Review Text
In brief: A disappointment. Intrigue and foreboding quickly give way to cavalier action scenes and silly turns of plot.
"Shockwave, Part II" begins with all the elements that were fascinating about "Shockwave, Part I," and then proceeds to run away from them as fast as it can. Certainly I was hoping for something more interesting, but deep down I suppose I should've expected something along these lines. When you have an impossible situation, there's a good chance any solution to that situation is going to seem manufactured and too easy.
Which is exactly how "Shockwave II" feels. Where part one was strange and wonderful and sold on performances of workmanlike precision, part two is a heedless cartoon with action that feels painfully recycled. The plot comes across as little more than a wind-up toy to warrant the action situations. In story thread A, the Suliban Have Taken Over the Ship. In thread B, we have Timeline Games explained away with non-answers and solved with Magic Technology, where Archer and Daniels play MacGyver to escape the 31st century.
What I find especially disappointing is that this resolution has none of the conviction the first part had. It becomes obvious early on as Archer asks Daniels questions about timeline manipulation and Daniels brushes him off with, "It's impossible for you to understand." Bah — this is the writers' way of letting themselves off the hook for painting themselves into a corner: If Archer wouldn't understand then naturally we wouldn't either, so we shouldn't bother looking for explanations and should simply accept that there are none. No, it's the writers who don't understand: Just because something happens on the screen — because the writers have said so — doesn't mean we'll buy it.
In the Suliban Have Taken Over the Ship thread, the crew members are locked down in their quarters while Silik tries to figure out what to do now that Captain Archer has gone missing. Silik's orders from the mysterious Shadow Man from the future, you see, were to capture Archer and destroy the Enterprise. But with Archer vanished, he no longer knows what to do and needs new instructions. Unfortunately, Silik now finds that he cannot contact the Shadow Man (why is left unclear; perhaps the timeline has been too muddled). So Silik tries to get information about Archer's whereabouts by torturing T'Pol, who in fact does not know where Archer is and persists in her belief that time travel is impossible because the Vulcan science directorate has said so.
While Silik desperately tries to figure out what to do next, Trip jury-rigs the comm-system wall unit in his quarters to contact other members of the crew, who together begin to hatch a Daring Plan to Retake the Ship™. This all ties in with plot-line B (we'll get to that in a moment), and will require Hoshi to crawl around through tunnels on a Covert Operation and Stuff. This inevitably leads to Hoshi's shirt getting ripped off as she jumps from a ceiling vent, which I'm sure many people will think is funny, provided they are in the seventh grade. Subsequently, Reed must go on a Covert Operation (and Stuff) of his own.
Watching this stock-issued ship-takeover concept unfold, I felt like I myself had been thrown back through time. You know you're in trouble when you start having flashbacks to Voyager's "Basics, Part II" (among half a dozen other Voyager outings where the ship is taken over). Indeed, this episode feels exactly like a foray into Voyager writing — more so than any episode of Enterprise to date. Near the end we have the Enterprise under attack by a dozen Suliban attack pods, and the pyrotechnics are engineered just like a Voyager battle scene, with phasers firing like crazy and consoles on the bridge exploding. Of course, there's no regard for the consequences of the ship taking such damage, which only adds to the Voyager-like feel.
I'd also like to know how Trip can fake a warp-core breach to pave the way for Enterprise's Daring Escape. How brilliant he must be to engineer such a charade so quickly, apparently by pushing a few buttons. (I suppose it's no task that couldn't be accomplished with, say, a crew of special-effects pyrotechnic wizards.) What's funny is that in a subtle way I was fooled by the charade: I almost expected the ship to actually blow up, so it could later be reset by manipulations in the timeline from Archer's end of the plot. At least the writers dodged that bullet.
Speaking of Archer's story, let's talk about the MacGyver that Daniels is. Not only can he come back from the dead after being killed in "Cold Front," but he's a Time-Travel Expert who learned in high school how to send a transmission back through time nearly 1,000 years by using copper wire and a transmitter. How crafty. Archer uses Daniels' brilliantly concocted device to send a message directly to T'Pol's quarters; she then sets in motion the Daring Plan, which is able to bring Archer back to the 22nd century. It's clever trickery that only a writer could come up with — since only a writer would have enough information to manipulate chess pieces so neatly and conveniently. Silik ends up retrieving Archer through time by activating a device the Enterprise crew has fooled him into activating, because Silik thinks it may contact the Shadow Man. In short: I doubt it, folks.
I also doubt that once Archer is back in the 22nd century, he could single-handedly thwart the Suliban attack on the Enterprise by taking Silik hostage. (Either Silik is all-important or the Suliban are awfully quick to give up.) And after the crisis, the Enterprise crew simply lets Silik go, which makes me wonder if there's any sort of protocol for prisoners. The writers undoubtedly have no idea how to address such a troubling and significant question, despite the fact they've seen fit to drop the Enterprise into the middle of a timeline war.
This all feels hastily scripted and unconvincing. Although the episode is nicely paced and technically well directed, it comes across as a string of blatantly silly mechanics. Daniels' whereabouts by the end of the story are left completely open-ended, no doubt to leave him available for future storylines involving the temporal cold war.
I did find value in the almost-unrelated ending, which tries to look at questionable incidents from season one and lays them on the table as the Vulcans state their case for canceling the mission. I liked Archer's and T'Pol's speechmaking to Ambassador Sovral (even if these speeches were a bit hammy and pat) arguing that the crew should have a chance to learn from their early mistakes. And it's also a relief that the mining colony destroyed at the beginning of part one is not magically restored by timeline manipulation.
I was also mildly intrigued by some of the dialog in the 31st century between Archer and Daniels, where society was destroyed because something called the Federation had never existed, apparently because the Enterprise's mission failed after Archer was removed from the 22nd century. This, of course, is inevitably full of the usual time paradoxes — and I wonder if Daniels should be blabbing about a Federation that Archer knows nothing about — but I've always been a sucker for the theme of sprawling consequences because of individual contributions (harking back to my affection for TOS's "Tomorrow Is Yesterday").
These are moments, however, in stark contrast to a cartoon show that would rather pander to us with cookie-cutter action instead of thinking its way out of its dilemma with something original. If the temporal cold war is going to be interesting, the writers are going to have to come up with a way to sincerely sell it, rather than throwing us ham-fisted nonsense like this.
Next week: Vulcan first contact, circa 1957.
Previous episode: Shockwave, Part I
Next episode: Carbon Creek
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47 comments on this post
Nolan
i liked that one moment in the library, where Archer and Daniels are looking amongst the books and Archer is going to pik up the book, "The Romulan Star Empire... What's that?" Only to be shut down by Daniels.
Cloudane
I actually loved this. Probably the best of Enterprise so far.
But I found myself watching it for the characters more than the plot on this occasion (good thing really.. the plot was a mess!). Seeing them put through their paces, especially T'Pol.
Let's be honest, Trek part 2's are almost always a mess in terms of plot so I watched it with 0 expectations on that side of things.
Also it's great seeing glimmers of emotion appearing in T'Pol. I know "Vulcan gains glimmers of emotion because we're human and just HAVE to see them converted" is a bit cliché, but it's made her far more interesting and easier to relate to.
Also I think at this stage the actress (I get mixed up with who's who with the lack of proper opening credits) was doing a pretty good job keeping that cool Vulcan style while you can just about see this tiny tiny little almost-off-camera smirk when she's making a joke... or the brilliant performance (I thought) with her suffering just after being tortured. Oozing with emotion, yet somehow very subtly.
Also the speeches at the end were excellent, I loved those.
It's no DS9 that's for sure, but I enjoyed it. (My rating would be about *** / ***.5)
Nathan
I thought this was pretty good - certainly better than the 2-star episodes from season 1. I was rather put off by the ease in returning to the present - it might have made more sense to send a message back that would restore the timeline and then have Daniels return Archer.
And for some reason I had been under the impression that the destruction of the colony was reset-buttoned. (I think this was the last Enterprise episode I saw in its original run.)
Steve
I think it is better than 2 stars. I'd give it 3.
However the ridiculous ability to create a time travel device from a communicator and some copper gave me a good chuckle. Plus letting Silik go. Uh...he's clearly a threat, Captain Archer. You may want to take him back to Earth with you, or at least hand him over to the Vulcans.
Ashley
I also liked this episode very much. I was greatly relieved by the lack of "reset button" plot solution (as we had seen many, many times on Voyager) and enjoyed the character development, mostly with T'pol. Sure, it was all too easy, but after Voyager's "Year of Hell pt.2", this seems much more satisfying.
Captain Jim
I thought Jammer was much too harsh in this review. As he and others have said, it's not that unusual for the second half of a two-parter to not maintain the same level of quality as the first. Jammer's disappointment was so profound, I think it impacted his objectivity in this case. This episode was three stars at least.
Vylora
I must admit I also felt this episode a bit harshly reviewed. I understand and agree with most reviews on this site (especially DS9 and BSG) but I just rewatched this two-parter and find myself on the fence.
The Voyager philosophy of "having its cake and eating it too" is readily apparent here but not to the extent said series was guilty of.
I agree there was a few things in this episode that could have been explained better and, yes, the writers did write themselves into a corner a bit but methinks that corner made a bit of sense with how events played out.
Voyager and Enterprise to me will always be red herrings in Star Trek canon albeit red herrings with standout moments. This isnt a standout moment for sure but worth to me at least 3 stars.
Zane314
I feel compelled to finally comment on an Enterprise episode during my ENT re-watch/first-watch because poor Jammer is getting a lot of negative feedback for this review. To be fair, I didn’t watch this whole episode but more on that in a moment.
When Enterprise first aired I was very put off (disgusted?) by 2 things: the blatant sexual pandering with Jolene Blalock as T’Pol and the bad casting of a model who acts wooden all the time in a role that rarely employees emotion. An emotionless actress in an emotionless role = bore-ring! I’m a big fan of Vulcans and not showing emotioness does not mean acting/being wooden all the time - T’Pol really wrecks the cast for ENT. And the very obvious plastic surgery on Blalock is just so nonsensical for a Vulcan. At least with Seven of Nine she looked proportioned and was of a race that used implants anyway! :) The decontamination scene with T’Pol in s1 really started the clock ticking; I made it through most of s1’s first airings and gave up.
But years pass and I finally decide to try Enterprise again as long as I skip most T’Pol scenes and the blech intro song. I enjoyed the parts of s1 I watched recently and really like Hoshi (a natural beauty) who has a comfortable ease at playing her academic-in-space rookie role. Phlox is also excellent, a nice twist on a ship’s doctor. Everyone else is fine though I wish Trip didn’t have a (fake) southern accent or they cast a different actor with a natural southern twang: his acting the accent is noticeable to me.
With all this skipping, my watching all of Shockwave part1 end to end was a testament to Jammer’s 4-star review. That was an excellent episode indeed and I was excited for part2 despite 2nd parters rarely living up to a great 1st part. Well, Shockwave part2 stunk IMO. It was pretty ridiculous that a communicator and copper wire equals a time traveling comm device. And what could have been a very intense, gritty scene of Hoshi being gripped with fear in the confined space and overcoming it was actually very tame and ends with a juvenile shirt torn off / Hoshi holding her breasts shot with a supposedly funny quip. What a letdown in the middle of a weighty two-parter for Breman & Braga’s writing to morph (again!) into Beavis & Butthead style schlock. Remember in DS9 By Inferno's Light, Garak, who suffers from claustrophobia, had to work in a confined space in the Jem'Hadar prison? We saw an outstanding performance by (IMO) the best actor in the series bar none and with no silly comedy/sexuality thrown it. Now imagine those scenes ending with Garak stepping out of the tiny space and tearing his pants off revealing his butt (maybe just hip for TV). That’s how I think they ruined what could have been a great scene with Hosi by having her top rip off. And can someone tell me why T’Pol needs to be tortured with the top half of her cat-suit off to show off her Vulcan issue a-shirt? Nuts!
I’m not 100% against this epi, it has some good moments a great effects, but I think 2 stars is about right. I haven’t always agreed with Jammer’s ENT reviews but I think he nailed this. +1 for you sir!
Rosario
When the Suliban are beating Malcolm they ask something like, are you thinking of yourself and the information you want to tell us. Just once, in a torture scene when that stock question is asked I would just love the tortured person to respond with, "No, I'm thinking of all my shipmates and what the information I give you will mean for them!" Malcolm just kinda... whimpers.
Nancy
That shirtless Hoshi moment was too lame for words, but despite the plot contrivances that are typical of time travel shows, I enjoyed this episode much more than most of the prior ones. I too would give it three stars.
Mahmoud
I wanted to come here and post "at least we finally have an admiral who isn't a) 200 years old and b) always has the captain's back" as I have been pretty impressed with how easy-going and understanding Admiral Forrest has been with Archer this past year, stolidly in his corner as he is, but the ending to Shockwave II had Forrest in the traditional not-my-problem, you've-broken-too-many-rules Admiral role. Oh well.
Buck
I really liked the timing of T'Pol's last line. And Archer's response was perfect. Nice scene overall, but especially because T'Pol can't resist the urge to get the last argument in ... only to have it acknowledged!
NCC-1701-Z
Archer made a monumentally stupid decision in letting Silik go, and abandoning his cell ship to boot. I mean, seriously? Wouldn't Starfleet appreciate having a second specimen to dissect?
That has to be the dumbest tactical move by a Starfleet captain since Janeway got her ship captured while chasing after a half-Kazon infant on the off chance that Chakotay was the father. (Although, since it's technically in the past, it sets a bad precedent for the future, wink nudge!)
Did I mention that the Hoshi shirtless scene was lame? For a better example of overcoming claustrophobia to accomplish a mission, see DS9's "In Purgatory's Shadow"/"By Inferno's Light".
The ending scene where T'Pol defends Archer was nice though. And I liked the in-joke to future shows with Archer stumbling on a book about the Romulan Star Empire. Hee hee.
Dave
Really disappointed with the scene where Hoshi's clothes fall off. And then the next episode has T'Pol stripping off in silhouette. I'm not saying there can never be nudity but this is just tacky, sexist and exploitative.
Ian Fleming
Ah, Shockwave Part 2. The episode that made me fall out of love with Enterprise. I came back later on but the damage was already done. This episode wastes so much potential and is a harbinger of what was to come in Season 2. It's no secret that writers set things up in the first instalments of two parters without knowing how they are going to resolve them (Best Of Both Worlds being the most famous example) but Shockwave Part 2 is made of the purest "Handwavium" with stuff just happening because the writers needs them to - in order for the show to be reset to the status quo. Gah.
Jadzia
Ah. I really want to like this show. But then Archer says "when I was on a mission in East Africa, I saw a gazelle giving birth"...
W Smith
Like others, I'm watching Enterprise now after giving up on it originally in the middle of season two. Season one was better than I remembered it, but this kick-off to season two was a real clunker. The reset button was really heavy on this one. The gratuitous sexuality of a shirtless Hoshi and midriff T'Pol is grating and distracting to the story. Time travel accomplished with an old communicator and some copper is a step too far for my suspension of disbelief. Daniels should have told Archer to just click his heels at that point. This season two opener doesn't bode well for the rest of the season as I remember, but I'll stick with it this time (didn't think we'd have to wait this long for a new Trek TV series).
Jim J
I found this page after searching "shockwave part 2 lame" because I wanted to see if anyone else felt the way I did about it. The original review is right on the money. Part 1 was really great and part 2 could have made the whole thing a stand out masterpiece. Instead of writing something lame, if they were panicked to write a sequel it seems to me that they could have done something really one-time over the top to rescue it. If they aren't going to explain stuff... how about a scene where 50 Daniels all dressed differently pop into existence in front of Archer arguing vehemently in different languages about a temporal course of action and then they all disappear except for one and he turns and has the face of Porthos, and leads Archer through a gate in the air and back into the action. Then for weeks afterwards we're all going WTF was that!!???? Whoa!!! Bloody Romans... no sense of imagination.
Diamond Dave
Well I enjoyed this. For sure it did not reach the high points of part one, and aspects of the plotting were fairly risible. But after a fairly slow start this was a fast paced, exciting show with a real feel of using the ensemble cast to best effect.
The ending scene did have a feel of something out of a different episode, and the gazelle story seemed just a bit excessive, but having T'Pol stand up for the mission was a good moment. 3 stars.
dipads
I find it nonsensical that each time aliens board the Enterprise they have easy access to the computer consoles, punching in commandd. That is true for the rest of Trek franchiser. Why not have a password built in so only authorized personnel can operate it?
Yanks
dipads,
GOD NO!!!!! :-)
No more password in the future!!! By then they would have to be 25 characters long!! :-)
But yeah, security does seem a bit lax in the trek universe.
But it's no worse than going aboard and alien vessel and instantly being able to operate the consoles.
Yanks
Jammer, I think you are a little tough on this one. Even IMdb has part II reviewed higher than part I. Now I don't think it's better than part I, but this is not a 2 star episode.
Problems? I think so.
I too thought of Garak when Hoshi's claustrophobia should have been a more prominent issue. His performance was epic. Couple problems with how it's dealt with here. They made a big deal about crawling around in tight spaces, then when we see her she probably could have gotten up in her knees in that duct. The whole losing her shirt thing was just cheesy and unneeded. God I hate when Enterprise (and trek) does this. I just shook my head. IMO she should have struggled immensely to make it to Phlox, then Phlox could have given her something to help her make it the rest of the way. I was not really upset with Linda's performance as I was how it was directed. I think Linda could have really sold it if she was allowed to.
I don't have such a hard time with Daniels and Archer constructing some wing-ding time travel thingy... after all, Daniels learn how to make these in high school. Who am I to judge what is commonplace in the 31st century?
I really felt for T'Pol during and after her interrogation. I thought the visual of Archer talking to her in her eye was pretty good. She certainly could have had more clothes on. Again, not needed.
I liked their plan to get into Daniel's quarters and I think it was in character for Silik to react the way he did.
Loved it when Archer came out and jumped Silik!
Loved the exchange on the view screen Nice speech by Archer and even better shot at the Vulcan's by T'Pol.
Then the best line of the 2-parter....
"T'POL: I still don't believe in time travel.
ARCHER: The hell you don't."
lol ... perfect.
Strong 3 stars from me.
TS
I'm a little bit baffled that this episode is rated so low. It's somehow lower than the fluffy filler that was "Two Days and Two Nights". I thought the action was fairly well done... were you feeling generally burned out by the action that was in Voyager/Andromeda at this point?
Granted, this episode wasn't as good or interesting as Part I, but I feel like it was a (mostly) satisfying wrap up to the cliffhanger. About as good as most "Part II's" in the franchise and certainly better than what I remember from Basics Part II.
I got a kick out of most of the Daniels/Archer stuff and the last scenes with Archer/T'Pol were "mostly" great.
Strong 3/4 from me, as well.
Tony
I was expecting it to be pretty bad from watching other tv shows. Part 2 always cheats part 1.
I thought this was really good. I like Silik's character and but it was weird how Archer managed to overpower the ship like that.
Some of the action scenes felt like padding.
But I like it. Promising start to series 2 (I'm watching these rather late you'll gather, just found they're on Netflix).
As for 'hammy', I really like Enterprise but I feel that some of the acting's like that every week. The speeches worked for me and Archer was just Archer.
Lupe
I'm afraid I fell asleep during the middle part of this episode - not due to boredom; I was genuinely tired - so I shouldn't review it. I will just note though, that I laughed out loud during the scene at the end where the crew are trying to convince the assembled Vulcans and human brass not to deep-six Enterprise, and Archer walks up to the view screen and announces "When I was in my early twenties on a trip to East Africa I saw a gazelle giving birth."
I don't really know what made that so funny, but it seemed almost Pythonesque.
Rahul
Jammer's review is too harsh here - how this episode rates lower (by a full *) than "Two Days, Two Nights" makes no sense. But I agree with Jammer here: "This all feels hastily scripted and unconvincing. Although the episode is nicely paced and technically well directed, it comes across as a string of blatantly silly mechanics."
It would be tough to live up to Part 1 and there is a lot of handwaving - the part about Archer coming back from the 31st century to kick Silik's ass is far too much of a stretch.
ENT tends to do some stupid things like Hoshi's shirt coming off - totally unnecessary.
Daniels not explaining anything to Archer (and therefore us) does let the writers off the hook and is very convenient. If they are truly stranded hopelessly in the 31st century, why not be more forthcoming?
I didn't mind the action scenes for the Tripp & Co. to retake Enterprise but the trick with the warp engines to get rid of the Suliban is also a stretch.
The writers set themselves up for a letdown on this episode but it is still one of the better Season 1 episodes. I'd give it a strong 2.5/4.
Rahul
I think what I meant to say in my last sentence is that it is still better than many Season 1 episodes.
MadS
I've noticed that Jammer's ratings (often) tend to have more to do with his expectations vs. reality, rather than how good an episode is. For example, the penultimate episode of last season, on Risa, got 3 stars, while this got 2. And I could understand it on the Risa episode, because I (and Jammer, it seems) was pleasantly entertained and mostly not too bored or annoyed by an episode that initially promised to be quite bad (aka, set on Risa).
Still, this episode was obviously better. It may not have lived up to its potential, as set up by the cliffhanger. . . But Jammer explained that at the beginning of this review! How could it live up to it's potential, what with the cliff hanger having Archer stuck 1000 years in the future. . . in a future which doesn't possess the equipment to send him back?! And the Enterprise was completely surrounded by Suliban with no possible way to survive unless the Suliban decided for some reason not to immediately destroy them. And the crew was way outnumbered, so their only chance to take the ship back was "covert ops". As it was, I liked the overall solution.
The only true misstep in the whole episode was having Hoshi lose her shirt. I just don't understand Enterprise's insistence on showing at least one member of the crew in some state of undress in every episode. At least we weren't subjected to erect nipples or electric blue underwear! But really, we're supposed to believe that a Star Fleet officer who plans to go crawling around in vents didn't throw on a sports bra?
Speaking of Jammer's expectations vs. reality problem, that's the way he treats the entirety of Voyager. I guess he was really excited about the initial premise, and never forgave the show for only really taking advantage of that premise in about half the episodes, with the other half feeling more like TNG (with a little extra action, and a little extra heart). "Indeed, this episode feels exactly like a foray into Voyager writing — more so than any episode of Enterprise to date." Is that meant to be a negative? Because Voyager is the BEST.
MadS
I said in my comment above that the only misstep was Hoshi losing her shirt. I then took a look at the comments and was reminded that the scene when T'Pol is on her bed in a skanky midriff tank top and Archer talks to her was actually worse than Hoshi losing her shirt. It's too bad, because that was kind of an interesting scene, with Archer talking to T'Pol from the future and her so out of it you're not even sure if she's really getting the message. Both clothing fiascos took me out of the story. But at least with the shirt thing, they can sort of pretend it was supposed to be funny, her coming to Malcolm's door topless. But that scene with T'Pol was just trying to show skin.
One commenter above (@Dave) mentioned that these scenes were sexist. I would completely agree, considering just this episode, or comparing these scenes to the other permutations of Trek. But once again, even though I think Enterprise is ridiculous with all of it's random nakedness, it's overall track record isn't too sexist. More like juvenile. We've seen the main three males wearing very little at least two times each. I tend to think the show is doing a pretty good job with equal opportunity nakedness. They do throw a little extra naked T'Pol in when they can. The more sexist thing about Enterprise is how often the male characters TALK about how hot T'Pol is. The Ferengi wanting Umaks (sp?), Malcolm thinking she has a nice bum...
Nievesg
I am a woman and I see no problem with the shirt- boys show their body a lot in this show (great!).
I loved Hoshi overcoming her claustrophobia, Tripp getting them all in touch, and Reed volunteering for torture in order to give convincing disinformation to the Suliban (a touch of Bond spy movies, specially fitting being English and a tactical officer, and a nice hint of his "other job" on season 4's "Affliction")
Startrekwatcher
2 stars
Another mess like part I
No interesting insight or revelations about the TCW or future what happened. Although liked mention of monument to Federation
The way Archer returns to 22nd century very contrived and unsatisfying. The takeover of ship stuff was routine and not very exciting or interesting. Very mechanical.
Gooz
Another huge loose end in the episode: The last time we saw Hoshi before the Suliban left, she was guarding 2 unconscious Suliban. Did they happen to wake up just before all their friends left, or did Hoshi wake them up and tell them to get the F out. Why would they just leave peacefully? Silly episode.
Jez
"That shirtless Hoshi moment was too lame for words"
Give me a break, it was the best part of the episode. Prude.
spinalatte
2.5 to 3 stars for me. Not great but not terrible. I am not sure what I think of the Suliban yet, I am not sure about the time travel either.
Mertov
My second time seeing this since it originally aired, and I remembered the disappointment I felt back then once I began watching.
Totally with Jadzia above (2015 comment). "Gazelle" story? Really Archer?
Hoshi shirtless and Daniels as McGyver. Jammer's review and rating jusy about covers it all.
Brian
So, of course having been a ~20 year old man when this first aired, I might've been a little titillated by Hoshi getting her shirt off, but Enterprise is a somewhat equal actor here.
I don't understand how people don't get when Enterprise is always trying to get people into their underwear, it seems like a pretty obvious attempt to make the show more visceral/primitive; an attempt to present the people in a way that's more animal/less evolve/less intellectual. Bring it closer to our reality as present day humans who still rely a lot on instinct and such. How successful it is varies, I guess, but the decon chamber et al. are messier, embodied, in a way that brings them closer to ourselves.
HC
Plenty entertaining, but disappointing if you were hoping to gain any insight whatsoever on the Temporal Cold War plot. A couple of rushed story beats here and there too, like Archer's return, the faked warp core breach, and the very sudden retaking of the bridge. Not a bad follow up per see, but I was hoping for more.
Cody B
@HC
“Not a bad follow up per see, but I was hoping for more.”
The sentence that says it all about Enterprise
Austin
For me, letting Silik go ruined a lot of the episode. He’s a mass murderer, terrorist, and apparently war criminal. “By the time he wakes up, we’ll be long gone” says Archer confidently. He frees a bunch of Suliban earlier this season and let’s the leader of a terrorist cell go free after he had him unconscious. Maybe the Vulcans have a point...
Sean J Hagins
The resolution of the problem went well for me. The only thing that I saw as unwise was that the Suliban decided to question/torture T'Pol. If they know as much about Archer as they have proven they do, they should know that he would also confide in Trip. A human would be a lot easier to break than a Vulcan-even with truth drugs or whatever that was. As far as the gratuitous improper attire goes, sadly, this is the way of TV. It was totally uncalled for, and sad to see, but not unexpected.
I haven't watched these in years. I actually expected the colony that was destroyed to turn out to not have existed at all. Since that "wasn't supposed to happen", I guess those 3000 people didn't do anything crucial and the timeline didn't suffer much?
As far as Archer not taking Silik hostage, I imagine Daniels told him not to-maybe there is something he needs to do in the timeline, so he has to be let go
Another thing that I thought was unwise is how the Enterprise crew faked the warp core damage and then ran. What if Archer didn't make it? They would have all been killed. Surely something else could have been attempted?
Now, I do not ever make crude comments, but as I said before, I think Cutler is the prettiest girl on the show. I forgot how little she was actually on it-and now that season 1 is finished, I know she is gone (sadly, the actress died and so she never came back)
Shrantastic
I think if Mr. Scott had reviewed Archer's logs and heard his baby gazelle story, he would've said, "Brought a tear to me eye".
Yes, some suspension of disbelief is needed during this episode, but good watchable Trek entertainment. I'd give it 3 stars.
Neil Mack
Jammer gives this 2 stars but the ultra dull, inconsequential Risa episode 3!
For me, this was a disappointment (2.5 stars). But I wasn't blown away by part 1 (3 stars). Time episodes have to be done far more thoughtfully than Enterprise has seen.
EventualZen
How did archer understand books from 900 years in the future, wouldn't language have changed a lot by then? Like if you were trying to read some thing from 1122 you would barely understand it even if it was in English.
All that nonsense about learning in high school how to communicate back to the past really stretched suspension of disbelief for me. Surely there would high schoolers playing pranks all the time by communicating with the past?
A disappointing episode which is a shame be I usually rate Trek's time travel stories as amongst the best.
Over all score: 3/10
Sigh2000
@EventualZen
"How did archer understand books from 900 years in the future, wouldn't language have changed a lot by then?"
Good point. He couldn't have had an easy time. Example (reverse time order and less than 900 years)
Fæder ūre þū þe eart on heofonum,
Our father who art in heaven.....
R3
I agree with others who found two stars to be unnecessarily harsh. I really enjoyed this one, I think its a solid 3 stars.
JonR
So Daniels stated that the complete destruction of that colony in part 1 was never supposed to happen in his timeline. But he, a time traveler, makes no effort to undo it. Instead he just focuses his efforts on making sure Enterprises doesn't get the blame. I feel like that is kinda petty and callous to focus on that aspect of it. It would have made more sense if he, with Archer's help, prevented it from happening in the first place.
This also brings up another thought. Based on butterfly affect logic, losing an entire colony's worth of people should have a huge influence on the future in 900 years. The effect it has would be much harder to predict than losing Enterprise/Archer, since we know that will prevent the Federation from forming. But surely 900 years is a lot of time for people from the colony to leave and start families elsewhere, influence the thoughts and plans of visitors, influence the economics through trade, etc. All things which seem small, but using time travel logic it could have a huge impact on the timeline.
Mike
Enjoyable! I liked the ingenuity of the breakouts, hacking the comm links and Hoshi was awesome in the EPS conduits.
The ruined city FX were super cool.
Hoshi and T’Pol both gorgeous in this ep!
Thumbs up!
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