Reed? Reed/Phlox? Archer/T'Pol? Archer/Trip? Archer/Forrest? Anything goes!
Best Lines:
"Live Long and Prosper." 'BLAM!!!' (Vulcan scout ship captain, and Cochrane)
"I'm probably the only one who doesn't want to stick a knife in your back." (Hoshi, to Forrest)
"Do you recognize this? Zefram Cochrane used it to kill the first Vulcan who stepped onto Terran soil." (Archer, to T'Pol)
"Snarl." (Porthos, to Mayweather)
"Don't mind Porthos. He hasn't had his dinner yet." (Archer, to Mayweather)
"A mutiny...oooh. I didn't think you had it in you." "I'll take that as a compliment." (Hoshi and Archer)
"I've absorbed enough delta rays to guarantee my grandchildren glow in the dark." (Trip, to T'Pol)
"Release me and I promise your death will be quick." (Forrest, to Archer)
"I'll kill you when I get out of this, Reed!" "I'd like to see you try." (Trip and Reed)
"It hasn't been this good in a long time. The things a girl will give up for her career..." (Hoshi, to Archer)
"You're going to regret what you did." "Threats are illogical." (Trip and T'Pol)
"Look at the size of those coils! I'll bet that thing could do warp seven!" (Trip, to no one in particular)
"Will you kindly DIE?!" (Phlox, to the Tholian)
THE Best Line:
"If you'd like, Sir, I could hold that for you." (Reed, to Archer, regarding the high-tech phaser he takes from a dead Defiant crewman. Hee.)
Rating: This one was lots of fun. Let's go with a 9.5/10.
Next Week: Evil mirror universe people on a TOS era starship for a whole hour - what's not to love? The T'Pol/Hoshi cat fight might not be to everyone's liking, but you gotta get a kick out of Archer in a green wrap-around Kirk shirt. "WHAT are you wearing?" Hoshi says, incredulous. Hee.
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