Through the Looking Glass (episode)

In the "mirror universe," Sisko must persuade the alternate version of his dead wife to join the Terran Rebels, or he will watch her die a second time.

Summary
Sisko, Odo, and Quark are in the station commander's office debating the disposition of 27 Cardassian voles which Sisko claims are intended for fighting. Apparently Quark and Morn were discovered painting numbers on the voles' backs, even though Quark claims that they were Morn's pets. Sisko orders that the voles be confiscated, suggesting that if Morn wants new pets, he can get some goldfish.

Sisko then walks out into Ops, where he tells an unnamed lieutenant "Ops is yours" and walks toward the turbolift landing... just as the car arrives carrying O'Brien, who is out of uniform. As O'Brien steps off the turbolift he tells Sisko that he needs to converse privately, then draws a phaser. However, Sisko immediately orders the Ops crew to stand down.

After ordering Sisko onto the transporter pad, O'Brien waves a multidimensional transporter over the normal transporter controls, after which O'Brien and Sisko transport to a raider and Sisko asks where they are. "I guess you could say we just stepped through the looking glass," O'Brien says in reply.

O'Brien leads Sisko into another compartment, and Sisko disarms him. At barrel's end O'Brien confirms that they are in the mirror universe, that the Terrans have started a rebellion against the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance, and that the rebellion at issue was led by the mirror universe Sisko... until he was killed.

In the face of "our" Sisko's demands to be taken back to his own universe, the mirror universe's O'Brien explains that in his universe Jennifer Sisko is very much alive, working for the Alliance on a trans-spectral sensor array that will enable the Alliance to root the rebellion out of their bases in the Badlands. In closing O'Brien explains that if Sisko will not retrieve her from Terok Nor, the rebels will be left with "no choice but to kill her."



Sisko concedes than he cannot bear the death of a second Jennifer Sisko, and agrees to attempt her rescue.

During a brief cut to Terok Nor Jennifer Sisko arrives at Intendant Kira's quarters, and the Intendant informs Jennifer that her husband has been killed.



Back on the raider, O'Brien – or rather "Smiley," as he's reminded Sisko to address him – explains that Jennifer despises her late husband, who was much better at fighting than leading. Finally the two of them transport to a rebel base, where a new mission is under discussion. As Bashir looks on Sisko with a gimlet eye, Tuvok points out that they all thought Captain Sisko dead, and at that point Jadzia saunters in to give Sisko a kiss of gratitude, a slap across the face for letting her think that he was dead, and a question: "are you coming or not?" Sisko hangs back so that Smiley can explain to him that Jadzia is Sisko's mistress.

On Terok Nor, the Intendant is ordering gratuitous executions of Terran slaves as an incentive for improving unacceptably low levels of productivity. Garak suggests that she's been in a foul humor... ever since Captain Sisko was killed.

The rebels are restless about the impending completion of the sensor array, a suspicious Jadzia is telling Sisko that he ought to abandon the rebellion, and Sisko insists (over Bashir's objections) that Jennifer's rescue, not her death, is their next objective.

On Terok Nor, Rom informs the Intendant that Sisko is alive... and that he has information that will lead to Sisko's recapture. As a result Sisko and Smiley are surrounded by decloaking Alliance ships en route to Terok Nor, captured, and taken to the station. The first thing Sisko does upon leaving the airlock is to kiss the Intendant passionately, and they briefly discuss the likelihood of his execution. Kira then moves onto O'Brien and chastises him for betraying the Alliance. After Smiley explains that he did it because he wanted to be free, Kira contemptuously orders him sent to Ore Processing, and she leads Sisko back to her quarters. Once there she explains to him that since she can't trust him, it will be a matter of time before she needs to "dispose of" him.



Later Jennifer arrives, accompanied by Garak, who leaves no doubt as to his hatred of Sisko. After Garak leaves, Ben and Jennifer spar over Ben's bellicosity and womanizing, and Ben puts that to a stop by explaining that he's on the station to rescue her. After more arguing, Ben uses the adversarial nature of their marriage as a wedge to suggest that she's working for the Alliance as a response to his leadership of the rebellion, and finally asks her to defect as an alternative to slavery. Sisko then uses a subdermal communicator to alert Smiley to his progress and disables the guards on the Intendant's quarters, while Smiley creates a diversion to get himself and several slaves out of Ore Processing.



Jennifer ultimately agrees to follow Ben – though only after insisting that she still hates him – and the two of them meet up with Smiley and the (former) slaves in the Habitat Ring. The lot of them proceed to the airlock where Rom's shuttle is docked, only to discover Rom's corpse hanging from the airlock door, by a dagger through the chest.

On the verge of being overpowered by the Intendant and her men and with no obvious means of leaving Terok Nor, the rebels head back to Ore Processing with Jennifer in tow. Once there, the rebels engage in a firefight with the guards, and after promising Jennifer that he will get her off the station, Sisko starts manipulating a console, explaining to Smiley that he hopes the designer of the Mirror Universe Terok Nor is the same Cardassian who designed Deep Space 9.

The Intendant and the troops with her ultimately force entry to the rebels' haven in Ore Processing, where she orders the rebels (excepting Jennifer) killed – only to have Sisko tell her that doing so would be a mistake... because he has initiated the station's auto-destruct sequence. Thinking that he's bluffing, the Intendant points out to Sisko that he doesn't know the needed command authorization code, at which point he proves her wrong. When she tries to stop the sequence, she discovers that Sisko has changed the command code, and offers to let him off the station if he will give her the new code. He demands that he and his companions be let off the station first, and the Intendant capitulates, closing with an oath to Sisko that she will hunt him down.

After the trip from Terok Nor to the rebel base, Jennifer insists on knowing who Ben really is. Commander Sisko tells her that she can ask Smiley for the details, and then the two of them say their goodbyes.

Memorable Quotes
"Poor Morn. This is gonna break his hearts."
 * - Quark

"I hope you don't run up against too many surprises."

"If I do, I guess I'll just have to... improvise."
 * - Smiley and Benjamin Sisko

"Logic isn't going to win us our freedom. We have to take action!"
 * - Rom (mirror), to mirror Tuvok

"At least someone here is using his brain."
 * - Commander Sisko, about Smiley

"You know, you did pretty good back there. I don't think anyone suspected you weren't Captain Sisko.  At least, not once you hit Bashir."
 * - Smiley

"Whatever shall we do about O'Brien?"
 * - Intendant Kira, condescendingly

"Do I get a vote?"

"Of course you do. It just doesn't count."
 * - Commander Sisko and Intendant Kira

"Why don't you start by telling me what happened to my husband. He's dead, isn't he?"

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be."
 * - Jennifer Sisko (mirror) and Commander Sisko

Story and script

 * Robert Hewitt Wolfe pitched the story of Sisko going to the mirror universe to replace his counterpart. Wolfe commented "From there we went back and forth about whom he should rescue, until Ira came up with the idea that it should be Jennifer, which I thought was a stroke of genius". (Captains' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages p 94)
 * Tuvok (played by Star Trek: Voyager's Tim Russ) was included at the request of Rick Berman. (Captains' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages p 94)

Production

 * Nana Visitor hated the Intendant's rubber figure-hugging outfit. "It didn't breathe at all" claims Visitor, and between takes she had to stand in front of a large fan to prevent her from sweating, as sweat tended to discolor the outfit. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion)

Reception

 * Ira Steven Behr commented "We certainly had enough stuff that could have kept that show going another hour. I thought the Sisko/Jennifer relationship was interesting. It was a nice way to bring Jennifer back, and I think we'll meet her again. Jake is going to have to see her at some point. The action stuff was pretty cool. I thought that the look of the show was good. My only complaint is that we had to cram so much into too little time". (Captains' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages p 94)
 * Avery Brooks was especially happy when he read the teleplay for this episode, because in it, Sisko has sex for the first time since the show began. And not once, but twice; first with Dax and then with The Intendant. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion)

Trivia

 * This episode was filmed after, but before because the decision to make  a two-parter came so late in the schedule that "Through the Looking Glass" was already in pre-production.
 * This episode picks up in the mirror universe where left off.  had itself been something of a sequel to the TOS episode.
 * This episode contains the only reference to the Romulans in the mirror universe.
 * Tim Russ' Voyager co-star Robert Picardo guest-stars in DS9 in the fifth season episode.
 * Alliance ships are seen de-cloaking in this episode. This is in direct contradiction with the episode, where a major aspect of the plot deals with a delivery of a cloaking device to the Alliance, who don't possess the technology. Non-canon novels attempt to explain this as the difference between Alliance cloaks and Romulan cloaks.
 * This episode takes its name from the 1871 Lewis Carroll book Through the Looking-Glass. The sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, the book features Alice's further adventures in a fantasy world beyond a mirror. It is also the phrase Kira used at the end of the episode  when asked where she and Bashir had been.
 * In the opening scene where Sisko has ruled that the Cardassian voles should be confiscated, Quark says that it will break Morn's hearts, plural, implying that Morn's species has more than one heart.
 * Cirroc Lofton (Jake Sisko) does not appear in this episode.
 * The raider's corridor, transporter room, and the turbolift, are redresses of the USS Defiant (2370) sets, using computer graphics from . To make it look different, the lighting department had a harsh red light to make contrast to the bright white lights of "our" universe. The raider's bridge was a redress of the Runabout cockpit which had been re-dressed in the same style several months earlier as the Maquis raider Val Jean in.

Video and DVD releases

 * UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 3.10,.
 * As part of the DS9 Season 3 DVD collection.
 * As part of the Star Trek: Fan Collective - Alternate Realities collection.

Starring

 * Avery Brooks as Commander Benjamin Sisko

Also starring

 * Rene Auberjonois as Constable Odo
 * Siddig El Fadil as $𝜇$
 * Terry Farrell as $𝜇$
 * Colm Meaney as Smiley
 * Armin Shimerman as Quark
 * Nana Visitor as Intendant $𝜇$

Guest stars

 * Andrew Robinson as $𝜇$
 * Felecia M. Bell as $𝜇$
 * Max Grodénchik as $𝜇$

Special guest star

 * Tim Russ as $𝜇$

Co-stars

 * John Patrick Hayden as the Cardassian Overseer
 * Dennis Madalone as marauder

Uncredited co-stars

 * Darcie Armstrong as a Terran slave
 * Patrick Barnitt as a Bajoran officer
 * Scott Barry as a Bajoran officer
 * Pam Blackwell as a Terran slave
 * Robert Coffee as a Bajoran officer
 * George Colucci as a Terran slave
 * Christopher Doyle as a Cardassian officer
 * Ken Lesco as a Bajoran officer
 * Joyce McCoy as a Terran slave
 * Dan McGee as a Terran marauder
 * Tom Morga as a Klingon officer
 * Joe Murphy
 * Lisa Pettett as a Terran slave
 * Scott L. Schwartz as a Terran marauder
 * Steph Silvestri as Terran marauder
 * Chester E. Tripp III
 * Unknown performers as
 * Command division lieutenant
 * Eight Terran marauders
 * Five Bajoran officers
 * Nine Terran slaves
 * Three Cardassian officers
 * Three Klingon officers
 * Two Human servants
 * Two Vulcan servants

Stunt double

 * Jeff Cadiente as stunt double for Siddig El Fadil

Stand-ins

 * Faye Barge as stand-in for Felecia M. Bell
 * Ivor Bartels
 * John Lendale Bennett as stand-in for Avery Brooks
 * Mark Lentry
 * David B. Levinson as stand-in for Max Grodénchik
 * Randy Pflug as stand-in for Colm Meaney