Subcommander
Goodson here, filling in for Ensign Miller this week on
the Enterprise review. While I don't have the "street
cred" Kevin Miller does (I don't own a Next Generation uniform)
I've been watching Enterprise since it began. This
season is one long storyline, which I feel the need to recap
now for my sake as much as your entertainment.
Previously
on Enterprise: Earth is attacked by a race called
the Xindi, so Enterprise travels into an uncharted area
of space called "the expanse" to see what's up with that.
They discover that there are five types of Xindi, each with
their own attitudes, but they all share the common goal
of destroying the human race. They have been led to believe
that humans will cause the extinction of Xindi, so they
go about their plan of secretly building a weapon of mass
destruction. (No, really this time.)
Meanwhile,
T'pol is hooked on space crack. Trip hates the filthy Xindi
because his sister died in the first attack on Earth. T'pol
and Trip did the nasty but are both feeling awkward about
it. Archer has formed an alliance with a high ranking Xindi
named Degra, who doesn't trust the mysterious stranger that
has been giving the Xindi information about us humans. Last
week Degra gave Archer the location of the Xindi headquarters
and told him to meet him there in three days and not to
tell anyone, 'cause it's a surprise.
The
rest of the ship's crew have gone about building a bamboo
raft in the lagoon that they hope will one day provide a
way off the island. Why they didn't think of that earlier…?
This
week's episode starts with a glimpse into the future, which
isn't obvious until later. In the present, a heavily damaged
Enterprise must travel through a section of space called
"the corridor," which is teeming with hostile Kovaalan
ships. They decide to risk the journey, but before they
get too far, a federation ship called Enterprise appears
and tells them to go back.
The
captain of the ship, Lorian, and his first officer explain
that they exist because if Enterprise (prime) had gone trough
the corridor, they would have been sent back in time 117
years. Rather than go back to Earth and corrupt the timeline,
Archer and crew decided to hang out in the expanse and stop
the Xindi from attacking Earth in the first place.
Since
they had to wait a century for that to happen, they trained
their descendants to complete the mission, but they failed.
So now the descendants return to Enterprise (prime) to prevent
them from inadvertently going back in time and help Archer
and crew complete their original mission, thus negating
their own lives. How noble and confusing at the same time.
Dr.
Phlox confirms that Lorian and crew are who they claim to
be, including that Lorian is the son of T'pol and Trip.
That piece fit so nicely into place that it gets big kudos
from me. See the cool things a show can do when you plan
things in advance?
Trip
gets acquainted with his son while Archer meets a 117+ year
old T'pol. Hoshi and Travis gossip about who they would
have married and mated while Malcolm broods over the fact
that he never gets married. Ouch. Tough luck cougar.
Old
T'pol gives young T'pol some information that proves that
Archer and crew will not be able to make their rendezvous
with Degra. With no other choice, they decide to risk going
into "the corridor" again, but that plan doesn't sit well
with Lorian. He feels Archer is doomed to fail again and
takes matters into his own hands.
Interestingly,
Lorian's plan involves taking parts from Archer's Enterprise
to complete his mission, the same controversial decision
Archer made last week. Irony sure bit him in the ass.
E2
(which I assume is short hand for Enterprise 2) has a plot
hole as big as the expanse. Archer supposedly realizes that
he can't take Enterprise back to Earth because of the impact
on Earth's history it will have, but no one realizes that
two Enterprises dogfighting each other in space negates
the existence of Enterprise-2. If Lorian stole parts from
Enterprise, then Archer and crew never went back in time
and Lorian was never born!
Stupid,
stupid, stupid Trek writers! Didn't you watch Back to
the Future?
Using
Kevin Miller's alien ranking system, which I only slightly
comprehend, this week's episode scores a…
Gorn. It had flaws that stuck out like silver colored golf
ball eyes and was unable to figure out how to make gunpowder.
