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The franchise (and the podcast) return to the Mirror Universe (yet again). We take a look In a Mirror, Darkly and try to understand the endless appeal of this twisted recurrence. Star Trek: Enterprise manages to make the trip its own, with a version lacking any prime universe characters and no inhibitions about running with the tone of the 1960’s “Mirror, Mirror”. As the end of the series ticks ever closer, is this the place we want to be?
The Wikipedia plot summary for “In a Mirror, Darkly”:
In 2063, a Vulcan ship lands on Earth, making first contact with humans (as seen in Star Trek: First Contact). Instead of peacefully greeting them, Zefram Cochrane shoots the lead Vulcan and the humans storm and loot the ship. In 2155, Doctor Phlox and Major Reed demonstrate a new torture device to Captain Forrest and Commander Archer on the ISS Enterprise. Archer suggests to Forrest they travel into Tholian space, as he has heard rumors of technology they might wish to steal. The two argue, and Forrest returns to his quarters where he is comforted by Lieutenant Sato. When he leaves, he is ambushed by Archer and several MACOs (a military team) and sent to the brig.
Archer travels to the bridge and announces that he has taken command. After torturing a Tholian pilot for coordinates, he orders a change of course to the shipyard, and tells Commander T’Pol, whom he promotes to first officer, to install a Suliban cloaking device with Commander Tucker. Archer also appoints Sergeant Mayweather as his personal guard, and Sato proposes that she keep her job as Captain’s woman. Archer has Sato send a message to Starfleet about their mission to raid the Tholian technology. Tucker is injured when the cloaking device is sabotaged. Archer questions Forrest, who denies all knowledge, and Reed tortures Tucker expecting him to be the saboteur.
T’Pol leads a team to free Forrest and reclaim the ship, but Archer encrypts navigation control to prevent a course change. Forrest tortures Archer, but orders his release after he receives word that Starfleet agrees with Archer’s plans. Archer shows images of an alternate universe vessel from the future named USS Defiant (a Constitution-class starship, last seen in “The Tholian Web“), that has technology and power that is a century more advanced than ISS Enterprise. On arriving at the shipyard, Archer, T’Pol, and Tucker transport across, and Tucker begins powering up the vessel. Tholian vessels then attack, creating an energy web around Enterprise. Forrest orders the crew to abandon ship but remains behind as the ship is destroyed.
Several Tholian ships then create a web over the opening of the dock to prevent Defiant from leaving. T’Pol and Tucker restore power to the weapon systems, allowing Defiant to destroy enough enemy vessels to escape the trap. They recover 47 survivors from Enterprise, and Tucker is ordered to restore power to the warp drive. Sato goes to the captain’s quarters and finds Archer perusing the ship’s historical records, which includes parallel universe information about Starfleet, the United Federation of Planets, and their service records. Archer is surprised to learn his counterpart is an acclaimed and distinguished explorer, diplomat and politician.
Ensign Kelby is killed trying to repair the warp drive, and the crew discover, from Tholian slaves left on board, that a Gorn named Slar has sabotaged the ship. Archer, after hearing voices telling him to achieve more fame and honor, decides to lead an assault team and kills the Gorn. Tucker is able to repair the warp drive and the ship then leaves to rendezvous with the ISS Avenger, arriving in time to save it from four rebel spacecraft. Avenger‘s commanding officer Admiral Black comes aboard for an inspection accompanied by his first officer, Soval. After Black refuses Archer’s request for captaincy of the new ship, Archer disintegrates him with a phaser pistol.
Archer gives a speech to the officers of both ships, saying that they should move against Starfleet and the Empire. Soval and T’Pol meet, contemplating a future where alien species are respected and treated as equals; they convince Phlox to join their movement and sabotage Defiant. As the sole alien allowed to remain on board, he succeeds in disabling the ship’s systems. Soval, on Avenger, then attacks, but Tucker disables Phlox and restores power. Defiant destroys its attacker. When Sato and Archer celebrate in the captain’s quarters, Archer dies after being poisoned by Sato and we see that Mayweather is now in league with Sato. Reaching Earth on the advanced and powerful Defiant, Sato contacts Admiral Gardner, demanding his surrender and declaring herself “Empress Sato”.
In this episode of the podcast, Wes and Clay discuss both parts of “In a Mirror, Darkly” and how effective the fourth season of Enterprise is being in delivering “fan service”. Plus! The guys talk about captain power rankings, CGI Gorn, and the improved Tholian Web 2.0.