Enterprise is investigating a region of space which is a promising site for the first of several proposed Starbases when they come into contact with Harrad-Sar (William Lucking), an Orion privateer. Harrad-Sar offers Archer a deal to smooth relations with the Orion Syndicate, in return for Starfleet's aid in setting up a mining operation. Archer agrees, but Harrad-Sar does have one stipulation: The captain must accept a gift.
The gift comes in the rather fetching form of three Orion slave girls. Their presence on the ship instantly creates disturbances. Male crew members begin disregarding their duties to pay attention to the girls. The female crew members begin reporting headaches. Phlox is able to determine that the Orions' pheremones are causing the disorder... but not before the replacement chief engineer sabotages the engines, leaving Enterprise a stationary target for the returning Harrad-Sar!
CHARACTERS
Capt. Archer: His own newfound pragmatism is what gets him in trouble here. When Harrad-Sar contacts him, he agrees to meet the Orion's terms more readily than he once would have done, largely because he doesn't feel he can pass up an opportunity to mend fences with at least one hostile race. Once he realizes that he is acting under an alien influence, he fights very hard to retain control of himself - though he has much more trouble fighting the effects when face-to-face with the girls than when on the bridge, focusing on his duties.
T'Pol: A sign that Archer is already falling under the influence of the Orion women is that he does not ask T'Pol's advice before accepting Harrad-Sar's offer. T'Pol seems surprised by this, perhaps even a little hurt. As Archer begins behaving irrationally, T'Pol tries to be a supportive Voice of Reason for him. She works well with Trip in dealing with the havoc in Engineering, and the two of them together ultimately save the ship.
Trip: With Archer struggling under the Orion influence, Trip gets cast in the "hero" role this week. Thanks to his mental link with T'Pol, he is the only male on the ship not affected. This doesn't bring him too much relief, however, as it leaves him in the situation of being the sole "adult" in Engineering, having to constantly work to keep his men focused on their duties.
Hot Alien Space Babes of the Week: The Orion slave girls (Cyia Batten, Crystal Allen, Menina Fortunato) are expertly manipulative. Though Archer initially believes them to be innocents, it is clear to the audience almost instantly that they are using the Enterprise crew for their own ends. A late twist regarding their relationship with their "master" does not particularly come as a surprise.
THOUGHTS
I do have to give credit to the production design of the Orion ship. It's obvious that this season has taken its role as a prequel to TOS very seriously, and the Orion design is very much modeled after the original series' interiors, with the use of color in the lighting, the walls, and even the alien beverages the characters sip. It all makes for a rather neat visual tie-in.
I'm glad to be able to praise that element, because I honestly didn't find much else in Bound that's particularly praiseworthy. The setup is adroitly handled, with all the necessary exposition dealt with quickly and clearly in the opening Act. Once the Orion women are aboard Enterprise, however, things become a lot weaker, with much of the plotting relying on idiocy and convenience.
When Archer discovers that the Orion women are deliberately working to sabotage his ship and that their pheremones are dangerous to the crew, he puts them in isolation. So far, so sensible. But then, even after directly experiencing that they retain influence through the glass, he leaves... male guards? We've seen, in numerous episodes, that there are plenty of women serving on Enterprise. We also see that the women are less affected by the pheremones. Hoshi and another female officer complain of headaches, and that seems to be about the extent. So why does Archer leave a male guard on duty instead of a female one? Or even just trust to automated security protocols, as he did in Observer Effect? Answer: Because the plot requires the Orion women to get out of the cell, so Archer has to be an idiot to keep the plot moving.
The resolution is also achieved through Technobabble Convenience. After Enterprise is rendered helpless, Trip and T'Pol send a burst of Deux Ex Machina through a grappling wire to disable the other ship. How convenient. Finally, the subplot about Trip's transfer is resolved with equal convenience, lest anything resembling a loose end be left to the next (in-universe) 2-parter.
Perhaps this was cobbled together in a hurry to tie off some character strands once the episode order was cut back from 24 to 22. Perhaps the show's writers simply forgot how to write a good, action-heavy single-parter. Season Four's one-part episodes have largely been much weaker than the multi-part ones. Enterprise has taken several big steps forward in Seasons Three and Four. But when it tries to tell the simple Trek stories that it often managed quite engagingly in its early days, that seems to be one knack this series has lost.
Rating: 3/10.
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Yeah, I found that "burst of Deux Ex Machina" unnecesary too. Orion females rule their society? Ok, so you got 3 females on the ship and are being attacked by Orions. Add Airlocks into the equation and I see a solution to this problem that works without technobabble.
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