Star Trek Discovery returns with Episode 10 “Despite Yourself” which includes a reference and likeness to the prime universe Star Trek Enterprise Season 04 Episodes 18 & 19 · In a “Mirror, Darkly” part 1 and 2. In this story, the Enterprise as a Terrain Empire ship Lead by a power-hungry Archer searches for the U.S.S Defiant constitution class starship that has crossed over to this alternate universe. This is the same universe we see in “Mirror, Mirror” (Star Trek S02 E04 Oct. 6, 1967).
The “Mirror, Darkly” story is supposed to take place after the events of “The Tholian Web” (Star Trek S03 E09 Nov 15, 1968), but before the events in “Mirror, Mirror”. Jonathan Frakes Directs this new installment of Star Trek Discovery. Unfortunately, I cannot rate his return to the director’s chair more than 2 1/2 stars out of 5. Star Trek Discovery episode 9 “Into the Forest I Go” hit all the buttons for a great mid-season finale, in contrast, episode 10 feels slow and lethargic like a filler episode driving us slowly to the events in the “Mirror, Mirror” universe I mentioned above.
To be as spoiler free as possible I will generalize a bit. The first 2 acts of the episode are slow with a sad little attempt to add character development, however the high point is how they develop Tilly, played by Mary Wiseman, she does an amazing job becoming what is needed for this episode. The third act seems to come crashing in and saves the episode from almost complete boredom, still I was left wanting. Star Trek has always had fun with the alternate reality episodes. This is not one of them it feels like a the beginning of a 2-parter, not as an unique episode with a cliff-hanger ending. It is good they are not in a position to have to save their show, CBS has already greenlit season 2, because unfortunately, these type episodes could not save the show Enterprise which was canceled at the end of season 4, consequently where the “Mirror, Mirror” episodes take place.
Let’s hope these alternate realities episodes do not sink Star Trek Discovery before it can “boldly go” back to its namesake and become a vessel of discovery. In my opinion the best Discovery episodes so far have been the episodes where they focus on the science of their universe not the war aspects of the show. This is even proven in episode 9, which was clearly a “War battle” episode, but was made really exciting by the science they used to defeat the Klingon’s of this universe. Hopefully, episode 10 is not the indication of the rest of this story in the mirror universe. It’s a bit to derivative of the previous episodes related to the “Mirror, Mirror” universe and shows a lack of creativity. The one thing Star Trek Discovery has going for it is its ability to keep the stories fresh, unfortunately this direction might be a mistake.
Ever the Fan Boy,
Travis