ValueSubtracted

I had the same reaction, and decided it was an unacknowledged site-to-site transport.

Agreed on all points.

Jellico's line about not being able to supply new combadges across the fleet was a pretty funny way to acknowledge the badge inconsistency with the "Picard" flashbacks - I'm going to try not to think about that too hard.

I'm disappointed that we'll never get a chance to see Elnor in one of the sailor suits the cadets wore on this show.

One thing that's going to bug me for a while is how Solum can progress peacefully without contradicting season one - Ilthuran isn't exactly on track to become the Diviner at this point.

With a title like that, I was half-expecting a clip show...

I was also thinking that Hologram Janeway might borrow the mobile emitter and pull a switcheroo with the Admiral, but it turns out the Doctor can just do it himself.

Pretty good for a table-setting episode. The most significant development was taking Wesley's omniscience off the board, which probably had to happen for the rest of the season to have any stakes.

Ever since "Picard" season one, I've been itching to see Starfleet during the time of the Romulan evacuation, when the vast majority of their resources have been redeployed to support that mission. I never expected it to be this show that did it. It's interesting to hear that there are A500 synth units supporting the Federation member worlds - it's probably a good thing that only the units on Mars were hacked, as far as we know.

Thematically, things are really starting to come together, with Dal and the crew learning to contribute to the mission rather than take control of it.

I think I'm pretty happy with this resolution to Zero's arc - their new body seems fitting.

Those were the Enderprizians from "All the World's a Stage", right?

They certainly appeared to be - how that's possible is an exercise left to the viewer, which is part of the fun of alternate universe stories.

That said, this is the first episode of the season that fell a little flat for me. I know part of the show's mission is to give a bit of a "grand tour" of Star Trek, but this is the first one that seemed a little contrived to me.

Part of it is probably that I prefer the Mirror Universe to be more scary than silly, and the episode understandably leaned into the silly.

1. Mrs. Merridew is played by a woman named Susan Twist, yes.

2. Expect spoilers in the retrospective discussions. That's why they're called that.

I love this one so much. Davies excels at creepy, menacing, difficult-to-comprehend threats, and this is a great example of the genre.

The scene in which the Doctor and Donna split up, only to "reunite" with their fresh doppelgangers is very well-executed, demonstrating that something is amiss without making it too obvious. The scene in which the Doc absolutely cannot stop thinking is great, too.

In terms of ongoing storyline, we have our first Susan Twist appearance as Mrs. Merridew. We also have the origin of "mavity," which has yet to be resolved in the series.

And, of course, we have the Doctor invoking supersition while casting salt at the end of the universe, which is the handwave for the show's new directions into the supernatural. I personally don't think it was necessary, but it is a neat bit of texture.

In fact...do we know if the salt had any bearing at all in the Sutekh story? It kind of seems like the finale could have played out just fine without this element.

So...did Rok-Tahk just come up with a "cure" for tribble breeding? That would seem to be a significant development...

Gee whiz, it really sounds like this instance isn't for you, and also like you don't know what an advertisement is.

Best of luck in...all that, I guess.

That was certainly unexpected - I love the concept of having to sail the Protostar across the atmosphere.

Beltran's work as Chakotay this season has actually been really good - this might be the first time I've ever been invested in the character.

Wow, Wheaton was really great in this. His manic, impulsive Wesley Crusher is a lot more interesting than the more serene version we've gotten since...always, really.

They're really leaning in to the Doctor Who of it all, not just with Wesley, but also with the Loom, which seem ripped straight out of Father's Day.

It's nice of the Starfleet of this era to not only put security officers back into red shirts, but making them brighter than those of the command officers to make them easier targets.