THE PLOT
The Enterprise encounters a cloaked alien ship, using its warp stream to fuel its damaged engines. After establishing communications, the aliens agree to allow Trip aboard their ship to help with repairs to their warp engines, so that they can return home. Trip has some trouble adjusting to a decidedly alien environment. However, he settles in eventually, with support from Ah'len, a rather interesting female member of the aliens' crew.
When Trip returns to Enterprise, he discovers that he gained more from this first contact than he'd bargained for... namely, he's pregnant! This is the subject of much teasing by Archer, T'Pol, and Dr. Phlox. Tracking down the alien ship to see what can be done about this becomes a priority for Trip, and they do eventually find the ship... Cloaked, and lurking in the warp stream of a Klingon battle cruiser!
CHARACTERS
Archer: Continues to display a naive enthusiasm, which finally comes close to getting him into trouble when he blunders into communications with the Klingons. How did he think a race of warriors was going to react to the news that a cloaked ship was lurking in its warp stream, creating malfunctions? Did he think the Klingons were going to invite the aliens aboard as honored guests? Only T'Pol's quick thinking, and the Klingons' own debt to Archer, prevents this encounter from becoming very messy. Even so, Archer has wasted a favor from the Klingon Empire. He needs to learn to think before barging into situations. But I hope he learns that lesson the hard way, by creating a very bad situation... rather than being, once again, bailed out of a situation before it turns really bad.
Trip: For all his enthusiasm about exploration, he reacts very badly to an entirely alien environment. Like Archer, he is very trusting of his alien hosts, never pausing to wonder if all these quasi-sexual "games" he is playing with Ah'len could possibly be anything more than what they seem. He remains a highly competent engineer, and a basically decent human being. Despite the "misunderstanding," he has no desire for revenge and brings no recriminations - he just wants his situation cured.
T'Pol: Seems out-of-character in her reaction to Trip's dilemma. Surely, as the most well-travelled member of the crew (save possibly for Dr. Phlox), it would occur to her that there might be alternate explanations for Trip's situation. Nevertheless, she is very fast to lay blame on Trip, and solely on Trip - honestly behaving less like a professional Science Officer, and more like a jealous girlfriend. That said, she appears to be the only member of the crew with an active brain this episode, stepping up to save Archer from a situation of his own making when things with the Klingons look ready to turn very, very ugly.
Hot Alien Space Babe of the Week: I'll say this for Trip - Scales or no scales, Ah'len really is quite appealing. She comes across as patient, charming, funny. And the makeup job is very good, sufficiently alien to convince that she is another species, but also sensual enough that Trip's attraction to her is believable.
THOUGHTS
Teasing? A valued member of the ship's crew comes back from a first contact situation pregnant - a medical first. The ship's doctor knows little or nothing about how the pregnancy might proceed (is there one young, or several? Are they surgically removed, or do they eat their way out? Are there any risks involved for Trip? Are there any risks to the crew?). The reaction of the ship's captain, doctor, and science officer is near-identical: teasing and mocking of Trip.
*thunks head on desk*
As truly dreadful as this episode sounds, it actually plays slightly better. The first (pre-pregnancy) half is actually quite good. The presentation of the alien ship is effective, particularly the steps taken to allow Trip to acclimatize to their environment. Trip has a realistic reaction to such an alien environment: He freaks out. He can't deal with it, not mentally or physically, and nearly bails on the mission before it's even properly begun. Trip's initial sense of disorientation is nicely conveyed with distorted camera lenses, as is his gradual easing into the situation.
Even when things turn stupid at the midpoint, the episode has one thing going for it: it moves. We don't labor on Trip's "condition" for long, before the Enterprise is facing a potential conflict with the Klingons - a conflict in which it is, once again, clear that Enterprise is far the weaker ship. Archer's attempts to talk down the Klingon captain play as pathetically to us as they do the Klingons. He does sound, just a bit, like a babbling fool, and the thought occurs again that while Archer is an essentially competent man, he is a man who is in far over his head, and one who desperately needs to learn the art of thinking before he speaks.
The fast pace, the effective presentation of the aliens, and the consistency of Archer's failings in new encounters (which, at this point, seem too consistently-presented to be accidental), combine to keep this episode quite watchable. It is still, however, the weakest Enterprise episode yet. "Man gets pregnant" is the kind of desperate high concept ploy sci-fi shows grab for in their fourth or fifth season, when out of ideas. It is not encouraging to see it trotted out as the fourth episode of a new series.
Rating: 5/10. With strong hopes that the next one is better.
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