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Enterprise (ENT) Season 1, Part 2

Season 1, Part 1 - Part 2 - Season 2, Part 1 - Part 2 - Season 3, Part 1 - Part 2 - Season 4, Part 1 - Part 2

The episode descriptions are given in normal text, my comments in small text. Rating: 0=worst, 10=best (rating system)

Shadows of P'Jem Date not given: Archer's interference at P'Jem had the consequence that the Andorians destroyed the monastery along with the listening post. Now Vulcan Ambassador Soval announces the end of the common space project with the humans and calls T'Pol back to Vulcan. On their last mission, Archer and T'Pol are captured by rebels on the planet Coridan. When Tucker and Reed come to the rescue, they surprisingly meet the Andorians under their leader Shran. As he wants to repay his debt, Shran leads Tucker and Reed to the rebel camp, when a Vulcan assault team arrives too. The four factions face each other in a skirmish. Saving the Vulcan captain from a light pulse, T'Pol is wounded and taken back to Enterprise where she intends to stay for the time being.

After "The Andorian Incident" I thought it couldn't become still worse. Silly me. Actually, I had to improve the rating for the latter episode to two points to fit "Shadows of P'Jem" into the scale (I still reserve the option of zero points for future episodes). It is always a nice idea to establish intra-series continuity and pick up some issues that have been featured before, and we couldn't necessarily expect that from the staff who made Voyager. So far, so good. But rather than continuing the story, "Shadows of P'Jem" unnecessarily extends the conflict, now also involving the Coridans whose motivation is even less apparent than that of the Vulcans and Andorians. We may have expected an exciting story idea to compensate for lacking evolution of the story arc, but what we got with the shuttle crash, hostage crisis and rescue attempt was actually the least interesting plot in the whole series so far. The episode neither answers any questions nor poses new ones (as "Cold Front" did in the other story arc). It is just annoying and pointless. Actually, I still had some hope at the very beginning when Admiral Forrest discussed the recent events with the Vulcans. I would have liked to see if, for once, Archer would have had to face the consequences of his unwise and short-sighted actions. But neither did something like that happen, nor did he show real remorse by himself. Even his attempt to protect T'Pol from the hidden reproaches from the part of her superiors (as he recognized that she would serve as a scapegoat) were rather half-hearted. He wouldn't have gone as far as taking the responsibility towards the Vulcans himself. In this respect, he has learned nothing. Alternatively, I was hoping for some situation that would give Archer and T'Pol the opportunity to prove themselves to their superiors, but almost ironically they had to be passive all the time - until the very end when, again ironically, she saved the life of the Vulcan captain. As I think more about it, the rest of the crew played even much less of an active part. The whole action was left to the trigger-happy Vulcans, Andorians and Coridan rebels.
"Shadows of P'Jem" casts a shadow on the series and on the idea of Star Trek. I already said enough on what I think about paranoia, xenophobia and violence in Star Trek, especially if it is presented without any reflection about the reasons, without an option to overcome it and without any message to the viewers. Once again, the Vulcans were all depicted in the least likable way, to put it mildly. I'm getting sick of the writers' "Evil Vulcan" syndrome. I think they have gone even one step further this time, as Soval was really getting angry and the Vulcan captain and his crew clearly had a violent nature, not to mention the impression that the Vulcans are supporting a possibly repressive government against rebels (I wonder if this could be even a hidden criticism of US policy). Once again, we get our weekly dose of unmotivated violence. Once again, the mere presentation of a conflict serves as a surrogate for an intelligent plot. Once again, there is gratuitous comical relief and sex (yes, I'm referring to "Archer and T'Pol in Bondage", soon on selected adult websites) instead of true character development. On the other hand, it was ironically this scene (which alone was over five minutes long) that will always be most memorized of the whole episode. In any other episode the "bondage scene" would have been awful, but I'm sad to admit that here it was the only highlight (well, the shots of Starfleet Headquarters and of Archer's ready room from outside the ships were very good, but visual effects can't save a story). And this takes me back to "The Andorian Incident", an episode that had at least the return of the Andorians with their moving antennae and other surprises (even if they were negative), but except for the second appearance of the Andorians (which, like most everything, was unmotivated, if not far-fetched) there was absolutely nothing of relevance here. The whole dumb story culminates in a battle between no less than four different factions who all would gladly kill each other. This was definitely something for the fanboys who could see four different colors of light bolts at once, but I was just appalled.
One pleasant finding is that the episode seems to be largely free of continuity errors. But one question remains. What happened to the shuttle? Could it be salvaged?
Remarkable facts: Coridan is home to the largest ship yards of the sector, and Coridan ships are supposed to have reached Warp 7 (at least that's what Archer tells Tucker ;-)). Aside from the ones on the shuttlepod, there are 15 phase pistols on Enterprise.
Remarkable aliens: I still have no idea of the spelling, therefore I am not sure if these are really *the* Coridans from TOS: "Journey to Babel".
Rating: 1

Shuttlepod One November 9th, 2151: Tucker and Reed are on a mission to align the targeting scanners on Shuttlepod One, but their sensors and communication fails. When they return, they find debris of Enterprise on an asteroid. Under the impression that the ship has been destroyed, Trip demands that course is set to open space, in the hope of reaching the subspace amplifier Echo 3. Enterprise, however, has suffered only damage to the launch bay door after a failed docking maneuver with an Tesnian vessel, and is now transferring the aliens to their homeworld. With only air for one day left, Enterprise wouldn't find the shuttlepod before the air supply is exhausted. Tucker and Reed eject and detonate the impulse engine, thereby signaling their position to Enterprise, and they are rescued in time.

In a typical character episode Tucker and Reed are in a typical standard situation, essentially a rehash of TOS: "The Galileo Seven" and its many follow-ups. At times it was amusing or touching, but one thing that annoyed me a lot was Reed's dream sequence with T'Pol. Briefly after the infamous "bondage scene" she is again used to fulfill certain expectations. Even much more than Seven of Nine, the character of T'Pol is frequently exploited as being subject to the hidden desires of the male crew, and of certain viewers likewise. Voyager was lacking taste too here and then, but I think it is just becoming too cheap, especially since the kiss scene in question was not even a typical casual and ironic dream sequence, but embedded into a quite serious context. Only the fact that the same scene, only without T'Pol's "special care" repeated in the end reconciled me a bit. Anyway, I would have liked to see some subtler revelations of Malcolm's character. At least his interaction with Trip was fine, and this is the only merit of the whole episode.
While the situation was credibly presented in detail, the almost total absence of plot logic is annoying and ruins the whole episode. To repeat the course of events, Tucker and Reed were going "at least 60 million kilometers" away from Enterprise to align the targeting sensors of the shuttle. This means they must have been very close to the asteroid field the whole time, as 60 million kilometers is no distance, even with impulse only. Now the first strange thing happens. Enterprise suddenly encounters the Tesnian ship (T-Race alert, BTW). Maybe the aliens passed by the asteroid field, found the Starfleet ship and thought it would be nice to make first contact, still, it seems a bit unlikely. We don't know if the accident during the docking maneuver or the failure of the sensors and communication of the shuttlepod happened first (both of it, as well as the later hull breach in the shuttle, may be because of the micro singularities T'Pol mentioned). Anyway, why in the world does Archer, after picking up the Tesnians, head for their homeworld without caring about the shuttlepod at all? They were only a matter of minutes away, and Archer just decides to leave them alone for a couple of days, although he must have known that they have breathable air for at most ten days? When Archer, while Enterprise is already on the way to Tesnia, realizes that the shuttlepod may be in danger of hull breaches near the asteroid field, he still doesn't reverse course, but only tells Hoshi to hail them. And this is the ultimate error, as it means they not only haven't been in contact for a few days, but they haven't even tried to establish contact although this is obviously still considered possible after traveling away from the asteroid field at warp for some time! In addition, there is not necessarily an error, but a failure to show us a crew that is concerned about Tucker and Reed. The ship is still on its way to Tesnia when Archer first tells Hoshi to hail the shuttlepod, but the call Tucker and Reed eventually receive tells them to rendezvous with them in two days which seems too short for a two-way flight. So we may assume that communication attempts failed for almost the complete way to Tesnia and back, or several days, but the episode just didn't show us a concerned crew.
I may already have complained enough about it, but the American chauvinism reaches a new climax here when Tucker clearly states that exclusively Americans have built the warp drive, "no Brits, no Italians, no Serbocroatians". I wonder if the makers of Star Trek have only the faintest idea of how the scientific community is collaborating already today and how many foreign scientists contribute to projects that the Americans tend to claim for themselves. Having worked in research for a couple of years myself, I know what I'm talking of. Something that is especially odd too is that Tucker mentions "Serbocroatians". Not even while the old Yugoslavia still existed (until 1991), its inhabitants (or at least the Serbs and Croatians) were called so, but it was only occasionally referred to as their language. It is unlikely that, of all European peoples, these two should become a common nation as of 2151, and it is insulting especially for Bosnians (or Bosnian Muslims, to be precise) who would be a disrespected minority again with such a nomenclature, as if they had lost yet another war in Bosnia. As a noted German webmaster recently suggested to me, I suspect that B&B who wrote the episode still have a European atlas of 1983, even some odd special edition in which a country called Germany (which is not quite unknown for its scientific achievements, at least in the real world) is missing. I know that many Americans just don't want to hear that, but from a European viewpoint the selective ignorance of parts of the world in Star Trek is always becoming stronger.
Remarkable fact: The maneuver to explode the impulse drive as a beacon is a clear homage to the "Spock Maneuver" in TOS: "The Galileo Seven" where he ignited the remaining fuel to get the attention of the Enterprise.
Rating: 3

Fusion Date not given: While charting the Arachnid Nebula, Enterprise encounters the Vulcan vessel Vahklas whose crew have abandoned the practice of suppressing their emotions. One of them, Tolaris, develops an interest in T'Pol. He suggests, as an experiment, that she not meditate before going to sleep, after which she has an unsettling dream of living out her emotions in a night club called "Fusion". When Tolaris mind-melds with T'Pol, a technique that is unknown to most Vulcans, she collapses. Archer is upset. He provokes Tolaris to exhibit his violent nature, upon which the Vulcans are told to return to their ship.

Well, the bothersome and pleasant aspects somehow cancel out each other here. Something that is particularly interesting, also with respect to the previous "Evil Vulcan" episodes, is how they are treated here. For once, we have some nice Vulcans, only to learn that they are actually outcasts, something like space hippies with pointed ears, totally untypical of their kind. Eventually, however, it is ironically the old order that prevails. Of all persons, it is Archer, who is usually full of prejudices of the Vulcan establishment, who uncovers Tolaris' violent nature, thereby coming to the conclusion that T'Pol's and other Vulcans' mental discipline cannot be that bad after all. Not that they would grow more likable in his view (it might even reinforce his grudge against the species as a whole), but seeing the Vulcans that could have been he might also develop more respect for the way of living most of them have chosen.
On the other hand, this is exactly the problem with the episode too. As we already know since TOS, the Vulcans once had self-destructive tendencies that they learned to overcome. According to "Fusion", Vulcans have to work on themselves, to go through sacrifices and inconveniences to become the peaceful and more or less likable persons as we know them. It is suggested that, without all this, they would be more violent than the wildest Klingon. I don't like at all how this is presented in the manner of one more "dark secret" about them, and how the difference between the "good" and the "evil" Vulcans is exaggerated. In other words, Vulcans are suddenly shown as wolves in the fold. In contrast, humans, although they also behave somewhat differently in Star Trek than they do today, have not needed punishment, exercise, maybe drugs or whatever - they have seemingly achieved peace without any "tricks". Ironically, the whole series so far and even the course of the episode itself contradicts the bottom line of the episode that Tolaris' way must be wrong because it necessarily leads violent tendencies to resurface. Only two episodes ago we could see an aggressive captain who was obviously a respected person. On the other hand, at least one of Tolaris' comrades, Kov, was a really nice guy (for what we know) whose only flaw were his hard feelings toward his father. This character and his very nice interaction with an often embarrassed Tucker has actually reconciled me with the story as he compensates for the impression created by Tolaris. Still, if Tolaris is only a single case of violence, why is Archer again generalizing things? Finally, why was Archer so sure at all that Tolaris would become violent? If T'Pol has told him what the viewer could witness during the mind meld, it was at most something like harassment, not really a mental rape. It may have been unpleasant to T'Pol and may have caused physical and psychic damage, but it would still have to be proven that this was intentional and because of his violent nature.
The fascinating part of the episode was how T'Pol's struggled with her emotions which was shown as something both enjoyable and unsettling. I found Jolene Blalock very convincing since the very first day, a real surprise even among the very good cast, but this episode is definitely a highlight and deserves extra praise for acting. For once, the recent tendency to show her in all kinds of weird situations for the pleasure of especially many male viewers was appropriate, even the first unmistakable sex scene in Star Trek (even if it was only a dream). It is only sad that the whole issue couldn't be resolved without stigmatizing her seducer as a diabolic villain who only misused her for his sadistic games (for which a proof is missing). Aside from its impact on the Vulcans' reputation, we have seen something very similar already in TNG when Deanna suffered in TNG: "Violations".
Something interesting with respect to continuity is that T'Pol doesn't know mind melds. If only dissenters have continued to perform this practice for centuries, it is no wonder why it will be still fairly unknown until the 23rd century when humans obviously first witness a mind meld in TOS: "Dagger of the Mind". Maybe Spock was some sort of a rebel too that he propagated mind melds for all of his life, and he may even have contributed to make them popular again. Only Voyager's Doctor was still skeptical in the 24th century. This is not completely satisfactory, but an intelligent quirk to show us a mind meld in Enterprise. If the authors don't want to strain continuity too much, it should be the first and last one, though. Another, possibly minor point is that Tolaris rejects T'Pol's objections against a life with emotions as "propaganda from 5000 years ago", although Surak's teachings date back only 2000 years. There may have been an earlier movement, maybe one that led a sect to erect the monastery of P'Jem 3000 years ago.
Remarkable dialogue: "Where'd you hear that?" - "A Vulcan anthropologist told me he'd seen the ritual during an Earth expedition." - "They're not trying to kill the quarterback. They're just trying to keep him from throwing the ball and running with it. It's only a game. Not a... fight to the death." - "I see." (Trip and Kov)
Remarkable facts: Archer has the book "Laura Danly - Cosmos A to Z" since his eighth birthday. The book lists a diameter of 6.5 billion km for the Arachnid Nebula, but it is actually 8 billion km. Nearly a third of Enterprise's crew are female, according to Tucker.
Rating: 5

Rogue Planet Date not given: On a "rogue planet", a planet that has left its orbit, an Enterprise landing party encounters a group of hunters of the Eska. Archer believes to see a young human woman on the planet, but the hunters tell him that this is only an illusion. The truth, however, is that the Eska are actually hunting shapeshifters, of whom one has made contact with Archer by assuming a female form he has imagined in his childhood. To protect the shapeshifters, Archer has Phlox develop an agent that disturbs the Eska's sensors.

The story is very simple in essence which alone isn't bad. I only wasn't fond of how it was again spiced up with the mystery factor, massively supported by the darkness of the planet. Enterprise heavily relies on this fashionable surrogate for real suspense, more so than any other Trek series so far. On the other hand, the romantic touch to it was nice this time, as Archer was enchanted by the woman, not as a simple sexual fantasy but as a subconscious childhood memory. Nevertheless, I see "Rogue Planet" rather as a below-average episode in the tradition of "Strange New World", "Terra Nova" or "Civilization" which all had rather tedious passages in which the plot progressed at a snail's pace.
The Hirogen vs. the Founders. The parallel was so obvious that it was already frustrating. Instead of the mere citation of clichés I would have liked to learn more especially of the Eska and what may make them different from the Hirogen. Their motivation was explained to some extent, but they remained very unremarkable. In the end, the Eska were eluded with ease, and they were not given the opportunity to make their point, and if only to utter some threats. On the other hand, for once there was a really peaceful solution, even if it was contrived (Janeway wouldn't have mastered this situation without using three or four photon torpedoes ;-)).
Continuity is impaired once again, as we see yet another different species of shapeshifters. In Star Trek it was never a problem that shapeshifters were always shown as something totally unknown, but predating the whole phenomenon by 100 years does everything but make shapeshifter appearances (or better, humanoids' reactions to them) since TOS more credible. This is exactly the kind of "soft continuity errors" I have been criticizing ever since the very first announcement of Enterprise, and which will become a "hard error" in their accumulation. Speaking of errors, I wonder if the authors have ever heard of *photo*synthesis without which no plant life could exist. Although the jungle looks almost exactly as on Earth, we are supposed to believe that biology is completely different here, in that trees have leaves just for fun and grow away from their geothermic energy source in the soil. Considering that it was not necessary for the story to take place on a "rogue planet" (except for giving the episode its title), this error could have been avoided.
Remarkable dialogue 1: Archer: "Do Vulcan captains have their portraits hanging at the High Command?" - T'Pol: "Vulcans are revered for their accomplishments, not for the way they look." - Tucker: "Except for the really important ones - who get mummified."
Remarkable dialogue 2: Reed:  "Follow me." - Archer: "Why don't you let me play Captain for a while, Malcolm?"
Remarkable behind-the-scenes fact: The mysterious woman was played by Stephanie Niznik. She also appeared as a Trill named Kell Perim aboard the Enterprise-E in "Insurrection".
Remarkable prop: Tucker is using a digital camera which doesn't look any more advanced than the ones we have today.
Rating: 2

Acquisition Date not given: A group of Ferengi plunder the ship after they have rendered the crew unconscious - with the exception of Trip, who has been in the decon chamber. While Archer is talking the lowest-ranking Ferengi, Krem, into mistrusting his comrades, Trip and T'Pol are preparing a trap. In the ship's alleged "vault" where the Ferengi expect large amounts of gold they can finally be overpowered. After taking the stolen goods back to Enterprise, Archer leaves Krem in command, warning him never to come too close to a Vulcan or an Earth ship.

Vulcan Love Slave - how it all began. So this episode preserves continuity only because the word "Ferengi" is never uttered? What a crap. It is ludicrous that the Ferengi should be identified as late as 213 years later when the Enterprise-D has the first official encounter with them. Even if their whole civilization had heeded Archer's threat for a full two centuries, this wouldn't have prevented Starfleet from finding out about them. It may have been a bit more acceptable, still very contrived, if the Ferengi of this episode had said, in a side note, that they were a long way from their home planet. On the other hand, only a few weeks ago in "Dear Doctor", they have already been explicitly mentioned to be in contact with the Valakians. Although it was probably supposed to be one and the same ship in both episodes, it would suggest that Ferengi are already notorious within the (rather narrow) range of Enterprise. Moreover, one of the other Ferengi mentions a "Bolian female" to Krem in the end. So they already know the Bolians, but the Bolians won't report about them when they join the Federation? Finally, the fact that the Enterprise crew prevails and would be able to scan their databanks gives the death blow to all awkward attempts to excuse the continuity breach, because this should reveal everything important about them (at the very least what they are called). "Admiral, you need to warn all Starfleet ships of these, err, guys whose race name I neglected to find out."
<rant> Must I be grateful now because they at least attempted to preserve continuity by avoiding the ugly "F" word? B&B know that they can't stick to their own narrow premise, and after giving us a taste of their interpretation of continuity with the look of the Akiraprise and her 24th century technology, the K't'inga, the holodeck or the shapeshifters they now open a door to allow just everything. But who among the writer staff (especially now that external script submissions are not possible any longer) cares about a different premise in a different time if it is so convenient to exploit the common Trek clichés? The Trek Universe is about to become a static universe as TPTB fail to show us a development. Always the same stories, the same protagonists, the same technology. Whom will we see next along these lines? Definitely the Romulans, but perhaps also the Borg, Q or maybe James T. Kirk? I wonder how much credibility TPTB will still throw overboard, only for the sake of easy writing, and to give the fanboys something to laugh. </rant>
There was a good deal of fun in the episode, but it was once again annoying how the Ferengi were depicted (which is not a particular fault of Enterprise, of course). I may still understand why they could be interested in the dedication plaque as a trophy, but what in the world could they want with the helm seat? Or the food? Considering how gullible they were when Archer told them of the gold or Tucker led them in circles around the ship, the only thing I missed was someone telling them about the "firomactal drive". Honestly, I have no idea how the Ferengi could have ever come so far if the ones we know (of whom only very few were as clever as Quark and his family) are like the Ferengi stereotype perpetuated here. The only scene I really liked was when Archer and Tucker got into an argument about the value of a wife. ;-) The rest of the story (which may have been intentionally reminiscent of TNG: "Rascals") was a bit too contrived. How could only one probe with the gas contaminate the air in the whole big ship? How could the four Ferengi find and empty all fourteen weapons lockers so quickly? Why was exactly one dose of hypospray left for T'Pol (and why didn't Trip try to wake Dr. Phlox instead?). I also didn't like how unhurriedly, almost reluctantly the crew attempted to regain control of the ship. Especially when Tucker first opened Archer's handcuffs and then tightened them again, they accomplished almost nothing. Tucker only learned that there was a hypospray in engineering.
I liked a couple of scenes because they were a bit ironic. For instance, when Krem tried to open the door with two boxes in his hands, he demonstrated how impractical the door openers are. On a funny note, we may regard T'Pol's encounter with him as the foundation of "Vulcan Love Slave, part I". These little tidbits, like the Vulcan nerve pinch, the Ferengi whip and some other good ideas too, are the reason for my still gracious rating.
Remarkable quotes: "What's a wife worth? Five bars of gold, maybe six? Let them take Hoshi and I'll give you ten." (Archer, to Tucker), "If you come within a light year of any one of our ships, you won't know what hit you." (Archer)
Rules of Acquisition: "Never allow family to stand in the way of profit." (#6), "Nothing is more important than your health - except for your money." (#23), "Expand or die." (#46), "A man is only worth the sum of his possessions." (no number given). There are only 173 rules altogether at the time.
Rating: 2

Oasis Date not given: A landing party discovers a group of survivors on a ship that was allegedly attacked and crashed on a planet three years ago. While Tucker is spending a lot of time with the young Liana, Reed's investigation of the ship yields several inconsistencies - there was no attack and the ship is on the planet for over 20 years. Upon their return, Tucker and T'Pol are taken hostage by the survivors and forced to repair the computer system. Liana finally reveals the truth to Tucker. She and her father, Ezral, were the only survivors when the ship depressurized. Ezral created holographic images of the dead crew for her. Archer can eventually convince him to get the ship running again and head back to their homeworld.

"Oasis" may not have been quite the worst, but was the least remarkable episode so far, as it is the most blatant case of plot recycling, much more so than "Terra Nova" or last week's "Acquisition". The extent of originality in the episode amounts to zero. Absolutely every aspect of the story, every dialogue and every facet of the guest characters is something that we have seen several times before. In addition, the plot is being developed extremely slowly. Nothing of any significance happens in the first ten minutes when the landing party is running through dark corridors (like almost every week) until the airponics bay is discovered. The next twenty minutes are a bit more eventful, but the destiny of the survivors and Tucker's interest in Liana (isn't there an old movie like "Liana, the Girl from the Jungle"?) fail to catch my interest. The final fifteen minutes are just appalling. Not only couldn't the authors resist falling "back" to the *defining* technology of the 24th century for the second time in the season, even with a perfection Starfleet holograms will still not have 220 years later (I'll spare you of my rant this time), but the conclusion is also exactly the same as in DS9: "Shadowplay" where Rurigan created a holographic village with the same motivation. The little bit of suspense that has been created in the middle of the episode is blown away in an instant when the holographic crew members vanish one after another, maybe already when Trip examines the optronic relays that almost leave no other explanation than a holodeck. I may have expected any resolution of the inconsistencies Reed discovered, but this was easily the least interesting and most frustrating idea they could have come up with (although I admit it is hard to conceive something original because shipwrecked people in Star Trek *always* hide a secret). Ezral, played by René Auberjonois who couldn't save the boring story, was the usual stereotypical stubborn old character, like Rurigan or Mullibok in DS9: "Progress" for instance. Liana, on the other hand, reminded me so much of Kes (not only because of her haircut and the fact that she worked in the airponics bay) that I thought I was watching Voyager at times. Well, plot-wise the parallel to Vina of the "The Cage" is obvious too. As for the Enterprise characters, it may at least have been an opportunity to give some of them (most of all I had hope for Mayweather) something to do again. However, it turned out as yet another Archer-Tucker show.
There was only one scene I liked in the whole 45 minutes. Characteristically of the episode, this was not a serious contribution to the story, even if it may have been intended so, but only a funny side note. When T'Pol notices that Tucker holds Liana in high regard, she can't resist to remind him of his "affair" on the Xyrillian ship: "I'm simply noting that last time you found someone this competent you wound up carrying her child." Liana walks in and asks, "Am I interrupting?" T'Pol: "Not at all. Commander Tucker and I were just discussing his previous repair experience." Last week Archer still claimed T'Pol had no sense of humor. ;-)
Remarkable ship: The crashed ship is the good old "hammerhead" freighter that appeared several times in TNG, very often as a Bajoran ship in DS9 and also in the Delta Quadrant. Now there seems to be even a CGI model of it and we will probably "enjoy" it several more times in Enterprise too.
Rating: 1

Detained Date not given: Archer and Mayweather find themselves arrested in a detainment camp of the Tandarans, together with a number of Suliban. Archer soon finds out that obviously none of the Suliban imprisoned there is genetically altered or guilty of any crime. Colonel Grat justifies their imprisonment in that it would be for the Suliban's own security, to avoid them being made soldiers in the Temporal Cold War. Archer, however, decides to free the prisoners. With help from Enterprise, the Suliban escape to their ships.

Although "Detained" does not really put an end to the recent lack of innovation and inspiration in Enterprise, it is an overall positive surprise because it proves that even cookie-cutter plots may be turned into something special. With yet another hostage-taking and yet another interference into internal affairs of a planet, the episode is somewhat reminiscent of "The Andorian Incident" and "Shadows of P'Jem", still the course of the story is quite different this time. "Detained" creates suspense through acting instead of action and spares us of endless beatings and shootings until the culmination in the last five minutes. I like how the episode critically comments on Earth's own history, namely the repression and imprisonment of people only because of their racial or national descent. In this respect it also shows the Suliban in a different light and, moreover, tells us a great deal about them. Archer needs to change his mind about them, and unlike it was with his previous premature actions, I think he now makes the right decision. It may seem exaggerated to attempt to free all the Suliban with force, as many may have been killed. But I think that the "wiser" Starfleet captains of later centuries would have supported the prisoners likewise in one way or another. What I like too is that the authors have finally used the opportunity to concede Travis Mayweather a few decent lines after he had been window dressing for most of the season.
The Tandarans (yet another T-Race...), however, were rather uninspiring. Their military was depicted too stereotypical - as just the willing helpers of a racist regime. In an effort to render them as familiar as possible, they were only given Bajoran-like noses and Romulan-like uniforms. "Al" Dean Stockwell as Colonel Grat didn't impress me very much either, although it's not his fault. I appreciated that he was shown as sinister instead of openly hostile, but the writer made his motivation and the justification of his actions too vague to turn him into a formidable opponent. He and Archer didn't really have any business.
I was surprised to see that the shuttle is suddenly armed with what appears to be a phase cannon, judging from its continuous beam. The oddity of the week, however, is that the Tandarans obviously have a racist slogan with a rhyme even in the English translation. ;-)
Remarkable fact: The Suliban homeworld became uninhabitable 300 years ago.
Rating: 5

Vox Sola Date not given: After a cultural misunderstanding, the insulted Kreetassans leave the ship in a haste. Unnoticed by the crew, a creature with tentacles slips through the airlock and hides aboard Enterprise. When crewmen investigate malfunctions aboard the ship, they are caught by the creature and spun into a web. With Archer, Tucker and three more crewmen trapped like this, the rest of the crew attempt to free them with force, but they would endanger their crewmates' lives by that. Finally, Reed devises a forcefield to get close to the creature without danger, while T'Pol and Hoshi develop a method to communicate with it. The lifeform, actually part of a huge organism, has taken the crew members as a surrogate for the lost contact with its own kind. It agrees to release the crew in exchange for being transferred to its home planet.

"Archer to Lieutenant Ripley. We could use your help down here." Not only in the "Alien" series, but also in Star Trek itself, we have already seen plenty of stories with non-humanoid creatures that endanger the crew, most notably in TOS: "Devil in the Dark" or TOS: "Operation: Annihilate". Considering that I expected almost nothing from watching yet another episode like that, "Vox Sola" ("single/solitary/lonely voice") was a positive surprise. It presented a Trek-like variant of the "Alien" theme in that the alien lifeform was not killed but released after communication had been established. It was also extraordinary that the first choice would have been to kill the creature indeed, something that for once successfully distinguishes Enterprise from the three Star Trek series set in the 24th century. Another interesting aspect is that the creature didn't suck out the lives of its victims as we have seen it so often in science fiction, but was actually lonely and seeking for company. Although I was prepared to see the most trivial scary effects so far, they were surprisingly reduced to a minimum here. Instead of that, the episode had a great deal of character interaction, and everyone of the crew played an important part. Especially the conflicts between T'Pol and Hoshi and between Reed and Phlox worked out well. Even Mayweather had a part in the story again when it was up to him to negotiate with the Kreetassans, which he did with palpable stage-fright.
Nitpicking: It is bothersome that Reed incidentally invents the forcefield and therefore introduces yet another technology that better should not exist for another one hundred years or at least a couple of decades. As with the transporter too, the remark that the improvised device still needs refinement does not excuse that it is already indistinguishable from the advanced routine technology used 200 years later. Something that I don't understand is that the creature is said to be "highly photosensitive" on one hand, but the concentrated light pulse of a phase pistol does not have any effect on it. Finally, I am surprised that suddenly a phase rifle shows up (with the same visual effect as the phase pistol) that has never been mentioned before and probably didn't exist so far, as especially "Blow-it-up" Reed should have preferred this more powerful weapon over the pulse rifle.
Remarkable dialogue: "Why don't you stay for the movie tonight?" - "What's playing?" - "Uh... 'Wages of Fear'. Classic foreign film." - "Hmm." - "You'll like it. Things blow up." - "Hmm. Sounds fun." (Travis and Malcolm)
Remarkable fact: The Kreetassans don't eat in the presence of others which they consider equally indecent as mating in the public. This was the actual reason why they took offense when they came to Archer's usual captain's dinner. This cultural peculiarity may also explain why their words for "eat" and "mate" are similar, as Hoshi found out.
Rating: 6

Fallen Hero February, 9th, 2152: Enterprise is ordered to take the noted Vulcan diplomat V'Lar, currently ambassador to Mazar, to a rendezvous with a Vulcan vessel. On Mazar, V'Lar has been accused of several crimes, but she refuses to make a statement about the charges against her. At T'Pol's request, Archer agrees to carry on with his mission, although Mazarite ships demand the extradition of V'Lar. With Mazarian ships attacking Enterprise, Archer has to buy himself time until the arrival of the Vulcan ship. Finally, the Mazarites can be defeated, and V'Lar may be transferred safely to the Vulcan ship. Her actual mission was to uncover corruption in the Mazarian government, but she did not reveal it because of her lacking trust in humans.

The old spirit is back in this episode which reconciles me with the overall negligence and the many conscious errors and that have been made before in the series, in particular the questionable pleasure of frequently seeing Vulcans with evil hidden agenda or aggressive behavior. 89 years after "First Contact", it is actually the first time in the series at all that there is a positive development of the human-Vulcan relations - in general as well as between Archer and T'Pol. This alone makes the episode a pleasure to view. V'Lar's little speech in the end may be a bit too solemn, but with respect to continuity, it is finally a step into the right direction. Aside from that, the episode is quite exciting. Only that I would have wished to see something more elaborate than Enterprise running away from the Mazarite ships all the time.
The dermal regeneration that Phlox mentions to the Mazarites is definitely a ruse, since we know the tomography unit may not be used for that purpose. I hope the authors will remember that too. As for the mention of Risa in the episode, I always thought that it was a fairly unknown place at the time when Riker recommended it to Picard in TNG: "Captain's Holiday". On the other hand, Picard may be the type who just doesn't care where ordinary people go on vacation just to relax or have simple kinds of fun.
Remarkable quote: "I sense a great bond between you. A bond of... trust and respect. But also... a bond of friendship. I think it bodes well for the future relations of our two people." (V'Lar)
Remarkable facts: The Vulcan ship Sh'Ran has a top speed of Warp 7. Enterprise, on the other hand, reaches Warp 5 for the first time.
Rating: 7

Desert Crossing February, 12th, 2152: After the successful repair of his shuttle, Archer and Tucker are invited by Zobral to visit him in his desert camp. Enterprise is warned by the planet government that Zobral is a terrorist and that the two officers are regarded as his helpers. Meanwhile on the planet, Zobral tries to persuade Archer and Tucker in vain to join his cause. When the camp is attacked, the Starfleet officers escape to the open desert. After a long walk, they are finally rescued by a shuttle, after T'Pol has convinced Zobral to support them because he was responsible to get them into trouble in the first place.

"The galaxy could use more people like you." is what Zobral thinks of Archer and Tucker. This statement gains a completely new significance when he attempts to recruit the two officers for his cause, not knowing that Archer is not a great leader but just a Starfleet captain who strives to do the right thing (or what he thinks is right). The intra-series continuity in the episode is great, as it shows the consequences of Archer's actions in "Detained". His reputation proceeds him, and this is only plausible in a region of space which is smaller than at the time of TOS or even TNG. As for the plot itself, Enterprise is caught in the middle of a civil war yet another time, and we have seen similar struggles for survival several times before in Star Trek. The episode may have been intended as a way to cope with the present-day phenomenon of terrorism. But as such, it doesn't work out quite well. Like many times before in Enterprise, the conflict parties fail to make their points and their motivations remain rather vague. In this respect, "Desert Crossing" reminds me a lot of "Shadows of P'Jem" where shooting, beating and bondage games were a poor excuse for the lack of a real plot. Fortunately, there is a tad more plot development in "Desert Crossing" besides the mere action, and the open-air desert scenes are definitely a highlight, also because they make Archer's and Tucker's desperate situation palpable.
Concerning the technology, I wonder if someone made up their mind about the shuttle's weapon. After it (erroneously?) had a phase weapon in "Detained", it is now equipped with what looks like a pulse cannon. But the question of the week is what happened to the shuttlepod that Archer and Tucker abandoned. Even more so than on Voyager, it should be hard to replace shuttles, and Enterprise allegedly has only two of them. I also wonder why they went into the desert in the first place when they could have used the shuttle to escape. It obviously had not been hit in the long artillery bombardment, and I think they would have had a good chance to outrun the slow projectiles.
Rating: 3

Two Days and Two Nights February, 18th, 2152: Part of the crew are finally taking their deserved vacation on Risa. Trip and Malcolm are seeking for company in a bar, but the two attractive girls turn out to be thieves. Hoshi meets an alien man, and they soon find more interesting activities than only learning each other's languages. Travis engages in rock climbing and gets hurt, so that Dr. Phlox has to be interrupted in his hibernation. Captain Archer, finally, meets a woman, but he eventually finds out that she is a surgically altered Tandaran spy.

This reads like a "Love Boat" episode, and it is one. The setting is only slightly different, and the way of storytelling is much the same. It is a fun episode overall, something for the viewer to relax, quite as the characters intended to do. Irony is in all the plot lines. For instance, the crew are looking for relaxation but are mostly getting into trouble. Hoshi is irritated by Trip's and Malcolm's apparent intentions to meet aliens of the opposite sex, but in the end it is her who ends up in bed with an alien. As nothing with serious consequences happens here, everything should not be taken too seriously. Nevertheless, the episode with its countless references to previous heroic deeds or mishaps may have the best intra-series continuity. Unfortunately, this applies to the plot vehicles likewise. Even though it has an ironic undertone here, seeing that everyone of the crew is being knocked out in one way or another adds to the overall awkward and naive impression that has been created of them over the first season. I don't even need to comment on crewmen once again being fettered or running around in underwear. I think that, beyond some point, it is getting too ridiculous to take them seriously as characters any longer. The potential that may have been in a one-time ironic look at the crew's misfortunes here has already been wasted throughout the season. If anything, it is rather a self-ironic look at the series as a whole.
Another drawback is that, except for Hoshi's long conversations in alien languages (I don't remember any sub-titled scenes that long in Star Trek), Risa was not very alien. Well, there were (at least) two moons and Horgahn-shaped door buttons. But there were not any specific problems of the place. Looking back, I would rather have liked to see the crew getting into trouble because of the special customs, laws or environmental conditions or anything else intrinsic to the planet, but the way it was the episode could have taken place in Florida as well. On a side note, who else thought that especially the bar scene with Trip and Malcolm borrowed a lot from the 1980s? The synthy-pop music, colorful hairstyles and finally Trip's and Malcolm's Crockett & Tubbs outfits. Speaking of misfortunes, when Cutler and T'Pol wake up Phlox, I can fully understand his disorientation. I feel like that every morning! 
Remarkable dialog 1: Reed: "Well, supposedly Risa is very cosmopolitan. There are species visiting from all over." - Tucker: "Malcolm and I, uh, plan to broaden our cultural horizons." - Hoshi: "Is that all you two think about?" - Tucker: "Well, how we choose to relax is our own business."
Remarkable dialogue 2: Tucker: "I saved the captain's life." - Alien "women": "I thought you were the captain." - Tucker: "We rotate." (pointing at Reed) "He's captain next week."
Remarkable dialogue 3: Mayweather, to T'Pol: "Have you ever been to an alien hospital?" - T'Pol: "Yes. In San Francisco."
Quote of the week: "Malcolm, bearing 1-8-0." (Tucker, when he spots the two women behind him)
Remarkable facts: Dr. Phlox usually hibernates six days per year, but two should suffice. Hoshi had learned 38 languages before she left Earth. Earth is 90ly from Risa. This is the farthest any human being has ever gone, according to Archer. 
Rating: 5

Shockwave I/II No date given: An Enterprise shuttle seemingly causes the ignition of gases in an atmosphere, costing thousands of lives on the planet below. Admiral Forrest has no choice but to cancel the mission and call Enterprise back to Earth. Daniels, the time traveler from the 31st century, however, knows that the Suliban are responsible for the disaster by planting a device on the shuttle's hull. He sends Archer on a mission to track down a Suliban stealth cruiser, disable it and steal the evidence. But on the way back Enterprise is surrounded by Suliban vessels. In an attempt to correct history once again, Archer is transferred to the 31st century, but his absence triggers a development in which Earth is being devastated. Without any time travel equipment, Archer and Daniels are trapped in the 31st century, while Enterprise is facing a battle against a fleet of Suliban ships... Daniels and Archer find out that the Federation never existed in the current version of the 31st century, and that it must have to do with Archer's disappearance from the 22nd century. Searching for Archer, the Suliban have boarded Enterprise and confined the crew to their quarters. Archer and Daniels manage to send back a message through time to the Enterprise crew. Reed finds a time travel device in Daniels' former room, but Silik takes it, and Archer is returned from the 31st century to the Suliban Helix. In the meantime, having faked a warp core breach, Enterprise breaks free from the Helix. Archer manages to take Silik hostage and get back to Enterprise. The mission is allowed to continue.

"And now the confusion...". I usually don't review two-parters separately, but this one would receive 8 points for part one and only 3 for part two. The first part of "Shockwave" makes several promises the conclusion doesn't keep. While the cliffhanger leaves several options as to how the temporal mess may be explained and fixed later on, the second part absolutely fails in doing either of that. The time travel aspects are discussed here. Among many weak points about the logic I am especially annoyed that there is no other interpretation possible except that Daniels must have abducted Archer against better knowledge that this would necessarily change history and might lead to exactly the disaster that happened. How stupid of him! The successful attempt to fix the whole situation by creating a temporal transmitter with a few extremely simple modifications to Archer's communicator and scanner is another major annoyance. The device suddenly even has a holographic imager! As if it would only take a good 21st century engineer to turn a 19th century telegraph into a modern cell phone. This is the most ludicrous engineering nonsense in Star Trek in a long time. Without any change to the plot, Daniels could have taken one of his own advanced devices or modified parts of his protection suit to send the message, which may have already been difficult enough.
There are several more errors and plot holes which show up massively in the second part. Was it part of the plan that Silik would take away Daniels' device from Reed and that Archer would be trapped on the Helix upon his return? It almost seems so since no one backed Reed while he broke into Daniels' quarters. And did Silik really think he had any chance to contact Future Guy with a device he had not the slightest idea how to operate? Silly Silik! Why is Silik so awfully important that his soldiers stop the attack when he is taken hostage? Why didn't Archer simply keep Silik as a prisoner? And finally, since when can Enterprise fire phase cannons at warp?
The second part also compares badly to the first one in that some of the tasteless Enterprise clichés show up again. T'Pol tortured in underwear, Hoshi losing her shirt, Reed beaten until he bleeds by Silik. Braga and Berman should finally start thinking about which kind of audience they are aiming at. But what I actually like least about the second part is that everything said about Archer's mission in particular and human-Vulcan relationships in general exactly echoes what has been stated so many times before. Especially the final five minutes with the stereotypical statements by Archer, Tucker, Forrest, Soval and T'Pol are perfectly interchangeable with "Broken Bow", "The Andorian Incident" or "Shadows of P'Jem". Of all persons involved, only T'Pol may have changed her mind, but this has become apparent as soon as in "Broken Bow". I really wonder when the whole human-Vulcan story arc will finally see an advancement. While it is certainly realistic that such things don't fundamentally change in the course of only one year (I would be the last person to contest this), I simply expect more from a story arc than hearing the same statements and discussions all over again.
There are certainly a number of things I really like in both parts of the episode. First of all, the disillusion of the crew in the first part is quite credible. The failure of Archer's mission in one case may have endangered the whole space program and the future of the human race. Once again, Enterprise establishes a palpable difference to the saturated and secure 24th century. The crew's efforts to regain control of the ship are quite witty, including Tucker's modification of the comm system (which was a lot more credible than what Daniels did with Archer's communicator) and the faked warp core breach. What an improvement compared to the half-hearted actions in "Acquisition"! The special effects, like the explosion in the planet's atmosphere or the battle between Enterprise and the Suliban, are outstanding.
One interesting observation (thanks, Martin!) is that, while the future was in ruins, Silik had no possibility to contact the guy from the future. This may be taken as a hint that this guy is actually human, or that his future was affected as well, so he either didn't exist or had no interest in waging a "Temporal Cold War".
Remarkable quote: "As I told you, the Vulcan Science Directory has concluded that time travel is impossible." (T'Pol)
Remarkable dialogues: Archer, looking at a book in the shelf of the derelict library: "The Romulan Star Empire? - What's that?" - Daniels: "Maybe you shouldn't be reading that."
Remarkable fact: Archer reads "Romulan Star Empire" on a book. This may be a predestination paradox, in that he may give the Romulans their name based on that. We'll have to wait and see.
Rating: 6

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