Enterprise Flashback: Storm Front, Part II

Fresh off the long Xindi arc of season three, you might be surprised that Star Trek: Enterprise decided almost immediately to wrap up another of its long, ongoing stories. But that's exactly what happened in "Storm Front, Part II."

Trapped in an alternate past, Archer and his team confront the alien Vosk. He claims he will restore history and take the Enterprise crew home to their own time... if they just leave him alone to complete a device that will turn the tide of the Temporal Cold War. But with unexpected help from the Suliban agent Silik, perhaps they can stop Vosk and reset time.

On the one hand, I don't find this episode to be a particularly satisfying wrap-up of the Temporal Cold War storyline. We've seen many gambits by many ill-defined factions before, and even when they're stopped, it's never been "the end." Nothing about this scenario implies things would be any different, aside from maybe (20-year old spoiler!) Silik's death. But then, Daniels apparently comes back from the dead (for the second time) to tell us "it's all over now," so how can we even take that to be real? How can you put a bow on a story that was always vague and malleable? But then, that's exactly the point. Nothing they could have done here would have been conclusive or satisfying -- so why not stop stretching the taffy and just declare in a Nazi-fighting two-parter episode that the series is done with this narrative boondoggle?

So, for the last time, let me stop trying to make sense of the Temporal Cold War episodes, and just enjoy what can be enjoyed. I like that no one ever seriously entertains Vosk's offer; you can't trust someone in a Nazi uniform. The action is off the charts, from a great aerial dogfight over the Manhattan skyline to a big ground assault on the villains' compound. Actor John Fleck must be thrilled that Silik's disguise abilities allow him to appear without makeup for a good chunk of this episode.

This is a fast-moving episode, but it still makes time for more dramatic moments. Travis and Trip both get to react to Archer being alive after all. (In a bit of fun subterfuge, Trip does twice, in fact.) We get a quintessential "Star Trek vision of the future" conversation between Archer and Alicia Travers. And while I wouldn't have pegged Silik as a character who deserves an "emotional death scene," he does get one -- and it plays well enough.

Other observations:

• Alternate history stories almost always posit "the one moment" where events diverged from reality. This episode does so too, telling us an assassination of Lenin in 1916 led to this timeline.

• Silik squeezing through a tiny air vent is one of those visual effects that doesn't really look right even when it probably looks as good as it could.

• The episode is essentially bookended with "archival footage." The teaser is a fake news reel about Hitler, while the wrap-up scene with Daniels takes place in a sort of dreamscape with all sorts of real-world footage and Star Trek clips playing on "TVs" in the background.

Despite some visual thrills, "Storm Front, Part II" is another nonsensical look at the Temporal Cold War. But at least it's the last one. I give it a B-.