4.20 — “Shattered Mirror”
Plot: Alternate Universe Jennifer Sisko comes to DS9 to update Sisko on happenings in the Mirror Universe, where she meets Jake, the son she never had in her own universe. Jake is moved to be reunited with the image of his mother. Will the Sisko men be drawn back through the Mirror?
Thoughts: This Mirror Universe outing feels less special than previous installments, less like a break from the normal sensibility of the series. Why so?Too many characters seem barely differentiated from their Prime Universe counterparts: O’Brien/Smiley, Rom, Garak, Jennifer, and Jadzia (I am not clear whether she is joined with the Dax symbiote in this continuity; seemed like no the last time, but it isn’t addressed here except for Jake calling her “Dax,” but he wouldn’t know better). Only Kira, Worf, and Bashir seem to present different takes on their characters, and Alexander Siddig doesn’t do himself favors by hamming it up.
Worf is absolutely terrific, though, going full Command Kruge (Christopher Lloyd) from Star Trek III. This feels like the best of all possible Worfs.
Introducing Mirror Jennifer to Jake is a good escalation from the revelation of Jennifer’s character in DS9 3.18, “Through the Looking Glass.” But couldn’t she have more agency? She doesn’t even get a scene with Smiley/O’Brien, who seems to be in charge of every other aspect of the plot. She may look like Jake’s mom, but it’s okay if she’s really a big villain, or willing to sell out the resistance. It’s the Mirror Universe! She doesn’t need to be Saint Mother.
The visual effects–wow! They are almost too good. With the Defiant dogfighting Klingons, whooshing in and out of the arms of DS9, we see the advantages of moving to full CGI over the previous practice of photographing physical models. On the downside, it doesn’t look real.
The episode nods to Star Wars like the previous DS9 Mirror Universe episodes by having Bashir drop in for the spaceship rescue, just like Han Solo in the Millennium Falcon.
It feels like a while since we’ve had an episode that properly features Sisko, and Avery Brooks does not disappoint.
Some lines made me laugh out loud:
KIRA: Isn’t that a coincidence? I was hoping you weren’t married.
and
O’BRIEN: Ah. Pattern suicide.
What I struggle to find is the reason for doing the episode, other than to explore how much Jake misses his mother, which doesn’t seem to be particularly germane to events in Season Four. We don’t learn anything about the characters, there is no interesting science fiction story, nor anything especially outrageous or historic, death of two Mirror Universe cognate characters notwithstanding.
3.5 out of 5 sudden but inevitable betrayals.
http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Shattered_Mirror_(episode)
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