Here’s my next post. It’s long as hell (sorry, I had a lot to say). And, as promised, it’s on-topic:
–Tons of Spoilers–
I think it was NCB who was feeling ambivalent about this one. I got the same thing. There were booms and 'splosions, and some interesting emotional stuff, but nothing really happened. Yes, Earth got beaten up, yes the Klingons got tough, yes the Vulcans pissed and moaned. But where’s the plot development? Where’s the rising action, the climax, and the falling action? I like the originality of starting out with the probe attack, and then exploring people’s responses to it, but the inherent problem with structuring an episode that way is that you get the climax over with before the opening credits. Then you’re left to twiddle your thumbs for the rest of the hour (or come up with mindless, dead-end plot devices), when you’re SUPPOSED to be having a season finale.
So, storywise, I had a hard time getting into this rather fragmented, poorly-structured episode. I kept getting bored, and wondering when it was going to hit its stride. Then it never really did, and I was a little disappointed.
That said, the story (plodding though it was) did manage to set up some cool stuff for next season. Like others here, I’m excited by the prospect of space marines, and I was glad to see Archer remind us that Starfleet isn’t military (since this looks a lot like a military mission). T’Pol’s disobedience of the High Command is interesting, in that it changes the relationship dynamic between the Vulcans and Enterprise; once she has resigned, they can’t have nearly as much influence as they had before. Finally, The Seven Million Dead Including Trip’s Baby Sister ( 
) part was well done - Earth rarely (if ever) suffers major disasters in the Star Trek universe, so this is pretty new and different, and Earth’s interstellar political response, if any, would be a cool thing to see (though I doubt we’ll get much of that, since we’re off in the Delphic Expanse, now).
Also on the plus side, I saw some impressive acting, cool special effects, and fair (not “great”, just “fair”, but that’s better than “lousily crapalicious”) writing. Good camera work, too - I forget when exactly, but during the battle at the end, they did abrupt pans of the bridge that made it look extra dramatic and confusing - exactly as it should be when things are getting blown up.
Two more semi-serious things, before I move on to silly, frivolous observations -
Trip’s subplot. Good stuff. Well, not good in a positive sense; good in that it fleshes out his character even more, by screwing with his psyche. It’s good to see characters used according to their actual purpose (sentient imaginary people), rather than how Bermandbraga usually use them (as sexy action figures). What with the Cogenitor mess, Trip’s had a hard time, lately. I imagine that that coupled with the grief, anger and regret over losing his sister could well put him a little left of center (sanity-wise, not politically).
We saw him get mad, in this episode. Not once, several times. And (contrary to tradition in the recent series) his anger wasn’t assuaged by heart-to-heart chats with his crewmates; if anything, it was deepened. Malcolm won’t shut up about it. Archer might turn out to be too much of a pussy to get the revenge Trip craves. So here’s poor Trip, left very much alone with his troubles. Which is unfortunate, but it gives Trinneer a chance to flex some acting muscle and mold his character into someone we can care about.
And, here’s something neat: He’s dumb. Which is typical of REAL people. How is he dumb? Let me explain. We may well recall that his personal policy of interfering with other species anytime he damn well wants led to much badness a few weeks ago. Got him yelled at by his CO/friend/confidant/co-dependant male companion. Made him all sad and stuff. And here, our buddy Trip didn’t learn a damn thing. He’s entreating Archer to interfere like hell. He’s glad T’Pol’s leaving, because of the Vulcan let-sleeping-dogs-lie policy. He wants to blow the shit out of people he’s never met, without even any proof they’re the bad guys.
And you object to my observation. You say, well, OF COURSE, Trip’s forgetting the Cogenitor thing. OF COURSE, he wants to interfere - his sister just got murdered in a horrible sneak attack! And that, my friend, is exactly my point. What we have here, is a Star Trek character acting and thinking like a REAL PERSON, which is mighty unusual, and, if I amy say so, pretty damn refreshing.
(This makes me worry that this is all an accident, and the result of poorly-thought-out writing, but I’m giving it the benefit of the doubt).
Last serious point:
Phlox rox.
Damn good scene with the Vulcan shrink. Damn good. Also, a good scene with T’Pol, but the shrink one was my favorite.
Silly stuff:
Does everyone on Enterprise except Archer and Trip work 24-hour shifts? Cause when those two were off lounging around in civvies, drinkin’, the rest of the bridge crew had to work. And it looked like nighttime to me (hard to tell in space, though).
Oh, hell - I wanted to write more, but I have to get back to work, now.
Love, Kn*ckers
