In a Mirror Darkly, Part 1

In a Mirror Darkly, Part 1

review by persianmouse

Well, due to many motions by the whole of creation to prevent me from actually seeing this episode, by way of 1.) The Yankees on Friday {I’m becoming a Red Sox fan now, just as a sign of my displeasure}, and 2.) Despite my having been on this Earth for several decades now, I still have quite figured out how to program a frelling VCR on Saturday, I didn’t get to see this episode until last night. But enough about how the whole universe is designed specifically to mildly inconvenience me. I’m certainly not the first to say, and I know I won’t be the last to say……this episode rocked so hard! It rocked like a rock, that’s how hard it rocked. And I know this post is long, but I’m feeling a little bit of frustration, and needed to find some way of channeling it. And so, this post was born….

I loved the opening bit. I had heard that it was going to be Cochrane shoots the Vulcans, but I didn’t realize how good it was going to be. Or how funny, did anyone else find it even just a little funny?

********Opening Scene*********

*Somewhere near Bumblef#ck, Montana*

Big-ass copper ship with an unnecessarily complicated door, that exists just to show you how superior their door technology is to your puny door technology…ohh, wait, you blew up all your doors? Typical. No wonder there are so many bees in here.

Ill-fated Vulcan guy strides out of his unnecessarily complicated door, majestic robes billowing, just to show you how superior their majestic robe technology and oscillating fan technology is to yours.

**Gasps from crowd** “That mans in a dress!”

Ill-fated Vulcan guy lowers his hood. (They did invent a little robot that would fly from the ship and lower their hood for them, just to show that their hood-lowering technology was superior to yours, but that robot, once realizing it’s whole purpose in life was to lower hoods, became struck with a terminal ennui, and is currently lying morosely as it can, in the corner of the most deserted cargo bay. Ill-fated Vulcan guy found this all very fascinating, that this tiny metal bot could experience ennui, and was working on a paper about it, that, should he have not had such an ill fate, would have changed the way the whole of the galaxy views Life, the Universe, and Everything, {Except the Cardassians, there’s just no reasoning with some people}, and over the millennia, it would become the foundation of a radical new “Beach Cottage Philosophy” and people would eventually no longer wish to enslave the machines, would give up technology all together, they would simplify, simplify, and everyone would find nice cottages by the shore to settle down in, smell the salt air and have a wind chime made of shells, and maybe get a dog, or some kids, and everyone would feel strangely better, an a new era of peace and tranquility would sweep the Galaxy. Well, at least until the Founders got there. But being that this particular Vulcan did have such an ill fate, you don’t need to worry about any of that.)

**Gasps from crowd** “That man’s ear technology is superior to our ear technology!”

Ill-fated Vulcan guy: “Live Long and Prosper” *does finger thingy*

Zephram Cochrane: “Ohhh, is that the traditional greetin of your people? Lemme try” *fumbles with hands futilely for a moment*, “ahh screw it! Let me give you the traditional greeting of my people, the Americans…….A GUNSHOT TO THE FACE!!!! Go team America! Yeah, all right, someone grab his wallet, I got dibs on the kick-ass coat.”

…well, that’s how I saw it anyway.

And although it had no cowbells, the theme music still rocked, in it’s own cowbell-less way

And here come the MU Enterprise players, let’s give them a hand everybody!!!

Archer- Traded in the RU ‘Constantly constipated’ furrowed brow, for a MU ‘I just threw-up in my mouth a little’ grimace. And although he’s a mutinous, sadistic, homicidal, xenophobic macho loose cannon who seemed to have some kind of salivary gland problem, he’s still somehow more likable than RU Archer.

Porthos-AHHH!!!The Aibo, the Aibo, the Aibo has returned!

Hoshi-Well, if ‘facial hair = evil twin’ for men than ‘fun with eye shadow = evil twin’ for the ladies. But really, this was Linda parks’ best performance to date. *GASP* Better than that one where she ran around that psychic-guy’s Gothic estate in lingerie? Yes, even better than that one.

Reed- Just when you thought you couldn’t get anymore homoeroticism in your Malcolm Reed…..Taa-daa!!

Mayweather- Was a convincing badass, even with the Grace Jones hair-do.

Dr. Phloxopolis- I didn’t see any difference. Nice to know some things never change.

….and speaking of things that never change. There was TnT, it was twisted, kinky, angry TnT, but that’s the best kind!

Tucker- Even with the scarring, still the hottest one there. Loved the more obvious accent, and Trip-style tongue roll. He had that mean, resentful, mad at the world, pissed off at being alive kinda personality that can sometimes accompany those who’ve been disfigured in some way. However, he’s still utterly whipped. T’pol whipping crosses realities and universes….I should take notes. This Tucker seems to enjoy arguing with T’pol as much as the RU Trip, although the MU sparring matches probably draw more blood. He’s the one who seems most like his RU alternate, at least to me. There’s an element of vulnerability in MU Tucker that is mirrored in Trip.

T’pol- I really can’t figure out what to make of her. I don’t know how she got to the position she is in, being Vulcan is akin to being a slave in the MU, but I don’t think it was through honey. And she seems damned determined to keep it, and considering her other alternatives, you can’t really blame her. Unlike Hoshi, or indeed the women in the TOS episode ‘Mirror, Mirror’, she seems to be on more equal footing with the men, her position isn’t relative to who she’s sleeping with (position in society, get your mind of the gutter). She used Tucker, and seemed to enjoy it, it didn’t bother her, and neither did then pain she caused him. She didn’t enjoy hurting him, but she didn’t regret it. It was just a necessity. But there was still some kinda of connection with him. It’s not love. But it’s something. She and Tucker play a game not of cat-and-mouse, but of cat-and-cat. The weird blondish colour of her hair didn’t bother me. It was probably her attempt at ‘blending’ in with the humans, she wouldn’t want to make alien ness obvious. A natural occurrence when one culture dominates another.

I said this in another post over at the ‘Did T’pol really go into Pon Farr, or did she just wanna shag Tucker’ poll and post, but as far as I can remember, TnT is the only couple who’ve had a relationship on both sides, however twisted it may be. Well, okay, MU Kira did hook up with MU Bariel, but MU Kira shagged everyone in the MU, so that hardly counts. That’s cause TnT is epic love, YOU HEAR THAT BERMAGA?!?! EPIC LOVE!! And neither you nor your frelling f#cknale can take that away from us so phhpptttt!!!!

……..sorry, that was my obligatory ‘Screw you, Powers That Be!’ part of my post. It will most likely occur in every post from now untill further notice, ie, when porcine life forms take to the skies.

And then, if seeing this episode didn’t just make my night, what happened next would clinch it. I was strolling through the channels at about 10:30, and I come across ABC family, and ‘Whose Line Is It, Anyway?” is on. For those of you who don’t know, it’s a very funny improve show, a British import. They have new ones Monday nights, than reshow the following Sunday (I think). Anyway, I’m watching it, and the players have to come up with “The World’s Most Trivial Reasons to Hold a News Conference”. Wayne Brady, a big ENT fan, steps up and says “I’m hear to announce UPN’s new fall line-up”, and gets a raucous applause. Yay, for Wayne!! Let’s buy him a round, everyone!!

And ENT is preempted AGAIN this week, so I’ll be waiting, breath baited and VCR manual in hand, until Sat.

Oh, Tucker, do make her pay, make her pay, make her pay……….

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