Enterprise detects a Klingon ship that is sinking into the atmosphere of a gas giant. When a team boards the ship to mount a rescue, they find the Klingons unconscious... save for one who misinterprets their intentions as hostile. The team must find a way to save the ship and themselves.
There are a lot of decent elements to this episode. As always, the production values feel great, from the sets of the Klingon ship to the exterior visuals of it caught in the swirling gasses of the planet. (The CG Klingon targs don't look amazing, though I appreciate the attempt to do something more credible than almost literally putting lipstick on a pig, as The Next Generation did in an early episode.)
The Klingons are interesting here. It still remains to be seen how the series will bridge the gap between the relatively positive interactions we're getting now and the "at war" status Klingons have with the Federation come the time of the original series. But I enjoy how the one conscious Klingon officer is basically a conspiracy nut, spouting nonsense to her perceived captors. And I like the moment in the end where the Klingon captain (played by the ever-present Vaughn Armstrong) tries to save face by blustering at Archer.
I also appreciate that the writers are making an effort to course correct. I think perhaps they realized that they'd crafted Hoshi Sato to be so green, so loaded with anxiety about space travel, that it was going to be hard to put her in the sorts of situations that Star Trek requires. This episode seems to be an effort to sand off the corners, show that she is picking up some experience, and is finding her "sea legs." Still, a lot of this episode feels a bit familiar after the earlier episode that centered on Hoshi. And it's strange how the climax of the story sees her become an expert in weapons detonation, coming up with better ideas than Malcolm Reed on how to save them.
I don't love the bad tropes that Enterprise is already falling into. People ignore T'Pol's advice more often than Worf was ignored on The Next Generation -- and she's right more often. (Here, she points out that Klingons would rather die in the line of duty, and should be left alone.) Yes, I understand that listening to T'Pol would mean you don't have an episode, but I feel like they should stop making her the voice of reason if no one on the show -- Archer most of all -- is going to listen to reason.
Similarly, I question Archer actually saying to Trip: remind me to stop helping people. This is only highlighting another already-developed trope of Enterprise, that Archer's actions are never the right ones to carry out his intentions. (He's "new at this.") Clearly, the show isn't actually going to have him stop putting the ship in jeopardy, or again... we wouldn't have a show. So why call attention to it?
Instead, why not have Archer change something about himself that the show could actually change? Here's another episode where he punks his junior officers for his own twisted amusement, making Hoshi grovel to get on an away mission before revealing that T'Pol has already requested her presence. To me, Archer's humor feels laced with weird cruelty an uncomfortable portion of the time. At least in this episode, he finally decides to consult an expert and read up on what Vulcans know about Klingons.
Other observations:
- Enterprise really seems to like its pre-credits scene to be just "slice of life" stuff that doesn't actually tee up the story to come. This episode has Hoshi in target practice with Malcolm, and while this does touch on the themes of her greenness (and establishes Reed's cold, which... kind of isn't a thing in the episode), it doesn't get us to the "ship is sinking into a gas giant" meat of the story.
- I had a note that the three members of the away team ultimately take off their spacesuits and spend the rest of the episode in something close to underwear. But then they're actually in underwear for the final scene, in Enterprise's notorious decontamination chamber. It is a bit less salacious this time; they aren't rubbing gel all over each other.
- It doesn't seem great to put Reed -- who has a cold -- into the same decon chamber as Hoshi and T'Pol. Perhaps there's a gel for that?
- Archer was aboard the Klingon ship too, with the helmet of his spacesuit off. Why isn't he in decon?
I give "Sleeping Dogs" a B-. It's an interesting story, but the way that it's told highlights many of the elements of the series that aren't working for me.