Solid episode. As always it's fun because actors (like in last episode btw) had the chance to experiment with their characters. It's a great diversion from the original story line. You'll even learn something about Terok Nor (although that's of course not the station from our universe). They will continue to tell stories from this universe. At the end of the show, this leads to a fairly complete parallel world with unique parameters that we're slowly introduced to by such tiny stories. I always praise DS9 for its overarching story. The story about the parallel world isn't any different: we witness the ongoing fight freedom fight of the Terrans and their alliance over the course of multiple connected epiosdes. Adding Tuvok was a wonderful surprise, too. It's also interesting to watch Benjamin navigate between his task, Dax and Jenifer. All while acting like Kirk. In particular, I also like Rom. It's like we see his potential through that metaphorical Looking Glass. This confident version of Rom will partly "materialize" in later seasons. Like in last mirror universe episode, I also like promiscuous S/M Kira. She's incredibly confident in her role.
Other than all that admittedly entertaining stuff, the plot itself is mediocre. It lacks subtlety. It's more or less a "standard" pirate/rebel action episode. As I recall, in later seasons the show came up with more interesting ways to connect the two universes in order to raise stakes and make the outcome much more consequential (for both universes). Until writers figure out how to do this, mirror universe episodes are solid and entertaining but they aren't great. Thus a 6/10.
Review by Alexander von LimbergBlockedParent2023-05-26T12:10:53Z
Solid episode. As always it's fun because actors (like in last episode btw) had the chance to experiment with their characters. It's a great diversion from the original story line. You'll even learn something about Terok Nor (although that's of course not the station from our universe). They will continue to tell stories from this universe. At the end of the show, this leads to a fairly complete parallel world with unique parameters that we're slowly introduced to by such tiny stories. I always praise DS9 for its overarching story. The story about the parallel world isn't any different: we witness the ongoing fight freedom fight of the Terrans and their alliance over the course of multiple connected epiosdes. Adding Tuvok was a wonderful surprise, too. It's also interesting to watch Benjamin navigate between his task, Dax and Jenifer. All while acting like Kirk. In particular, I also like Rom. It's like we see his potential through that metaphorical Looking Glass. This confident version of Rom will partly "materialize" in later seasons. Like in last mirror universe episode, I also like promiscuous S/M Kira. She's incredibly confident in her role.
Other than all that admittedly entertaining stuff, the plot itself is mediocre. It lacks subtlety. It's more or less a "standard" pirate/rebel action episode. As I recall, in later seasons the show came up with more interesting ways to connect the two universes in order to raise stakes and make the outcome much more consequential (for both universes). Until writers figure out how to do this, mirror universe episodes are solid and entertaining but they aren't great. Thus a 6/10.