Spoilers Star Trek: Discovery 5x05 - "Mirrors"

I though Spock removed Mirror Kirk from command. I was actually kind of confused as to when the ship got trapped and some of it's backstory.

 

The I.S.S.Enterprise...Kovich just got himself some new wheels, methinks!

There are days I would love to respond to people with incomprehensible Breen-Speak. ^*&$$%^$# (*&* &&^%&($

Yeah, Michael, Mirror-Spock could be as ruthless as the rest of them. "Your agonizer, please."

"Appetizer Saru."

 

Did they ever say what happened to them? There have been so many novels about it but I don’t know if there was a canonical story.

 

The A-story (recovery) and B-story (Moll's backstory) didn't mesh well together.

It is a worrying sign in any story when the leads don't know what the purpose of their adventure was.

 

According to the stardate on the plaque Book was reading from, the ISS Enterprise tried crossing over sometime during or after 2355

 

Spoiler

Rachel Garrett is in it, so it’s set in the early 24th century.

The DSC/SNW redesign is a visual retcon. It wasn’t refit or anything, that’s how the Connie looks on modern TV. Depending on who’s running the show of course.

 

Between DS9 and this episode, I think the story is roughly this: Spock does rise in the Empire, instituting reforms. This leads to his execution, but not before (a) the ISS Enterprise crew apparently decides they like Spock’s reforms, and mutiny, leading to the events reflected (hah) in “Mirrors”; and (b) the Empire is weakened enough that the Klingon/Cardassian/Bajoran alliance can swoop in and be just as bad, leading to human slavery and a resistance. Depending on whether you accept non-TV sources, there may be remnants of the Empire still holding Sol proper, after the rest of the Empire fell.

 

Not only did the Enterprise seem kind of pointless but the whole two faces thing didn't really seem to serve much purpose either. And this warp capable escape pod escaped everyone's consideration when trying to figure out how to get out of the anomaly? I thought they said all that stuff was jetisoned when they first boarded.

 

Which may or may not be true. It's extremely believable that Bashir was misinformed, seeing as no one seems to know much about them for sure. And he surely didn't try to forcibly take blood in that ep.

 

I didn't get the Breen two-face thing either. But it seemed to he that their suits alter their form somehow. What the purpose is I've no idea.

 

The episode was fine and I enjoyed getting more info on the Breen, but sometimes the sound mixing did my head in, with some dialogue getting washed out.

 

Oh! The breen having two faces gives an additional meaning to their debut episode "the changing face of evil"

 

The Breen were first seen in Indiscretion.

 

Are the Breen partially incorporeal?

 

That was weaker than last week's, but still a lot to keep me interested. 7.

Seeing Booker reaching out to his daughter had some of the more poignant sense this week.

It was fun to see the Breen onscreen with an updated look. Also cool was seeing the ISS Enterprise. So very chuffed to hear that Mirror Saru reached safety back in S1.

 

Didn't seem that way. They appeared to be solid but transparent like a deep sea fish

 

Moll is not his daughter, she's more like a Stepsister.

She is the daughter of the man that saved Booker when he was a younger, his Mentor.

 

Moll strongly reminds me of Abby Maitland from Primeval.

The Breen avoid the whole "forehead prosthetics for all non-humans" classification by literally having two faces. One appears holographic superimposed over the orgnanic. Perhaps in their culture this is the way the elites recognize and honor each other. Uniforms, or suits, for the face, as it were.

I got a Doctor Who Slab vibe from their updated look. I could easily see them mounting motorcycles to pursue Moll and L'ak.

 

After a bit of return to form last week, another week of mediocrity - a week that seems to exist largely for the needs of the arc, rather than because there was a decent story to tell, and which has utterly fallen on its face.

To start with, let's note that it seems the only reason this episode took place on the ISS Enterprise is it gave the Discovery showrunners an excuse to use the SNW set, and save some money. The ship being from the Mirror Universe played absolutely no role in the story whatsoever, and was completely incidental, other than a few bits of monologue delivered by Michael. So that section of the story was a waste.

Also largely a waste was the Discovery-side B (honestly, C) plot with Rayner left in command for the first time. Part of the issue here is it seemed a scene too little. He had some minor tension with the science team on how to reestablish contact with Michael and Book, calmed down a bit, and then we didn't see him again until the end of the third act after the tractor beam came out of the wormhole. Once we see him again, everything is fine, and he just orders the crew to tech the tech to plot the plot.

Michael's slow rekindling with Book worked much better, though of course it's an arc in progress. As is Book's flailing attempts to reach out to Moll. Though neither one of these is the heart of the episode, which brings us to...

This episode lives and dies on the love story of Moll and L'ak. And here, the episode fell flat on its face. The first scene was very cringe, between Moll just belting out exposition for the needs of the audience, to suddenly coming onto a guy who is literally just a Breen in an environmental suit - identical to every other Breen onscreen. I suppose I could headcanon it as being she's initially hitting on him to try and save her skin, and it becomes genuine later. But everything is rushed far too fast. The identical sets and Moll's identical clothing/hair make it first seem like everything is happening in close succession, with only the dialogue letting us know any time has passed. This was all likely to save money, but means the expository dialogue alone is doing the heavy lifting of showing the passage of time (months? Years?). The whole thing of the taboo for Breen to show their "other face" is also underbaked, considering L'ak's uncle thinks nothing when he sees his face uncovered (and he uncovers his own face as well...why if it's a taboo!). Only L'ak's decision at the end of the flashbacks to turn on his people really carried any emotional weight. Frankly, this flashback alone was all that was really needed to make the point. The whole thing just reminded me of in Season 4, when they did a much better job of this with Ruon Tarka and his "special friend."

So, with Moll and L'ak's love story a dud, the episode is a dud, because the remainder of it is a rote plot machinations, incremental movement toward the season MacGuffin, and a couple of nice emotional moments between characters. Can't really hang your hat on these.

Also, shout out to Detmer and Owo for getting "put on a bus" for the next several episodes (if not the whole season) to do a side mission we don't get to see.

 

That doesn't seem to be the case based on the dialogue.

"This...is Breen."
"Then why can we change? Both faces are part of us. If we deny half our nature we deny it all."
"We have moved past the need for that form. Holding it makes you unfocused, inflexible, and weak."