Usually
we have to wait at least a week to get a second episode of
Enterprise. But this week we are blessed with two brand
new adventures, back to back.
Savor
this, because next week is the season finale, and then it's
back to the TNG reruns on TNN (aka "SPIKE!") until
the fall. Boy, summer can sometimes feel longer than THE GREAT
BARRIER, THE BAD LANDS and THE NECROM EXPANSE combined.
So that
may be the reason why the kind folks over at Enterprise
headquarters have supplied us with this week's bounty, er,
"Bounty."
The commercials
make us believe the episode revolves around T'Pol in heat.
But actually, T'Pol is the B story line. Good thing, too.
While it's great seeing her writhe around in decon for hours
on end, it's terribly frustrating watching the Doctor deny
her sexual advances.
Some parasite
causes her mating cycle to prematurely activate. And now all
she can think about is premature activation. Alone with Dr.
Phlox she begs and begs for him to give her the "cure."
Now all I can think about is premature activation.
The story
seems fun and sexy until it becomes clear that even if the
hottest Vulcan begs for you to mate with her to cure pon
farr, if it's not what she really wants, then it's just
as if she were drunk, and you'd be taking advantage of her
condition.
Oh, man,
is that a downer or what? Leave it to Star Trek to
make things all moral.
Yeah.
T'Pol goes into heat and THIS is the promotional image
startrek.com uses. Alternate punchline:
"Don't worry. It happens to lots of guys."
However,
we're left wondering if the Doctor will give in and perform
the procedure. Meanwhile the captain has been kidnapped by
a bounty hunter. The alien, who looks like a high functioning
Wookie, plans to return Archer to the Klingons. They've placed
a bounty on his head for escaping their frozen prison earlier
this year.
And when
the wannabe Wookie's ship is attacked by a fellow bounty hunter,
Archer once again miraculously learns an alien language and
pilots the ship to safety.
Yes, it's
possible that he could be such a good pilot that he could
operate alien star ships without knowing how to read all the
instruments. But to be able to tell when the computer is saying
there is a nearby L class planet is just not a skill he could
pick up. Unless pilots come with a sixth sense.
Archer
makes friends with his Wookie buddy, and is able to convince
him that turning him over to the Klingons would be wrong.
Together they find a solution that benefits everyone.
While
the A story seems rather generic, it's the characters' goals
that make everything tie together. You believe the Wookie
guy has honest intentions. He wants his cargo ship back from
the Klingon impound, so he's forced to do their dirty work.
And the Klingons themselves are taking shape as the bullies
of the quadrant. Which is a very different view from the twenty-fourth
century, when they're honorable and lovable.
However,
to let us all down, T'Pol never gets any action. The only
thing we're left with is knowing that her real pon farr
is coming - and soon she will need the touch of a man. A real
man. And when it's not artificial, and her life is in the
balance, someone's gotta make it with the Vulcan…
I think
startrek.com
may be holding some sort of contest.
