So, yeah, also been watching lots of DS9 again, because it is a really good show, and I really love it. Also because “Homefront” and “Paradise Lost” are really, really interesting in a “hey, these were written in the 1990s, but really need to be watched in a post 9-11 way.” On a less politically charged re-watch, though, I want to encourage everyone to watch this show because I have done something close onto 11 full seven season re-watches in my life, and I still find new character nuances that I totally missed.
This time MF’s thinky thoughts are brought to you by DS9 Season 3, Episode 19: Through the Looking Glass
So, I love what they did with the Mirror Universe in DS9. It’s one of the reasons I liked DS9′s format: it took one off episode ideas from the earlier shows, and world built around them like there was no tomorrow. Last time I did a DS9 re-watch I was struck by the fact that Mirror!Worf and Mirror!Garak have a very bizarre subtext to their interaction (or not really bizarre, given the universe that they’re in, but there’s no counter to it in the standard universe. Their interaction is totally unique to the brutality of the Mirror Universe, which is different because most of the interactions between people in both universes echo along with each other). Anyway, I promised myself that I’d take a closer look the next time I went on a DS9 binge, and I’m on a binge now, so, I was paying a lot of attention through “Crossover” and “Through the Looking Glass” as the lead-ins to “Shattered Mirror” and “Emperor’s New Cloak.”
Anyway, I realized something while watching “Through the Looking Glass” which gives Mirror!Garak as surprising amount of depth, given that the mirror version is not a nuanced person. Garak is jealous of Sisko’s relationship with the Intendant. Garak’s face throughout “Looking Glass” is a wonderful study, and I recommend you all look at it.
He’s so pleased to tell Kira that Sisko is dead he can’t stop grinning. This is understandable, he spent his first episode establishing that he wanted to kill Intendant Kira to take her place, and also he clearly feels that the Klingon-Cardassian order is perfect just the way it is, so the death of a rebel helps cement his power and keeps the natural order of things going. However, he quickly picks up on Kira’s layers of dissatisfaction with the news. The smile drops right off, and irritation begins to percolate in snippy retorts to Kira’s lack of joyful response.
Now, why should Mirror!Garak be annoyed that his arch rival is upset by the death of a Terran? The fact that she might be deeply emotionally attached to a rebel is a huge point of weakness that he could exploit wide open. Hey, all those plans for her death? Well, he’s just struck an emotional blow, and even if this Garak doesn’t believe that a good insult will cut forever, he certainly has been established as being far too gleeful in torturing people, and emotional pain from Kira of all people should be making him happy as the proverbial clam.
Watch his face, though, when Sisko shows up, and Mirror!Kira gets self-indulgent all over him. Not only is Garak not happy that he can’t kill Ben in front of her, he can’t stop looking as the hottest of makeouts ensues. He’s absolutely furious that the Terran is getting the ‘Mistress’s favorite pet’ treatment. Why? Yes, it is annoying to have all your nice weekend plans pushed to the side for a booty call, but come on, Mirror!Garak has just gotten all the dirt he could possibly want on the Intendant handed to him. She’s emotionally attached to Sisko--not that she won’t kill or torture him as needed, but the necessary measures would hurt her. Also, this Intendant dallying with a jumped up Terran slave turned rebel? Klingon High Command would not like that. Oh no, precious, this goes far past her usual indulgences and into the realm of dishonor and treason.
So why is it that Garak spends the entire episode defending and collaborating with Kira, still keeping a sharp tongue in his head, mind, while doing his damndest to kill Sisko painfully? His feelings on the situation definitely get way out of control and into the realm of serious passionate “I will hunt you down and torture you” at the point when Sisko’s double cross is revealed and Garak shouts “Pursue!” The answer is pretty simple--Garak actually likes his Intendant, a lot. And he is infuriated that she’d still choose a Terran over him any day of the week.
“Destiny” (Season 3 - Episode 15, only 4 episodes before “Looking Glass”) established that Cardassians on the prime universe side see intellectual competition as a pretty damn romantic start to courtship. There’s not much obvious difference between Mirror!Cardassians and Prime!Cardassians, culturally speaking. Mirror!Cardassians seem to be about as brutal as they were during the Occupation of Bajor, and the major differences in Garak seem to be a certain lack of subtlty, but he’s also in a position of assured authority and power, which he has not occupied in the Prime Universe (Garak has always been aware of Tain in the Prime universe, even at the height of his own presumed power within the Obsidian Order, and honestly, we’re never going to know what he was really like, then. We’ve only really seen Garak ‘Brung Low’ and thus in need of every subtly as a weapon). We can assume, then, that Mirror!Cardassians have similar outlooks on romance and courtship, perhaps only a little less subtle, if there is any difference at all.
Enter Mirror!Garak, who has been trying to kill Mirror!Kira, and notably failing at it for as long as they have worked together. He, meanwhile, is treated to verbal tongue lashings about his own excessive enjoyment of torturing others, his lack of imagination, his competence, whatever Mirror!Kira wants to insult him with that day. He’s also her favorite instrument of fear, and he clearly enjoys how her volatile temperment and false sense of friendliness affects the Terrans under her thumb. Basically, she’s been leaving him the Cardassian equivalent of flowers and chocolates, and he’s been trying to make her see his undying dislike and hostility as expressed through assassination attempts. Serious grand romantic gestures, please step up and learn something.
His reactions in “Looking Glass” all make sense when read as unrequited infatuation. Mirror!Garak really loves working with Mirror!Kira, even though they are probably the most dysfunctional team in the quadrant as long as he continues to use power plays to substitute for intimacy, and she continues to totally ignore him. Just saying, any time Kira actually has a use for Garak, he’s wreathed in genuine smiles. Any time she’s overtly flirting with someone else, they suddenly get dragged into horrible plans of his for over turning her rule, or he will sometimes more simply try to kill them.
It’s a complex Mirror!Universe out there, and I really can’t wait to see what my “Oh, so thaaaaaaat’s what’s going on” theory unfolds when I get to “Shattered Mirror” and the ever-interesting: “Mirror!Worf, why exactly did you decide to chain Mirror!Garak to your throne, again?”
