The search for a way out of the Mirror Universe continues – but has someone already achieved it?

There’s absolutely no way to properly talk about this episode without a raft of spoilers, so the best advice I can give to anyone wondering whether to watch it or not is: stop reading this and click into Netflix / CBS All Access / Space and watch the damn thing. Now.

For those who have seen it, or aren’t worried about being spoiled:

The various theories that have been floating around the net ever since Star Trek: Discovery began have proved to be right on more than one occasion, and certainly since the start of this second tranche of episodes, a number of people have suggested that Captain Lorca is actually the Mirror version of the Starfleet captain. And, as the final few moments of this episode show, that is indeed the case. Full credit to Jason Isaacs for his performance in this episode: although I was aware of the theory, I had discounted it, and felt that was the right call as Starfleet Lorca watched one of “his” own men put to an agonizing death because Starfleet Lorca wasn’t able to provide a piece of information that only Mirror Lorca possessed. But then as the Emperor and Burnham’s conversation continued, the truth dawns… and Isaacs revels in that reveal. And makes you half want to go back and rewatch the whole season to pick up further clues… and half feel slightly soiled by the subtext that we now know is there!

He’s not the only one to give a great performance this episode. Mirror Saru is clearly aware of what the choice Burnham makes means, but gives no indication that he feels anything as he’s led away to the kitchen. His counterpart has a pair of powerful scenes with Mary Chieffo’s L’Rell and it’s hard to tug your eyes away from Doug Jones in either scene. And talking of L’Rell, the Ash Tyler explanation isn’t one that I’ve seen postulated online (although I’m sure it has been), and leads to some very interesting possibilities down the line.

Jones isn’t the only one to give a strong double performance: Anthony Rapp’s scenes against himself, and heartbreakingly with Wilson Cruz’s Hugh, are intense and there’s clearly far more to come before the end of the season for both the Hugh and the Mirror Stamets storylines. Michelle Yeoh’s Emperor demonstrates how she has maintained her position at the top of such a bloodthirsty society and it’s good to see the strong bond between Yeoh and Sonnequa Martin-Green continue.

It’s the shortest episode by some distance – 37 minutes or so – but the story needed to get from point A (the arrival of the Emperor) to point B (the Lorca reveal) and it does so very efficiently, without anything that even resembles padding.

Verdict: So many things are coming together – and we’ve still got 3 more episodes to go in what has to be the strongest first season of any Star Trek show since the original. 9/10

Paul Simpson