In a Mirror, Darkly

In a Mirror, Darkly, aired April 22, 2005

Kevin Thomas Riley's review

I wasn't expecting this episode to be so good! Tucker and T'Pol were...very interesting. Poor Tucker - he is so caught in T'Pol's web. And the Tholian web was fantastic! So, I put those images in as well. T'Pol is definitely loyal to the captain of the ship! I couldn't believe Forrest bit the dust again. :^( He was a good captain, in some ways, especially for an MU. But why do Starfleet captains have to treat T'Pol like dirt? I don't get it. Malcolm was wickedly evil. Phlox was psycho. Hoshi was very fond of the captain and she was casually confident about her language abilities. It was quite an intriguing universe. I expected to dislike this ep, and really enjoyed it! Yay, Coto!

I was lost in time in this episode without T’Pol’s change of attire to clue me in that a new day has come. Maybe in the MU life is just one long, unbroken day with not changes in outfits. But T’Pol did look pretty cool in the abbreviated uniform!

The MU Enterprise!


The MU T’Pol! One smart, savvy, sexy, confident Vulcan. She is a semi-slave, it seems, but through Forrest has acquired some power.


MU Tucker. The MU engines do not treat OMTucker with a whole lot of respect. They’ve melted half of his face.


MU Porthos! I’m not a Porthos fan, but this Porthos made me laugh. Maybe he bites Archer the way Tucker’s engines bit him.


Tucker and T’Pol at work.

Quick recap up to this point: Archer discovered that the Tholians have found a ship from the future and are hiding it in a dead moon off a planet. Archer wants that ship so that he can lead his section of Terrans to victory. Archer overthrows Captain Forrest and takes command of the Enterprise. He orders Tucker and T’Pol to take the Suliban cloaking technology and adapt it to the ship. This is the project Tucker and T’Pol are working on. In this universe, Tucker and T’Pol are adept at working while exchanging memories about their sexual encounters. And, it appears, Tucker is enslaved by T’Pol.


OK, because I cannot improve on the dialogue, I’m going to use the dialogue for much of this episode recap. Hope that works for all of you! Thanks to Enterprise Closed Caption Logs where I found the dialogue.

Tucker has the raspiest voice which fits his appearance perfectly. He is beaten down, but still has that spark of chivalry to his nature. He does seem to care about T’Pol.
Tucker to T’Pol: “You forget something? (barks out an order) Biggs! Get the commander a radiation meter.”

Tucker made me jump when he barked out Biggs’ name!

T’Pol takes the shield almost reluctantly and puts in on. Not sure why she is being so cavalier about her health and her lovely skin, which is very exposed.


Tucker to T’Pol: “You don't want to end up like me, do you? I've absorbed enough delta rays to guarantee my grandchildren glow in the dark.”


T’Pol: “Flux coupler.”


Tucker looks like he wants to do something with that hand, but refrains. T’Pol is definitely into tempting Tucker who can’t seem to think when he is around her.


Tucker: “They say for every year you spend next to one of these things...you lose a decade off your life expectancy. Which means I'll probably be dead by the end of the week.”
T’Pol: “You should speak to Captain Archer about a promotion.”
Tucker: “You're his First Officer. You could talk to him for me.”
T’Pol: “Why would I do that?”


Tucker (oh so lecherously): “Well, I did you a favor once.”
T’Pol: “We agreed never to discuss that.” (Sounded very T’Pol-like.)
Tucker: “And I haven't.” (Our chivalrous Tucker, who respects the wishes of a lady.)


T’Pol: “I'd hardly call it a favor. You enjoyed yourself.” (Definitely *not* RU T’Pol!)
Tucker (looking T’Pol over lustfully): “Several times, as I recall.” (Definitely *not* RU Trip!) “So, how many years is it until your Pon farr comes around again?”

OK, did T’Pol really go through Pon Farr, or did she make it up to get Tucker into her sexual clutches, and in the process get the man she wanted? She does love to manipulate him, and doesn’t ever seem to want him to think she is attracted to him, so she might have used the Pon Farr as a ruse to seduce him.


These two did spend a lot of their time together up close with eyes locked. It was quite intense…and fun to watch!


Yikes! Systems overload and Tucker is thown to the ground. Sigh, some things never change in any universe – Tucker and T’Pol never get to finish any of their interesting conversations. We, of course, are willing to fill in the blanks. T’Pol looks impassively upon…


…Tucker, who is in agony over the shock to his system.


Archer and MU Reed (who is one twisted, sick puppy!) are suspicious about the overload because it disabled the cloaking technology.
Tucker is a bit angry: The power surge disabled other systems. Internal sensors are down, we've lost grav-plating on G-Deck...


T’Pol responds to Tucker’s words. Why? Well, because in his comments he inadvertently identified what was really going on, and she thought someone would catch it. But this is the MU, so no one did. And it took me a couple of viewings of this episode to realize why T’Pol reacted to Tucker’s words the way she did.


Archer (to Tucker): The cloak is your first priority. (To Reed): Someone's responsible for what happened. Find out who.
Tucker: My people can investigate this. I don't need his kind crawling around, pulling relays...
Archer (to Tucker): Get the cloak on line!

MU Archer is no better at listening than RU Archer. And Tucker and Reed hate each other.


Oh, dear. All indications point to Tucker as the one who sabotaged the cloaking device. Archer and Reed put Tucker in the booth for a few hours to torture him. But Tucker doesn’t know what happened, so he has to take the punishment with no hope of convincing anyone he wasn’t guilty.


The culprit! Yes, you guessed it, T’Pol sabotaged the relays to overload the internal sensors so that she could save…


…Captain Forrest! They take back the ship, but Archer has locked down the controls so that Enterprise’s heading cannot be changed from the rendez-vous point in Tholian space


Captain Forrest, back in command, brings together the officers to decide if Archer is really a wacko or not. Apparently not. T’Pol states that the (Vulcan?) Science Directorate is most dismissive of parallel universes. Archer mocks her that Tholians are a little more open-minded than Vulcans. Archer really hates Vulcans in this episode.


Archer explains the ins and outs of how the Tholians got the ship from the future. Who told him? A little birdy. Or rather an outside laborer who could be bought for a price.
Tucker (his tone with a sharp sarcastic twinge to it): “I hope you didn't pay too much. “


T’Pol: “The captain (aka Forrest, for now) wants a progress report.”
Tucker: I'll need another minute to calibrate the field converters.”


Tucker is really upset.
Tucker: “I spent four hours in the Booth because of you!”
T’Pol: “Perhaps you should direct your anger at Commander Archer.”
Tucker: “You disabled the alarms in that junction and made it look like I did it.”


T’Pol: “You're mistaken.”
Tucker: “The hell I am! I think I'd remember if I sabotaged the ship.”
T’Pol: “Not necessarily.”


Tucker (the tone of his voice was so rich with fear of what he would hear and anger of what he would hear): “What did you do to me?”


T’Pol (almost gleeful as she reveals her deception): “I lured you away from Engineering with the promise of a sexual encounter.”

Some things never change – it is Trip and his engines in any universe. T’Pol’s biggest rival is that damn technology. And she hates it. T’Pol has to figure out how to get Tucker away from his engines, so she goes with what works, his sexual attraction to her.


T’Pol has a misty flashback: “My mind to your mind. Once we were alone in my quarters, I implanted a telepathic suggestion.”


T’Pol: “My thoughts to your thoughts. I compelled you to sabotage the power grid. After you completed the assignment, we melded again.”

Anyone else get the feeling T’Pol’s idea of *melding* went beyond mind melding?



T’Pol: “I altered your memory of what had happened. It was my duty to help Captain Forrest regain command.” (Sure, T’Pol! You keep telling yourself that. Vulcans, masters of self-deception. T’Pol doesn’t want to admit she is jealous of some inanimate engines and that is why she acted the way she did. Little does she know that MU Engines don’t treat Tucker as wonderfully as RU Engines treat our Trip. If she *did* know, she would be a whole lot happier. But then where is the fun in that for her?)
Tucker: “You're gonna regret what you did!” (Tucker, sweetie, empty, empty threat.)
T’Pol: “Threats are illogical.” (Told ya so!)


Tucker hits the comm. next to T’Pol’s head, and she doesn’t flinch. She wants a reaction, but she doesn’t get the reaction she wants. Instead, Tucker informs Forrest that he can engage the cloak.











I thought originally that T’Pol regretted what she did, but after reading comments both here and in the T/T forum at the HoTBBS, I have to concur: she gets aroused by baiting Tucker and getting him to respond. When he didn’t respond in this instance, she was disappointed, not regretful. Their bantering takes a very twisted, sexual turn in this universe. T’Pol always seems to enjoy it, but Tucker doesn’t. Tucker still has a bit of innocent Trip in him, and can be hurt, and T’Pol does hurt him.


The Defiant!


Tucker: ” Look at the size of those coils. I'll bet that thing could do warp seven.”


Even in the MU, T’Pol has to watch her back against those damn, seductive warp engines. She needs to either get Tucker a pair of warp engines he can play with and be content forever, or…or she isn’t sure what else to do. Damn engines.


Forrest orders T’Pol to kill Archer. T’Pol really wants to kill those damn engines, but, hey, killing Archer will serve as a substitute. ::damn engines::


The Tholians weave a fantastic web around the invisible Enterprise. Excellent!














I loved Forrest in this episode. He was hard but not twisted. And he seemed to really care for Hoshi, who was probably only using him. (Hmm, do all women use men in the MU? Any women who love men? Probably not!) Enterprise is under attack by the Tholians, and Forrest orders the ship to be abandoned. He goes down with the ship.


T’Pol is devastated.








To be continued...and I hope the T/T twisted world is as strangely fun next week as it was this week.

A whole mess of folks have made comments

Wow, myst, you're fast! Great, since I missed the last fifteen minutes!

Myst, WOW!! That was quick!! Great shots!! Thanks!

Oh take pity, I need captions!

so we take two steps foward and five back, nonetheless it was really cool. i loved the "new" song! how so inappropriate to cancel a show at it's pinnacle, #$!&%!@$%$#&%&*!@#!!!!! anyway i digress

thank you eternally for this site, it shall and will remain on my favorites list

Fast and efficient as usual Myst123!

Great episode overall and MU T\T were too cute. Even with their dark sides, T\T's attraction to each other is still apparent. Although Trip seemed to be looking out for T'Pol (with the radiation protector thingy), on the other hand she wasn't too appollogetic about using him to break the ship...what was she thinking seducing Trip to break his enjines! She actually seemed to be proud and ammused that she can seduce him so easily. Nice pics Myst123!

Extraordinary, great screenshots.

AAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!!! I'm in heaven.

Surely someone in the whole wide world will pick this up. Star Trek has been on the beeb continuously for years and now it's gone to another channel. And so I am behind. And NOW they have the audacity to cancel it? Can this scenario get any worse?

With Berman and Braga writing the series finale instead of Coto, it will get worse. At least Coto is involved in the next 3 episodes--the only good thing in this neverending B&B nightmare.

Didn't mean the show is a nightmare, the nightmares are B&B.

ooo...ahhh...cool pics of the Tholian Web - thanks for including them!

yikes, that was great. I did a double take when T'pol got Trip to do those things. BUT GOD TRIP WAS UGLY, poor connor having to wear that makeup. I have to admit that I only watch the show because I like the actors and not the star trek thing, But I have to admit that the story was quite entertaining. Oh and was I not the only one who flinched when Trip got "Shocked". oh and was it just me or did connor not use his accent when he said, "Reed,I am going to kill you when I get out of here."could just be me though.

SPOILER

http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/series/ENT/episode/9515.html
has some really good pictures of Trip in a red shirt, and if you are like me, think he looks yummy with them.

Thanks a lot, myst. I haven't expected the pictures to be up so quickly. I haven't seen the episode yet, but after looking at the pics, I can't wait. They're great.Thanks again!

any chance of MORE pics???

Trip ugly? No way! He's still hot even with the scarring! Fab pics Myst, and so fast as usual. Thank you.

I'm not sure who gets the most evil award, Phlox or Reed. Definitly a toss up. Poor Trip, his brain must really be fried not knowing that T'Pol is just using him. Archer is greedy, Mayweather is ambitious and Hoshi, for shame! Anyhow, it looked like the whole cast had fun. As far as the story, wellll. At least we got to see a lot of the Enterprise crew and not just a lot of special effects and aliens. Yes!
Anyhow, love your caps you're really quick on posting. As always the best!

Wow! Just... wow! :D

Great caps as always and I can't wait for the captions! :D

Hey I was thinking, you do such a great job with caps and captions, that would you/are you considering doing a site like this for another scifi show like SG-1, Atlantis, or Battlestar after Enterprise?

"But why do Starfleet captains have to treat T'Pol like dirt? I don't get it."

Because she is a Vulcan, and apparently Vulcans are slaves in the Terran Empire. T'Pol does, like Spock in Mirror, Mirror, seem to have some status though.

Reed and Mayweather may from now on always be Maco's.. suits them much better. :-)

Yes I agree with Snapper - Trip's totally hot! Even with his face half scarred, he's still stunning to look at and these pictures are just wonderful. Thank you!

That was warp 7, thank you myst, Trip's just great, scarred or not !, Thanks again.

okay.. I watched it again. your right, he was totally hot. It grew on me.

these are great , yeah trip is still hot even with that scar on his face, but oh man i can not wait to next week. it is a damn shame they are canceling this show.

AH MYST! These ROCK!

So glad you enjoyed it, myst! These pictures are awesome....cannot wait to see this!

Trip looks hot even with the makeup. And T'Pol looks prettier with the long hair.

This ep is just fine. Although I don't grasp the chars of the mirror universe. Even acting as evil people they still look not that evil.

Phlox is definately evil though.

And Hoshi as geisha? Anytime! ;)

But the most important T/T info is about the mirrors were together and they enjoyed it several times. ;)

Hadn't seen the ep yet.
The pics are holding me over until I can.

The one burning question I've got right now is did they mention how Trip got that scarring that they show on his face. Just an inquiring mind wanting to know.

Hey Myst,
Any way to get a couple of pics of Hoshi? I LOVED her in this ep!!

Aye they mentioned he got the scarring because of contineous exposure to Radation (due to faulty engines or something) he even cracks a joke about it.

I gotta admit I still find him enjoyable to look at despite the scarring (and it seems Im not the only one) this episode was one of the best of this season. Man season 4 beats season 3 hands down and they are cancelling it! go figure...lamers :S

I listened the to podcast this morning. Interesting - especially the comment about Connor in the Agony Machine. But not nearly as funny and astute as your comments Myst! Can't wait for your additions.

Thank you for the pictures !!!
Can't wait for next show ... Thank you !

Overall, I thought the whole episode was a little werird, but still pretty good. LOVED Trip, as usual, and definatly still thought he looked gorgeous with the scars

Wow. Just... wow. Loved this ep, love the pictures...

Inquiring: As Trip states, "I've been exposed to enough delta radiation to ensure my grandkids glow in the dark." It's from years of working around an unsafe warp engine. Evidently they don't have the UL in the mirror universe...

And you have one of Mirror!Porthos! :D

I wonder if Mirror!T'Pol follows the tradition of the Mirror DS9 girls...

Thanks for the pics, if it wasn't for this page I would be out of the lope. How can they cancel the show, they are just steaming it up, getting better and better. It just makes me made as hell **%&%&*&(&()&*%^&%& (bleeeeeeeeeeeeep)

The caps are gorgeous! And, yes, I'd have to agree hands down...Trip's still hunky, scarring included. Ah, Trip and T'Pol...even in the mirror universe their chemistry's dynamite! Thanks, Myst, you outstreak lightning, as usual.

best...

Really cool episode.
I can't wait for you comments Myst!

One of the best episodes ever, certainly the best MU ep. The intro was scary but pretty cool, like the music. And just love the characters!!!
T'Pol is her usually very cool self, and Trip's so smitten by her.. even if he doesn't realize it. Like the Pon'Farr hint, interesting.
Evil Phlox and Reed.. they are gorgeous.
Hoshi's finally got some action. And Archer.. well, I even like him better as bad guy.
Can't wait for next weeks ep.

Looking forward to the comments Myst!

Great!! Wow... can't wait to see the epi... but what about the dog?? Who's he? Is he important?? :-z

He's the mirror Porthos

Gotta have a mirror Porthos, don't you know he's the most inportant character in the whole show????

I think I seriously prefer MU Trip...er, *Tucker*...over RU Trip. How messed up is that?? He's so much hotter in the MU for some reason. I think someone should make me a collage of all the MUTuckers so I can put it as wallpaper on my desktop. I'll never get any work done.

I finally saw the ep. Sad to say, but I wish the show would just stay in the MU. The characters are much more interesting.

Tucker was great. He had the genuine snap of authority in his voice and a hard, raspy southern drawl that would have fit a Confederate navy engineer circa 1863. He had sort of a Tommy Lee Jones thing going. All of that handsome boyish charm was replaced by sardonic humor shading off into something that was a little capricious and potentially very dangerous. The ruined face fit him perfectly.

MU T'Pol was at least twice as evil as MU Phlox and MU Malcolm put together IMHO. She treated Tucker like an amusing creature that she owned. Lying to him and using him did not phase her. She invaded his mind, programmed him like a windup toy and otherwise did exactly as she pleased with him, causing him to suffer an agonizing punishment.

She then admitted all to him without a trace of remorse, seeming to feed off of his outrage. She seemed more aroused by it than anything else. She certainly wasn't afraid of any physical consequences. She never flinched at all. He was absolutely powerless, putty in her hands. He couldn't even stay mad. Poor old Tucker will put up with anything for a taste of T'Pol.

I hope Evil T'Pol kills Evil Archer, takes Defiant, faces down starfleet and becomes Evil Empress. Evil Tucker deserves an easy evil life after she set him up for four hours in the agony booth.

Any chance of more pics of Trip, and a couple of Malcolm? He was kind of whacked this episode, yes?
Mirror Porthos scared me. Where'd the cute little beagle go?!

OMG!!! AWESOME pic of Trip in Red Shirt!!!!!!!
http://www.startrek.com/html/images/store/downloads/desktops/ent_095_salute_800.jpg

Myst, your the greatest!
I like the mirror Porthos he's like the omendog. This is een verry cool episode, how is the next episode ending????? I can't wait.......

poor trip !!!!!!!
this episode names "the beauty and the beast" and not "in a mirror, darkly"

Great episode for trip and tpol. Mirror sexual tension between them could not have been portrayed better. Am I the only one to think that the scenes with Hoshi and Archer seemed somewhat cheesie?

Great caps! But, if I don't get some of myst's equally cool captions soon, I'm going to chew my keyboard! ;-)

I believe it reeked of the cheddar variety which sat out in the sun for a very long time. at least they got some, better than that beauty and the beast ep. this MU should be the RU, archer is the evil bastard we know he is deep down inside, hoshi is the slut she always wanted to be, mal-iscious, travis... well lets face it he's actually a character now, polly finally has the long hair she needs, and trip is just as damn fine as ever

i second that last motion by Mr. Morden

how apropo of the last credit of "created by" w/that image, killing our Ent universe

Just scrolled through the caps again, and have to admit, that it seems the MU uniforms in this ep (and the TOS ep) are way cooler than the RL ones. :D

eee this ep was cool! i loved trip and t'pol's hair!!! they looked so much better with this type of hairdo. HAHAHA!!!

Even though I'm a straight woman, I have to say the AU T'Pol was HOT!!!!!!! I would love to have that body. Looking forward to seeing her in the TOS uniform.;)

T/T were very cute even in the AU.

Thanks Myst!!

In the argument between Tucker and T'Pol, their body language was all wrong. It was in fact reversed.

Tucker was angry and shouting but T'Pol was the true aggressor, advancing on him and backing him up. She gave the impression of deliberately provoking him in order to savor his outrage.

T'Pol liked it when he finally turned and backed her up into the panel, but all he did was slap the intercom button and sort of snarl at her.

He gave the impression of a man with no options at all. As Myst noted, he was pretty much a slave.

I think the next episode might well get into the dark side of being bonded to an emotionless, mind-controlling telepath who will never let go.

OMG!!! how cool are those pics...i havent seen the ep yet so thanks it was great

You really got the spirit of this epsode.
Really cool comments Myst!

thanks for the MU Porthos pic...my screen was too dark to be able to see him...I knew from the growl though it couldn't be "our" sweet RU Porthos!

wow i loved this ep! trip looked HOT, even with the scarred face and t'pol looked really pretty with long hair! can't wait till the next ep!

Forrest was very heroic. He fought to the end and bought enough time for his crew to escape.

Archer wasn't really all that bad either. He didn't kill Forrest, he just had a vision that the man didn't share. Archer was true to his Empire's cause.

I liked the humorous little comment about 'good old fashioned flogging' when shown the agony booth. It demonstrated the lighter side of their character with a bit of camaraderie and perfectly illustrated the brutal discipline of the MU fleet at the same time. Archer's later clash with Forrest shows why he had to mutiny.

I don't think T'Pol was a slave, either. No more than any other officer, except Tucker, who was clearly HER slave. Slaves don't carry weapons, wear uniforms, serve in positions of command over their conquerors. They certainly don't have independent Vulcan Science Directorates.

Clearly the Vulcans are somewhat voluntarily a part of the Empire, as are the Andorians and the other aliens. Maybe they were driven to it by external threats. Better the devil you know.

I just have to say... Whoever did the new header... I LOVE IT!!! :D

TripsGirl: That would be Zane Grey, who has several fanfics archived here.

what a great episode hope everyone sees it and the second part as well.!!!!!!!!