S2E23 - Crossover

[dnaphil]

I selected this episode because it is the first Mirror Universe episode (yes, I said first).

A wormhole accident delivers Bashir and Kira to the Mirror Universe from TOS. Except, that it nearly 100 years in the future, and the Terrans are not in control.

The main plot of the episode is about Kira and Bashir getting home, but really this episode is a look at the Mirror versions of the different DS9 characters. The characters are an interesting bunch. We have the Attendant, her right-hand man Garak, pirate Sisko, a timid Mr. Simliey, etc. A few characters do not last long. Quark is hauled away after helping the terrans, and Odo gets turned to goo.

The story is fun, and it's a cool twist on the Mirror Mirror episode. It was also a good way to call back the original series. TNG had several callbacks to The Original Series, and the first season of DS9 had callbacks to TNG. This was the second callback to TOS (the first one being the three Kligons in Blood Oath), but this one is more detailed.

I enjoyed this episode mostly for seeing what the Mirror versions of the characters are.

[Jared Rascher]

I said this when we watched this in the watch party, but I really felt like this was adding a more nuanced feel to the Mirror universe. The feeling in the TOS episode is that "what if there was an opposite universe," but this episode was way more concerned with why things were different. O'Brien isn't "evil" O'Brien, and Sisko doesn't swing between allegiances because he's naturally "logical," and so less prone to being fully "evil."

The Mirror Universe isn't some kind of magnetic opposite, but a universe where a lot of things went wrong, and all the galactic powers are more desperate and dangerous than their "prime" universe counterpart. I like that for a show like Star Trek. That feels like a more philosophical take than "we're in the good universe, and they are the bad universe."