SOME THOUGHTS ON SEASON FOUR
Enterprise's journey comes to an end. So how does its final season stack up?
STAR TREK: "THE PREQUEL"
More than any other season, Season Four of Enterprise actively presents itself as a prequel to Star Trek in general, and the original series in specific. Almost every story of the season ties in with something from the original series. At its best, the season fills in some interesting holes in the fabric of the Star Trek universe. The father of Data's creator (Brent Spiner) is tied together with the augments. The differences between Vulcan society in Enterprise and in the rest of Trek is explained, while tying those differences to the Romulans. The Romulans are a constant background presence, and we see the beginnings of the buildup to the Romulan war. When it works - which is most of the time - the strong ties to the rest of the franchise create a more cohesive Trek universe, while also creating some highly dramatic stories.
When it doesn't work, mind you, it can feel like desperate fan service. Bound, for example, is a poor episode, and evoking TOS in its style while invoking the Orion slave girls does not make it one bit better. In fact, I suspect a better ship-bound cheapie could have been devised just using the many pieces of the Enterprise universe that have been established over the first three seasons. The Klingon 2-parter is much more enjoyable, and tying the Klingon continuity issues to the Augment arc is an interesting idea. But a part of me simply cannot fully buy into a need to tell a story whose main purpose is to explain variations in Klingon make-up.
STORY-ARCS
Most of this season is divided into story-arcs, a mix of 2-parters and 3-parters. Only a very small number of episodes are standalones. Even one of these, Home, isn't really an episode that stands on its own, as it effectively acts as a prologue to both the Vulcan 3-parter and the Terra Prime 2-parter.
There is much that is good about the long-form storytelling this season opts for. The longer stories allow for more complex stories and for some nice character scenes. Moments such as Reed and Mayweather dealing with a bomb in the ruins of the Earth Embassy on Vulcan simply would not fit into a strict 45-minute story... but there's plenty of room for such a character beat in a 130-minute story. In addition, by limiting the arcs to two to three episodes each, the main pitfall of the season-long Xindi arc is avoided. The arcs are long enough to allow for development, but contained enough that getting from beginning to end doesn't feel daunting.
The multi-part stories also allow the show to stretch the budget further. Season Four had a reduced budget, but it largely doesn't show. The Augment arc, the Vulcan arc, and the mirror universe 2-parter feature some of the strongest visuals of the entire series. This does come at a price, in the form of cheap standalones but it's a fair trade-off.
Not everything about the "mini-arc" structure works. The writers have difficulty resolving the 3-part arcs in particular. In every case, the final episode ends up being the weakest. The only one that's significantly "off" is The Aenar, which feels hopelessly rushed and only thinly-connected to the preceding episodes. As I noted in my review, The Aenar really should have been its own 2-parter. But even the season's best arc, the Vulcan story, has a final episode that feels too simplistic after the complexity of the first two parts.
"ALL ARCHER, ALL THE TIME"
Overall, Season Four is a very good season - but with one significant irritant. That irritant's name is Jonathan Archer. I quite liked the characterization of Archer across the first three seasons. He was a basically decent man, but one who vied with some deep character flaws. The Xindi arc saw Archer pushed to his limit, hammered relentlessly over the course of a full season, and that brought out the most interesting facets of both the character and Scott Bakula's performance.
For all three preceding seasons, there was always a balance. Archer was the lead, but he didn't dominate every episode. In this season, that balance disappears almost entirely. Season Four of Star Trek: Enterprise often feels like "The Jonathan Archer Show," which does neither the series nor the character any favors.
Couldn't some of Archer's material have been farmed out to other characters? I can certainly think of one example: As the ship's security chief, it would have made more sense for Reed to have escorted Dr. Soong to the slave auction than Archer. And for three seasons (and the first few episodes of this season), I really liked Archer - so I can only imagine how viewers already sick of him must have reacted!
SUPPORTING CHARACTERS
One advantage of the mini-arc structure is that, even with the show OD'ing on Archer, there's still a decent amount of material left for the supporting cast. The relationship between Trip and T'Pol runs as a sort of constant "B" plot. I do think that Trip's time away from Enterprise was a wasted opportunity, with him rejoining the ship a mere one episode after leaving it... but with the series clearly coming to a close, some rushed elements were probably unavoidable.
In addition to the "Big Three," there's at least a few decent moments sprinkled through the season for everybody. John Billingsley continues to make the most of every moment he gets as Phlox. He gets a substantial amount of focus in the Klingon arc, and he also gets some wonderful scenes as "evil Phlox" during In a Mirror Darkly. Phlox and Hoshi have some good scenes in Home as well as at the start of the Klingon arc, and it might have been interesting to have seen their friendship/potential developing relationship had the series continued.
Hoshi and Mayweather, the series' two most perpetually underused characters, get some strong material in the mirror universe 2-parter. Linda Park, in particular, has a field day with In a Mirror Darkly. Park and Anthony Montgomery also get some strong material in Observer Effect, the only of this year's shipbound standalones that actually works as an episode. Reed gets a steady supporting role across the season, too, particularly when his background with his shadowy old section comes into play in the Klingon arc and the final 2-parter. The season leaves Reed owing his former employers in a big way, something which would likely have been followed up if only the series had survived.
CANCELLED AT THE WRONG TIME
"If only the series had survived" is a running theme in my thoughts on Season Four. Usually, I think that three to four seasons is a perfectly healthy run for a show. But Enterprise was very much in the process of reinventing itself, and was doing so in some interesting ways. With a new showrunner in Manny Coto and a new focus on being a true Trek prequel, this feels almost like the first season of a new show.
A lot of the season lays groundwork for events that would doubtless have paid off in future seasons. I suspect the series would have continued to build up the Romulans as a threat, and that Starfleet would have gradually become aware of them as such, all on the way to the eventual Romulan War. The season ends with a 2-parter that sees the beginning steps toward a Federation, a movement made with some considerable resistance from elements of humanity. Again, I suspect future seasons would have seen more problems in getting different worlds to really work together as one, and that might have been the basis for some excellent stories.
Watching Season Four, I come to one inescapable conclusion. Enterprise was a series that was cancelled at the exact wrong time.
OVERALL
Some weak final episodes to some of the arcs and the overuse (and misuse) of Archer lead me to not quite liking this season as much as I did Season Three. It's still a very strong season of Star Trek, though, and probably the only season of this show to truly make use of the concept of the series as a prequel.
Some of Enterprise's best moments occur during this season. Also, as with Season Three, it actually achieves a reasonable balance of the non-Archer regulars, with everyone getting something to do. Most of all, there is the sense that important things (within the Trek universe, at least) are happening before your eyes - a sense that wasn't necessarily there in earlier seasons.
Despite a few flaws and a misjudged series finale, a good finish to a series I generally enjoyed a lot more than its reputation would have led me to expect. It's just a shame it didn't get one more season to deliver on some of the seeds planted here.
Enterprise's journey comes to an end. So how does its final season stack up?
STAR TREK: "THE PREQUEL"
More than any other season, Season Four of Enterprise actively presents itself as a prequel to Star Trek in general, and the original series in specific. Almost every story of the season ties in with something from the original series. At its best, the season fills in some interesting holes in the fabric of the Star Trek universe. The father of Data's creator (Brent Spiner) is tied together with the augments. The differences between Vulcan society in Enterprise and in the rest of Trek is explained, while tying those differences to the Romulans. The Romulans are a constant background presence, and we see the beginnings of the buildup to the Romulan war. When it works - which is most of the time - the strong ties to the rest of the franchise create a more cohesive Trek universe, while also creating some highly dramatic stories.
When it doesn't work, mind you, it can feel like desperate fan service. Bound, for example, is a poor episode, and evoking TOS in its style while invoking the Orion slave girls does not make it one bit better. In fact, I suspect a better ship-bound cheapie could have been devised just using the many pieces of the Enterprise universe that have been established over the first three seasons. The Klingon 2-parter is much more enjoyable, and tying the Klingon continuity issues to the Augment arc is an interesting idea. But a part of me simply cannot fully buy into a need to tell a story whose main purpose is to explain variations in Klingon make-up.
STORY-ARCS
Most of this season is divided into story-arcs, a mix of 2-parters and 3-parters. Only a very small number of episodes are standalones. Even one of these, Home, isn't really an episode that stands on its own, as it effectively acts as a prologue to both the Vulcan 3-parter and the Terra Prime 2-parter.
There is much that is good about the long-form storytelling this season opts for. The longer stories allow for more complex stories and for some nice character scenes. Moments such as Reed and Mayweather dealing with a bomb in the ruins of the Earth Embassy on Vulcan simply would not fit into a strict 45-minute story... but there's plenty of room for such a character beat in a 130-minute story. In addition, by limiting the arcs to two to three episodes each, the main pitfall of the season-long Xindi arc is avoided. The arcs are long enough to allow for development, but contained enough that getting from beginning to end doesn't feel daunting.
The multi-part stories also allow the show to stretch the budget further. Season Four had a reduced budget, but it largely doesn't show. The Augment arc, the Vulcan arc, and the mirror universe 2-parter feature some of the strongest visuals of the entire series. This does come at a price, in the form of cheap standalones but it's a fair trade-off.
Not everything about the "mini-arc" structure works. The writers have difficulty resolving the 3-part arcs in particular. In every case, the final episode ends up being the weakest. The only one that's significantly "off" is The Aenar, which feels hopelessly rushed and only thinly-connected to the preceding episodes. As I noted in my review, The Aenar really should have been its own 2-parter. But even the season's best arc, the Vulcan story, has a final episode that feels too simplistic after the complexity of the first two parts.
"ALL ARCHER, ALL THE TIME"
Overall, Season Four is a very good season - but with one significant irritant. That irritant's name is Jonathan Archer. I quite liked the characterization of Archer across the first three seasons. He was a basically decent man, but one who vied with some deep character flaws. The Xindi arc saw Archer pushed to his limit, hammered relentlessly over the course of a full season, and that brought out the most interesting facets of both the character and Scott Bakula's performance.
For all three preceding seasons, there was always a balance. Archer was the lead, but he didn't dominate every episode. In this season, that balance disappears almost entirely. Season Four of Star Trek: Enterprise often feels like "The Jonathan Archer Show," which does neither the series nor the character any favors.
Couldn't some of Archer's material have been farmed out to other characters? I can certainly think of one example: As the ship's security chief, it would have made more sense for Reed to have escorted Dr. Soong to the slave auction than Archer. And for three seasons (and the first few episodes of this season), I really liked Archer - so I can only imagine how viewers already sick of him must have reacted!
SUPPORTING CHARACTERS
One advantage of the mini-arc structure is that, even with the show OD'ing on Archer, there's still a decent amount of material left for the supporting cast. The relationship between Trip and T'Pol runs as a sort of constant "B" plot. I do think that Trip's time away from Enterprise was a wasted opportunity, with him rejoining the ship a mere one episode after leaving it... but with the series clearly coming to a close, some rushed elements were probably unavoidable.
In addition to the "Big Three," there's at least a few decent moments sprinkled through the season for everybody. John Billingsley continues to make the most of every moment he gets as Phlox. He gets a substantial amount of focus in the Klingon arc, and he also gets some wonderful scenes as "evil Phlox" during In a Mirror Darkly. Phlox and Hoshi have some good scenes in Home as well as at the start of the Klingon arc, and it might have been interesting to have seen their friendship/potential developing relationship had the series continued.
Hoshi and Mayweather, the series' two most perpetually underused characters, get some strong material in the mirror universe 2-parter. Linda Park, in particular, has a field day with In a Mirror Darkly. Park and Anthony Montgomery also get some strong material in Observer Effect, the only of this year's shipbound standalones that actually works as an episode. Reed gets a steady supporting role across the season, too, particularly when his background with his shadowy old section comes into play in the Klingon arc and the final 2-parter. The season leaves Reed owing his former employers in a big way, something which would likely have been followed up if only the series had survived.
CANCELLED AT THE WRONG TIME
"If only the series had survived" is a running theme in my thoughts on Season Four. Usually, I think that three to four seasons is a perfectly healthy run for a show. But Enterprise was very much in the process of reinventing itself, and was doing so in some interesting ways. With a new showrunner in Manny Coto and a new focus on being a true Trek prequel, this feels almost like the first season of a new show.
A lot of the season lays groundwork for events that would doubtless have paid off in future seasons. I suspect the series would have continued to build up the Romulans as a threat, and that Starfleet would have gradually become aware of them as such, all on the way to the eventual Romulan War. The season ends with a 2-parter that sees the beginning steps toward a Federation, a movement made with some considerable resistance from elements of humanity. Again, I suspect future seasons would have seen more problems in getting different worlds to really work together as one, and that might have been the basis for some excellent stories.
Watching Season Four, I come to one inescapable conclusion. Enterprise was a series that was cancelled at the exact wrong time.
OVERALL
Some weak final episodes to some of the arcs and the overuse (and misuse) of Archer lead me to not quite liking this season as much as I did Season Three. It's still a very strong season of Star Trek, though, and probably the only season of this show to truly make use of the concept of the series as a prequel.
Some of Enterprise's best moments occur during this season. Also, as with Season Three, it actually achieves a reasonable balance of the non-Archer regulars, with everyone getting something to do. Most of all, there is the sense that important things (within the Trek universe, at least) are happening before your eyes - a sense that wasn't necessarily there in earlier seasons.
Despite a few flaws and a misjudged series finale, a good finish to a series I generally enjoyed a lot more than its reputation would have led me to expect. It's just a shame it didn't get one more season to deliver on some of the seeds planted here.
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