"Through the Looking Glass"

[InterstellarCrazed]

Through the Looking Glass is an episode that originally aired in the US on April 17th, 1995. It is the second part in a on going theme that first started in late Season two, �The Crossover� where Julian Bashir and Major Kira were accidentally sent into an alternate reality. At first I really didn�t know what to expect with the episode. I had watch Enterprise�s �In a Mirror Darkly� before I had a chance to watch these two episodes. I didn�t really care too much for them because they were out of sync with the other episodes during that season, but for the ones in DS9 they fit right in and I loved each and every second of them!

Synopsis

Sisko is abducted by a double of O'Brien, who takes him to the mirror universe that Kira and Bashir visited a year ago. This O'Brien explains that Sisko's counterpart, the leader of the Terran rebellion against the Klingon/Cardassian Alliance, has been killed. O'Brien wants Sisko to pose as his dead double and convince a Terran scientist with the Alliance to join the rebels. That scientist is Jennifer Sisko, the counterpart of Sisko's late wife. Since she is building a device that will betray the secret location of the rebels, Sisko must convince her to join them before she completes her work or the rebels will have to kill her. Unwilling to watch Jennifer die again, Sisko agrees to intervene. He meets the rebel counterparts of Bashir, Rom, Tuvok from the starship Voyager, and also Dax, who is Sisko's mistress in this universe. Only O'Brien knows that Sisko is an impostor.

Terok Nor, the mirror Deep Space Nine, is ruled by Kira for the Alliance. She tells Jennifer that the bloodshed against the Terrans will end once her device is completed. But later, Kira tortures Terran slaves in the ore processing center with the help of Garak, her chief aide. Then, Kira discovers that Sisko is still alive.

With communicators hidden under their skin, Sisko and O'Brien take a rebel ship to Terok Nor. They are immediately captured and taken to Kira, who sends O'Brien to ore processing with the slaves and takes Sisko to her quarters. Later, Sisko meets Jennifer, who despises him, and without revealing his true identity, apologizes for his past treatment of her, then says that he has come to rescue her.

Sisko tries to convince Jennifer that the Alliance is her real enemy, and plans to kill the rebels once they are found. Sensing he may be winning her confidence, Sisko signals O'Brien. In ore processing, O'Brien receives the signal and causes a malfunction that allows him and the Terrans to escape. Meanwhile, Jennifer agrees to leave with Sisko, they meet O'Brien, then head for a waiting ship.

Before they can escape, however, they are cornered by Kira and her troops. While Kira waits for Sisko to surrender, he slips away and herds his entire group into the ore processing center, where they seal themselves within. When Kira, Garak, and her soldiers finally force their way in, Sisko calmly tells her that he has activated the station's self-destruct sequence, which only he can stop. Kira reluctantly agrees to let Sisko, Jennifer, O'Brien, and the Terrans go free in order to halt the imminent destruction. Sisko and the others return to the rebel encampment, where Jennifer admits to realizing that he's not really her husband. She kisses him goodbye, and Sisko returns to his universe just a bit sadder.

*This synopsis came from the official Star Trek.com website.

All in all I really did enjoy the episode. I hope to discover a few more of them as I go in and out of the DVD sets of DS9.

I�m just going to end this up by giving one final thought, What do you think Major Kira and Constable Odo did to the Miles O�Brien that was from the correct reality? They had witnessed smiley kidnapping Commander Sisko, but at the point they had no idea that it was Smiley and not Miles Edward O�Brien. It�s a fairly interesting and hilarious thing to think about.