Star Trek: Discovery (TV Series) Despite Yourself (2018) User Reviews

BEST EPISODE YET

[markj-02556 · 8/10 · 9 January 2018]

Despite Yourself is a great episode of Star Trek: Discovery. The crew of the Discovery is in an alternate universe and have to act quickly to fit in to the new universe. I WILL NOT SPOIL IT FOR YOU.

Johnathan Frakes (Star Trek: First Contact) directs this episode and gives it a certain cinematic style that some of the previous episodes are lacking. Also he manages to get better performances out of the actors as well. Especially Mary Wiseman (Baskets) who delivers a stunning performance when her character is forced to act a certain way, which happens to be the complete opposite of her characters personality. Also Jason Isaacs (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets) unsurprisingly gives a great performance as a captain who is also forced to act a way his character isn't use to and he pulls it off to great effect.

The episode is also the funniest yet, with a certain characters Scottish accent being a stand out. The only downside to this episode is that some of the editing and a couple of moments from the character Ash Tyler aren't executed as well as the rest of the episode.

Otherwise it was the best episode yet in my opinion.

8/10

Dark but (finally) good

[bri-87 · 7/10 · 8 January 2018]

After a rather abysmal first round of episodes this is the first one i actually liked.

It's grittier than ever, but the story holds up and is engaging. Interesting take on another universe - this is just as much a possibility as the utopian original Star Trek universe.

Keep it up!!

Homage to an old classic...

[m2m4 · 9/10 · 8 January 2018]

Mirror, Mirror 2.0 - The Discovery is in a parallel universe where humans are the bad guys. A subtle reference to the title of the classic episode appears as Cadet Tilly is dressed to kill as Captain Tilly in front of a digitized mirror. Helping her overcome her insecurities in performing the task at hand is Burnham behind her.

Jonathan Frakes delivers an outstanding Trek episode.

[amadams1985 · 10/10 · 10 January 2018]

It's amazing to me how much they were able to squeeze into this episode...SPOILERS AHEAD!

So we pick up Discovery with a captain and crew who have no idea where they are and after a little effort we find out it's the Mirror Universe. I love a good mirror universe story because it reminds us that the peace and harmony the Federation enjoys was hard earned and didn't come easy. Here in this universe Burnham is assumed dead, Lorca is a fugitive on the run, and Capt Tilly runs Discovery with an iron fist. (which makes for some great comedy)

While Ash and Burnham get closer we find out Ash is having major mental issues leading him to Lrell in the brig. She uses a Klingon prayer to either bring up memories or a hidden personality. Many seem to believe this is Voq altered to look human but I'll let the story keep it's secrets and unfold as it should. This freaks out Ash and leads him to Dr Culber to run tests on him. I don't want to give away the episodes big twist but it fits as Culber is so worried about his catatonic partner (Anthony Rapp) that he doesn't see the threat right in front of him.

As we get into the final part of this episode we have Burnham and Lorca going on a secret mission to the mirror version of USS Shenzhou. There are some wonderful fight scenes, perfectly timed slow clap, and even the agony booth!

Long Live the Empire and Long Live Star Trek Discovery!

A great addition not only to DSC but to Star Trek as a whole.

[jtkjones · 10/10 · 8 January 2018]

Episode 10 adds to the commonly held belief that DSC's first season is the best 1st season of any Star Trek series. We continue to learn more about the characters through fantastic story telling. Burnham is still on her trek to redemption although she may not be cognizant of it, but being forced to do things she may not want to in the mirror universe will be a complication for her to work though. Not to mention having to deal with Tyler.

Jason Isaacs continues to give a great performance and has to take a back seat to the Discovey's new captain; Captain "Killy".

Having seen every Trek episode from every series multiple times over I can say without hesitation that the turbolift fight scene is by far the best fight scene in Trek ever. Thankfully we are long past the days of a Shatner stunt double doing a flying butt slam off a wall.

Episode 10 continues to explore the human condition, but not in the traditional sense where it hits you in the face like a pie as was often done quite blatantly in previous iterations of Trek (and there was nothing wrong with that in those series). You may have to look a little deeper to see the meanings, the intent, of the story being told. In doing so we find that DSC is Trek from it's hull to it's warp core.

A Great Episode.

[sbulgacs · 8/10 · 8 January 2018]

We're back in the Mirror Universe which is awesome. Another ensemble episode where no one character is pushed to the forefront. Still think Star Trek works best when there's no real focus on one individual character. Thought "Captain Tilly" was great. This episode seems to have captured more of the essence of the previous series. Some quite shocking twists and turns but don't want to spoil the fun in this review. Klingons still look naff though which isn't surprising coz these are the still the same ones from the earlier episodes. Fingers crossed they sort them out for season two. One of the better episodes overall.

A fantastic episode !!!!!

[Rasalgheti_2000 · 10/10 · 8 January 2018]

Exciting from start to finish I really can not understand the hatred against this series, and especially against this episode, it left me breathless! The universe mirror, as we had never seen it, extraordinary and unpredictable turns,honoring the canon that had been established in the last episodes of Star Trek Enterprise (the ship Defiant), , it may be very enthusiastic of me to give this episode the 10 stars, but it deserves it. Extraordinary script, extraordinary direction from Jonathan Frakes. If I could summarize this episode in a single word it would be: superb !!!

Trek at it's Best!

[LorenBieg · 9/10 · 21 January 2018]

When this series is on, it's really, really on. "Despite Yourself" offers the best of Trek in all it's techie, backstory-rich, high-concept, high-adventure, character-driven greatness. And as always, this show looks amazing. The revisit of a story line that ties this series to a thread started with Classic Trek work effortlessly. Nothing feels forced here. Tilly is used to excellent comedic effect when she has to take on a role she is uncomfortable with. And, everyone shines, really. One of the things I appreciate about this series is that the plot is always moving forward. The writers don't set up a mystery and drag on the reveal for months of twists and turns. This episode is replete with plot movement, making it very satisfying after the cliffhanger before the holiday break.

My only gripe was that the tech and Trek history references were so thick that I had to hit "pause" a few times to explain things to my +1 who is not a Trek fan, but has been watching with me since "Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad" (the one with Dwight from The Office in it haha). A couple times she was like, "Whaaaaattt in the h*** are they talking about?" Yay for smart sci fi. But, man. All the science.

For me, "Despite Yourself" worked on every level. Star Trek: Discovery is earning it's place as one of the strongest Trek outings yet!

Mirror, Mirror, Mirror

[Hitchcoc · 9/10 · 9 February 2020]

This is a reprise of an original Trek episode. A parallel universe finds the crew exchanging places with another Discovery. The problem is that this ship is a warrior ship which is more Klingon than Starfleet. Death and manipulation is a part of life although to succeed there still must be knowledge and expertise. They do a nice job of pulling this off. The acting is cranked up a notch.

Fun, if nothing else

[Nominahorn · 6/10 · 12 February 2020]

After a spore jump gone awry, the crew of Discovery find themselves in the mirror universe, unable to get home thanks to Stamet's catatonic state after the jump. They devise a plan to...you know what I have no idea what their plan is. Something about the USS Defiant (the one from "The Tholian Web" not the DS9 ship) and the ISS Shenzhou. I either zoned out when they were explaining the plan or they never explained it. Not sure which.

I love the mirror universe eps in both TOS and DS9 (I don't remember the ENT ones well enough to say), but going to it so early in the show's run is yet more evidence of something I've been noticing more as the show proceeds: it has absolutely no new ideas and no stories of its own to tell (aside from the episode on Pahvo). It's as if the showrunners think that a darker tone, a "diverse" cast, and fancy cgi are worthwhile replacements for actual storytelling. It's really sad to watch. I have to keep reminding myself that TNG was bad for the first season or two (and ENT was bad until its final season, which ended up being great), so there is yet hope for this show, as it is only 10 episodes in.

And despite my complaints about the creative bankruptcy of the show, I actually did enjoy this episode a good amount. It's the most "fun" episode so far and Jonathan Frakes gets better performances out of the cast than previous directors, which makes me think that I have not been blaming the bad directing enough for the mediocre quality of the show up to this point. Frakes shows here that a competent director is an instant upgrade, even when working with bad material like the script of this one.

THE GOOD

-Great directing from Frakes. He gets good performances out of the cast, especially Mary Wiseman who is great as "Captain Tilly."

-Love Lorca doing the Scottish accent. Pure gold.

THE BAD

-I didn't follow the plot at all. Maybe I wasn't paying attention but considering the quality of the writing on the show so far, I'm not inclined to give it the benefit of the doubt. I know there is something in ENT about the Defiant going into the mirror universe but I don't remember the details, and I have no idea why the prime universe crew took over the ISS Shenzhou. Guess I'll try to figure it out when I watch the next ep...

THE UGLY

-Well now I guess we know what happened to the albino Klingon from the first few eps. I was wondering where he went.

-I definitely did not foresee the doctor getting killed. Can't say I'm upset about it though. He was an extremely bland character and now I see why they didn't bother developing him at all.

The first great episode

[TheDonaldofDoom · 25 January 2018]

Now that the Klingon war storyline is being parked, we get an episode that feels more deserving of the name Star Trek. The idea of exploring a mirror universe is a great one, including how the Federation in this universe is a mirror of the Federation in the current Universe. Despite the darkness of this Federation, it also allows for some humour with Sylvia having to take the role of her polar opposite, acting as a confident, dominant captain. When Michael kills a captain and the crew are also petrified by the system that they slowly clap for her. Lol.

Solid episode. Hopefully there'll be more like this.

If the show is the popcorn, the reviews are the salt.

[GraXXoR · 8/10 · 20 January 2018]

My, my doesn't this show bring out epic levels of Trekie saltiness... Every review is either a 1 or and 8,9,10, split about 50/50.

Luckily for us, the reviewers appear to be in a minority... An average 8.6 IMDB review is rather remarkable considering the slow, sputtering start this series had.

As someone in their 40s, I was never a fan of the original series. It was already terribly dated by the time I was old enough to understand the social and political statements that they were attempting to make.

As such, I never saw Mirror Mirror. So I'm approaching this show with fresh eyes having only even been a fan of the orginal movies, TNG and the recent post TNG films.

Sure, it's an expositional show and as such, some of the dialogue appears a little forced, but it's likely this arc will continue for a number of episodes like the Ghost Ship arc.

I'm looking at this episode as a sort of Pilot for an alternative universe thread and I'm expecting some interesting reimagining of characters killed in the original pilot...

I'm not a big fan of the "alternate reality" genre but I'm buckling up for an entirely darker, more adult themed show than the original, rather prissy premise allowed and I'm starting to like what I see.

Very much.

Decent episode but Mary Wiseman is so annoying, it's hard to watch

[msghall · 7/10 · 23 August 2021]

This is actually a good episode but the character of Tilly is so annoying, played badly by an actor who is not capable of the role she has been given. I suspect nepotism of some sort. I worry about the rest of the series if she has a prominent role. She's horrible, both as an actor and as a character, and detracts from the overall quality of the show.

It's not that it's not Star Trek, it's just really bad Sci Fi

[jojoleb · 2/10 · 8 January 2018]

Sometimes I wonder why I have kept my CBS All Access subscription. I was going to cancel it during the Discovery break, but when I did CBS basically offered me a free month to keep it going, so I went for it...

***WARNING: CHOCK FULL OF SPOILERS****

Ah, well. After the first episode of the second half of the first season of Discovery, I am equally amazed that I am still watching this show. I had some hope that things were going in the right direction at the end of November, but now STD has clearly jumped the Vakol Fish...

For those who want to see how to do a better episodes in a mirror universe, first and foremost, see TOS Mirror Mirror and watch Star Trek Continues sequel to this, Fairest of Them All (possibly one of the best ST fan films ever made, which can be found on the STC website). There were four or five DS9 Mirror universe-type episodes and even Enterprise's, 'In a Mirror, Darkly' parts I and II puts this debacle to shame.

About the only positive thing I can say is that Jonathan Frakes seems to have done a valiant job of holding things together as a director, given the smack sandwich of a script handed to him by Sean Cochran. The performances of the key actors were spot on in spite of the rudimentary dialogue and sheer ridiculousness of the episode, a credit to Frakes as a director. There was also the semblance of a plot here, but really not much of one to speak of.

I can't point out all the bad--I get PDSD (post Discovery stress disorder) just thinking about it;

1) For a new series, Discovery has yet to do something--anything--new. We've gone back to the mirror universe many times now, so if you do it you really have to do it better. Clearly, the TOS writer Jerome Bixby was on to something, as we just can't seem to shake the mirror universe. (Note to self: if STD decides to do an episode about Khan/the eugenics program I will sign off Permanently.)

What's more, they didn't even bother to come up with a new twist to the mirror universe thing: basically, our heroes are trapped in the mirror universe and must find a way back home; to do so they must pretend that they must pretend to be barbarians, like their mirror universe counterparts. Sound familiar?

Sadly, given the generally sarcastic, erratic, and brutal nature of the Federation and Discovery crew in this version of ST, it is far more difficult to contrast them with denizens of the mirror universe. Which, after all, is the whole point of the mirror universe in the first place: the sheer negativity of the place shows us why integrity, compassion, and selflessness are so important to our existence... illustrating yet another problem when you play loosey goosey with the basic Star Trek premise... (Psychic spoiler--for comic relief, Tilly will uncharacteristically bark an order at Lorca at the end of part II of this episode. Hah hah.)

2) If Ash is indeed Voq, as is implied, the Klingons must have clearly developed the technology to give Voq a full body lift, rearrange his innards, genetically alter his cellular structure/DNA, change his body chemistry/physiology etc. so he could show up as human on Star Fleet scanners. They would then have to engraft the 'real Ash's' memory engrams/personality within Voq's brain such that he can speak flawless English and appear human in every way... Ummm.... I hope there's a better explanation, but, if this is the case, as is strongly implied, this is so implausible as to be lousy science fiction (even worse than the Mycelial Drive). Besides, if the Klingons can do all that, they deserve to prevail over Starfleet.

3) If they killed the doctor, they are inept, gutless, or both. First of all, we were only starting to get to know him as a character. This is the first episode where you see the guy as more than just a benign personality. Culber really has some backbone. Moreover, if you introduce the first authentic, gay couple to an official ST series, why abort it before you have a chance to explore this further?

4) Tilly's transformation to Killy is heroic, in a way, but really wasn't all that believable. Not at this stage of her development, anyway. I get the push-comes-to-shove-she's-able-to-step-up-to-anything vibe, but it really didn't work for me because I just didn't buy it. As a side note, it didn't seem to work for the actress either...

5) Great ploy to get the Shenzou to come by, but was it just dumb luck to have the Shenzou close enough to get to the Discovery in record time or yet another convenient plot device? How stupid was the Shenzou's present captain not to try to waylay Burnham with his henchmen present, instead of 1-on-1 in the elevator. (Even Chekov attacked Kirk with a posse.) Hard to believe he ever ascended to the captaincy....

6) Yes, Kirk got some nookie in Mirror Mirror, but he was playing his part with the Captains Woman. Clearly, from the previews, Burnham and Ash get it on in this episode too. What the heck... err... it's not as though they're really in harms way on an enemy vessel, fighting for their lives and trying to save their crew, or officers on duty--I guess Burnham and Ash know it's just television.

7) Wardrobe once again goes over-the-top with more impractical uniforms, this time for the Terran Empire... I'm half surprised they did not have people jogging around the ISS Shenzou wearing 'Lambada' tee shirts as another, shameless marketing ploy.

9) In a monumental set design failure, why do the agony chambers look like go-go dancer booths from Hullabaloo the 1960?

10) They can fabricate ISS wardrobe in seconds but Lorca has to smash his head against the wall to appear injured...

11) They made it a two-parter... not sure I can stand much more of this. Why did they prolong the agony? (On the bright side, maybe next week they'll throw in Spock with a beard...)

The list goes on and on, but I can't write any more... it hurts too much.

I keep trying to like this show, but I can't.

[berkovich-76592 · 10 January 2018]

Longtime Trek fan, all series, movies even the reboots though the last one jumped the shark in terms of just being yet another explosion-filled adventure movie, not Trek at all. And I don't even really care whether the movies or series are 'Trek' or not. Just that they are worth watching. which Discovery decidedly is not, despite my repeated attempts simply due to being a Trek fan. For one thing, what has this crew ever actually, er, discovered? Beyond that, lousy acting, lousy lighting (I don't watch much TV, maybe the shadows and darkness are the current cool thing but doesn't do much for me), lousy stories, lousy characters. Beyond the overhyped and terribly bad actress Michael character (where in hell do people find her a good actress?) I could not name one character in this show without a character list. whereas in all other Trek series, within a few episodes, I and other fans could easily do so. Says a lot. It's frankly just an awful show and I think by this point I'll only continue watching to see how utterly worse it might get, if that's possible. Longtime, and hugely disappointed, Trek fan.

Strong episode that raises my hope for what is to come

[snoozejonc · 8/10 · 26 January 2021]

Discovery finds itself stuck in the mirror universe.

I enjoyed this one for having some of the strongest continuity with Trek franchise so far and setting up a pretty intriguing premise.

The plot is the first one to properly hook me in the Discovery series, and of all the mirror universe episodes, it feels like this one involves the characters being properly stranded there for what might be a significant amount of time. Hopefully this will mean more opportunity for the show to explore it. Everything in this episode unfolds in a compelling way.

I like how one character in particular has to play against type and will likely continue to do so in the upcoming episodes. Ironically, time in this environment might help her character develop to be stronger and more assertive. Also the new dynamic between other characters to fit into the mirror universe will hopefully make things more interesting.

Visuals, effects and editing are as strong as ever, but some of the dialogue is a bit too exposition heavy for my liking. I think the show could do with a different writer to try and find more cinematic ways of communicating certain information to the audience.

All performances are strong, particularly Mary Wiseman, Jason Issacs and Soneqa Martin-Green.

-Star Trek into the mirror verse .

[marian_the_nightman · 10/10 · 9 January 2018]

-Well this is the proof :Jonathan Frakes still knows how to direct a movie,although acting is not something with high standards between the new actors,for example the Doctor never raises an eyebrow in the whole series (even the Vulcans are raising an eyebrow from time to time,for God's sake ),and he is always smiling ,because the poor guy can act at all,and he is not the only one with real acting problems.Tilly is becoming the new Jar Jar ,and finally Burnham is not the only main character of the series.I have only one real problem with this episode :-How the hell that Klingon was transformed in to a human with such perfection ,because they say the DNA and the organs are too different from a human ?!? My trekkie soul still cries whenever i'm watching to that stupid new Blingon race and i hope the guy or the group who created them to have nightmares with that below average aliens.

LOVE IT!

[dcshake007 · 10/10 · 14 December 2018]

I'm a Sc-Fi man and have nothing but Excellent to rate the show.

Mirror image

[paultapner · 8/10 · 1 December 2018]

Discovery did the time loop episode. Now it does another staple of what came before. It gets into the mirror universe.

Non fans won't know what has gone before with that concept, but they will be able to get into this without having seen any mirror universe episodes from previous shows. If you are not a hardcore fan, then it's parallel universe where everyone acts the opposite of how they do in the regular one.

Does help a little to go into this knowing it's not a story that's wrapped up in one part. It will continue over a few episodes.

It does feel like this one is a bit slow to get going, and stays confined to the same few locations for almost half of it. But once you get the first surprise of the episode, it starts to move. And create a reasonably good bit of tension.

Things that happened re tyler in previous parts suddenly become important as well.

And this does pull a bit of a surprise on you. I do like tv shows that take that kind of risk.

If you didn't know this isn't done in one, you could find yourself thinking they're going to have to rush the end a bit. Which is to say that it ends with a lot up in the air.

An interesting start to this plot arc. Hopefully it can deliver some more good tension and surprises in the episodes to follow.

It all depends on who "Yourself" is.

[XweAponX · 10/10 · 23 January 2018]

Ok, it took us a few seconds to discover, exactly where we were. Maybe we thought we were at the Edge of the Galaxy. because Stametz's eyes went all blank, and we saw a preview where he seems to be pushing someone away with his mind. But it was not because he became an elevated Esper. Thank Goodness. So not "Edge of the Galaxy", but somewhere we've visited in TOS, DS9, Enterprise and Star Trek Continues. If you travel in a straight line away from yourself, will you meet yourself? Well, some "Yourselves", not all.

Maybe Lorca and Michael are a little too bold when confronting the conundrum of where they are. On the other hand, Tyler is not "Himself" either. Why is he obsessed with L'Rell? Can't answer that yet, but this goes back all the way to the 3rd episode, "Context is for Kings." L'Rell told Voq she was bringing him home to "Meet the Family". And when a Klingon Woman like L'Rell offers to do this, we should RUN.

Soon, we will see what kind of rural Deliverance-Style Culture L'Rell really comes from, and now the Harry Mudd "Choose your Pain" episode was not really a filler episode. Or didn't we think that Lorca and Tyler escaped just a little bit too easily?

These episodes use old familiar story elements, but stands them up on their ear. "Nothing is as it Seems". One of the things I like to do is try to guess what's going to happen next, and I haven't been able to. And then: Tilly. This is a character that affects us like fingernails being scraped upon a Chalkboard, yet she is an important Crew member who is thrust into an even more important role, so there is no Fixing Stametz any time soon.

It was just a matter of time until Jon Frakes directed one of these, perfect timing.

A Trip to the Mirror Universe!

[gab-14712 · 9/10 · 10 June 2022]

The Mirror Universe! That is what we explore in "Despite Yourself." This is a great episode that has some shocking jaw-dropping moments and some well-earned comedy. This rendition of the Mirror Universe changes things up for the Discovery crew. Burnham is presumed dead, Lorca a fugitive, and Tilly is an evil queen. Yes, you read that correctly. Tilly as an evil queen earns some laughs considering how Tilly is in the normal world. There are some sad moments that happen. I did not expect Culber to die considering how progressive the show was trying to be. Considering that Culber is an openly gay character on the show, it is slightly disappointing he met his demise so early even if it fit the narrative. That said, I have a feeling that we will not be gone for long. In addition, there are some fine fight scenes and some great character moments. This episode was directed by Jonathan Frakes, who of course has a huge part in Star Trek lore. There is plenty to digest, but in the end, this is a good old-fashioned mirror universe story.

Taking off directly where the last episode ended, the crew find themselves stranded in a Klingon ship wreckage. After some simple maneuvering, they discover that they are in a mirror universe, or an alternate universe. Stamets was supposed to deliver them to the nearest star base, but he did one jump too many. Stamets now lay in a catatonic state. Ash and Burnham grow closer to one another, but Ash has some major mental problems of his own. L'Rell is held prisoner in the brig and her interactions with Ash make it seem like he may be a Klingon trapped in a human body...like Voq as some people are suggesting? Ash goes to Culber to get a good look, and this is where we run into some problems. Meanwhile, Burnham and Lorca go on a mission to mirror universe U. S. S Shenzhou.

Jonathan Frakes directed a wonderful episode with many fun callbacks to the older series. Jason Isaacs continues to shine as Lorca, especially when he has to take a backseat to...ahem...Captain Killy. There are fun humorous moments but also moments that drive up the stakes. One of the better episodes of this season!

My Grade: A.

Bad acting and a flat, exposition-filled script

[wolfstar_imdb · 6/10 · 8 January 2018]

The dialog is remarkably bad in this episode, even compared to other Discovery episodes. The whole hour was just exposition - when we weren't getting a complete infodump via the highly convenient "Klingon computer core" retrieved from the debris, which apparently contains a full guide to the mirror universe including detailed personnel files for our characters plus information on how everything is supposed to look, we were being treated to scene after scene of characters a) explaining to other characters what was happening and b) explaining to other characters what their character conflicts were and what they were feeling. No concept of "show, don't tell". Overall the episode was better than some of the weaker hours earlier in the season like Lethe, but it's easily the worst example of dialog writing the series has presented so far. It's some of the worst dialog writing I've ever seen on television.

I have my misgivings both about the whole idea of a multi-episode arc in the mirror universe, and about the way it looks like it's going to be done. The show can't choose how to approach the inherent campiness of the mirror universe material, resulting in an awkward tonal mix - it's schlocky without fully intending to be (unlike the knowing excess of ENT's In A Mirror Darkly) and without giving the comedy (here mostly surrounding Tilly) free rein. There are moments in this episode when the material yearns to be played with a sense of fun and a wry smile, even a couple of scenes that would have worked better played outright for laughs or in a deadpan style (Burnham's arrival on the ISS Shenzhou bridge), but the show can't relax and break out of its pseudo-gritty "grimdark" trappings long enough to give the material the lighter touch it would really benefit from. The results remind me a little of Alexander Siddig's misdirection of DS9's Profit And Lace (though that's obviously a much worse episode); there's no sense of style here, no deftness of tone.

The mirror universe doesn't work unless you either a) use it as a dramatic device to inform the prime universe and its characters, or b) go all-out romp, though this only works in small doses. It's already clear that this arc isn't going to be either a serious look at the mirror universe (which could have been tremendous in capable hands - like a more expansive version of Crossover and Mirror Mirror, with room for a discourse on what Star Trek is and what it actually means) or a full-on adventure romp (like In A Mirror Darkly or arguably Shattered Mirror). So I'm left asking what the purpose of the MU arc is, why we're here, if it's not going to inform our characters or be written/directed/acted with any sense of fun. The show also hasn't established its prime universe anywhere near well enough for a "dark", alternate version to be in any way distinctive or meaningful at this point.

I'm genuinely surprised they're tying in to In A Mirror, Darkly (itself a tie-in to TOS's The Tholian Web), I figured Discovery would want to avoid any association with the last prequel spin-off series that was poorly received, cancelled and helped kill the franchise. I'm mostly just surprised that the show's really going down the road of doing what is essentially a revival of the 5-episode Mirror Universe arc planned for Enterprise Season 5. The fact Enterprise was going to decamp to the MU for multiple episodes after In A Mirror Darkly was so well-received was an admission of the main show's fatigue - the MU version was more fun for everyone (viewers, actors and writers).

It seems Lorca is from the MU, a rebel who came to the prime universe (either by accident or on purpose) and used his time there to develop the jump technology (while impersonating his counterpart) so he could return to his home universe and use it to overthrow the emperor, possibly for the greater good but possibly for his own gain. This, if it does turn out to be the case, while still a poor idea on which to base a series, has been somewhat better handled than the Tyler/Voq debacle, which has become incredibly boring and repetitive - everyone already knows, yet they still insist on trying to squeeze more "mystery" and suspense out of it every week.

A couple of positives: as a setpiece, the turbolift fight was probably the best-executed fight scene I've seen the show do. Mary Chieffo continues to be compelling.

Discovery's supposed mysteries and surprises are overtelegraphed to the point they become tiresome and predictable. If the series is to thrive it needs to focus on good storytelling, not on "tricking" its audience, especially if the tricks aren't even good enough to fool people.

Despite Yourself

[Prismark10 · 6/10 · 8 January 2018]

Jonathan Frakes directs and we have an obvious link to an ST: Enterprise alternate universe episode overrun by the Terran Empire.

Meek Cadet Tilly now has to pretend to be the tigerish Captain Tilly, while Burnham shows an upstart in the mirror universe who is boss. However it is a stretch to think in such a violent mirror universe you will come across so many familiar people, the timeline in such brutal worlds would diverge so much.

More intriguingly the plot line regarding security chief Tyler has resolved quickly. It seems he is a mind washed physically altered Klingon who kills the ship's doctor while Stamets just helplessly watches.

In space a gay character cannot be happy.

Someone help the Doc!

[steamtank-23332 · 2/10 · 8 January 2018]

Ok, this one was terrible. This early in the series the producers throw in the mirror universe for no reason at all. Stacking open threads without summarizing the ones still unanswered and just moving forth as rain comes and goes does confirm the writers are way out of focus. Everything is well rehearsed and without feeling.

yes, the weak explanation where the same ship from two mirrored universe swaps places and that's it? Perhaps later expisodes will explain it in depths as we can still expect this is a Sci Fi serie and not a Space Adventure.

The most tech info are explained by the Doc in this episode, but now when he experienced a rather depressing endgame, we might not find the story about him. How will the producers explain this loss? In Star Trek world the Doc, The science officer and the Chief engineer are the ones that explains the univers and the Sci Fi complexity. In STD the focus in explaining science technology is just non existent.

STD is a Space Adventure about nothing atm. Waste of time and if you try to explain the random techs that is thrown in you'll only end up with a headache.

DS9 series was and still is a better show than STD and they kept the ST feeling and soul. STD is soulless and lost. Season 2 is not worth spending time watching. There are other TV series that bring more entertainment that this awful show.

Despite Yourself

[bobcobb301 · 6/10 · 16 January 2018]

Glad to have Star Trek: Discovery back. I'm not sure this was the route to go for the midseason premiere given the lack of Klingon and the lack of a visible threat until a fight scene late in the episode, but it wasn't terrible by any stretch.

I think the show needs more storylines for the supporting cast right now. There's not a lot of depth to the rest of the people on board outside the leads.