3-2. Anomaly.

"Mercy is not a quality that will serve you well in the Expanse, Captain!"


THE PLOT

As the Enterprise moves deeper into the Expanse, the spacial anomalies cause greater and greater effects on the ship. When one anomaly costs them both warp and weapons power, they are left temporarily defenseless.

That's when the Osaarians come, using superior transporter technology to beam into the ship and attack, stealing everything they can lay their hands on before running off again. Archer, Trip, and the marines fight back, and capture a prisoner (Robert Rusler). Then, once the ship's engines are operational again, they pursue.

They follow the Osaarians' trail through a cloaking field, and find an ancient Sphere that the pirates are using to store their ill-gotten gains. But this turns from a simple recovery of stolen property into something more when the crew discovers that among the ships these pirates attacked was a Xindi vessel. One which left a lot of information in the Osaarians' database...


CHARACTERS

Capt. Archer: Wow. Archer has a scene in this episode that is unlike anything seen from a Star Trek captain in any Trek series or movie before. When he learns of the link between the pirates and the Xindi, all the anger he's been carrying comes out in one fiercely focused and controlled act, as he interrogates his prisoner. In an airlock. While it's decompressing. The scene is startling, because it's completely unlike anything Archer would have been willing to do before. It's also very disturbing, and deliberately so given that we go to commercial on Archer's very grim face at the end of this scene.

Trip: He continues to have difficulty sleeping, and it's now starting to affect his work as he injures himself while making a misjudgment. The ongoing anger of the past two episodes is settling, but leaving in its place a lingering bitterness. The eternally kind and good-humored Trip is now a pessimist, looking on the ship's current mission as "a one-way trip." At least he seems willing to start working with T'Pol regularly to help ease his sleep issues.

Hoshi: Gets a solid supporting role this episode, as she recognizes Xindi symbols among the material in the Sphere. She is also able to download (most of) a Xindi database from the Osaarians' computers.


ZAP THE REDSHIRT!

Enterprise gets its very first confirmed redshirt with Crewman Fuller, killed during the Osaarians' attack. Trip voices his suspicion that though they've been lucky so far in avoiding casualties, Fuller "won't be the last" to die on this mission.


THOUGHTS

Another good show in a run of good shows. It's a shame they waited until the brink of cancellation for this new direction. If they had shifted gears sooner - say, right at the start of Season Two - it might have made a huge difference in how this series is regarded.

As with the last episode, the plot itself is not that far removed from what we had been seeing. Enterprise is attacked by space pirates. Again. But the new setting of The Expanse, and the complications that come with that new setting, make a big difference in how dangerous the situation feels.

There is more excellent CGI here, as the Enterprise passes through a cloaking field to discover the Sphere. The Osaarians may be using it, but they obviously did not create it, nor did they create the cloaking field. The Sphere's presence and properties raise more interesting questions about the Expanse.

The episode ends with Enterprise having gotten more information about the Xindi, and with Archer viewing that information with an obsessed look on his face. With his face reflected in the green lighting, and in light of some of his actions during the episode, the effect is disturbing. This episode shows us that Archer and Enterprise really are willing to do "whatever it takes" in pursuit of their new mission - and there's something just a little bit frightening about that thought


Rating: 8/10.

Previous Episode: The Xindi
Next Episode: Extinction


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