The Mirror Universe is a dark, twisted version of Star Trek’s well-known prime universe. In place of the peaceful Federation is an oppressive and xenophobic Empire. Compassionate and honourable characters in the prime universe are the antithesis, shocking to behold but equally entertaining to explore. The resulting episodes throughout Star Trek are always fun to watch and succeed in delivering disturbing scenes. Hence, I have trekked back to experience Star Trek: Discovery’s Mirror Universe’s most chilling scenes.
Warning – spoilers ahead for Star Trek: Discovery season one!
To Kill A Ghost
There is much talk about the brutality of the Terran Empire during Season 1 Episode 10 ‘Despite Yourself’. However, we make it forty minutes into the episode before seeing this brutality first-hand. Shortly after dropping Lorca off at a twenty-third-century torture chamber, we find Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) in a turbo-lift. Her destination is the bridge of the Mirror Universe’s I.S.S. Shenzhou, and she’s not alone. A ghost from her past rides alongside – the Mirror Universe’s Danby Connor (Sam Vartholomeos), current Captain of the Shenzhou.
Connor laments on his struggle to become captain after Mirror Burnham left. He notes how everyone bowed when he succeeded – just not as low as they did for her. Then he proclaims he’s found a way to ensure their loyalty, pulling out his knife and turning to stab Burnham. At that moment, time slows down. Burnham’s eyes widen for a moment as she pulls herself backwards. Connor twists nearly one-eighty with determined ferociousness carved across his face.
Then, time returns to normal. The following fight is a vicious battle of life or death, contained within a small, still-moving turbo-lift. It is a close-quarters, emotion-packed, very personal scene that’s over almost as soon as it starts. Blades are dropped, martial arts come into play, and the tables only turn once Burnham kicks a panel open. The combatants are flung into the air and land violently, Burnham winning the race and delivering the fatal blow. This is the most chilling part, Burnham struggling to hide her trauma as Connor falls backwards onto the bridge to thunderous applause from the crew.
Lorca’s Torture
The above scene brilliantly demonstrates Burnham’s struggle to do what must be done to survive in the Mirror Universe. However, you could argue this next scene paints a different picture.
While Burnham finds her coping mechanism in Ash Tyler (Shazad Latif), we are brought to the torture chamber once more. Screams fill our ears as the camera pans past prisoners shrieking, clutching at themselves, unable to stop the pain. We see another prisoner pacing in the background, hand covering her mouth, terrified of what’s to come. Then, we see the resolute, unyielding Gabriel Lorca (Jason Isaacs). He, too, is writhing in agony, screaming at the top of his lungs.
Seeing an agonizer at work is chilling enough, but seeing it trying to break Discovery’s captain left me horrified. This is certainly up there as one of Disovery’s Mirror Universe’s most chilling scenes!
The Mirror’s Justice
We start Season One’s ‘The Wolf Inside’ with Burnham sharing her experience aboard the I.S.S. Shenzhou. We discover that the Kelpians of the Mirror Universe are slaves of the Terran Empire. If this were not shocking enough, this news is revealed by none other than Mirror Saru (Doug Jones). He readies Burnham’s bath, then gently cleans her body while she stares straight ahead, clearly disturbed by the situation. This is one of Discovery’s Mirror Universe’s most chilling scenes.
However, the scene in question is, I would argue, much more chilling! After her bath Burnham goes about her duties as captain, starting with a march to the transporter room. But she is not welcoming anyone onto the ship. Instead, she enters to find three prisoners on the transporter pad; all resigned to their fate. Mirror Detmer (Emily Coutts) sentences the prisoners to death for malicious thoughts before beaming them into space.
Seeing the prisoners freeze and die in the vacuum left me shocked. But what resonated more was their crime, malicious thoughts. George Orwell’s ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’ tells of a dystopian future in which a capital offense is thoughtcrime. Anyone deemed to be thinking something that Big Brother doesn’t want them to think was arrested by the Thought Police. I like to think the writers of this episode drew from the novel for this scene. It’s probably the scene that gives me the most goosebumps – as Orwell shows, it doesn’t take much to become reality.
Long Live the Empire
One of Discovery’s Mirror Universe’s most chilling scenes is also the second-largest reveal of the season. During a private chat with Lorca, Burnham receives word that a ship is firing on Harlack. Burnham has not long returned from the planet after convincing the rebels hiding there to evacuate. Knowing the evacuation is still underway, Burnham marches onto the bridge, demanding an explanation.
However, Burnham quickly loses her steel as the Emperor of the Terran Empire appears as a hologram before her. Burnham is again face-to-face with a ghost, this time of the captain she betrayed – Phillipa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh). And it isn’t the kind, supportive, adventurous Georgiou of her universe but a dark, twisted, hateful antithesis. The Mirror Universe is out to test Burnham in every way it can!
Cream of Kelpian
The Mirror Universe continues to test Burnham in episode twelve, ‘Vaulting Ambition’. Arriving on The Charon, Burnham faces Emperor Georgiou and is asked to pick one of three Kelpian slaves. She does so, and nothing more is said of it.
That is until we see Burnham dining with Georgiou later that day. She compliments the emperor on the delicious food to be told she’s eating Kelpian! The twisted scene is compounded further by Georgiou offering Burnham her ganglia as a treat. Burnham gags as she forces it down, struggling to stay in character before the emperor. Alas, it was all in vain as Georgiou reveals she knows Mirror Burnham is a traitor! It’s off to be executed for Burnham – what a rollercoaster scene!
Say Her Name
Here comes the biggest twist in the season, and it deserves the Mirror Universe’s Most Chilling Scene award! During the episode, Lorca is tortured by a vengeful Captain, Maddox (Dwain Murphy). He is insisting Lorca tell him the name of his sister, someone Mirror Lorca wronged and potentially killed. Lorca has no way out, with no way of knowing the sister’s name, even if he wanted to give it.
Alongside the scene between Lorca and Maddox we have a scene between Burnham and Georgiou. Burnham has revealed she is from the Prime Universe and needs Lorca released from the agonizer. Georgiou plans to do the opposite, insisting he must be as treacherous as his Mirror counterpart. But it isn’t until Georgiou reveals Mirror Lorca “chose” Mirror Burnham that the jigsaw pieces start to click into place. All of Lorca’s talk about destiny, exploring other universes, and then the pièce de resistance – his sensitivity to light. Something Georgiou revealed is a shared genetic trait of all Mirror Universe humans.
With Burnham realizing Lorca’s played her all along, we switch back to the agonizer. Lorca collapses, forcing Maddox to release and revive him. It’s another trick of course, and Lorca takes advantage to immobilize and murder Maddox with a defibrillator to the head. Standing over Maddox’s jolting body he answers “Ava”, revealing his true Mirror self before delivering the final blow to Maddox.
I Hate Poetry
It may be because this is the fourth episode in the Mirror Universe. But ‘What’s Past is Prologue’ feels like a move away from the chilling atmosphere towards a more brutal one. However, two scenes that set my teeth on edge, both of which are equally as violent.
The first begins with Lorca walking victoriously through the scattered bodies of the emperor’s throne room. He places himself at her throne and asks Mirror Stamets (Anthony Rapp) if he’s changed his view of destiny. Lorca almost rants about how nothing that’s happened to him has been an accident. And then he opens a trapdoor directly above the mycelial core powering the Charon.
How ironic for the creator to die by his creation, like poetic justice! Lorca is playing with Mirror Stamets and finally tells him he’s joking. A moment of relief spread across Stamets face. Then, another twist – Lorca was joking about the poetry. He says calmly that he hates poetry, and Mirror Landry (Rekha Sharma) executes Mirror Stamets coldly.
The Betrayer, Betrayed
Perhaps it is fitting that Michael exits the Mirror Universe through yet another betrayal. Up to this point, it is the hallmark of her character. However, this time it is the right thing to do. Shortly after bringing Mirror Georgiou to Lorca, Burnham agrees to stay with Lorca in exchange for her crew’s freedom. Due to his infatuation for Burnham, he trusts her and agrees to her terms.
After Discovery drops out of warp Burnham and Georgiou spring their trap. They eliminate the guards with cool efficiency until it’s just Burnham versus Lorca. They get up close and personal in some brilliant hand-to-hand combat with Lorca trying not to kill Burnham. This is his weakness, and Georgiou seizes the opportunity to stab him in the back with her sword. The wheezing sigh escaping his lips is haunting, and he tumbles through the trapdoor into the mycelial core below. So much for destiny!
Conclusion
The Star Trek Discovery team did an amazing job bringing the Mirror Universe to life. They created a dark, sinister universe that forces us to reflect on our humanity. They delivered it so perfectly that it left me shocked, horrified, and disturbed. While I know we won’t see more of this Mirror Universe from Discovery, there is more to look forward to! Star Trek: Section 31 will be available in 2025 with Michelle Yeoh returning as Emperor Georgiou. So, where there may not be more Mirror Universe soon, we will see more of its emperor in action!
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