THE PLOT
The Enterprise encounters an enormous space anomaly, in the center of which is a shuttlecraft with one life sign. Archer orders the use of the grappler to pull the shuttle out, which ends up pulling the Enterprise into the anomaly's field. Trip gets the ship out again, and the shuttle is pulled into the docking bay - revealing a humanoid alien.
Though Phlox quickly determines that the alien is dying, the being cries out to be returned to the distortion field. As T'Pol determines that the anomaly was directly at the center of the influence of five spheres, and hypothezises that the alien was some sort of test subject by the makers of the spheres, Archer determines to find some answers.
CHARACTERS
Capt. Archer: Bakula gets one great, angry scene. It's a scene that has nothing to do with the alien plot, and instead connects with a subplot involving Reed and Major Hayes (Steven Culp). After the two men turn a sparring session into an all-out brawl, they both end up injured. Archer lays into them, reminding them of exactly how precarious a situation the Enterprise is in, and that he cannot afford for two key officers to regress "to the level of five year olds!" Archer's fury at the pair of them is extremely well-played, and the scene ends on a very amusing note.
For the most part, this is not an Archer-heavy episode. We do see him puzzling with T'Pol over the nature of the alien, and the connection between the spheres and the anomalies. We also see, for the second time this season, that he isn't above using torture to force answers from a subject, in this case denying the alien pain medication until he gives Archer some answers. It's an interesting element to Archer's post-Xindi characterization, particularly since he has not otherwise abandoned his previous moral principles. It does have me hoping that some of his "extreme" tactics with prisoners end up costing him something by the end, though.
T'Pol/Trip: The seeds of a Trip/T'Pol relationship were laid down back in Season One... and then mostly ignored through Season Two, before being teased through the "peekaboo" neuropressure sessions throughout this season. This episode sees that line finally crossed, after T'Pol becomes visibly jealous over Trip's friendship with an attractive female marine who grew up not far from Trip's hometown. T'Pol then quickly backpedals, finding a way to make her dalliance with Trip into something "logical" and appropriate for a Vulcan scientist. I strongly suspect, however, that neither she nor Trip will be able to entirely return to their previous relationship.
Reed/Hayes: The season premiere showed Reed reacting very badly to Major Hayes (Steven Culp), the leader of the marines, seeing Hayes' every suggestion as an attempt to undermine his authority. That is picked back up on here, and expanded upon. Trip's MACO friend compares notes with Trip about Hayes vs. Reed, and they come to the conclusion that both men are cut from the same cloth. Which means that both Hayes and Reed want to be in charge, inevitably straining their interactions. Writer Manny Coto does load the script a bit, in that Reed is in this case reacting very badly to an entirely sensible suggestion by Hayes, and there is more than a whiff of cliche about the way in which the two men settle their differences (a big brawl). Still, the two characters have been constructed in such a way that the cliche rings true. My only quibble is more with the season than the episode: namely, that the Reed/Hayes conflict would mean more if we had seen more of this conflict - and Hayes, for that matter - throughout the season.
THOUGHTS
Though the main hook of the season is the race for the Xindi weapon, a secondary arc has been developing in the background - the spheres, the anomalies, the makers of the spheres that form the Expanse. In many respects, it's actually a more interesting storyline than the Xindi one (it's not like we don't know Archer & company are going to stop them from destroying Earth). This is a genuine mystery. Why was the Expanse created, and who created it? What are the nature of the spheres? It's been built up in the background, in episodes such as Anomaly, Exile, and Chosen Realm, and this episode sees that background arc click into focus, and connect to the Xindi arc. It's an interesting reveal, one which renews some of the arc's momentum just at the point at which that momentum was starting to sag.
Harbinger is Manny Coto's third Enterprise script, and he follows up on substantial elements from his first two scripts, Similitude and Chosen Realm. He took over as showrunner in Season Four, and I'm quickly appreciating why. He has a strong grasp of all the regular characters. Despite his first scripts coming smack in the middle of a season-long arc, he has had no apparent trouble balancing and advancing the elements of that arc while still telling interesting stories. He doesn't quite have the instinctive structural mastery of Mike Sussman, but he is already developing into one of the best Enterprise writers.
Harbinger is the weakest of Coto's three episodes to date, mainly because it lacks a tight focus. This is more of a character-based episode, with the relationships between Trip and T'Pol and Reed and Hayes getting more screentime than the alien plot. We see the Enterprise following up on Degra's clue, we see Hayes and Reed sparring over enhanced combat training for the crew. Basically, it's an episode that collects side plots and character beats - a mid season "transitional" episode, which preps viewers for the final run of episodes as we near the season finale. I enjoyed the episode largely because I enjoyed seeing those character interactions, but this isn't one that's going to sear itself into any viewer's memory.
Rating: 6/10
The Enterprise encounters an enormous space anomaly, in the center of which is a shuttlecraft with one life sign. Archer orders the use of the grappler to pull the shuttle out, which ends up pulling the Enterprise into the anomaly's field. Trip gets the ship out again, and the shuttle is pulled into the docking bay - revealing a humanoid alien.
Though Phlox quickly determines that the alien is dying, the being cries out to be returned to the distortion field. As T'Pol determines that the anomaly was directly at the center of the influence of five spheres, and hypothezises that the alien was some sort of test subject by the makers of the spheres, Archer determines to find some answers.
CHARACTERS
Capt. Archer: Bakula gets one great, angry scene. It's a scene that has nothing to do with the alien plot, and instead connects with a subplot involving Reed and Major Hayes (Steven Culp). After the two men turn a sparring session into an all-out brawl, they both end up injured. Archer lays into them, reminding them of exactly how precarious a situation the Enterprise is in, and that he cannot afford for two key officers to regress "to the level of five year olds!" Archer's fury at the pair of them is extremely well-played, and the scene ends on a very amusing note.
For the most part, this is not an Archer-heavy episode. We do see him puzzling with T'Pol over the nature of the alien, and the connection between the spheres and the anomalies. We also see, for the second time this season, that he isn't above using torture to force answers from a subject, in this case denying the alien pain medication until he gives Archer some answers. It's an interesting element to Archer's post-Xindi characterization, particularly since he has not otherwise abandoned his previous moral principles. It does have me hoping that some of his "extreme" tactics with prisoners end up costing him something by the end, though.
T'Pol/Trip: The seeds of a Trip/T'Pol relationship were laid down back in Season One... and then mostly ignored through Season Two, before being teased through the "peekaboo" neuropressure sessions throughout this season. This episode sees that line finally crossed, after T'Pol becomes visibly jealous over Trip's friendship with an attractive female marine who grew up not far from Trip's hometown. T'Pol then quickly backpedals, finding a way to make her dalliance with Trip into something "logical" and appropriate for a Vulcan scientist. I strongly suspect, however, that neither she nor Trip will be able to entirely return to their previous relationship.
Reed/Hayes: The season premiere showed Reed reacting very badly to Major Hayes (Steven Culp), the leader of the marines, seeing Hayes' every suggestion as an attempt to undermine his authority. That is picked back up on here, and expanded upon. Trip's MACO friend compares notes with Trip about Hayes vs. Reed, and they come to the conclusion that both men are cut from the same cloth. Which means that both Hayes and Reed want to be in charge, inevitably straining their interactions. Writer Manny Coto does load the script a bit, in that Reed is in this case reacting very badly to an entirely sensible suggestion by Hayes, and there is more than a whiff of cliche about the way in which the two men settle their differences (a big brawl). Still, the two characters have been constructed in such a way that the cliche rings true. My only quibble is more with the season than the episode: namely, that the Reed/Hayes conflict would mean more if we had seen more of this conflict - and Hayes, for that matter - throughout the season.
THOUGHTS
Though the main hook of the season is the race for the Xindi weapon, a secondary arc has been developing in the background - the spheres, the anomalies, the makers of the spheres that form the Expanse. In many respects, it's actually a more interesting storyline than the Xindi one (it's not like we don't know Archer & company are going to stop them from destroying Earth). This is a genuine mystery. Why was the Expanse created, and who created it? What are the nature of the spheres? It's been built up in the background, in episodes such as Anomaly, Exile, and Chosen Realm, and this episode sees that background arc click into focus, and connect to the Xindi arc. It's an interesting reveal, one which renews some of the arc's momentum just at the point at which that momentum was starting to sag.
Harbinger is Manny Coto's third Enterprise script, and he follows up on substantial elements from his first two scripts, Similitude and Chosen Realm. He took over as showrunner in Season Four, and I'm quickly appreciating why. He has a strong grasp of all the regular characters. Despite his first scripts coming smack in the middle of a season-long arc, he has had no apparent trouble balancing and advancing the elements of that arc while still telling interesting stories. He doesn't quite have the instinctive structural mastery of Mike Sussman, but he is already developing into one of the best Enterprise writers.
Harbinger is the weakest of Coto's three episodes to date, mainly because it lacks a tight focus. This is more of a character-based episode, with the relationships between Trip and T'Pol and Reed and Hayes getting more screentime than the alien plot. We see the Enterprise following up on Degra's clue, we see Hayes and Reed sparring over enhanced combat training for the crew. Basically, it's an episode that collects side plots and character beats - a mid season "transitional" episode, which preps viewers for the final run of episodes as we near the season finale. I enjoyed the episode largely because I enjoyed seeing those character interactions, but this isn't one that's going to sear itself into any viewer's memory.
Rating: 6/10
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