Writer: Jerome Bixby
Director: Marc Daniels
Producer: Gene L. Coon
"Mirror, Mirror" is one of those episodes of Star Trek so classic it's a little difficult to talk about. It's amazing it accomplishes so much in just an hour, introducing an entire universe to its audience. Of course, it helps that it's an "evil double" of the show's regular world.
The "evil doppelganger" trope is perhaps as old as fiction, but this episode ups the ante by giving us an entire evil Enterprise, filled with morally challenged duplicates of our favourite characters. The differences in costuming, set design and make-up for the evil counterparts are inventive and fun, and seeing the cast get to be "evil" is a good portion of the fun.
Kirk, McCoy, Scotty and Uhura are swapped with their evil opposites from another universe after a transporter accident, and this unique combination of characters enables the episode to do many interesting things. For one, it allows underutilized characters like Scotty and especially Uhura to get to have some fun moments and bits in the story. And for another, it allows us to get Mirror Spock, one of the most iconic instances of the "evil twin" concept ever. For years after this episode, the goatee has become the sign of the evil double, even though I can't think of another instance other than this episode that did it, unless it was a joke reference to this show. Which goes to show the dominance of Star Trek in pop culture thought for the second half of the 20th century.
Mirror Spock is, to steal a phrase, fascinating. He's still logical and emotionless, but it's the emotionless logic of serving the state when one lives under a fascist imperium. In the end, it's perfect that it's Spock who's convinced to assist the heroes in making their way back, as he's the only Mirror counterpart who could be reasoned with.
Meanwhile, Mirror Sulu is a delight, giving George Takei to play a smirking bastard, and Mirror Chekov gets to be a scheming assassin. All in all, the whole episode is a lot of fun, especially it's exploration of Mirror Kirk -- who our Kirk discovers is a ruthless opportunist who takes what he wants and rises up the ranks through murder. What's interesting is that our Kirk probably has the easiest time impersonating his evil self, continuing the series' examination of Kirk's darker side and exploration of the idea that he has a strong streak of the "barbaric" in him. But ultimately our Kirk possesses compassion, sympathy, and mercy, emotions the Mirror Kirk does not.
"Mirror, Mirror" is a fun romp, a good examination of character, a neat sci-fi idea, and an exciting adventure. What more can you ask of a Trek episode?
Rating: 4 out of 4
Next Voyage:
No comments:
Post a Comment