Enterprise Flashback: Affliction

The fourth season of Star Trek: Enterprise was made up mostly of multi-episode story arcs that leveraged the series' prequel nature by delving into the vast "canon" of the franchise. Creatively, it was a successful pivot for the show... so the writers took on the highest "degree of difficulty" yet in the two-parter beginning with "Affliction."

The Klingons have been experimenting with genetic engineering, using samples of human Augment DNA... with disastrous consequences. Desperate to undo the damage, Klingon agents abduct Phlox to force his assistance. Enterprise sets out to locate and rescue their doctor. Yet it appears that Malcolm Reed may be secretly working against them for unknown reasons. Meanwhile, Trip tries to fit in at his new assignment aboard the starship Columbia.

I think you'd have to be the most "well, actually..." of Star Trek fans to have ever cared why Klingons went from looking like shoe-polish-faced humans in spandex and disco pants (on the original series) to turtle-ridged, armor-clad warriors (in the movies and beyond). The movies simply had more time and money to throw at the aliens, and The Next Generation (and the shows that followed) were passed the baton. The closest we'd ever get to an "in-universe" explanation for the change was a curt joke from Worf in the middle of a comedic episode.

Right?

Wrong! Manny Coto and Michael Sussman decided to devote a two-part episode to explaining the difference. And the explanation -- that Klingons once toyed with genetic engineering, using human DNA -- kinda works! It even goes a long way to explaining why Klingons hated humans for so long, while subtly reinforcing one Klingon commander's assertion that humans and Klingons aren't really so different. We get all of this, the most dangerous looking targ yet seen on Star Trek, Klingon characters played by actors John Schuck and James Avery, fun references to deep cut history like the Hur'q (established in Deep Space Nine), and a fantastic action sequence about an assault team boarding Enterprise. Really... hats off all around.

But we're just getting started! In this same two-part episode, the writers undertake the task of "fixing" the show's indisputably worst character, Malcolm Reed. Unlike Hoshi Sato and Travis Mayweather, who are generally just underused, Reed has been actively bad almost every time he's given something to do in an episode -- bad at his job, ranging from socially awkward at best to creepy at worst, whiny and self-centered. Now we find out, he's actually an undercover secret agent! And once you get over the initial shock of wondering what value a covert organization would find in Malcolm Reed, it kind of starts to make sense. Hell, it might even explain some of Reed's buffoonery over the years. Was this part of maintaining his cover? Were some of his stupid mistakes actually deliberate orders from his shadowy organization?

In a bit of catnip for Deep Space Nine fans like me, the secret organization is revealed to be Section 31. Well... it's never stated outright, which is good. That avoids turning this into a Marvel Cinematic Universe style demand to "do the required viewing" before being able to understand the story here. This is just a winking nod for those who know, that feels like it should be pretty seamless for those who don't. It's certainly a better showing for Section 31 than poor Michelle Yeoh was given.

I'd call all of that more than enough for a super-compelling two-part episode of Star Trek. Unfortunately, the episode doesn't stop there. It also has to reckon with the ongoing story coming out of the last episode, that Trip has changed assignments and is now aboard the Columbia. As I commented on that episode, I've reached the end of my interest in the "Jim and Pam on The Office"-like tribulations between T'Pol and Trip. I felt impatient in each of this episode's repetitive Trip scenes. (T'Pol: "Are you leaving because of me?" Trip's new captain: "Why did you leave?" T'Pol in some mindmeld/dreamscape: "I thought you were leaving.") I feel like the most interesting thing this subplot has to offer is a return cameo appearance by Seth MacFarlane -- who gets quite a few more lines here.

It all builds to the most explicit cliffhanger Enterprise has served up in a while, a Speed-like contrivance of a catastrophe in which the Enterprise must maintain high warp or it will explode. Will Keanu Reeves show up to save the day? Probably not... but tune in next week just in case!

Other observations:

• This isn't really a "Hoshi" episode, but she nonetheless has some good moments in the story. First, she does her best to put up a fight when she and Phlox are attacked in the beginning. Then she "goes under hypnosis" (mindmeld style) with T'Pol to retrieve her memories of the event. In the aftermath of that mindmeld, she even pokes up in the Trip/T'Pol story for a moment.

• The redress of the Enterprise bridge to serve as the Columbia bridge is kinda fun. It doesn't really make sense to put these weird columns right where people need to walk (what, are they load-bearing?) but you can instantly tell you're on a different ship.

• I think my picture at the top of this post actually comes from "part two" of this two-parter. But it felt appropriately representative. 

The high-school-romance-drama of Trip/T'Pol detracts for me, but I otherwise find this a really strong episode that does "prequel" right. I give "Affliction" a B+.