As Archer argues on behalf of Earth to the Xindi council, a shuttle mission inside one of the Expanse's strange spheres aims to retrieve evidence that can help the cause. But behind the scenes, the reptilian leader Dolim plots against Enterprise -- and specifically against their strongest ally among the Xindi, Degra.
The writers of Star Trek Enterprise have been been building to the events here for several episodes now. Yet I feel there's quite a mismatch between their own expectations and what they implied for the audience. At least, this isn't remotely what I was expecting.
All season long, the Xindi council has been presented like so many other bickering villain moots. (Think: that one scene in Star Wars where Vader chokes a guy for thinking the Death Star is cooler than the Force.) On the rare occasions that these meetings haven't just been vehicles for recapping and exposition, they've served to paint a picture of a government body -- a Xindi U.N. So my expectation is that Archer is going to get one chance to go in, make a big speech to the "security council," and try to save the day. His Xindi ally, Degra, even seems to be coaching him for this sort of thing -- warning him about the sorts of behavior that's taboo when speaking to different species of Xindi.
But nope. The writers wanted to stage something more like a courtroom drama. Archer gets to make an opening statement. He then gets multiple opportunities to present evidence. Dolim acts like a prosecutor trying to argue the other side of the case. Not only does this feel like a weird switcheroo, but Archer does an absolutely terrible job as a "lawyer." He brings no real proof; only after things are going poorly does he seem to realize it might be good to present the medical evidence they've collected on the Sphere Builders. (Not that evidence is going to convince someone to go against their religion.) His "case" boils down to "let's hope the shuttle mission works in time."
That mission, at least, is more compelling. While the visuals of the sphere's AI sentry are decidedly inspired by the Sentinels of The Matrix movies, and Reed is yet again made to look bad by the writers, we get a generally effective subplot of a heist not going according to plan. Even if we know the MACO they're with is a redshirt, his death is shockingly swift. We get to see the emotional aftermath of it too, as T'Pol works to reassert her own emotional control.
Emotional stakes are also effective in the "C plot." As much as Trip wants to punish Degra for the death of his sister, Degra is punishing himself. Getting Trip and the audience to empathize with Degra just moments before he's killed is a bit of cliche plot twist, but it serves this story well. One villain's journey to hero is completed, and a new Big Bad is established in Dolim for the remainder of the season.
Other observations:
- As I said, the Xindi council has been used all season to recap and deliver exposition. To shake things up a little, this episode gives us an argument between Sphere Builders to serve the same purpose, in a Bajoran Prophets-style white void.
- They really pull out all the stops to make Dolim the biggest villain they can. He personally kills the Xindi who helps Enterprise. He's rumored to have poisoned his own grandson. He spends his down time in a "reptile sunlamp" version of a Darth Vader's recharge sphere.
- After we've seen and talked about spheres all season long, the big Xindi weapon is also a sphere. You could argue this is a visual continuity with the test weapon, or logical since the technology was given to the Xindi by the Sphere Builders. Still, I find it confuses the storytelling a bit.
I feel like the secondary elements of "The Council" work fairly well. But also, I don't think the writers did a particularly good job preparing us for a courtroom drama at this point in story. I give the episode a B-.
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