When a shuttlepod accident causes the complete extermination of life of an alien planet, Enterprise is recalled from its mission, likely to be decommissioned under pressure from the Vulcans. But suddenly, time-traveler Daniels appears to Archer with a revelation: the Enterprise crew did not cause the accident, but were in fact set up as a gambit in the ongoing Temporal Cold War. Armed with information from the future, Archer steals proof from the Suliban to exonerate his crew. But the Suliban response is strong and swift... and Archer is snatched from his own time just as the crisis intensifies.
It's been half a season since the Temporal Cold War storyline took center stage on Enterprise. I haven't really missed it; just a few episodes into the arc, the machinations of the plot make little to no sense. Still, I have to admit that it makes for a pretty good season-ending cliffhanger here. After our heroes have been shakily learning the business of exploration all season long, it's not a stretch to wonder if they really are responsible for a global calamity like the one here. And it's compelling to watch them chasing the proof that they weren't, through a series of well-conceived action sequences.
But you really have to watch Archer be a complete tool for a while before the action gets going. Thousands of colonists have been killed, and as a Trek viewer, you'd hope that your starship captain takes that seriously. But Archer seems more self-absorbed than solemn, making the tragedy more about himself than the lives lost. Admiral Forrest tells him directly that he needs to stop wallowing and set a proper example for his crew, but he ultimately needs T'Pol to snap him out of it. She's going to fight being railroaded, working to persuade the Vulcans not to scapegoat Enterprise. Why can't Archer fight more on the Starfleet side of things?
The story starts moving once Daniels appears on the scene -- though the plot is by no means clear. He hand waves both how he isn't dead (after being killed in his last appearance), and Archer's complaints that time travel is a "load of crap." The episode itself hand waves just what Daniels actually says to get Archer on board with any of this. (But it makes time to show us shirtless Archer in his pajamas. Enterprise is on-brand, as always.)
But then we get to the action, and Enterprise continues to be good at that stuff. The sequence where an assault team attacks the Suliban, gets in a firefight, steals computer intel, and flees -- it's all solid stuff, as is the subsequent attempt of Enterprise to outrun an armada of Suliban ships. Enterprise is stretching the boundaries of what television CG of the time can make look perfect, but the show is definitely putting all its money up on the screen in a satisfying way.
In my mind, every Star Trek cliffhanger will always live in the very long shadow cast by "The Best of Both Worlds." Still, it's pretty effective to end this episode with Enterprise surrounded and outgunned, and Archer trapped centuries in the future, in a bombed-out wasteland, with no apparent means to return home.
Other observations:
- I think the drama of "is this it for the Enterprise crew?" is undermined by knowing just how many of the characters have other viable options. Hoshi Sato talks about how she'll go back to teaching, Travis Mayweather talks about how he could go work on a cargo ship (even being its captain), and Phlox and T'Pol both clearly have other jobs they could go do. "The end" just doesn't seem as bad as it could be for most of the characters.
- It's a great bit of meta fun when Scott Bakula has to say that while he never thought it was possible, he has traveled through time.
The last half of the episode is a fun enough action romp, teeing up an entertaining cliffhanger. But the extra-big dose of whiny, mopey Archer we get before that? Much less entertaining. I give "Shockwave" a B.
And that's a wrap on the first season of Enterprise. Looking back, there's no episode I graded any higher than a B. So my praise is a bit faint when picking my top 5 episodes of the season. But here they are: "Dear Doctor," "Civilization," "Fusion," Shockwave," and "Detained."
On to season two...
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