WARNING: Contains SPOILERS for Star Trek: Discovery, season 5, episode 5, “Mirrors”
Star Trek: Discovery has finally revealed what a Breen looks like underneath all its armor, but Star Trek: Deep Space Nine‘s Breen should have kept their helmets on. In Discovery season 5, episode 5, “Mirrors”, written by Johanna Lee & Carlos Cisco, and directed by Jen McGowan, audiences learn more about Moll (Eve Harlow) and L’ak (Elias Toufexis), and their motivations for seeking the Progenitors’ treasure. “Mirrors” also contains a number of reveals about DS9‘s Breen aliens, including that L’ak himself originates within the Breen Imperium.
For the first four episodes of Star Trek: Discovery season 5, audiences saw L’ak as a hulking green villain, determined to protect his lover Moll at any cost. Now, Discovery season 5, episode 5 reveals that audiences have been seeing the true face of one of the enigmatic Breen aliens from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. In DS9, Lt. Commander Worf (Michael Dorn) stated that no outsiders had seen what a Breen looked like under their armor and lived to tell the tale. Barring Fred (J. Adam Brown) and his guards from Discovery season 5, episode 1, “Red Directive”, this is no longer the case.
There’s no question that updated 32nd century design of the Breen refrigeration suits is a great upgrade for Star Trek: Discovery season 5. The loss of the helmet’s odd beak from the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine design makes them look sleeker and more like the armored warrior race that their reputation suggested. The main issue with the Breen in Discovery is that what’s underneath the mask undermines the huge mystery that has surrounded the Breen since their introduction in DS9. For years, Star Trek fans have speculated about what a Breen looks like underneath their armor, and now they discover it’s a creature made of green Jell-O.
Worf’s assertion that nobody had ever seen the face of a Breen and lived is undermined by Star Trek: Discovery season 5’s love story. While the Breen remain secretive in “Mirrors”, the very fact that L’ak shows his face out of love for Moll undermines the idea of an isolationist and secretive warrior race. Instead, it suggests that these implacable Star Trek: Deep Space Nine villains just need someone to love. This, combined with the confusing physiology of the newly-revealed Breen, means that the DS9 aliens in Discovery don’t solve the mystery satisfyingly.
Star Trek: Discovery‘s Breen design is a missed opportunity when compared to some of its other work in creating alien species. For example, Discovery season 4’s antagonists, the non-humanoid Species 10-C felt alien in a way that Star Trek aliens had rarely felt since the days of TOS. With that in mind, Discovery could have really thought out of the box when it came to what was inside the Breen’s refrigeration suits. Sadly, that isn’t the case, as they’re revealed to be that most enduring of sci-fi archetypes; the green man from outer space.
The fact that the Breen are green humanoids is a missed opportunity, because the teases of the Breen in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine always hinted that they may not be a humanoid species at all. Their lack of circulatory system and reliance on refrigeration suits implied they were potentially higher beings that forced themselves into a humanoid form. While that’s sort of the case with the gelatinous beings that have “evolved” past a solid form in Star Trek: Discovery season 5, it’s hard not to feel underwhelmed by the Breen turning out to be yet another humanoid alien species in the canon.
Star Trek: Discovery season 5 streams Thursdays on Paramount+.
All episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine are available to stream on Paramount+.
