DS9 S2.E23 - "Crossover"

"Crossover," or "Deep Space Ten"

Something I never thought about until watching this episode: when do gestures fall out of use? How long have people been using the middle finger as an expression of obscenity? Are there any colloquial gestures used in the Star Trek universe that are somehow widespread in the 24th century, but as yet unknown in the 21st? Did biting one's thumb make a comeback from Shakespeare's era?

I ask this because I noticed Julian Bashir said he he was "this close" to Chief O'Brien by crossing his index and middle finger. Of all the gestures to survive three centuries into the future, I'm glad that one made it.

Anyway, in this episode, Kira and Bashir run afoul of the vicissitudes of quantum mechanics while traveling through the wormhole and come out in the Mirror Universe. I don't know what the Mirror Universe is, but the episode establishes early on that this is the same alternate universe visited by Captain Kirk.

I've never watched TOS. I'm not familiar with that episode or its contents, so this reference is lost to me. If you did watch TOS, I imagine this episode was either epiphanic or infuriating. Long story short--Kirk ends up in this dark mirror of a universe where everything is familiar yet wrong. Humans ("Terrans") are barbaric despots until Mirror Spock reforms them into a peace-loving society of enlightened philosophers, whereupon they are summarily conquered and subjugated by an alliance between Klingon and Cardassian.

All the players are the same, but the roles are different. Kira is a hedonistic, narcissistic administrator in charge of DS9; DS9 is an outpost and ore processing facility with a dystopian, Snowpiercer-esque class society where Terrans toil as a subjugated class, while Kira and her cronies live in enlightened decadence.

I admit I initially rolled my eyes when Kira and Bashir end up on the opposite end of the wormhole with no DS9 in sight. "Oh, this is probably some sort of time travel/alternate dimension episode where everything's gone wrong. Kira and Bashir probably have to find some way to get back home before an artificial clock renders them permanently trapped in this strange reality. There's probably some gross Klingon woman who fawns over Bashir, and Kira probably learns to sympathize with a friendly Cardassian or something."

I was so hilariously wrong.

I'm so accustomed to this sort of thing happening in TNG. Alternate reality/dimension-hopping episodes are a well-worn and well-loved trope of Star Trek's storytelling, and there's usually one in every season, so I just assumed this was DS9's token dimension-tripper.

What I love about this episode is everything I've come to love about DS9. Even in this strange, dark reflection of the world, the characters are nuanced and complex. Mirror-Kira saunters about like an 80's dominatrix in elaborate leather and an ostentatious silver torc, but there are layers to her. She has Prime-Kira's compassion, trust, fire, and authority. She has pride. I don't like her, but I don't hate her either.

Nana Visitor's acting doesn't get nearly enough credit (from...well, from me, I guess) because Kira has until now been a fairly one-dimensional character; but in this episode, it's hard for me to believe Kira and Mirror-Kira are the same person. They're standing face to face with each other, and there are times where I swear they're two completely different actors.

Crossover is such a brilliantly unsettling episode. Before Game of Thrones, mainstream shows were never comfortable killing off their major characters for dramatic effect; DS9 is no different, but an alternate dimension is a little like an alternate canon. You can do anything there. The consequences are very real for everyone who exists in that dimension, but only temporary for us. "Crossover" kills off a few of our major characters, but never in a way that feels wasted or gratuitous; Mirror-Quark's death hit me hard--not because it was my favorite lovable little Ferengi scamp, but because Mirror-Quark was both vulnerable and deeply sympathetic. He's a fundamentally decent guy sticking his neck out for some poor terrans, and it never feels out of character. I already know Quark has some decency in him, and so Mirror-Quark's selflessness never takes me by surprise. It feels genuine because it is genuine.

Therein lies the genius of this episode. Mirror-Characters are not, in fact, alternate versions of themselves. They are dark mirrors. Every character in this episode contains some quality intrinsic in their original counterparts. Mirror-Kira is proud, driven, and sympathetic; she loathes violence but values loyalty, and can be driven to violence by a breach of trust. Mirror-O'Brien is a talented engineer and a decent, conscientious, gentle man under his brusque exterior. Mirror-Sisko is a leader of men, a hardline pragmatist who nonetheless yields to his own better angels at the last possible moment. And Mirror-Garak is just Garak if he was never banished, and therefore never humanized.

My favorite moment in this episode is when O'Brien, captured and forced to answer for his role in assisting Bashir, tells Mirror-Kira why he threw away his life. Kira and Bashir represent the way things could be, the way things should be, if they only happened differently. The characters are all the same; it's only their circumstances that have changed.

"Crossover" is going to stick with me for a while. This is an episode about what it means to be you. Are you who you are because of your circumstances? If the events of your timeline changed, would you still be the person you are? Or is there a fundamental you, a basic immutable image that defines you regardless of your environment? It's an episode that explores the question of nature and nurture, but even if I'm not looking at this episode philosophically, it's incredibly well-written, suspenseful, and has some of the best performances I've seen out of Nana Visitor.

To me, in the Prime-Universe, "Crossover" was an outstanding episode at the end of a pretty good season.

To the version of me in the Mirror-Universe, "Crossover" is the most nihilistic and horrible season finale ever. But hey, at least we got an amazing ending to Game of Thrones.