THE PLOT
The Terran Empire is at war. There have been large-scale rebellions, and the attempts to stamp out the rebels have gone badly. Jonathan Archer, first officer of the I. S. S. Enterprise, has come into possession of certain information which can turn the tide. A Terran ship from an alternate universe has come through a hole in Tholian space. Not only is this ship from a different universe, it is from the future - containing technology the likes of which the Empire can only dream of.
Captain Maximilian Forrest (Vaughn Armstrong) is not willing to take the Enterprise on such a hazardous mission in pursuit of a goal he doesn't believe exists. So Archer stages a mutiny and, with the assistance of Major Reed's security forces, he seizes control of the ship and throws the captain in the brig. But Forrest has his own allies on board, and has no intention of simply accepting Archer's treachery...
CHARACTERS
Capt. Forrest: Vaughn Armstrong returns to the series as Forrest. Of the various mirror universe characters, he is probably the most like his counterpart. Maximilian Forrest rarely comes across as evil. He is clearly devoted to his duty, just as our Forrest was. His relationship with Hoshi appears genuine, to the point that Forrest's life is used as a bargaining chip by Archer to gain her cooperation. He is stern, jealously guarding his command - but in this reality, that is simply a matter of survival. In the battle that ends the episode, we see Forrest retaining his concern for his crew, and his last scene is a proper "hero moment." The return of both Armstrong and his character is welcome, as is seeing him in a lead role for a change.
Archer: Almost all of the regular cast visibly raise their game for this 2-parter. The exception, unfortunately, is Scott Bakula. I've commented many times how well Bakula plays different shades of anger. In this characterization, however, he tromps around with a perpetual scowl. Watching, I found myself far too aware of Scott Bakula acting, while the others seemed to inhabit these dark variants of their normal characters more naturally. I may change my mind in Part Two. But as of Part One, this usually reliable actor is the weak link in the main cast.
Trip: The Trip of this universe has become badly scarred through exposure to a warp engine that is obviously much less well-shielded than our Enterprise's warp engines. He fully expects to die young from exposure to radiation. Some elements of his character are directly inverted. He despises Reed, for instance. He does still lust after T'Pol, but his interest in her is purely carnal, as opposed to the more solicitous attitude of our Trip. Connor Trinneer does a fine job playing a version of Trip that has had all the joy and openness beaten out of him, leaving a hard and bitter man to run the engines.
Dr. Phlox: John Billingsley has always injected a note of something alien, even creepy. Here, he turns up those creepy elements, playing a sadistic Phlox. Whereas our Phlox keeps a menagerie of animals for healing purposes, this variant brutally dissects the animals, apparently for pleasure. We first meet him as he proudly displays his new invention: The Mirror Universe's first Agony Booth. He clearly enjoys placing people inside, and gets great satisfaction from torturing the Tholian for information. I particularly enjoyed Billingsley's delivery of, "Will you kindly die," as he murders the alien. A great, disturbing performance.
Hoshi: After 3 2/3 seasons of being the "good girl," Linda Park must have enjoyed this chance to cut loose. Mirror Hoshi is confidently sexual in a way that our Hoshi has never really been allowed to be, and she has no problem using that sexuality to retain her place of privilege once Archer takes over. She does have the same gifts for language that our Hoshi has, which makes her somebody that Archer needs to have on his side - which also nicely justifies the plot necessity of putting Forrest in the brig, rather than following Reed's suggestion and executing him.
MIRROR UNIVERSE THOUGHTS
OK, let's start with the obvious: The credits. The "mirror credits," presenting the history of humanity's evolving war machine, are a wonderful mirror to the regular "history of exploration" credits. It's a particularly nice touch that they utilize several of the same clips, only now given a different context. My ideal version of these credits would complete the mirroring of the normal ones by using a pop/rock tune, only one with a darker edge (Sympathy for the Devil would seem appropriate, or possibly Paint It Black) - but that would be ridiculously expensive for what amounts to "a neat touch," and the orchestral score used does work well... probably better than the regular credits do.
The episode begins by showing Zefram Cochrane's first contact with the Vulcans. Only this time, the scenario plays out a bit differently. As the Vulcans give their traditional greeting, Cochrane pulls out a gun and shoots the lead Vulcan. Then one of his followers calls on the rest to take everything they can get their hands on. This would appear to be the beginning of the Empire, with stolen Vulcan technology leading Earth out to the stars early, crushing everything in its path.
A scene early in Part One sees Archer speculating as to how things might have played out had Cochrane not shot that Vulcan. This has me thinking that this is intended as the moment of divergence between the two universes. Which raises an interesting question: Is the "Mirror Universe," in which the human race spreads out as lust-driven, power-thirsty conquerors, the actual "default" future, the one that happens with no intervention? Is "our" Star Trek universe, with the upright Kirk, the intellectual Picard, the pragmatic but honorable Sisko - Is that, in fact, simply a parallel possibility, made into reality when Picard and the Borg travelled back in time, with Picard's crew ultimately interfering with Cochrane (and letting him know that the Vulcans were not invaders).
Heck, I could see Daniels and his Temporal Cold War shenanigans manipulating that into happening, just to create the "Federation" future we've seen him be extremely protective of (thus indicating that the "Federation future" is not destined, but actually quite vulnerable).
EPISODE THOUGHTS
In a Mirror Darkly is routinely named as Enterprise's very best. I suspect some of that reputation may come down to it being so different from the rest of the series. With a different tone, a darker set of personalities for our regulars, and in fact a different universe to inhabit, it stands out more readily from the rest of the series than even the best "regular" episodes. But while I might argue against labelling it the objective "best," In a Mirror Darkly is definitely up there. As can be seen from how much I've written already, it is certainly an episode that offers a lot of meat for discussion. In fact, I'm abandoning my usual policy of writing a single review for a 2-parter with one title, simply because a review of both parts together would be prohibitively long.
Acting as both a prequel to Mirror, Mirror and a sequel to The Tholian Web, this 2-parter continues Season 4's strong ties to the original series. I would highly recommend watching The Tholian Web just before this, as this episode does directly address elements of that episode. We discover that the Tholians (or rather, the "mirror" Tholians) created the hole in space into which the Defiant fell, and did so in order to study and dissect a ship from the future. This also fits with our glimpse of the Tholians in this series' Future Tense, when they also showed a strong interest in technology from the future.
The script is by Mike Sussman, and shows his usual expertise with both structure and momentum. Every character gets a moment, even Mayweather, and every scene advances either the story or the universe. It builds nicely to a very strong climax, with the closing visual virtually guaranteeing that viewers will be hungry for the next installment.
Rating: 10/10.
Previous Episode: Bound
Next Episode: In a Mirror Darkly, Part II
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