The Emperor's New Cloak

DVD, DS9 S7 (The Emperor's New Cloak)

The Mirror Universe has always been an indulgence for the writers, the actors and the viewers, but this final chapter (on DS9 anyway) takes the biscuit! There's never been much sense to this strain of the series, that has run through most seasons since Season 2 when the idea of revisiting this alternate place that was created in an original series episode, but this one is probably the least thought-out story-wise of any of them. And it doesn't matter. The pleasure of these episodes is enjoying the regular actors (and some of the recurring ones too) hamming it up as evil, or at least, alternate versions of themselves.

They manage to squeeze in as many as they can, including Leeta, Garak, Vic Fontaine (who is somehow a real man, and gets killed by Bashir of all people!), and the surviving characters from past adventures. Brunt is the standout, being a thoughtful, kind soul who stands up for what's right. Rom's constant confusion, trying to fathom what will happen from comapring this new universe to the one he knows is one of the highlights of the piece. I would go as far as branding this Rom's episode, in fact, because he gets the best lines and raises the most laughs.

Clever interweaving of events from our universe (death of Jadzia, Ezri popping up on the radar) keeps you pretty much believing in what's happening, but you don't really need to keep track - this is not your Professor's Star Trek, to paraphrase a slogan. The fun is in the comic book bizarreness and cartoon back-and-forth of characters as they bounce around from one thing to the next. Some Mirror variants get better stuff to do than others, with Regent Worf surprisingly getting a better deal out of the episode than Intendant Kira, whom these episodes usually revolve around. Perhaps being powerless, she wasn't as easy a choice for motivating the action.

There are even little nods to the past episodes, with the appearance of Dennis Madalone's Marauder (the guy with the crater-like eye), and mentions of Bareil and various events from the ongoing story. It's quite amazing to think we haven't had a proper episode set in this universe since Season Four, and I'm glad they threw everything into one last segment of the saga. I have to say I don't appreciate the innuendo level which is higher, and more objectionable than ever, although it has always been a part of this universe. The seediness is far too much and they should have concentrated on the comedy and scariness of it, in my opinion. For a family show it goes too far in some scenes.

As much as some elements of the story evoke strong disapproval from me, I have to admit that the majority of the episode is great fun. The 'torture' scene always leaves me expecting Mai'Hardu to pick Garak up and throw him against a wall, but he's really a big softy, standing quivering behind his squat master. I'm also left wondering what the Mirror Zek or the Mirror Dukat, or Damar or Martok would have been like, but you can't have everything! I wonder if this wouldn't have been an ideal spot to bring in Dukat and have him be meek and true, as a strong counterpoint to the current crazed version. Then again it could have undermined that storyline of Dukat being a mad, dangerous man, which has only just developed on a new tangent, so they probably thought it was better not to confuse audiences too much.

The tradition in Mirror tales is to kill off a Ferengi each time, and they fulfil that with Brunt. But the main thrust of the ongoing storyline in the past was with Sisko's dilemma over the Mirror Jennifer, and without that it really is just a cartoon. A fun cartoon, even so.

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