Bring on the Hot Chick in Love Lighting and the ironic girdles!

Girdly goodness!

GO SHE-HO! LONG LIVE EMPRESS SATO!!!

That was sooooooooooo satisfying.

I loved when, after telling them she'll target their cities, she looks to the side like
"Yeah, I'm a bad ass. You know it."

Surest way to make an empire fall? Put Quantum in charge.

Good call.

So Good.


In the preview - is that vulcan/human hybrid female baby supposed to be a parallel Spock?

So, DaisyDuke!T'Pol's dead, then? Damn....

Ok, the first act was a bit weird, as I felt that the Gorn Identity subplot was dull. However, the second and the final act was pure hammy goodness.

Empress Sato! Goddamn, that was funny! I shouted when she kissed MayHunk and then effectively overthrew the Emperor. Now that's how you do it--wait for everyone else to consume each other, fly under the radar (or DRADIS), and then take over in a big fuckin' way. You go, girl!

The shots of the Defiant were just pure fanboy eye candy. I loved it! Hearing the phaser and photon torpedo sounds was just--this is what I've been wanting to see for 20+ years.

After seeing next week's preview, I'm pretty creeped out because I read a fan-fic a while ago about T'pol and Trip having a kid. But the rest of the episode, pure Wow! I loved how Phlox totally reconsidered after hearing about the unlimited women.

I really hope that the episode quality doesn't go back to the way it was. I wasn't bored at all this week and last week.

Miniskirts, bare midriffs and girl on girl action. If the episode wasn't so good I'd swear I was watching someone's fan fiction come to life.

And damn if T'Pol can't call Hoshi a slut like it's no one's business.

And the computer saying "working", when they were looking up their counterparts records. Was that Majel Baret's voice?

I actually laughed out loud at that ending... That was absolutely perfect! Empress Sato indeed! And I'm not sorry about Quantum's poisoning in the least.

Why can't the regular characters be as enjoyable to watch as the mirror alternates?

Don't forget Tripp crawling around in the access tubes/conduits. Scotty would have been proud.

Certainly sounded like her. I wouldn't be surprised if it was a clip they had in stock, though. Else she would've been heard more, perhaps reciting the service records.

Even though the Gorn sequence was a slight drag, it was a thrill seeing them stalk around those shadowed corridors that were so familiar. And how cool to get to design new sets for areas of the ship we've never gotten to see before now. Nice to go beyond the original Jefferie's Tube.

So does Regular Universe Archer have an ambitious ego whispering advice in his ear? "You're relieved, Admiral..."

But the Gorn wasn't rubber. Seriously, if you ask me, the Gorn was gratuitious.

So where do I sign up to be one of the Empress Sato's concubines?

Wow...That was a beautiful thing.
The set decorators deserve a huge THANK YOU for getting the details right. I squealed with glee when I saw the UFP flag in the corner of the conference room and the accuracy of the Jeffries Tube was superb. The CGI Gorn was a bit cartoon-y and I am not sure that it was a necessary part of this episode, but it wasn't all bad. The writers (for once) will receive my praises for causing me to leap for joy with Empress Sato and her consort Mayhunk (tm CS). I was about to start hating them again; because of the Arcato. I never want to hear LP and SB breath heavy and moan again. Barf! I never thought that I would have so much fun watching two episodes of Enterprise, in a row, but I must admit that I really enjoyed this diversion. I will consider this the Enterprise finale and ignore the next four episodes. Unless, Hell freezes over and they are actually good, but I don't see that happening.

Could have done without the Gorn. But that ending -- what a great, great twist. I totally didn't see that coming. And at the same time, it purged the dreck known as the Orion Slave Girls episode from my mind.

I thought I was going to spew water all over my Big Ass TV ™ when Evil Phlox responded to T'Evil's inquiry on Evil Reed: "Eh. Could go either way."

Good direction, too. Anyone catch who did the directing duties?

Seriously, chancellorjake. I guess I'll watch the final three or four eps, but they won't be taped.

Hell, I'd love to see a Mirror Universe series. It'd be a space opera fo' shizzle!

That was really good. The Mirror Universe Enterprise is just soooooo much more interesting!

The Gorn WAS a bit unnecessary, but not vomit-inducing. Someone on Trek finally used the deck plating for defense (something I've never understood the lack of in previous shows).

It's weird, but I think Gray Soval was actually kinda hot. And he had a goatee! Finally!

Did anyone else think the big reveal at the end of Sato and Mayweather staring at Archer dying was a bit of a wink to the fans? I mean, they're the two characters with the least to do, yet they seemed to be saying, "Now WE'RE the ones in charge!" (thoug, of course, Mayweather got no lines).

Long live Empress Sato!!!!!!!!

Okay, Empress Sato is pretty cool. But did we really need such an anvillicious sight of Archer's paranoia? I mean ... it was double furrowing!

CGI Gorn was cheesy, but surprisingly cool looking. Still, I think it's a sign that CGI aliens aren't quite capable of being weekly occurences on a television show.

Oh, and if Orion pheremones were so powerful two episodes ago, why was there a female Orion starfleet officer?

Still, an enjoyable diversion.

Phlox, you're supposed to mash the big white button to activate one of those intercoms. Or punch it like Kirk. :\

However, I enjoyed seeing Archer come out of the turbolift and vault the railing. Neat non-Kirk maneuver. I wonder if that one ever occurred to Shatner?

Man, this episode had me so eager to see Part 3.

Yes, it was Majel... and it was a new sound clip. They brought her in to record specifically for this episode.

Anyone else kinda hoping that the Emperor would've been revealed to be one James T. Kirk?

Just me?

Ah well.

Go Hoshi!

AAA! Stupid Suns Playoffs pre-empts this episode til Sunday!! Curses!!

I will have to say that this episode is the "true" valentine to the fans. It was funny, it had cannon, it had Majel and She-Ho became empress. What more can you want.....

...oh yeah FOUR YEARS OF IT!

Edited because it helps to finish the post before you send it

Kirk won't be born for another 100 years.


Anyway, this was awesome stuff. Too bad it took 4 years and a shift to another universe for Hoshi to get a moment where she utterly kicks ass.

Oh, and another thing ... I really didn't need to learn that non-mirror-Archer is considered "the greatest explorer of the 22nd Century". This deification of such an annoying character bugs the heck out of me, it's like Dawson's Creek all over again.

Still... Terran Emperor wouldn't have been a bad guest role for Shatner, though (darn!) that might have required a third episode in the MU. Maybe the Emperess Sato and the Emperor Shatner struggling for power?

IIRC,if you watch Star Trek: Nemesis (I know it's painful) carefully you can see that there's a ship called the U.S.S. Archer.

I totally agree. I kept saying to myself that it was Mayweather even until Sato spoke those beautiful words. Two of the less-devoloped characters(they are ny favorites though so it sucks to be me) but it was a nice touch. Just wished they would have given Mayweather more to say and do besides enforcer but Hoshi in that outfit made up for it

Yes, but the two planets named after him are more commonly referred to
as CRAPHOLE PLANET I and CRAPHOLE PLANET II ( a la Shannon on LOST)

Eh, there have been several ships in the Royal Navy called Archer ... I just blithely choose to believe the ship was named after those vessels, or you know, archers. And once through Nemesis was quite enough.

Skyrocket, you're right. I realized about five minutes after I posted that Evil Mirror Universe was Enterprise-time, not TOS-time. Ah well.

Overall, another solid effort.
The Bad: Archer (as usual), the Gorn, and Phlox screwing up using the intercom.
The Good: T'pol, Trip, Phlox, and the Defiant. Honorable mention to the Fleet Admiral.
The Totally Freaking Awesome: Hoshi, who really brought the evil and the hotness. Also, Soval, and Soval's Goatee.

Also, the admiral that Archer dusts was played by the same dude as Vice President Incompetent on 24.

The podcast is up at startrek.com.

When Sovol the Bearded first suggested saving the Emperor, I figured that would be how Vulcans got the place the seemed to have in Mirror, Mirror and we would get to see The Furrows suffer that lingering death Evil [He Outranks You in Any Universe] Forrest promised him.

To bad for Sovol but... Long Live Empress Sato! It's always the quiet ones, and I promise I'll never butcher Mayweather's name again. I'm squealing like a lightbulb, even in this forum.

Speaking of furrows though, why did the ghost of Archer's other have so many more than Evil Leaper?

They had to have the tropical-fruit-as-alien-food, but I loved that there were also plates of food cubes at the table with T'Pevil and Phlevil.

Evil Trip can keep his melted face, so long as he's allowed to keep his red velour shirt too. He just looked melted in the Evil jumpsuit, but in this episode he looked hot... and melted.

But which would look better in red pumps?

That was just as awesome as last week. The Gorn (especially for a CGI alien on Enterprise' budget) looked pretty good. I only wish it had looked more like the TOS Gorn. Every other special effect looked great though, the modern rendering of the TOS effects, from the photon torpedoes, to the phasers, to the vaporizing hand phaser effect. Seriously, this episode had the best special effects since "Unimatrix Zero."

According to tradition, I can kill Mayweather and become Hoshi's concubine, right? It's almost inconceivable that this episode comes from the same people that thought up "Bound."

I guess this episode (both parts taken as a whole) has the same flaw as a lot of other good 2-part episodes. Way too much story for 1 episode, but not quite enough for 2. So we get the Gorntuitous plotline. Normally I am bored to tears by an action-adventure episode, but not this one, and all because of all the attention to detail on the Defiant. It's like "Acquisition" - the whole episode is a colossal in-joke. But unlike Acquisition, it's really good.

I believe the long hair is Jolene Blalock's real hair, and they somehow stuff it all under a wig normally.

Not only TOS shoutouts, either; we got confirmation that "Archer 4" from Yesterday's Enterprise is apparently named after this Archer, and that handrail leap also closely resembled Picard's from the same episode.

So, so true.

Personally, I love how Reed was just laying there all bloodied, and Evil Leaper just steps over him, like, "Your dying is interferring with my acting!"

New Empire Slogan? Empress Sato, ho!

Good work spotting that little bit of continuity.

Actually, if the planet is called Archer IV, it would indicate that the entire system is named after Furrows.

Long Live Empress Sato! Anyone want to fanwank how long she reigned for before being (presumably) assassinated?

I like to think that the Archer mentioned in Nemesucks is a garbage scow.

I must have missed something. T'Pol was taken off the bridge and her weapon was taken off of her. Next thing you know she is trying to talk Phlox into turning against Archer and then she is caught by Hoshi and her gun is taken off of her AGAIN. What happened there?

Plus, why was she in TOS garb and Hoshi was not? Why did any of them put on the TOS garb? Was a reason given?

Because the crew they picked up in escape pods still had their uniforms. Archer and the boarding party only had their spacesuits.

I always thought of the spacesuits sort of like coats where they would wear their clothes under them. Maybe you don't if you are EVIL, perhaps you go commando to show what a badass you are.

CaptainSnarky, you just made my week!

Vive L'Empress Sato!! I never would have thought she would be a major player, yet it was shown in plain sight (snuggling with Forrest, shagging Archer & now May-what's-his name?) in part one. But the cgi Gorn plot just felt like so much padding simply to make sure the ep had enough running time. The History/Poli Sci major in me wonders with so much backstabbing (figurtively and literally) shown by the crew, how has the Terran Empire managed to be so powerful and last for so long with trust being as common as Vulcan comedy clubs.

Refresh my memory. Was the evil universe from DS9 the future of the "Mirror, Mirror" universe?

Yes. There's even a little hint when T'Pol tells Archer that, though it may take centuries, humanity will be made to pay for its arrogance.

Some 200 years later, humans are slaves of The Alliance. (A Cardassian / Klingon / Bajoran version of the Empire.)

That's what got me thinking about that. Well, points to the writers for that.

The Vulcans pay for it too. By TOS's time, they appear to be equals with the Terrans. By DS9's time, Vulcan slaves can be commonly seen in the background.

Painfully irony, I suppose.

But hey, at least we got to see a Vulcan with a goatee this episode!

I just have to know, keckler -

Did the Not-So-Evil-As-His-Normal-Universe-Counterpart Dr. Mathra have as huge a geekgasm as I did over the Defiant's details?