Star Trek: Every Two-Parter Ranked From WORST To BEST

17. In a Mirror, Darkly, In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II

Before all else, In a Mirror, Darkly deserves credit for daring to do. No other Star Trek had set an episode (let alone two) entirely from the perspective of another universe. Even the title credits were terrifyingly Terran! The opener was 'First Contact'… with a shotgun! In showrunner Manny Coto's words on the DVD extra Inside the Mirror Episodes, this was a "pure romp".

Like all episodes in the mirror universe, the In a Mirror, Darkly two-parter is hammier than non-replicated ham. More than anything, that is a compliment. It takes a great deal of subtlety to be so successfully extravagant. The inclusion of the USS Defiant as a focal plot point was a stroke of genius, requiring the elaborate reconstruction of numerous Constitution-class sets — the most (at that point) since The Original Series.