History Recap / StarTrekDiscoveryS3E10TerraFirmaPartTwo

* IllKillYou: When Mikrror Burnham is thrown into the agony booth.

While back in the Mirror Universe of her past, Georgiou uncovers the true depths of the plot against her, leading her to a revelation about how deeply her time on the ''Discovery'' truly changed her.
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!!Tropes in this episode:

* KillEmAll: The Mirror version of just about every known ''Discovery'' character is dead by the end of the episode. Only Mirror Tilly, Owo, Saru, and Airiam are left.

* ContinuityNod: Carl alludes to his previous appearance as the Guardian of Forever when he explains that he used to let people travel back in time whenever they wanted, but it was on them to fix any damage they caused. This is exactly what Kirk, Spock, and [=McCoy=] went through.

* EnemyMine: Duggan claims Lorca has managed to convince Klingons and Romulans to ally against Georgiou. Given what Georgiou did with [=Qo'noS=], it probably didn't take a lot of convincing for the Klingons assuming he's being honest.

* NewPowersAsThePlotDemands: The Guardian was previously depicted as an immobile, sentient gateway into the past. In this two-parter, it demonstrates the ability to alter its appearance at will, generate a human avatar to interact with people, can allow for travel to the mirror universe and back, can relocate itself anywhere it pleases, and has a greater range of emotion in its human avatar. The Guardian lampshades that he was previously far more permissive about people using him to travel into the past, until they started abusing that privilege as a weapon in the Temporal Wars.

* SecretTestOfCharacter: Georgiou's entire time in the Mirror Universe was a test by the Guardian of Forever to see if she has changed from the person she was when she first came to the Prime Universe.
* SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong: Subverted. Emperor Georgiou ''tries'' to change the way things played out by attempting to reform both Michael and the Empire itself, if marginally in the case of the latter. [[FailureIstheOnlyOption She fails]]. She also teaches Mirror Saru the truth about ''vahar'ai'' and all but orders him to overthrow the Terran Empire... but given that, per ''[=DS9=]'', [[ForegoneConclusion this is exactly what happened]], it isn't necessarily accurate to assume that Georgiou changed anything, at least in [[TheMultiverse the timelines we know]]. However, the SecretTestOfCharacter was not whether she would ''succeed'', but rather whether she would try at all.
* ShootYourMate: Georgiou assigns Mirror Detmer to join Mirror Burnham in culling her co-conspirators, knowing that Detmer is one of them. At the end, to prove her loyalty, Burnham has to kill Detmer to show she is serious.

* SpotTheImposter: Played with as Mirror Saru figures out this is not "his" Emperor when she tells him the truth about the ''vahar'ai'' on top of her other actions. He openly warns her to "go back to where you're from" before anyone else discovers it and kills her, not grasping this is still this universe's Georgiou, just changed.

* TortureTechnician: Georgiou describes Mirror Tilly as the best interrogator in the Empire. Tilly starts by throwing Mirror Burnham in an agony booth and then leaves her there, being woken up periodically to be hit again with a fresh assault, all of it fairly textbook deprivation tactics to break a person's will to resist.

'''Carl:''' Really? ''[voice echoing]'' I am the Guardian of Forever.

* FakingTheDead: Burnham and Saru decide to simply report Georgiou as dead rather than try to explain what happened to her or reveal the presence of the Guardian of Forever. (This is not technically inaccurate, since she's explicitly sent back to a time when "the universes are closer together," and therefore would be dead by the present day.)

* EvolvingCredits: The opening credits use blue instead of orange tones while flipping the graphics upside-down as this show's spin on the Mirror Universe opening.

* TheGhost: As with the prior episode, Captain Lorca (Creator/JasonIsaacs) is frequently mentioned but never appears. Other cameos, such as Captain Pike, Number One, and the entire ''TOS'' crew, who ought to be around somewhere -- true, they'd be the ages they were in ''Film/StarTrek2009'', but "[[Recap/StarTrekS2E4MirrorMirror Mirror, Mirror]]" tells us they'd already be in service -- are not even contemplated.

* TheGhost: As with the prior episode, Captain Lorca (Creator/JasonIsaacs) is frequently mentioned but never appears. Other cameos, such as Captain Pike, Number One, and the entire ''[=TOS=]'' crew, who ought to be around somewhere -- true, they'd be the ages they were in ''Film/StarTrek2009'', but "[[Recap/StarTrekS2E4MirrorMirror Mirror, Mirror]]" tells us they'd already be in service -- are not even contemplated.

* SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong: Subverted. Emperor Georgiou ''tries'' to change the way things played out by attempting to reform both Michael and the Empire itself, if marginally in the case of the latter. [[FailureIstheOnlyOption She fails]]. She also teaches Mirror Saru the truth about ''va'harai'' and all but orders him to overthrow the Terran Empire... but given that, per ''[=DS9=]'', [[ForegoneConclusion this is exactly what happened]], it isn't necessarily accurate to assume that Georgiou changed anything, at least in [[TheMultiverse the timelines we know]]. However, the SecretTestOfCharacter was not whether she would ''succeed'', but rather whether she would try at all.

* SpotTheImposter: Played with as Mirror Saru figures out this is not "his" Emperor when she tells him the truth about the ''va'harai'' on top of her other actions. He openly warns her to "go back to where you're from" before anyone else discovers it and kills her, not grasping this is still this universe's Georgiou, just changed.

-->'''Carl:''' ''[voice echoing]'' I am the Guardian of Forever.

* MutualKill: Georgiou stabs Mirror Burnham through the gut with her sword, but gets a dagger to the jugular in return, dying in Mirror Saru's arms.

-->''' Mirror Burnham:''' ''(to Mirror Tilly)'' Rot in hell, bitch.