{"id":5451,"date":"2018-11-16T04:02:36","date_gmt":"2018-11-16T04:02:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/420-Shattered-Mirror"},"modified":"2018-11-16T04:02:36","modified_gmt":"2018-11-16T04:02:36","slug":"420-shattered-mirror","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relivethemajesty.com\/index.php\/2018\/11\/16\/420-shattered-mirror\/","title":{"rendered":"4.20 — \u201cShattered Mirror\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n \n

4.20 — \u201cShattered Mirror\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Plot:<\/strong> 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?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Thoughts:<\/strong> 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\u2019Brien\/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\u2019t addressed here except for Jake calling her \u201cDax,\u201d but he wouldn\u2019t know better). Only Kira, Worf, and Bashir seem to present different takes on their characters, and Alexander Siddig doesn\u2019t do himself favors by hamming it up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Worf is absolutely terrific, though, going full Command Kruge (Christopher Lloyd) from Star Trek III<\/em>. This feels like the best of all possible Worfs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Introducing Mirror Jennifer to Jake is a good escalation from the revelation of Jennifer’s character in DS9 3.18, \u201cThrough the Looking Glass.\u201d But couldn\u2019t she have more agency? She doesn’t even get a scene with Smiley\/O\u2019Brien, who seems to be in charge of every other aspect of the plot. She may look like Jake\u2019s mom, but it\u2019s okay if she\u2019s really a big villain, or willing to sell out the resistance. It\u2019s the Mirror Universe! She doesn’t need to be Saint Mother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The visual effects–wow! They are almost too good. With the Defiant<\/em> 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\u2019t look real.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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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.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It feels like a while since we\u2019ve had an episode that properly features Sisko, and Avery Brooks does not disappoint. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Some lines made me laugh out loud:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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KIRA: Isn\u2019t that a coincidence? I was hoping you weren\u2019t married.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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and<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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O’BRIEN: Ah. Pattern suicide. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What I struggle to find is the reason for doing the episode, other than to explore how much Jake misses his mother, which doesn\u2019t seem to be particularly germane to events in Season Four. We don\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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3.5 out of 5 sudden but inevitable betrayals.<\/p>\n\n\n

http:\/\/memory-alpha.wikia.com\/wiki\/Shattered_Mirror_(episode)<\/a>