Mirror, Mirror
A landing party consisting of Captain Kirk, Lieutenant Commander Scott, Doctor McCoy, and Lieutenant Uhura returns to the Enterprise from the surface of the Halkan homeworld only to find themselves aboard a version of the Enterprise that they don't recognize. Their uniforms have changed. Spock has a beard. Corporal punishment is used to enforce discipline.
Kirk and the rest of the landing party play along until they can get their bearings. They are in a mirror version of the universe they know. Kirk receives orders to wipe out a Halkan city after they refuse to allow the Empire, the mirror version of the Federation, to mine dilithium on the Halkan homeworld. He decides to give the Halkans more time, 12 more hours, to change their minds. Spock and Sulu question the decision but Kirk insists that's how it will be.
Chekov and a couple other men attempt to kill Kirk after he leaves the bridge. One of Spock's men steps in, kills the other two men, and helps Kirk escape certain death. Chekov is taken away to be punished.
Kirk gets the ship's computer to come up with a way for them to rewire the transporter circuits to beam them back to their own universe. Scott and McCoy work on rigging the transporter circuits. Kirk sends Uhura to the bridge where she has to deal with an overly aggressive Sulu who seems intent to get his hands on her.
Kirk finds Lieutenant Marlena Moreau lounging in his quarters. He learns from her about the Tantalus field that his mirror universe counterpart used to rise in power. She wants to remain the Captain's woman. She encourages him to use the Tantalus field to kill Spock but he refuses. She grows concerned by the way he is talking.
Scott gets the transporter properly rigged but Spock learns that something is afoot and interferes with their plans. A fight beaks out with the entire landing party taking on Spock and just barely beating him into unconsciousness. Sulu shows up with a team of security officers. They are ready to kill Kirk, Spock, and probably the rest of the landing party when Marlena uses the Tantalus device to even the odds.
Finally the landing party makes their way to the transporter room only to discover that Spock has recovered. Marlena attempts to stop them from going but Uhura disarms her before she can cause anyone any harm. Spock surprises them by helping them transport back to their own universe. Kirk tells Spock about the Tantalus device before leaving.
Thoughts
This is such a great episode. It's been about 10 years since I last watched it. I'm not sure how many times I have seen it but it is a classic. It is a shame that they never revisited the Mirror Universe in the original series.
I love the subtle and not so subtle touches that they employed to make it clear that the Mirror Universe Enterprise was different. Everything from lighting to decorations has changed.
Notes
BarBara Luna played the part of Marlena Moreau. She isn't the only guest star in this episode but she is the only one that gets more than a few lines. This is the only episode of this series in which she appeared. She was in two episodes of Star Trek: Phase II. I saw her most recently in an episode of The Outer Limits (1963), 1.11 It Crawled Out of the Woodwork.
Vic Perrin played the part of Tharn, the leader of the Halkans. He was the voice of Nomad in 2.03 The Changeling.
John Winston made his fifth of 11 appearances as Lieutenant Kyle in this episode. He last appeared in 2.02 Who Mourns for Adonais.
This episode was written by Jerome Bixby. This is the first of four episodes of this show that he wrote. He also wrote the story upon which one episode of The Twilight Zone (1959) was based.
This is the ninth of 15 episodes that Marc Daniels directed. The previous episode he directed was 2.03 The Changeling.
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