After a disastrous first contact leads to representatives of an alien race storming off the Enterprise, all seems quiet... until it becomes apparent that an alien life form slipped aboard the ship. This web-like being moves into the cargo bay, and quickly drags a pair of engineering officers into its web. When Archer, Trip, and another officer follow, they are also made part of the web.
As it becomes apparent that the humans' neurological systems have been linked to the creature's, Reed is forced to abandon brute force. Instead, he focuses his energies on jury-rigging a force field that will keep the creature from spreading beyond the cargo hold. Meanwhile, Hoshi and T'Pol try to devise a means of communicating with the creature, utilizing T'Pol's advanced mathematics skills and Hoshi's linguistic genius.
CHARACTERS
Capt. Archer: Takes the disastrous first contact very personally, and goes into a prompt depression. Trip lures him out of that depression with a recording of the captain's favorite sport - water polo. Keeps his head when sucked into the alien web, and does everything in his power to keep Trip and the others from giving up, too.
T'Pol: Thrust into the role of ship's commander in this episode, and does a good job with it. Balances respect for other lifeforms against expedience, and allows Reed to first try neutralizing the creature. When that doesn't work, she encourages Reed to use his skills to fine-tune a force field while giving Hoshi the positive reinforcement she desperately needs to figure out a means of communication.
Hoshi: A bit of a reset, this. Hoshi is once again insecure, and feels resentful of T'Pol, feeling that the Vulcan believes she doesn't belong on Enterprise. Weren't these issues already dealt with? That progress apparently has been forgotten. Fortunately, Hoshi and T'Pol (once again) forge a bond of mutual respect, and (once again) seem on the path to a very interesting friendship by episode's end. Who knows? Maybe this time, the writers will actually remember their own developments for the next script spotlighting her.
Reed: It's very entertaining to see him lured into voluntarily watching the (truly great) French movie, Wages of Fear, by the promise of explosions. "Sounds fun." With a segment of the creature cut off from the main host, he is a little too eager to resort to torture to see what makes the creature tick. Fortunately, cooler heads divert Reed's energies into a less controversial - and ultmately, more useful - activity.
Dr. Phlox: Is specifically the cooler head mentioned. Recognizing that the creature (and even a segment thereof) is an intelligent being, he refuses to allow Reed to torture it. When Reed tries to pull rank, Phlox points out that rank has no meaning "in (his) sickbay," neatly pointing out the captain is currently too incapacitated to be able overrule Phlox's jurisdiction. Keeps a close eye on the vital signs of the trapped crewmen, and points out several useful pieces of information to both Reed and T'Pol as they figure out their pieces of the puzzle to dealing with the situation.
THOUGHTS
A genuinely fine episode. As the "Characters" section indicates, pretty much every regular gets a slice of the action in this episode. It's a bit of a disappointment to see Hoshi reset to issues that we already saw her work through. With that exception, each character not only gets plenty to do, but gets to show new facets. Reed's obsession with blowing things up has its nastier side (a willingness to torture). T'Pol's cool logic can soften sufficiently to allow her to recognize that sometimes, a bit of encouragement and positive reinforcement is necessary. Phlox is concerned with his fellow crewmen - but just as he was once unwilling to interfere with an evolutionary ecosystem, he is only willing to interfere with an intelligent lifeform to a certain extent. This is the second time we have seen Phlox taking stands potentially at variance with his crew. It would be interesting to see this taken to another level, with crewmen genuinely in jeopardy and Phlox refusing help due to his personal principles.
I also enjoyed the presence of an alien being that was intelligent, not necessarily malicious, and yet was truly and genuinely alien. This wasn't Dean Stockwell with ridges on his nose. This was a completely alien being, eerily well-realized with the aid of significant amounts of CGI, whose motives are never 100% understandable even at the end. Even Dr. Phlox, the crew member with the most experience of alien beings, can only offer up a guess as to why Archer and the others were ensnared.
With good character beats, a driving pace, and a script that doesn't just feel like a Trek formula retread, this is the best episode since Dear Doctor. With the end of the first season just four episodes away, I find myself more impressed than not with Enterprise's first season. No, it isn't a great show - too many ordinary episodes, and some of the character work is muddled. But it is a good show so far, with promise of better to come.
Rating: 9/10.
Previous Episode: Detained
Next Episode: Fallen Hero
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