I have always seen the original Mirror Universe from TOS as merely a fun diversion for the sake of being a fun diversion that was taken FAR to seriously in later series. This two parter is the first time that I have found any modern mirror universe episodes even slightly entertaining.
This and the previous episode feel almost as if they were written by an entirely different team. So much of the god awful, amature writing appears mostly absent from this two parter. Further they seem to focus on actual character development for Georgiou, and an excellent sendoff of one of the fwe interesting and well acted characters in the show.
I didn't even mind them playing fanservice bingo with the Guardian of Forever. It didn't feel shoehorned in like so many of their previous attempts at garnering nostalgia likes, and made perfect sense within the established story.
It was these two episodes when it finally clicked with me that the Mirror Universe Michael is the real Michael, rather than the emotionally immature "space jesus" character that we have in the prime universe. It was actually interesting to see that character actually behave in a consistent, motivated, and active character, rather than the inconsistent passive character that is unfortunately this show's main character. Even Sonequa Martin-Green's terrible acting didn't manage to ruin Mirror Michael.
I feel like these two episodes really drive home the point that had this series not tried to leverage the Star Trek label in an attempt to bolster initial fans, and had instead created its own identity, it would have been significantly better, even if the writing and producers were still just as awful. It's unfortunate that Star Trek was handed to a group that doesn't have any respect or understanding for the IP and their best episodes were two that didn't even come close to dealing with this season's story, or really Star Trek in general, outside of some labels and costume/set design.
This and the previous episode feel almost as if they were written by an entirely different team. So much of the god awful, amature writing appears mostly absent from this two parter. Further they seem to focus on actual character development for Georgiou, and an excellent sendoff of one of the fwe interesting and well acted characters in the show.
I didn't even mind them playing fanservice bingo with the Guardian of Forever. It didn't feel shoehorned in like so many of their previous attempts at garnering nostalgia likes, and made perfect sense within the established story.
It was these two episodes when it finally clicked with me that the Mirror Universe Michael is the real Michael, rather than the emotionally immature "space jesus" character that we have in the prime universe. It was actually interesting to see that character actually behave in a consistent, motivated, and active character, rather than the inconsistent passive character that is unfortunately this show's main character. Even Sonequa Martin-Green's terrible acting didn't manage to ruin Mirror Michael.
I feel like these two episodes really drive home the point that had this series not tried to leverage the Star Trek label in an attempt to bolster initial fans, and had instead created its own identity, it would have been significantly better, even if the writing and producers were still just as awful. It's unfortunate that Star Trek was handed to a group that doesn't have any respect or understanding for the IP and their best episodes were two that didn't even come close to dealing with this season's story, or really Star Trek in general, outside of some labels and costume/set design.