Spoilers Star Trek: Discovery 5x05 - "Mirrors"

[Tuskin38]

L’ak did the face thing in episode 1 as well

 

[IMC Headquarters]

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."

Mmm...okay. Then what the heck are they? I'm lost!

 

[Tuskin38]

The visuals this season have really jumped, I think they even look better than SNW. The breen station, outside and in looked beautiful

 

[Tuskin38]

Also, shout out to Detmer and Owo for getting "put on a bus" for the next several episodes (if not the whole season) to

It’s possible the actors were busy with other projects this season. That’s why Tilly and Bryce were gone most of season 4

 

[thribs]

Breen could be a collection of species still. This is just one of them.

 

[Dar70]

The visuals this season have really jumped, I think they even look better than SNW. The breen station, outside and in looked beautiful

They put that VR wall to good use don't they..?lol

 

[IMC Headquarters]

Detmer and Owo are taking a road trip! Do they have the whole ship to themselves? Like Beverly and Picard in "Remember Me".

 

[Dar70]

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.

Yeah definitely a lower budget episode. It was ok. I had some of the same issues as you. Like the Enterprise , moll and lakks backstory on the same little set with the VR wall, Moll falling for a breen outfit...etc...lol

It was not as good as last week's but it was ok. I give it a 7...

 

[Turtletrekker]

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."

Weren't the Breen suits supposed to house some sort of refrigeration unit? Perhaps they need the cold to maintain that secondary form, which is why they're never seen without the suit. This would of course beg the question as to why they find this secondary form so superior that they abandoned the other one.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

"The Breen are two faced" "Like the Batman villain?"

 

[DarrenTR1970]

I've missed the last couple of seasons, so, is there a reason Mol and L'ak can't return to the Gamma Quadrant via the DS9 wormhole; has access been cut off in the intervening 900 years?

 

[Tuskin38]

I've missed the last couple of seasons, so, is there a reason Mol and L'ak can't return to the Gamma Quadrant via the DS9 wormhole; has access been cut off in the intervening 900 years?

Nothing in the episode said they couldn’t.

The problem is the breen bounty on their heads

 

[Tuskin38]

Weren't the Breen suits supposed to house some sort of refrigeration unit? Perhaps they need the cold to maintain that secondary form, which is why they're never seen without the suit. This would of course beg the question as to why they find this secondary form so superior that they abandoned the other one.

Everything about the breen in DS9 was full of contradictions.
Like they claim no one had ever seen a breen outside of the suit, but Dukat and Kira in an earlier episode stripped two breen of their suits, so they would have seen them.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

This kinda sorta wormhole was opening and closing, likely due to the burn. The Burn could have messed up and/or wiped out the Bajoran wormhole just as easily.

 

[TimeIsAPredator]

Everything about the breen in DS9 was full of contradictions.
Like they claim no one had ever seen a breen outside of the suit, but Dukat and Kira in an earlier episode stripped two breen of their suits, so they would have seen them.

Might have had a disintegrator like the PIC Romulans or the SAaB Chigs.

 

[Lord Garth]

Didn't know quite what I was expecting, I was drawing a blank as to what could happen and how, before I watched the episode, but I liked what I saw, so diving in...

The Breen finally feel like actual characters, unlike on DS9 where they just stood around, made funny noises, and were only there for other characters to react to.

Now I can see the Bonnie & Clyde parallel with Moll & L'ak.

Rayner in command of Discovery! I also like the new bridge crew additions. Everyone came together and figured out how to retrieve the Discovery.

Rayner is the Pulaski of DSC. The crusty adult in the room, who still manages to make things work. I'm a big fan of both characters.

Nice to hear some of what happened in the Mirror Universe after the last time we saw it in DSC S3. Action Saru!

This wasn't a Mirror Universe episode so much as it was an episode with the Mirror Enterprise in it.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that I think Book will eventually manage to get Moll and L'ak to come around.

At this point, TPTB have to know that Detmer and Owosekun have a following and I think they're trolling us. "Detmer and Owosekun are piloting the Enterprise back!" Maybe my joke from before about the Enterprise-X really won't be a joke.

We're due to get caught up with Saru soon. Kovich too!

All I've got for now. Like I said before, I'm not rating these until after the season is over.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

So, what are the odds Moll and L'ak swapped out whatever that fluid was for a fake?

Is it a matter of who gets to the end first or will they need those 6 artifacts? Because it feels like Moll & L'ak believe they can get whatever is waiting even though they didn't have the first two parts, and also managed to find the third part without ever seeing the first two.

 

[Jayson1]

It’s possible the actors were busy with other projects this season. That’s why Tilly and Bryce were gone most of season 4

That's what I was thinking. It does feel like they just wore them out of the show, though I bet we do see them again though in the series final.

 

[marillion]

So, what are the odds Moll and L'ak swapped out whatever that fluid was for a fake?

Is it a matter of who gets to the end first or will they need those 6 artifacts? Because it feels like Moll & L'ak believe they can get whatever is waiting even though they didn't have the first two parts, and also managed to find the third part without ever seeing the first two.

That would be a pretty good end-around. I didn't think of that until you said it. I think the chances are pretty 50/50.

 

[Photoman15]

You don't use the Enterprise if you intend for it to be meaningless. This season has been filled with stuff that appears meaningless at the outset but ends up being significant to the plot. The Breen are mentioned in passing and it turns out that one of the main villains is one and that the Breen themselves are going to be overarching threat of the season. The Constitution class get mentioned in passing and one shows up in useable condition. I also don't think it's a meaningless coincidence that there is a clear reference to Mirror Saru or that the ISS Enterprise was ferrying refugees.

How it plays out remains to be seen, but I'd bet real money that the ISS Enterprise is getting a refit to 32nd Century specs and is going to be pivotal to the end of the season.

Training ship for Starfleet Academy I'll bet.