As Enterprise attempts to destroy the sphere network of the Expanse, a small crew aboard a Xindi ship attempts to infiltrate the Xindi weapon and destroy it before Earth is destroyed! Can Hoshi recover from her recent ordeal in time to help? Will Archer put himself in harm's way, despite a warning from future temporal agent Daniels? And are our heroes unknowingly stepping into another crisis?
One could debate (and I have) the degree to which all 24 episodes of Enterprise's third season were truly connected. But undeniably, a multi-episode story of some length is culminating here in this final, big episode. So it's wild to me just how far it goes to try to catch up an imagined audience tuning in for the first time. Dolim monologues about his plans to destroy Earth. The team chasing him has a hero moot about their plan to stop him, even though everyone involved already knows the plan. The sphere builders bicker with each other about the same plans they've bickered about for several episodes. There's simply no faith in the "previously on" package opening this episode.
On top of all that, we get a big dump of the "rules" that will govern what's about to unfold: the Xindi weapon can't fire immediately, the infiltration team can only get so close to the core, Enterprise's journey to
reach the critical sphere will be slow, on and on and on. What I'm saying is: this episode has kind of an excruciating amount of exposition before it finally gets to the action this whole season has been building toward.
Also standing in the way of us and the action is a visit from Daniels, which plays out in the usual way. Daniels tells Archer he's important to the future. Archer seems to take whatever Daniels tells him and does the opposite. The only twist here is Daniels' unintentionally hilarious assertion that Hoshi Sato and Malcolm Reed "aren't important." The writers have certainly treated them that way, but do they have to make a character actually say it?
But I've said it before, and now say it again: what Star Trek: Enterprise does best is action. And once that finally starts, this episode is a fun romp. Aboard the Xindi weapon, dangerous catwalks over huge, empty spaces make for delightful (if gratuitous) danger. As Enterprise attacks the sphere, our heroes must contend with skin lesions, wild visual effects, and invading Sphere Builders. We get fist fights, heroic moments, and a truly great way of taking out the villain. (Unusually gory for network TV of the time.) And if you, like most Star Trek fans, agree that Jeffrey Combs makes every episode better? Then a last minute rescue from the Andorian Shran is a welcome thrill.
The 20-or-so minutes of action that is the beating heart of this episode does everything it's supposed to do. But behind the scenes, the show was at serious risk of being canceled. And so the writers tried a ploy that while commonplace now, was rather novel for the time. They decided to write for a cliffhanger, daring its network (UPN) to anger fans by not letting the show come back for a resolution. Captain Archer is presumed dead. The Enterprise is thrown back in time to World War II... where we find an alien in a Nazi uniform?! I have thoughts... but I might as well save them for next time, since the ploy worked: Star Trek: Enterprise was indeed renewed for another season.
Other observations:
- The reptilian Xindi eat live mice. A bit on the nose.
- Holy crap. Malcolm Reed actually beats someone in a fight!
- There are some nice moments for T'Pol. She confesses her age to Trip, revealing intimate information. And she empathizes with Porthos over the apparent death of Archer.
- It might be the presence of Scott Bakula making me think this, but this seems like a distinctly "Quantum Leap" way of ending an episode -- with the barest tease of what will happen in the next.
There are well-executed, visceral thrills in the action portions of this episode. But they're undermined a bit by the awkward boat loads of exposition, and the crass tease of Enterprise's next adventure. Overall, I give "Zero Hour" a B.
That brings us to the end of season three of Star Trek: Enterprise. Ironically, some of its truly best episodes were almost totally divorced from the machinations of the Xindi story arc. Still, I'd say that the season overall is a step up from the first two. My picks for the top five episodes are: "Similitude," "Stratagem," "Twilight," "Zero Hour," and "Azati Prime."
The desperate ploy to save Star Trek: Enterprise worked only once; season four would be its last. But did they save the best for last? We'll get into that next time!
No comments:
Post a Comment