4-16. Divergence.

THE PLOT

As Phlox continues his work on the Klingon plague, he and Dr. Antoch (John Schuck) discover a way to stop the disease in its first stage. The Klingons will still undergo physical changes, but they will not be augmented, nor will they become sick and die. But with Klingon warships on their way to sterilize the planet, the only way Phlox can identify the cure in time is to infect four patients - only one of whom will live!

Meanwhile, Enterprise continues its search for Phlox, now with its sister ship, Columbia in tow. Archer investigates Reed's recent transmissions, and uncovers a link to Harris (Eric Pierpoint), the tactical officer's former superior. He confronts Reed with what he now knows, and gives him a choice: Where do his loyalties lie?


CHARACTERS

Capt. Archer: Though he remains bitterly disappointed at Reed's betrayal, he also knows that he needs his expertise. He does not allow his feelings to get in the way of allowing Reed to get Trip on board to save the ship. After this, he offers Reed a chance to redeem himself by telling Archer what he knows, but only after discovering enough on his own that Reed will be able to do so with some level of integrity. 

Reed: This 2-parter has definitely allowed Dominic Keating an opportunity to shine. Playing a tormented Reed, torn between his loyalty to his old section and his more recent and genuine loyalty to Archer, he has spent these two episodes in a state of desperation. When he finally is pushed to make a choice, he feels genuine relief at no longer having to fight himself. The final scene of the episode also seems to be the show's last word about where Reed's loyalties lie - though I suspect, had the series gone on for another season, that issues related to his old section would have come up again.

Dr. Phlox: "I lied." I love John Billingsley's inflection of this simple line. It's hardly an original retort, but he delivers it so well, with just the right mix of humor and venom. Billingsley gets another strong episode, particularly as Phlox comes ever closer to finding the cure. His compassionate interactions with both Dr. Antoch and the Klingon victims of the plague make an effective counterpoint to his more intense dealings with K'Vaugh (James Avery), the Klingon general. Phlox's insistence on staying to finish providing a cure for his "several million patients," even when Archer arrives and he could get away safely, says volumes about the character's core decency.

Klingons: In Judgment, we learned that Klingon society had undergone a decline. All castes are subsidiary to the warrior caste now, we are told, but it had not always been that way. Here, we see another relic of a better Klingon society, in the form of Dr. Antoch. Antoch chose a life as a healer over that of a warrior, and was disowned for making such a "dishonorable" decision. He is as pragmatic as the other Klingons, finding a way to get Phlox to cooperate by withholding certain information from his own superior. K'Vaugh also receives some added dimension to his character, his interactions with the infected soldiers showing him to be more than the snarling one-note baddie seen in the previous episode.


THOUGHTS

Divergence begins in exciting fashion, with Reed guiding Trip from Columbia to Enterprise at Warp 5, with a shared warp field that is steadily deteriorating. The basic dilemma, that Enterprise will blow up if it goes slower than Warp 5, is stolen wholesale from Speed, with the Klingons standing in for Dennis Hopper. But it's still a genuinely exciting set piece, and kicks the episode off in fine form.

The rest of the show is also good, even if it never builds up the same intensity as that opening set piece. Reed's dilemma remains interesting, and the Reed/Archer interaction is one of the episode's highlights. Reed's former section, justified by "a few lines in Section 31" of the Starfleet charter, points to something a bit less utopian and a bit more sinister in the Trek world, and I wouldn't have minded seeing more developed regarding these covert operations. Ah, well. I'm sure there's a book or some fanfics somewhere.

It's all very tightly-paced and produced to the series' usual high standards. I wouldn't rank this as one of the series' greats, by any means, but it was a good, solid 2-parter, with much to enjoy.


Rating: 7/10.

Overall Rating for the Klingon Augments Arc: 7/10

Previous Episode: Affliction
Next Episode: Bound

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4-15. Affliction.

THE PLOT

Enterprise returns to Earth for the official launch date of her sister ship, the Columbia - the ship to which Trip is transferring. For the crew, it's an opportunity for some well-deserved leave. Dr. Phlox is in San Francisco with Hoshi, taking in a meal at his favorite Chinese restaurant. The two are just walking back when they are jumped by alien attackers. Hoshi is knocked out while attempting to fight back, but not before she overhears one of the attackers speaking in Rigelian.

Reed has only just begun to investigate the kidnapping when he receives a transmission from Harris (Eric Pierpoint), his old boss.  Harris informs Reed of an important mission, something that must be kept from Archer for security reasons. Dr. Phlox learns of it, too, when he is brought face-to-face with his captors: the Klingons. The Klingons are suffering from a virus that is spreading from world to world. Phlox is tasked with finding a cure. What he learns about the virus, however, may strain his devotion to preserving life.


CHARACTERS

Capt. Archer: The information he gleaned from Surak's katra allows him to talk T'Pol through initiating a mind-meld. I'm sorry, but is that really necessary? In a season that's badly overinflated Archer, do we honestly need him talking the series' regular Vulcan through a Vulcan procedure? When do we hit the episode where Archer parts the Red Sea?  Rant aside, Scott Bakula does well when Archer finally discovers Reed's deceit. A range of emotions, from weariness to disappointment to anger, are evident in his face and voice, and he and Dominic Keating do some first-class acting in this scene.

Reed: From the first season, a part of Reed's characterization has been how distant he is, how difficult he is to know. This episode provides some background which sheds light on that particular established quality. Long before he joined Enterprise, Reed was an agent. Here, he is called back into service, putting him in the position of keeping information from his captain. It is not a comfortable situation for him, as he feels torn between loyalty to Archer and the still-strong dictates of his previous job.

T'Pol: Trip's departure affects her more than she wants to admit. As she attempts to meditate, she makes a telepathic connection to Trip, who is probably pausing in his busy day to think of her. In the midst of her white void of meditation, the two instantly begin to argue, before Trip is snapped out of it by one of his new shipmates. T'Pol also pulls triple-duty. She has to cover for the new chief engineer's learning curve. Then, when Archer begins to suspect Reed of deception, she has to double-check Reed's work and report back to Archer.

Trip: The easygoing Trip of the first season is not the Trip who signs onto Columbia. Trip is strict to the point of harshness with his new crew, working them triple shifts in order to get his new ship's engines working at the level of Enterprise's. By the time he has dinner with his new captain the next day, two of his crew have already requested transfers. He remains very good at his job, and he does get the engines working in time to meet Columbia's accelerated deadline. He even seems to be relaxing into his new post a bit, congratulating one of his new people on a job well done.

Dr. Phlox: Despite his outrage at being kidnapped, he is willing to do what he can to assist the Klingons once he learns of the virus.  He is appalled at the harsh Klingon methods, however, including the execution of infected patients to allow for dissection. When he discovers the true nature of the virus, he is even further outraged, both by what the Klingons attempted to do and by their keeping this from him when he should have been given the information at the outset.  John Billingsley is a good enough actor to keep his performance from being one-note, cranking up the intensity at just the right points and then reverting to a more subdued performance in between the more strongly emotional scenes.

Hoshi: We actually get a demonstration of the fighting skills she mentioned in Observer Effect, as she fights with Phlox's abductors. She's effective, too, kicking the gun right out of one attacker's hand and fending him off. If not for the third attacker, unseen until too late, she and Phlox might well have succeeded in getting away. Her linguistic skills come in useful, first in recognizing that the attackers spoke Rigelian, later in recognizing the prisoner speaking Klingon.

Klingons: They are unwilling to ask for help in dealing with the virus, lest they look weak to their enemies. But kidnapping a skilled doctor? That's no problem. When Phlox wonders why they didn't just kidnap Dr. Soong, who would have been more efficient at mapping genomes, the reply is direct and pragmatic: They tried; Soong was just too heavily guarded. At every turn, the Klingons prove to be ruthless and jealous of their secrets, and it seems evident that they have no intention of letting Phlox leave alive with what he knows.


THOUGHTS

I'll admit to being in the Trek camp that never really felt that an explanation was needed for why TOS Klingons had smooth brows while later Klingons had bumpy ones. It's always seemed obvious to me that the simple makeup of the TOS Klingons was a matter of budget, and that all that ever needed to be addressed on this issue was covered by Worf's, "It is not something we discuss with outsiders," in Trials and Tribbleations.

But if the main reason behind this 2-parter basically amounts to fan service, that doesn't matter to me in the slightest. Based on this first episode, it's going to be a pretty good 2-parter. It incorporates several elements from earlier in the season. The Trip/T'Pol arc follows directly on from The Aenar. The Klingon virus is directly linked to the Augment arc. Capt. Ramirez and the Columbia return from the episode, Home, along with a reference to Phlox's altercation in that episode. It all serves to tie the season together as an extended narrative, something I love when it's done well - and here, at least, it's done extremely well.

The most interesting story strand belongs to Reed. We know him well enough to realize that he's no traitor. But his having worked in intelligence makes sense, actually lending some focus to his characterization early in the series. Being called back into duty, splitting his loyalty between his old superiors and his current one, puts a strain on him which shows in Dominic Keating's performance. When he is caught, and Archer throws him in the brig, he is left to feel helpless as the ship undergoes a new crisis - and he is left unable to assist.

A strong first episode, with some good continuity with the rest of the season, some excellent character work, and some nice touches of intrigue.  The sort of setup episode that leaves one hopeful when anticipating the Part Two payoff.


Rating: 7/10.

Previous Episode: The Aenar
Next Episode: Divergence 

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4-6. The Augments.

THE PLOT

Dr. Soong and his augments have successfully taken the augment embryos from Cold Station 12. Archer and his crew only barely have time to save themselves from Malik's final trap, allowing Soong another substantial head start before they can pursue.

Soong crosses into Klingon space, setting course for a new hiding place to give his embryos a chance to mature. But Malik does not wish to simply run and hide, and hatches a scheme to pit the Klingons at war with Earth by launching a bio-weapon against a Klingon colony!


CHARACTERS

Capt. Archer: There's a rather amusing scene in which Archer uses the Universal Translator to impersonate a Klingon. He chooses his words carefully to be as belligerent and dismissive as possible, and manages to pull off the bluff. Compare with the Archer who blathered near-incoherently at the Klingon captain in Unexpected and nearly got the Enterprise destroyed for his troubles, and it shows how far experience has taken him.

T'Pol/Trip: The interaction between these two has become strained. Trip doesn't behave with any hostility toward T'Pol, and he does understand why she went through her marriage, but he has been avoiding her. When T'Pol finally confronts him about that, Trip explains himself well.  He shows genuine grace when he stammers out telling T'Pol that though he hated what she did, he was proud of her for doing it. Trinneer and Blalock do an excellent job with this scene, a good character moment in a largely action-intensive episode.

Dr. Soong: Spends much of the episode in denial about the precariousness of his position. He expects his "children" to obey his orders without question, and he treats Malik very much like a recalcitrant child. He is snapped out of his denial only when it becomes clear that Malik and the other augments intend to start a war between Earth and the Klingons. Brent Spiner remains very good in this role, and his performance has easily been the highlight of these three episodes.

Villain of the Week: Having already achieved full-fledged psychotic status in the last episode, there really isn't anyplace further to take Alec Newman's Malik. As a result, his character here is simply more of the same, only ever more violent. He does appear to have an inexplicable ability to survive an exploding ship, though, given his presence in a frankly bizarre ending sting.


THOUGHTS

Last episode's cliffhanger is rather quickly tied up, though the spectacle of Archer being beamed aboard while being hurled out of the station into space is an eye-popping visual.

This episode is not as good as Cold Station 12 was. There's nothing here as gripping as the scene from last episode, when Malik exposed one hostage to a contagion in order to force information out of another hostage. Still, with Mike Sussman in the writer's chair, we are assured of solid story structure and plenty of forward momentum. The climax, as Enterprise arrives just as the bio-weapon is released, is an effective suspense bit. It also seems clear that this subplot exists to lay groundwork for a future arc involving the Klingons, so I wasn't certain the Enterprise would actually succeed in stopping the weapon's release.

Not everything works. The not-quite-ending sting with Malik somehow appearing on Enterprise to attack Soong is as silly as it is unnecessary. Malik's character, which showed signs of being 3-dimensional in the previous two installments, devolves into a simple "one note psycho," and his scenes quickly become tedious. Still, the fast pace and strength of the overall arc carries the episode over such speed bumps, and I feel generous enough toward the full arc to award solid marks:


Rating: 7/10.

Overall Rating for "The Augments" arc: 7/10.

Previous Episode: Cold Station 12

Next Episode: The Forge

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4-4. Borderland.

THE PLOT

A group of genetically-engineered "augments," left over from the days of the Eugenics Wars, attack a Klingon warship, massacring the crew and seizing the ship for themselves.  The aftermath of this attack leaves the Klingons threatening war with Earth. This prompts the Enterprise's newest mission, to stop the augments and recover the Klingon ship.

On this journey, they have a most unwelcome guest: Dr. Arik Soong (Brent Spiner). Soong, a brilliant scientist obsessed with the idea of "improving" the human race, was imprisoned after the theft of some genetically engineered embryos - the very embryos that have become the new augments. Soong insists that if he can talk to the augments, he can bring this situation to a peaceful end. Archer has little choice but to bring him along.

The mission is barely underway before Enterprise is attacked by Orion Interceptors, which beam out 9 crew members to sell as slaves - T'Pol among them!


CHARACTERS

Capt. Archer: Disapproves of Soong, but is willing to work with him, and even allows him access to sickbay to study the DNA of the augments. For most of the episode, Archer treats Soong more as an untrustworthy ally than a prisoner, and the two men actually work quite well together in the Orion Slave Market - at least, until Soong's escape attempt.

T'Pol: Maintains her calm in the Orion Slave Market. She also does what she can to help a fellow prisoner keep his cool in this crisis. She does not offer any resistance to the Orions once it is demonstrated that such resistance is useless - but as soon as the slave transponder is deactivated, she is ready for the fight ahead.

Dr. Phlox: Gets a very good scene in which he dresses down Dr. Soong for failing to learn from past mistakes. He actually agrees with Soong that Earth's fear of genetic engineering is reactionary - but he strongly disapproves of Soong's methods, and their results.

Villain of the Week: Brent Spiner is the special guest star of this 3-episode arc, playing Dr. Arik Soong - a direct ancestor of the genius who created Data. Spiner seems to enjoy getting to act without the Data makeup. His performance initially seems to be a near-replica of his Lore performance, sneering arrogance dripping from every line. This is tempered by later scenes, though, as Soong shows respect for Archer even before he voices it. The very fact that Soong avoids killing in either his escape attempt at the slave market or when the augments arrive shows that he's not a complete villain - and he makes a genuinely pretty good case that Earth is overreacting by banning genetic research altogether.


THOUGHTS

With the linking of Dr. Soong to the augments, the showrunners have done something rather ingenious.  This episode takes strands of the 1960's series and links them to the world of TNG, all in a way that services its own story. 

This set-up episode, the first in a 3-part arc, has some distinct flaws. The second half of the hour is dominated by a side trip to an Orion Slave Market that seems entirely superfluous, there just to pad things out and give Archer and his crew something to do while waiting for the cliffhanger. Still, even if the Orion material feels a bit pointless, I'll admit that it's entertaining.

Where first-time Enterprise writer Ken LaBeznik does a particularly good job is in maintaining conflict.  The Orion subplot gives the episode its biggest external conflict, but the cutaways to the augments are also marked by a power struggle.  Even the early scenes on Enterprise are marked by tension between Soong and everyone he encounters, as well as awkwardness between Trip and T'Pol in the wake of her marriage.

Mostly, I find myself looking forward to the next episode, when things will actually start to be done with the pieces that have been placed on the board.


Rating: 6/10.

Previous Episode: Home

Next Episode: Cold Station 12

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2-26. The Expanse.

THE PLOT

An alien probe drops into Earth's orbit, cutting a thick line of destruction that runs from Florida to Venezuala. Enterprise is recalled to Earth to help study the situation.

Their trip back home is interrupted by a visit from the Suliban. Silik takes Archer aboard his ship for a meeting with his contact from the future, who tells Archer that the attack was orchestrated by a rival and carried out by an alien race known as the Xindi. Archer persuades Admiral Forrest to let him chase this lead into an area of space known as the Delphic Expanse. But the Vulcan Ambassador, Soval, warns Archer that previous expeditions into the Expanse have resulted in horrors, and urges him against this course - at the same time ordering T'Pol to leave Enterprise and return to Vulcan for reassignment!


CHARACTERS

Capt. Archer: I've commented in earlier reviews how well Scott Bakula plays anger. Here, we have an episode in which Archer is on a slow burn through the entire run. He isn't actively shouting at people, but there's a definite tension in him in pretty much every scene, even the quieter moments. When Duras continues to attack Enterprise late in the episode, Archer is less inclined to talk and more inclined to resort to his ship's upgraded weaponry than he normally would be - which, along with his vow to Trip to do "whatever is necessary" once inside the Expanse, points to an Archer who's going to be even more volatile than usual in Season Three.

T'Pol: Put in the position of having to decide between her loyalty to the Vulcan High Command and her loyalty to Archer. Previous episodes leave very little doubt as to what choice she will make, but this is where she finally has to choose one, and let the other door close - probably forever.

Trip: Of the three leads, Trip is by far the most human, so it makes sense that he will be the one to have lost somebody in the attack. He gets a couple of very effective scenes with Reed, a quiet one in which he stands at the edge of the crater that was once his home and recalls where his sister's house and the town movie theater were while staring out into nothing, and an angry one in which he snaps at Reed when the other man encourages him to have a memorial service. He can't have such a service - not because of the lack of a body or because his sister "wasn't much into" such things, but because he's not ready to move on. This could lead Trip in an interesting direction in future episodes.

Dr. Phlox: He doesn't share the human characters' emotional reaction to the attack, nor does he have to make any substantial choice as T'Pol does. He stays because he's the ship's doctor, and he knows he will be needed. There's no other pull on his loyalties, so it is not a difficult decision. We do see his loyalty to the ship and his medical ethics when he reacts with evident anger to the Vulcan psychiatrist who is trying to examine Archer under false pretenses in Phlox's sickbay - in many ways, the inverse of the situation Phlox found himself facing in Stigma. He also has a quietly excellent scene with T'Pol, a conversation which pushes T'Pol further toward the decision we all know she will end up making.


THOUGHTS

Enterprise's second season comes to an explosive and surprising climax. I had heard that the second season finale was a change of direction for the too-often directionless series, and this episode certainly lives up to that reputation.

The Expanse opens with a probe dropping into Earth's orbit and cutting a swath of destruction with no warning and no reason given. The casualty figures start high (around a million) and are revised upward throughout the episode. The action takes place over a matter of months, as the regulars prepare for a mission completely unlike the one they have been carrying out. One major character is forced to make a choice about where her loyalties lie, another is given a trauma that will likely impact his future actions. It's the kind of episode that recalls Commander Sinclair's line at the end of Babylon 5's first season finale: "Nothing's the same anymore."

The Expanse works as a change of direction for the series, in that it creates a situation which cannot be simply "gotten over" in an episode or two. Short of going back in time to prevent the attack from ever having taken place (and I will take back every sympathetic word I've ever written about Berman and Braga if that ends up being the resolution), there is no way to hit the "reset" button on this situation. At the same time, it builds on many of the series' ongoing tensions. The Suliban and the Temporal Cold War are touched upon, as are the relations with the Klingsons and the Vulcans. It's not just a shift in direction, it's a shift in direction that uses what has gone before, leaving it all still feeling like part of the same series.

Equally important, it's a genuinely good piece of television. All of the major actors are given at least one scene, with only the terminally underused Hoshi and Mayweather given nothing to do. CGI work is excellent, from the opening attack to the edge of the abyss against which Trip stands while giving Reed a "tour" of his home town, to the expanse itself. The script is well-structured, with the quieter character scenes interspersed with a nicely ominous build-up about The Expanse itself, and some Klingon shenanigans on-hand to provide some action.

This is an episode where pretty much everything works, and I would point to this and Cogenitor being my only "10's" of the season as a suitable response to the "Berman/Braga are the devil!" hysteria within Trek fandom. They have their faults as showrunners, but they remain good television writers, something that fandom seems far too eager to forget far too often.


Rating: 10/10.

Previous Episode: Bounty

Next Episode: The Xindi

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2-25. Bounty.

THE PLOT

The Enterprise is making a scientific survey of another of those conveniently uninhabited yet perfectly habitable planets, while its crew prepares to enjoy a bit of shore leave. The vacation is interrupted by the arrival of a Tellarite freighter. Skalaar (Jordan Lund), the Tellarite captain, claims to be familiar with the planet, and offers to be Archer's guide. But once face-to-face with Archer, Skalaar stuns Trip and kidnaps Archer.

It turns out that the Tellarite is a bounty hunter, taking Archer back to the Klingon home world. Though his ship is old, he's cagey enough to deploy counter measures that lead Enterprise off on a false trail. Meanwhile, when the scientific teams are recalled from the surface, T'Pol and Phlox find that they have brought back a contaminant, and must seal themselves in Decon for an extended period. But it soon becomes clear that the contaminant has activated T'Pol's mating instincts.

Yes, that's right. She must have sex or die. (Rolls eyes).


CHARACTERS

Capt. Archer: Gets captured again. Maybe the security-conscious Reed should take note of how often that happens and put a Lo-Jack on him. He gets to demonstrate his piloting skills again, and in a shocking and unexpected plot development he manages to bond with his captor. He also gets to blast some Klingons (presumably using the "stun" setting). Scott Bakula is perfectly fine throughout, but this is all very tired stuff.

T'Pol: But at least Bakula gets to maintain his dignity. Poor Jolene Blalock gets to spend the episode in her underwear, writhing around on the floor, begging John Billingsley to **** her. Entirely against my initial expectations, I've been generally impressed with Blalock's work on the series. Even here, she does about as well as possible with the wretched material she's given. But her storyline is pure titillation porn. It doesn't help that I've never once in the course of this series found her particularly appealing.  Both Hoshi and the late, lamented Cutler are/were far more to my tastes. But even if I thought Blalock was the most beautiful woman since Helen of Troy, the antics she's put through in this episode would have been embarrassing.

Dr. Phlox: The always-excellent John Billingsley again works his magic as Dr. Phlox, managing to infuse a certain dignity into his performance even when T'Pol is writhing around on the floor in front of him. He manages to keep his cool, but Billingsley puts just enough of an edge in Phlox's voice that we can see the stress of this unexpected situation.

Klingons: Archer's purchased jailbreak has irritated the Klingons enough to put a price on his head. As of the end of this episode, Archer has evaded them again, and likely caused irreparable disgrace to the Klingon ship he escaped from and damaged. The trend of each Klingon encounter being slightly more hostile than the one before continues, which seems likely to lead the way toward the eventual war between Starfleet and the Klingon Empire (though I increasingly doubt that such a war will break out during this series' run, more's the pity).


THOUGHTS

The Vulcan mating ritual of pon farr was introduced in Amok Time, the episode that kicked off the second season of TOS and still stands as one of the series' very best episodes. It was an intelligent episode, compellingly scripted and very well-structured, and presented a Vulcan society where logic and ritual managed to meld convincingly while still allowing every guest character featured to have his or her own agenda. It's a bit of television that is still regarded as a classic, and deserves to be.

Bounty treats pon farr as a "B" story whose main purpose is to show off Jolene Blalock smearing herself with gel while wearing as little as the censors will allow. This story was probably the brain child of a Rick Berman and Brannon Braga who were increasingly desperate to try to yank up the show's sagging ratings. It's cynical.  Worse, it's badly done. Despite centering around two of the show's strongest characters and actors, this entire plot thread is drivel.

The "A" plot isn't much better. How many times can Archer be taken prisoner before it gets boring? The answer is: However many times (too many) this episode makes. The way in which Archer is kidnapped from his own ship makes Enterprise's security look laughable.  Surely the hyper-paranoid Malcolm Reed would have at least one security guard somewhere near the point at which a stranger from a strange ship is going to meet the captain and chief engineer? Couldn't they at least have had Archer get kidnapped from the planet's surface, so as not to make the Enterprise crew look like a bunch of idiots?

The progression of the Archer/Tellarite plot is entirely predictable. There is nothing interesting or compelling about the Tellarite bounty hunter. His rival is a one-dimensional baddie, and his purpose in the episode is just to provide a bit of (not very interesting) action. The ending showcases Archer having a "cunning plan," largely inspired by thin air, which conveniently allows both him and the Tellarite to live happily ever after.  Separately, I mean.

With a mostly dull "A" plot and a shockingly bad "B" plot, this is one of Enterprise's very worst episodes. Yes, worse than A Night in Sickbay.  Other than some additional development of the Klingons, there really isn't much reason for anyone to subject themselves to this.


Rating: 1/10.

Previous Episode: First Flight

Next Episode: The Expanse

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2-19. Judgment.

THE PLOT

Archer is a prisoner on the Klingon homeworld.  He is put on trial as an enemy of the Klingon Empire, accused of willfully aiding Klingon rebels trying to overthrow the Empire. Archer's only ally is his advocate, Kolos (J. G. Hertzler). But in a system of justice where the accused are considered guilty unless proven innocent, Kolos has no interest in offering a defense, leaving Archer seemingly condemned before the charges are even read...


CHARACTERS

Capt. Archer: Scott Bakula gets to spend most of the episode beat up, disheveled, and frustrated - all of which play to his acting strengths, making this one of the more effective Archer episodes of the season. Even if he might save his life, it's not in Archer's character to stand mute for charges that he does not consider valid. He remains prone to judging societies based on tangential contact with them. He admits to having thought of all Klingons as warriors, and is genuinely surprised when Kolos tells him that there are multiple classes in Klingon society. He insists that the refugees are "good people," though we never see enough of the refugees to actually know that they are anything other than simply desperate people.

Kolos: The episode's only other major player is Kolos, Archer's jaded Klingon advocate. Through Kolos, we learn a lot more about pre-TOS Klingon society. The ascendance of the warrior class was a relatively recent phenomenon, for example, with Kolos recalling a time when genuine honor existed among all classes, rather than a simple thirst for "victory - any victory."

For all the cries about Enterprise muddling continuity, here we see a genuine look at the drift toward the war-like TOS and movie Klingons. Effectively, Klingon society experienced a radical rightward shift sometime prior to Enterprise, which continued through the time of the original series. This makes the still-aggressive, but less blatantly warlike Next Generation Klingons less of a radical departure, and more of a natural societal correction.  A society will only drift so far to an extreme before it begins drifting back to center. It's a development I like, and perhaps the most interesting addition Enterprise has made to the Trek mythos. It fits perfectly with what we've seen in other series, and expands the context of the various Klingon portrayals beyond what had been seen before.


THOUGHTS

The plot of the episode has strong parallels with Star Trek VI, basically fleshing out the "trial" section of that movie into a full episode.  It also adopts some of the structure of Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon. It's hardly a radical structure for a television episode; the Rashomon-style episode has been a mainstay of television shows since at least the mid-1970's, if not earlier.

But if there's nothing Earth-shatteringly inventive, it is at least a well-told story. The flashbacks are well-integrated into the courtroom narrative. What I like best about the two flashback sequences - the Klingon captain's and Archer's - is that they complement each other. I have no sense that Capt. Duras is deliberately lying when he makes Archer out to be militant and aggressive. Duras probably genuinely perceived the encounter the way he relates it. I would have liked some of the Rashomon sense - that Archer's version was also less than completely accurate, and also filtered through his perceptions - but that would probably be asking too much of a single episode.

James L. Conway directs with a highly visual eye, making good use of lighting and depth to create genuine atmosphere. With excellent performances by Bakula, J. G. Hertzler, and John Vickery, as well as an interesting expansion of what we knew of Klingon history, this is one of the second season's better episodes.


Rating: 8/10.

Previous Episode: The Crossing
Next Episode: Horizon

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2-6. Marauders.

THE PLOT

Low on supplies (again), the Enterprise comes to a planet whose settlers work processing fuel. Archer is startled at the settlement's condition - very rustic conditions, a lack of basic medical supplies, and a rush to get Enterprise out of there as fast as possible. He is certain something is going on.

Archer's suspicions are confirmed by the arrival of a ship carrying twelve Klingons. The Klingons are marauders, preying on the output of the settlement. They arrive at the start of each drilling season, take everything the colony has, and then leave the settlement to scrape out just enough to survive until the next season. One attempt to fight back against the Klingons resulted in eight deaths. Now, the settlers have accepted their harsh situation.

Archer, in true Gary Cooper fashion, determines that he must help them. But as T'Pol points out, any solution short of killing the Klingons outright will simply make the situation worse once Enterprise leaves. But Archer has an idea, a way to try to provide the settlement with the ability to defend itself...


CHARACTERS

Capt. Archer: After spending the previous episode possessed by the spirit of a petualant 3-year-old, it is a relief to see the real Archer return. Archer's headstrong qualities do remain, of course.  They are part and parcel of his character. But here, his stubbornness is tempered by the thoughtfulness that was absent in the last episode. He doesn't just insist that the situation is unfair and throw a tantrum at any words of caution. He listens to T'Pol's words of caution, and crafts a solution to redress the wrongs being done to the settlement while at the same time working to genuinely improve the entire situation. Bakula is back on solid form, though his performance is perhaps a bit too self-conscious, a bit too aware of the Gary Cooper parallels, for my liking.

T'Pol: As ever, the voice of reason. She actually agrees with Archer this time, that interference in this situation is reasonable - but she cautions that if Enterprise just takes matters into its own hands, then Archer will only make matters worse. This challenges Archer to find a way to let the settlers help themselves. She also proves adept at instructing the settlers to survive a brief brush with hand-to-hand combat.

Trip: Also gets to be a voice of caution for Archer, observing that the plan is "a long shot," though he certainly supports making the effort. He bonds with the moppet of the week, and repairs some of the settlement's broken machinery... and honestly doesn't do much else.

THOUGHTS

Marauders is a "B" episode, bread-and-butter Trek that could about as easily have served as an episode of TOS or Next Generation, with only the most minor of tweaks required. It is a competent episode, though, sturdily constructed and unflashily but steadily directed by veteran Mike Vejar. After the dreadful A Night in Sickbay, competence does come as a relief. Marauders is a thoroughly professional, entertaining bit of television. The sort of thing forgotten quite quickly, but that passes the time well enough while watching.

The plot here is particularly reminiscent of old western plots.  Given that it first aired in Fall 2002, I can't help but draw comparisons between this and the brief, troubled run of a certain other "space western" in Fall 2002. Watching this back-to-back with pretty much any Firefly episode showcases some of the problems with Enterprise. Marauders is competently-scripted, populated by acceptable two-dimensional guest stars who fall into "types" and stay there, and builds to a predictable but enjoyable climax. The plot holds together, with the First Act presenting the problem, the Second Act seeing the characters making a plan to deal with the problem, and the Third Act carrying out that plan and resolving the problem. It's all very competent.

But by 2002, television science fiction was moving beyond simply needing to be competent. Whatever Firefly episode aired in the same week as Marauders would have presented viewers with western tropes in a science fiction setting, only with more memorable characters, sharper dialogue, more distinctive music, and a more immediate directorial style. That's not even mentioning such fare as Battlestar Galactica, which was rising at about the same time. In Marauders, everything is exactly as it appears, no characters have hidden agendas, nothing from this story is likely to echo in future episodes... There isn't the slightest surprise. By 2002, against fresher and braver fare, that just wasn't good enough anymore.

All of which is not to give this episode a negative review. It did its job.  It was relentlessly predictable, but it was solid in both story and presentation, and it provided reasonable entertainment throughout its 42 minutes. But even though it's a perfectly decent, average little episode, it's also one that showcases why Enterprise was floundering. Television science fiction was moving on, and television Trek was not really moving on with it.


Rating: 5/10.

Previous Episode: A Night in Sickbay
Next Episode: The Seventh

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1-14. Sleeping Dogs

THE PLOT

Investigating a gas giant, the Enterprise launches a probe... and finds a manned ship, wrecked and descending into the atmosphere - which will surely end up destroying the vessel. Reed, T'Pol, and Hoshi are sent in a shuttlecraft to investigate the vessel and see if they can do anything to help. When they arrive, however, they make two discoveries: the ship's crew are all unconscious as the result of a neuro-toxin; and the ship is a Klingon vessel!

A debate over whether to attempt to save the crew or whether to return to Enterprise immediately is forestalled when a Klingon crew member awakens, attacks Reed, and steals the shuttle. Archer manages to intercept the stolen shuttle. But in the meantime, the Klingon vessel has slipped too far into the atmosphere for Enterprise to follow. Now the boarding party must attempt to carry out repairs, deciphering the ship's systems and language as they go, while Archer attempts to find a way to reason with his decidedly unreasonable Klingon "guest."


CHARACTERS

Capt. Archer: So let me get this straight: The Vulcan database has more than 900 pages about the Klingons. Archer, as he himself observes, has run into the Klingons twice before. Certainly, his last encounter with them should have indicated that a little more research was in order. But only now does he decide it might be a good idea to learn a tiny bit about this extremely aggressive warrior race? Unless we are meant to conclude that Archer is an imbecile (which he isn't), I think I'll put that down to bad writing.

In other respects, Archer comes off quite well in this episode. Though he continues to allow his compassion to supercede his judgment, he also continues to think well on his feet. Once Trip makes his off-the-cuff remark about Archer needing to "think like a Klingon," Archer makes it his business to do just that. He handles himself well opposite both the Klingon woman and the Klingon captain. There's still a sense of blundering (and I hope he remembers his words, "Remind me to stop helping people" at some point), but he continues to show progress over the feckless fool who all but begged the Klingons to blow his ship up in Unexpected.

T'Pol: Aside from a bizarre lapse early in the episode (the Vulcan science officer is the one who thinks that exploring a gas giant is a waste of time?), this is a reasonably strong outing for her. She starts to forge something resembling a bond with Hoshi, helping Hoshi to control her anxiety and promising to teach her self-control once they return to the ship. I hope this is followed up on, as a friendship between the least emotional member of the crew and the most emotional one has the potential to be interesting.

Hoshi: A fair character development episode for Hoshi, far better than Fight or Flight, this sees Hoshi determined to control her anxieties pretty much from the get-go. She knows that her translating skills will be useful on the mission, and puts herself forward to go. She actually does pretty well in controlling her fears for most of the show. By the time she breaks down a bit late in the episode, it is understandable even by T'Pol's rigorous standards.

Reed: Also to be filed under "let me get this straight." We spend the first 10 - 15 minutes of the episode hammering home that Reed has a cold, and that viruses are resilient in space. Then Reed is sent on an away mission, with a contagious cold. (A) No one thinks this is a potentially bad idea? One doesn't have to go all the way to different species to find historical examples of relatively minor viruses from one culture absolutely devastating another culture. (B) This also proves to be entirely irrelevant, with Reed's cold all but forgotten after the first Act. This is a nicely entertaining episode. But as I type up this review, I'm seeing far more clearly how sloppy some of the writing was than when I actually watched it!

Pointless cold subplot aside, Reed also has a decent episode. He proves to be a competent amateur engineer. He also gravitates to his favorite topic - explosions - to find a temporary solution that ends up saving the lives of the Away Team.


THOUGHTS

The "Characters" section already points up several sloppy bits of writing. Reed's cold is pointless, unless something is done with it in later Klingon episodes (which I'd love to see, but I frankly won't hold my breath for). Archer's neglect of the Vulcans' material on Klingons makes him look like far more of a fool than he actually is - as well as, apparently, one hell of a speed reader, to go through a fair chunk of 900 pages in an hour or so! Dr. Phlox's miraculous ability to cure anything by the end of the episode gets another workout, this time to no interesting effect. Yes, there's plenty wrong here.

And you know what? I didn't even think about most of these issues, let alone find myself bothered by them, while watching. That's because, for all of those sloppy bits of writing, this was a well put-together episode. There was genuine jeopardy in the boarding party's dilemma. Every featured character got something to do (well, not Mayweather, but that's largely become a given). Also, we see continued rising tensions between the humans and the Klingons. Each encounter has seen a higher level of conflict between the two species. It isn't hard to see why the humans and Klingons are destined to end up in a war. I just hope that the war begins during this series. I'd love for the Earth/Klingon war to be the result of a blunder on Archer's part. That's probably me hoping for too much, though.

The episode is nicely-directed, with mood and atmosphere pervading the scenes on the Klingon ship. I loved the galley scenes, in particular. Finally, the visual effects are almost movie-level here. I've come to the conclusion that Enterprise is by far the most visually impressive Trek show.

I'm also coming to the conclusion that, despite a few weak episodes and some consistent failings, I rather like this show. Not only is it better than Voyager, I think it's a fair bit better thus far than first (or second) season Next Generation. 13 episodes in, and this series is far from the disaster it's often been painted as. If only Berman & Braga had given the franchise a couple years' rest to let people actually want a new Trek series again, I suspect this very same series - warts and all - would have gotten a much warmer reception.


Rating: 7/10.

Previous Episode: Dear Doctor
Next Episode: Shadows of P'Jem

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1-05. Unexpected

Mork gets pregnant and lays a giant egg... Oops, sorry. Wrong show.


THE PLOT

The Enterprise encounters a cloaked alien ship, using its warp stream to fuel its damaged engines. After establishing communications, the aliens agree to allow Trip aboard their ship to help with repairs to their warp engines, so that they can return home. Trip has some trouble adjusting to a decidedly alien environment. However, he settles in eventually, with support from Ah'len, a rather interesting female member of the aliens' crew.

When Trip returns to Enterprise, he discovers that he gained more from this first contact than he'd bargained for... namely, he's pregnant! This is the subject of much teasing by Archer, T'Pol, and Dr. Phlox. Tracking down the alien ship to see what can be done about this becomes a priority for Trip, and they do eventually find the ship... Cloaked, and lurking in the warp stream of a Klingon battle cruiser!


CHARACTERS

Archer: Continues to display a naive enthusiasm, which finally comes close to getting him into trouble when he blunders into communications with the Klingons. How did he think a race of warriors was going to react to the news that a cloaked ship was lurking in its warp stream, creating malfunctions? Did he think the Klingons were going to invite the aliens aboard as honored guests? Only T'Pol's quick thinking, and the Klingons' own debt to Archer, prevents this encounter from becoming very messy. Even so, Archer has wasted a favor from the Klingon Empire. He needs to learn to think before barging into situations. But I hope he learns that lesson the hard way, by creating a very bad situation... rather than being, once again, bailed out of a situation before it turns really bad.

Trip: For all his enthusiasm about exploration, he reacts very badly to an entirely alien environment. Like Archer, he is very trusting of his alien hosts, never pausing to wonder if all these quasi-sexual "games" he is playing with Ah'len could possibly be anything more than what they seem. He remains a highly competent engineer, and a basically decent human being. Despite the "misunderstanding," he has no desire for revenge and brings no recriminations - he just wants his situation cured.

T'Pol: Seems out-of-character in her reaction to Trip's dilemma. Surely, as the most well-travelled member of the crew (save possibly for Dr. Phlox), it would occur to her that there might be alternate explanations for Trip's situation. Nevertheless, she is very fast to lay blame on Trip, and solely on Trip - honestly behaving less like a professional Science Officer, and more like a jealous girlfriend. That said, she appears to be the only member of the crew with an active brain this episode, stepping up to save Archer from a situation of his own making when things with the Klingons look ready to turn very, very ugly.

Hot Alien Space Babe of the Week: I'll say this for Trip - Scales or no scales, Ah'len really is quite appealing. She comes across as patient, charming, funny. And the makeup job is very good, sufficiently alien to convince that she is another species, but also sensual enough that Trip's attraction to her is believable.


THOUGHTS

Teasing? A valued member of the ship's crew comes back from a first contact situation pregnant - a medical first. The ship's doctor knows little or nothing about how the pregnancy might proceed (is there one young, or several? Are they surgically removed, or do they eat their way out? Are there any risks involved for Trip? Are there any risks to the crew?). The reaction of the ship's captain, doctor, and science officer is near-identical: teasing and mocking of Trip.

*thunks head on desk*

As truly dreadful as this episode sounds, it actually plays slightly better. The first (pre-pregnancy) half is actually quite good. The presentation of the alien ship is effective, particularly the steps taken to allow Trip to acclimatize to their environment. Trip has a realistic reaction to such an alien environment: He freaks out. He can't deal with it, not mentally or physically, and nearly bails on the mission before it's even properly begun. Trip's initial sense of disorientation is nicely conveyed with distorted camera lenses, as is his gradual easing into the situation.

Even when things turn stupid at the midpoint, the episode has one thing going for it: it moves. We don't labor on Trip's "condition" for long, before the Enterprise is facing a potential conflict with the Klingons - a conflict in which it is, once again, clear that Enterprise is far the weaker ship. Archer's attempts to talk down the Klingon captain play as pathetically to us as they do the Klingons. He does sound, just a bit, like a babbling fool, and the thought occurs again that while Archer is an essentially competent man, he is a man who is in far over his head, and one who desperately needs to learn the art of thinking before he speaks.

The fast pace, the effective presentation of the aliens, and the consistency of Archer's failings in new encounters (which, at this point, seem too consistently-presented to be accidental), combine to keep this episode quite watchable. It is still, however, the weakest Enterprise episode yet. "Man gets pregnant" is the kind of desperate high concept ploy sci-fi shows grab for in their fourth or fifth season, when out of ideas. It is not encouraging to see it trotted out as the fourth episode of a new series.


Rating: 5/10. With strong hopes that the next one is better.

Previous Episode: Strange New World
Next Episode: Terra Nova

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1-01, 1-02. Broken Bow

Capt. Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula) meets the "Kling-ots," while his science officer and engineer take a shower together.


PLOT

When a Klingon crash-lands in a field, it falls to a farmer to make first contact with a new alien race. Which he does... using a shotgun. This incident coincides with the planned launch of the flagship of the recently-formed Starfleet: the Enterprise. The Vulcans, who have spent the last 100 years "advising" humanity (or, possibly, holding humanity back), urge delaying the Enterprise's maiden flight until after they have returned the Kllingon. However, the Enterprise's captain, Johnathan Archer (Scott Bakula), is having none of that, and convinces his superiors that since this happened on Earth, it should be the Enterprise that takes the Klingon home.

The Vulcans reluctantly agree, with the proviso that one of their own is assigned as science officer (Jolene Blalock). And with that, the Enterprise is off on its first-ever mission. A mission which is complicated when the ship is invaded by a race known as the Suliban, who take the Klingon and vanish. Now Archer must follow a scant few, very thin leads in order to track down the Klingon and complete his mission - or return home, defeated, proving the Vulcans right in their belief that man just isn't ready for the stars.


CHARACTERS

Capt. Archer: A reasonably interesting start, at least, for this character. Scott Bakula isn't nearly as good here as he was in Quantum Leap, at least not yet. He remains an engaging presence, however. His Archer is easy enough to like, even as he shows some potentially unlikable qualities: notably, he's quite headstrong (once the Klingon is taken, he really should at least contact his superiors), and he has an only very thinly-veiled strain of bigotry, at least as it concerns the Vulcans. On the other hand, Archer is reasonably resourceful. And the end of the episode does see him grappling with his preconceptions about his Vulcan science officer, even if it's clear he's still uncomfortable with her presence.

Collagen Spock: Jolene Blalock was clearly cast for two reasons, neither of which had anything to do with acting ability. I confess to being predisposed against her, making it little surprise that I found her the weak link in the cast here. The pity of it is that T'Pol seems to have some potential as a character. There is room to play with her conflicting motives: Is she working for the Vulcans (whose motives appear a bit murkier here than in other Trek series), or is she committed to her new ship, even if she isn't particularly happy about the assignment? Sadly, the answer to that question appears to be evident simply from her staying for all four seasons. Meanwhile, Blalock does nothing here to overcome my preconceptions, though I'll acknowledge that she isn't painfully bad in this pilot either.

"Trip": If the ship's engineer is nicknamed "Trip," does that really inspire confidence? How about "Doctor Whoops?" Unfortunate nickname aside, Trip makes a mostly positive first impression, the actor making the most of a handful of character beats. Admittedly, as of this moment, Trip's character seems to amount to: supporting the captain, making wisecracks, and speaking in a Southern drawl. But the actor seems game, and the character has potential to be a scene-stealer.

The Enterprise Crew: The regulars are passably well-established for a pilot, even if most of the rest of the cast doesn't get much to do here. After a promising opening scene, Hoshi the Translator (Linda Park) is mostly reduced to standing in the background and whining. The British guy... is British, and this episode seems uninterested in giving him any other character beats. The token black guy was born in space, likes to sit upside down (top that one, Shaolin masters!), and thus far has no other character. As of this point, I would have to look up the show on IMDB to tell you either character's name.

Dr. Phlox (John Billingsley) shows some promise. The actor has a potentially creepy undercurrent to him, which could be fun to play with - though I have a sinking feeling that the show will end up just going the "comedy relief" route with him. None of the actors makes me cringe during line deliveries, though I reserve the right to hate one or more of them by the end of the season.


THOUGHTS

For all the many bad things I have read about Enterprise, Broken Bow is surprisingly a pretty good pilot. The regulars are all at least introduced, we get a functional sense of the characters of three or four of those regulars, and we get to see a passable amount of interaction among them. At the same time, the episode presents a fairly interesting story, while hinting at both backstory affecting the various races and characters and foreshadowing conflicts to come. There is plenty to build on here, and every reason to believe that this pilot should lead to a good program. Well, every reason except the rather poor status the program actually enjoys within Trek fandom.  I will attempt to approach it with an open mind.

There are certainly things I would like to see built upon. In only his second scene, we see Archer commenting on how emotional the Vulcans are reacting, the humans seeing the Vulcans as untrustworthy throughout. I would enjoy seeing this developed further. What if the humans aren't simply being provincial, and these Vulcans actually are hiding something? Alternately, what if the Vulcans' motives actually are for the best, but the humans end up being genuinely dangerous. Certainly, Archer's insistence on plunging into situations head-first seems likely to backfire on him at some point. What if Archer ends up creating an incident, maybe even starting the Klingon war referred to so often in TOS? I'm not optimistic about the series actually going such places - but the potential is there.

The Suliban seem poised to be major recurring baddies for this show, and do make a reasonably sinister presence here. CGI enhances them in nicely creepy ways, such as the Suliban who slides under the door to the grain silo, or the Suliban creeping along the ceiling in the darkened Enterprise sickbay during the attack. The "Temporal Cold War" alluded to here has potential to be interesting, though there's equal potential for it to be used as a lazy plot-reset device.

Really, "potential" seems to be the key word here. It seems obvious that Enterprise is being devised as a more arc-driven show than previous Trek series, with much of Broken Bow at least as concerned with setting plot threads in motion as with the episode's own plot. Most of the elements in evidence here could be really good. But it all depends on the execution... and though I am trying to approach the series with an open mind, and enjoyed this initial installment at least, it's difficult to optimistic about a show that is still widely held to have been a "franchise killer."

Scattered things I liked: I love the design of this first Enterprise. Very cramped, very submarine-like, it does a good job of suggesting technology more primitive than the original series Enterprise, while at the same time looking... well, looking good enough for 2001 audiences to have been able to take it seriously. I like the sense that the humans are a bit out-of-their-depth. I like the need for a human with strong language skills, and that communication with the Klingons is anything but simple.

Scattered problems: Blalock's flat performance. Does it improve? The decontamination scene... I approve of the women's uniforms on TOS, on the grounds that a little pandering isn't necessarily a bad thing. On the other hand, blatant, in-your-face pandering is a bad thing, and the "peekaboo" tone of the decontamination scene makes it feel like one of the "boring parts" of a porno. Phlox to T'Pol and Trip: "It's a good thing we aren't on cable, or the decontamination procedure would involve a hot, sweaty, naked sex scene."

Also, does it really have to be such a quick trip to Klingon space? Just a few days there and a few days back? Surely, this ship is far slower than the TOS Enterprise. And there's no need for it. Archer's dialogue could just as easily have been, "Just 3 weeks there and 3 weeks back." Given that the trip to the Klingon planet is interrupted anyway, it wouldn't particularly have changed the plot. If Klingon space is really just a few days away for this primitive Enterprise, then so much for space exploration - everything is apparently just a couple days' drive away! It's something I can squint at and overlook if later episodes don't repeat this kind of marginalization of the vastness of space... but it does grate, particularly in that it bespeaks a certain laziness which does not raise hopes for future episodes.

On its own merits, though, Broken Bow is a fair pilot, with several strong elements and much potential to be turned into a strong series. I can't make myself feel entirely optimistic about the series to come. Still, I have seen far worse pilots to shows that I've ended up loving (Babylon 5 springs to mind), so... we'll see how it goes.


Rating: 6/10

Next Episode: Fight or Flight

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