In a Mirror, Darkly

The problem with pretty much any mirror universe episode in any trek series is that they're all equally nonsensical. It gets 3 points because the opening scene with Cochran is actually well done, but the rest is pretty much par for the mirror universe.

The world of the mirror universe never made any sense, their society is so chaotic and ruthless that it probably couldn't survive a year (let alone centuries). Even real authoritarian states are more stable than this (and usually those only last a generation or two).

Also the polar opposite morality is ludicrous to the point of being comical, it's enough to make you think they're deliberately hamming it up. The Borg are a much better foil for the Federation than the Terran Empire, this concept is one that fails in every respect

Mirror Mirror was one of my favorite OS episodes and I loved all the mirror episodes after...glad they included the mirror universe on Enterprise...good to see all the good guys as bad guys.

I really, really didn't care for this episode. I did however rate it a 5; I mean, there were some funny parts and I guess watching the crew in a different light (dark parallel) got me thinking what it would be like if they weren't the way they normally are.

I grew up watching Star Trek TOS reruns on TV in the 1970's and I caught every original cast flick that came out in the theatre. To be honest I was always a bigger (original) Star Wars fan than Trek. "What???!!! How dare a SW fan have the audacity to criticize Star Trek! But I will... *Disclaimer: this is done with the utmost fun/love so any of you Trekkies out there that feel the need to zip off a hasty/indignant reply with headings like: "How dare you nit-pick a cherished franchise!"... "Such-and-such was done because of the limited TV budgets back then..." " It was made 50 years ago and was cutting edge stuff against the ordinary pabulum that was out back then and it changed the face of sci-fi forever so cut it some slack you sacrilegious bastard!!" ... blah, blah, blah. Reel in your indignation. *FYI - I know that most of you Trekkies have a sense of humour (I'm Canadian, "that's" how we spell it here! We love "U's" and use them whenever we can) and those that don't have one... are called Trekkers. If that is the case then as William "the Shat" Shatner once stated on Saturday Night Live..."Get a life!" My first 5 installments focused on TOS but this one starts to "attack" Enterprise. I watched the pilot episode when it first aired and thought Scott Bakula didn't have that "command authority" to play the Captain. After watching the complete series 17 years later, my opinion has not changed. Today's Punked episode..."In A Mirror Darkly"

• It seems the "Alternate universe" episodes are a favorite among everyone, especially myself and they also managed to fit in TOS sets and starship to boot. First off, I get the poking fun at the Shat's acting but in reality he's a fine actor that had his unique emphasized "trademarks" shall we say, but no one can deny he was born to play Kirk. In contrast Scott Bakula crosses the hammy acting line so many times in this series but especially this episode the line just disappears from fatigue. Even when he's playing the "normal" Archer he crosses that line at least a few times every episode but when playing his evil counterpart the director must have been off sick to keep him in check. I myself would get whiplash the amount of times Bakula whips his head around trying to make angry point after angry point. He practically spits/growls half his dialogue. The only one who comes off as a better actor playing his negative counterpart is Anthony Montgomery who usually comes off not so much as bad but as just plain weak. Jolene Blalock and Linda Park play very subtle and believable counterparts amongst the Testosterone fueled male cast members.

Well, that was more than enough for this particular episode... until next time.

Unlike TNG take and what some have suggested, it's not a mere repetition of a story about the same Trek crew in a parallel universe: for the "real trekkies" who remember TOS season 3 episode 9, The Tholian Web, these two episodes finally explain the disappearance of the ship U.S.S.Defiant. In my humble opinion it should've been mentioned in the description. Hence, the reasoning is judicious, which makes it possible to appreciate these two episodes for what they're worth : very entertaining.