Star Trek: Enterprise
"Shockwave, Part II"
Air date: 9/18/2002
Written by Rick Berman & Brannon Braga
Directed by Allan Kroeker
Review by Jamahl Epsicokhan
T'Pol: "I still don't believe in time travel."
Archer: "The hell you don't."
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
Mon, Nov 15, 2010, 12:26am (UTC -5)
Fri, Jul 1, 2011, 4:39pm (UTC -5)
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)
Fri, Nov 18, 2011, 12:32am (UTC -5)
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.)
Tue, Feb 7, 2012, 2:32am (UTC -5)
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.
Sun, Jun 3, 2012, 4:41pm (UTC -5)
Tue, Jul 24, 2012, 10:14pm (UTC -5)
Wed, Aug 1, 2012, 12:21am (UTC -5)
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.
Sat, Sep 1, 2012, 4:05pm (UTC -5)
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!
Sat, Nov 10, 2012, 4:22pm (UTC -5)
Mon, Sep 9, 2013, 6:11pm (UTC -5)
Sun, Sep 15, 2013, 12:26pm (UTC -5)
Mon, May 12, 2014, 4:45am (UTC -5)
Tue, Jun 24, 2014, 12:25am (UTC -5)
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.
Wed, Jul 23, 2014, 3:49pm (UTC -5)
Mon, Dec 1, 2014, 12:54pm (UTC -5)
Wed, Mar 4, 2015, 6:49pm (UTC -5)
Sun, Apr 5, 2015, 2:25pm (UTC -5)
Wed, Nov 11, 2015, 6:09pm (UTC -5)
Sun, Apr 10, 2016, 6:28am (UTC -5)
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.
Wed, Jun 8, 2016, 4:28pm (UTC -5)
Thu, Jun 9, 2016, 9:03am (UTC -5)
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.
Wed, Jul 20, 2016, 7:39pm (UTC -5)
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.
Thu, Sep 15, 2016, 6:42pm (UTC -5)
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.
Fri, Sep 16, 2016, 3:34pm (UTC -5)
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.
Sat, Apr 8, 2017, 10:59pm (UTC -5)
I don't really know what made that so funny, but it seemed almost Pythonesque.
Mon, Apr 17, 2017, 4:33pm (UTC -5)
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.
Sat, Jul 8, 2017, 10:17pm (UTC -5)
Thu, Sep 14, 2017, 10:28pm (UTC -5)
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.
Fri, Sep 15, 2017, 9:46pm (UTC -5)
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...
Tue, Oct 24, 2017, 9:19am (UTC -5)
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")
Wed, Nov 29, 2017, 4:53pm (UTC -5)
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.
Fri, Dec 22, 2017, 6:48am (UTC -5)
Wed, May 30, 2018, 5:35pm (UTC -5)
Give me a break, it was the best part of the episode. Prude.
Sat, Mar 9, 2019, 9:31pm (UTC -5)
Wed, Apr 3, 2019, 12:52am (UTC -5)
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.
Fri, Jul 26, 2019, 8:48am (UTC -5)
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.
Fri, Aug 14, 2020, 8:29am (UTC -5)
Sat, Aug 15, 2020, 12:42am (UTC -5)
“Not a bad follow up per see, but I was hoping for more.”
The sentence that says it all about Enterprise
Sat, Sep 5, 2020, 10:17am (UTC -5)
Thu, Nov 26, 2020, 6:21am (UTC -5)
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)
Wed, May 5, 2021, 3:33am (UTC -5)
Yes, some suspension of disbelief is needed during this episode, but good watchable Trek entertainment. I'd give it 3 stars.
Sun, May 23, 2021, 5:27am (UTC -5)
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.
Fri, Jan 21, 2022, 7:58pm (UTC -5)
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
Sat, Jan 22, 2022, 6:48am (UTC -5)
"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.....
Tue, Apr 12, 2022, 11:14pm (UTC -5)
Sat, Oct 15, 2022, 8:49am (UTC -5)
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.
Sat, Feb 18, 2023, 7:54pm (UTC -5)
The ruined city FX were super cool.
Hoshi and T’Pol both gorgeous in this ep!
Thumbs up!
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