SDS9 – S3E19: Through the Looking Glass (Audio + Transcript) (Patreon)

Southpaw: Deep Space Nine is back from hiatus! This is our first episode after the Hollywood strikes. It was recorded on January 21, 2024.

In this episode, Sam and Scott delve into "Through the Looking Glass," which takes place mostly in the Mirror Universe. This parallel universe is home to more aggressive, mistrustful, and opportunistic doppelgangers of the regular characters of the Star Trek universe, governed by a brutal alliance of the Cardassian and Klingon races. Deep Space Nine's captain Benjamin Sisko must assume the role of his dead counterpart to save the mirror version of his late wife.

Find seasons 1 and 2 on the Southpaw podcast stream. Find the rest of season 3 on Patreon.

You can also listen to this episode directly from your favorite podcast player by following these instructions: https://support.patreon.com/hc/en-us/articles/212055866-Subscribe-to-your-Audio-RSS-link-on-the-Patreon-app

(Note: Many phone plans come with Paramount+ for free. It can also come with your cable package, credit card, or in a bundle, so make sure to double-check. There are also other ways to watch DS9 that we're sure you internet space explorers can figure out. Otherwise, since Scott does such an excellent job with the play-by-play, you don't have to watch the episodes to enjoy our breakdowns.)

Transcript

[Note: Transcripts are autogenerated and may contain errors.]

SAM

This episode was recorded January 21st, 2024.

SAM

We are back with Southpaw Deep Space Nine Season 3.

We stopped for the writers and actors strike and since then a lot has happened.

If you don't know what SDS9 is, it's Southpaw's DS9 completest watch-along show where we watch every episode, recap it, and analyze it.

We are your hosts, Scott and Sam.

Scott is someone who's watched DS9 more than once whereas I'm someone who's casually watched some episodes when it first aired but this is my first time watching each episode in earnest.

And after we watch each episode, we come together and talk about it with today's eyes but also with a historical and political lens.

From the beginning,

We've been talking about Palestine, which probably makes our series unique, but also very timely.

So we had to come back and how can we not let what's happening now inform our current watch?

It should inform it because this series as in SDS9, not just the original series that we're talking about DS9, but this podcast series is a time capsule to talk about what's happening now while also talking about a bunch of not always good middle and filler episodes while we do it.

So Scott, how have you been during this hiatus and

Your thoughts about this show coming back and you coming back to this SDS9 watch-along series with everything that's been going on in the world and also in your own life, everything that's been going on.

Scott

Right.

So without going into super great detail, I am a social worker in Baltimore, Maryland.

So I see a lot of what is going on amongst the people

of Baltimore and in many ways America, but it is a prism of American detail.

But it's impossible to not see how what is going on in Gaza also have parallels to the work that I do and some things that are very difficult, the things that

Also, I find with the most ability to have conversations with people is to talk about the healthcare and hospitals and that sort of thing, medical access.

So what I see

um where the situation in Gaza is getting graver and graver we have this issue of medical access and in this country we also see the issue of medical access however this is one of the richest countries in the world and Gaza is not and it's not even seen as a country by many people and then as a Jew

that loves their culture but has a lot of trouble with what is going on over there.

It has been a revelation and a revolution for many of my Jewish brothers and sisters and everyone in between on all gender and non-gender spectrums that

It's like we're at a place in our faith where we have some thinking to do and where we want to be and where you want to stand on the side of history.

And I think it's clear the side that I want to stand.

So when we took the break for the strike, I sort of needed a little bit of a break just to focus on some other things in my life and also get back the joy.

Because as you're saying,

We're doing a lot of middle episodes and those episodes can be really challenging or not that exciting or you and I are just like pulling honey out of a rock on some of these episodes.

So I was sort of happy to have a little bit of a break and I do not believe that you can talk about Deep Space Nine

in a vacuum without looking at the politics connected to it when it was made and how it reflects itself as a prism to us now.

So I actually think that the work that we are doing is even more prescient as

SAM

This is supposed to be kind of a fun series where we talk about some politics and maybe educate ourselves, educate some people, but then all of a sudden because of our unique take and then because of everything that happened, it seemed like, oh, the show got more heavy.

The show has some responsibility.

It became more important.

Scott

Yeah, and you just sort of see there are parallels between the Cardassians that

There's so many wonderful, beautiful Trek fans that are discovering Trek now and are leftists or left-curious.

Maybe they call themselves liberals.

Maybe they call themselves Democrats.

I don't know, but they start listening and they're like, okay, cool, cool, cool.

And they notice bits and pieces of

There is Mission Log, which is another podcast that goes over every single episode of Star Trek, but they don't look at it from the lens that we look at it from.

So I think it's important when all is said and done, and we've done every episode of Deep Space Nine, which is going to be a little while, we have this, I don't want to sound braggadocious, but a gift for younger people and newer people, because I'll tell you a nice story.

But I'm babbling, so I'll tell a nice story later.

But there's a lot of beautiful leftists that love Deep Space Nine of all different ages.

And it's a beautiful thing.

And I want there to be a document for someone that's revisiting Deep Space Nine and wants a recap show that has just a lens that they can relate to.

SAM

So let's not bury the lead.

Scott, can you tell us about this episode?

I don't even think I gave the episode name or number yet.

So it's season three, episode 19, Through the Looking Glass.

Can you tell us about this episode?

Scott

Through the Looking Glass.

We start with Odo suggesting that Quark is having a vole fight with Morn, the lovable cheers type character that never talks.

That apparently, you know, Odo, not Odo, Quark and Morn were having basically like animal fights or something.

But Ben shows up.

He's like, I have work to do.

And O'Brien shows up in some interesting clothes and he has to talk to Ben.

And guess who it is?

It's Mirror Miles, evidenced as when Ben asks when they are, and Miles says, through the looking glass, which is like a little nod to Alice in Wonderland and mirrors.

And so I will now be calling this iteration of Miles, Mirror Miles or Smiley, which is his nickname given to him by Mirror Ben.

So Ben disarms Smiley, but Smiley reminds him that they're in the mirror world, and we get a little update since the last mirror episode that we covered, Crossover.

In the episode Crossover, after Kira and Bashir crossed over, they caused a ruckus.

This led to a rebellion by the Terrans, which is what the mirror universe calls humans and the people that work with them against the Klingon-Cardassian alliance.

Mirror Cisco led the rebellion until he died in an explosion.

So this is in the middle of some transactions in the middle of the war and they want our Ben to take his place for one last mission.

Mirror Miles Smiley explains that Mirror Ben's counterpart who was married to Jennifer.

Now, as we know,

In Deep Space Nine, Jennifer was also Ben's wife who died sort of at the hands of Picard as Locutus of Bjorg.

We see that in the first episode.

But Mirror Jennifer is working on some tech, a sensor array that will help the Alliance weed out rebellion-based starships and

If Mirror Jennifer doesn't leave Tarak Nor, which is what it's called, which is what Deep Space Nine in our regular universe used to be called during the Cardassian occupation, they're worried that if Mirror Jennifer doesn't abandon the tech, the Rebellion will have to either kill Jennifer or

On Terok Nor, Mirror Jennifer meets with Mirror Kira or as we'll call Intendant Kira.

So she's like the Grand Poobah, the leader of Terok Nor.

And the Intendant Kira is hedonistic, has a lust for life and has

Yeah, she's got some challenges.

And the Intendant tells Mirror Jennifer that Mirror Benjamin is dead.

Intendant and Mirror Ben had a complicated relationship.

You can see that in the previous episode.

And it seems that Mirror Jennifer does not care and just is hoping that the censor array will create less casualties, less war.

She hopes that quelling rebellion will allow

The intended to make the system better from within, that they can have better oppression and less bad violence.

And so then we see Smiley and Ben be like, look, when you start playing Ben, our Ben was not very nice.

He won't be missed.

Call me Smiley and be aggressive.

On the Rebel base, we see Mirror Rom angry over the death of his brother Quark, Mirror Quark, Mirror Bashir, and Mirror Tuvok.

Now, Tuvok is a Vulcan whose counterpart is important to Voyager and another show, but if I were to say that, that would involve a spoiler.

And they're all arguing strategy.

The Mirror team is willing to do or die missions with low chance of return to invoke fear.

They're willing for casualties.

They're willing to be nasty.

They're willing to be messy.

Because also remember, in the Mirror universe, people just have different values.

I wouldn't say it's bad or good.

I think it's more hedonistic and more

Ben explains that the rumors of his death were greatly exaggerated and was part of the propaganda machine by the Alliance.

To raise morale, the Intendant decides to have some Terran workers executed.

Garrick notes that the Intendant has been off since Mirror Ben got the axe,

Again, there is energy, and there's a lot of power dynamics here.

There's a lot of strange power dynamics in this episode, and there's also strange dynamics of friendship and physical relationships.

But I don't know that you and I are the best equipped people to posit on the sexual notions of revolution, but they do exist and they are there.

Ben and Mira Jadzia are talking strategy.

Mira Jadzia believes that the rebellion is probably a lost cause.

Remember, the Mira people can be very selfish and thinks things were better.

It was better when we were oppressed and we should just abandon the revolution.

Me and you just get out of here.

Ben's like, nah, the Rebellion needs Jennifer off the ship, Mirror Jennifer.

They don't think that Ben can actually persuade Mirror Jennifer and point out that Mirror J hates Ben and they probably need to kill her.

Ben then shows some characters.

He smacks Mirror Bashir and Smiley points out that the Jennifer on the side would

At Tarak Nor, Mira Rom, acting as a double agent, is indicating to the intendant that Sisko is alive and has ideas to recapture him.

Smiley reminds Cisco that he almost fooled everyone and that Mirror Jennifer is different than the Jennifer Ben-Nu and just understand that this is going to be challenging.

It turns out that, you know, in this universe, Sisko and Jennifer, it was an unloving marriage of convenience, and they pretty much hate each other.

Sisko and Smiley get surrounded by Alliance ships on their way to Tarak Nor and are captured.

When Sisko leaves the airlock, he gives the Intendant a kiss, and they briefly discuss the possibility of his execution.

Avery is such a good actor.

The Intendant confronts Smiley for betrayal, and Smiley just wants freedom, and he's sent back to the ore processing unit by the Intendant.

The Intendant leads Sisko to her quarters, explaining that due to trust issues, she might actually have to get rid of him for morale, and is having trouble thinking of a good political reason to keep him alive other than the fact that his pure existence makes Mirror Garrick mad.

Ben meets with Mirror Jennifer.

Ben fights his emotions seeing corporeal a version of the love of his life who he hasn't seen for many years.

And Mirror Jennifer lambasts Ben for being a bad person and philanderer and posits why Ben left the marriage to be a pirate for the intended.

Because if you remember from the last time that we went to a Mirror episode, this version of Ben

is just nasty and just in it for the pleasure.

He's a pleasure seeker.

And Mirror Jennifer believes that the revolution is a farce and is just causing more death and will not make a change.

And Ben explains that he's there to rescue her.

And Ben thinks that maybe Mayor Jennifer is doing this because he is part of the rebellion.

Like, I'm doing this, you're doing that.

And then this is an argument about safety versus freedom versus dignity.

The notion that rebellion is causing more pain than the actual oppression, which is so invisibly false.

Ben apologizes for his past misdeeds and begs Mayor Jennifer to help.

And, you know, she said, well, at least they know they're prisoners.

Ben sends a subdermal text message to Smiley that things are working out.

And Smiley creates a diversion to get out of the ore prison to plan the escape, causing a little bit of a rebellion.

Mayor Jennifer is down with this.

She's going to help.

Cisco then is rocking double guns and, again, having a lot of fun with the role.

And shoots a bunch of people.

So I'm hoping the phasers are on stun because if he just like killed a bunch of mirror people, it's never really dealt with.

In a mini uprising, they get to an airlock and they lay upon a dead mirror ROM.

There's a shootout with the Intendant Garrick and the Alliance.

They are the deadlock.

But Ben has a plan.

They run to the Ore Center because if this Tarak Nor is anything like their Tarak Nor, he knows what he can do.

So Ben informs everyone that he has started the self-destruct sequence and that the Intendant is given 8 minutes and 30 seconds to let them go or everyone will die.

Mirror Garrick says Ben is bluffing.

Intendant knows that Ben is not.

They make a deal.

And he's like, yep, you're right.

I'm not your Ben.

Your Ben is dead.

And she's like, he wasn't a very nice guy.

And our Ben says, Smiley will tell you all about who I am if you want to know more, and he can tell you a little bit about the Mirror Worlds.

Ben tells the Rebellion that he's going to talk to the Romulans, but Smiley and Mirror Jennifer know that this is a return trip to our dimension.

I'm sure we'll never go back.

SAM

Alright, so I know this plot.

Cease fire and peace through killing anyone who would ever resist your hegemony.

That's western diplomacy in a nutshell.

But that's just the backdrop of this episode.

The actual episode is a heist story.

Call on your way to stealing Jennifer from the heart of the enemy while pretending to be someone else.

Scott, what did you think about how this episode handled the Mirror Universe rebellion?

Scott

I think it was a little afraid to say it with its full chest, but it did bring up some topics that I thought were smart.

But a bunch of times, they're like, oh, well, at least when we were oppressed, there was less death, so maybe we should go back to that.

But they were trying to say some things, and I feel like they didn't realize

that they were telling stories about the Western Death Machine and the real politic of a certain Henry that passed away recently.

But they're just like, oh, there's a rebellion and we need to stop it or should we start it?

And there isn't the imperative that happens in Starfleet where you're not supposed to interact with other

This is also them returning to Ben playing somebody else again and trying not to

SAM

It'll never happen again.

But to your point about them playing the Mirror Universe Rebellion, you know, not with their chest proud, right?

It did play it very comical or even just silly, right?

To the point you made, like,

Scott

Subterfuge and starting revolutions and quelling revolutions and being like, are revolutions okay if people are dying on the way to revolution?

The idea of a bloodless coup is sort of a farce.

People die when revolutions happen, usually, unfortunately.

SAM

Now with Jennifer, she repeats a lot of the oppressor's talking points.

She reminds me of the compador class.

She's literally a collaborator, but then she switches sides pretty quick.

That's when it really felt like this was an episode that started out like it had some meat

But then found its groove as a middle episode where things have to happen easily.

And I think you said sometimes watching middle filler episodes are kind of tough.

And I would also add it's sometimes just disappointing in that they start out like they could have been something, not a middle episode, and then they just become a middle episode.

So what did you think about those scenes with Jennifer and Cisco when they were talking about politics?

Scott

It was just like something I wanted a little bit more.

It was like two people that just like read a couple articles in Jacobin having a coffee and like talking and really sort of needing someone to help with some of the larger topics.

SAM

They needed their kids to show up and explain some stuff.

Scott

Or something, yeah.

Because right now, I've strewn in front of me.

I have Ursula K. Le Guin's interpretation of the Tao Te Ching.

I have a book about the African cosmology of the Bantu Congo and the wretched of the Earth and Trotsky's biography of Stalin just around for some ideas.

They're more like

They're more having more basic discussions, like they watched an episode of a Vaush podcast and now want to talk about politics.

Some of the things Cisco says to Jennifer about how it's better to know whose side the baddies are on reminded me a lot of the problems in general with liberals.

SAM

At least with conservatives, they tell you where they're standing.

Liberals will act like your friend and stab you in the back.

Jennifer, in this case, is the liberal who acts like she's helping the rebels by saying, no more killing, but then is going to help exterminate them all.

In the context of the Palestinian genocide, it's the US liberal politician stance where they're like, we're helping Palestinians by genociding them.

Scott, did you find any of the framing in these conversations familiar with the current US framings?

Scott

Absolutely.

And like discussions I have with

People, like establishment Democrats in my life, being like, well, we need to vote blue no matter who.

We need to do this no matter what.

And I'm just like, my brother in Abraham, I don't know where you've been in the past four years, but we've been under a Democratic president and lost Roe v. Wade, lost all of these things.

Things are bad, and you're

You're just being like, well, still vote for this guy.

And I think the charade is changing.

And I believe that you will see this is a time capsule.

I believe that this election will be the smallest turnout since Carter and Ford.

SAM

Now, with this episode, there's a lot of liberal versus revolutionary energy.

So there's definitely a vibe I like about this episode.

But there's also a lot I don't like.

Like things happening too easily.

I really didn't like the acting or directing too much in this episode.

They went over the top with Mirror Universe means horny overload.

Very horny.

My wife said it felt a lot like a soap opera episode like Young and the Restless.

Young people probably don't remember but back in the day when everybody just had like a few channels it was all network TV and in the daytime it was something called soap operas where it's all horniness and then there's always the mysterious twin pretending to be someone else.

So along those lines, with this episode, the acting, writing, directing all felt rushed.

It had this very political, very meaty backdrop, but it felt rushed.

It felt lazy, very much like a soap opera, which also tries to have very high-minded

You know, bell hooks said challenge notions of masculinity that equate manhood with the ability to exert power over others.

And I don't know that she would have thought that when watching this episode.

Scott

I think

I just wanted to talk about that there's some strange concern with masculinity in the mirror universe and toxic notions of it that, again, as you're pointing out, we didn't get to dig into.

So this is a 3.5 out of 5 star Star Trek episode, which is pretty much all of them.

It's a three.

It's interesting because it's Mirror.

It's interesting because we get to see Jennifer.

It's interesting because Avery just does a wonderful job in his acting role playing this silly, sinister dude.

But yeah, it's just kind of silly and it's not a trope that I need a lot of.

And of course, we're never going back to the Mirror universe in the Star Trek show ever again.

SAM

Scott, tell us about the next episode.

Scott

Improbable Cause.

Something's going on with Garak.

SAM

Until then…