Star Trek: Enterprise
"The Forgotten"
Air date: 4/28/2004
Written by Chris Black & David A. Goodman
Directed by Levar Burton
Review by Jamahl Epsicokhan
"The letter — how's it going?"
"I got as far as 'I regret to inform you.'"
"That's a little dry, sir."— Taylor, Trip
In brief: More standout stuff. Has the season perhaps turned the corner?
"Azati Prime," "Damage," and now "The Forgotten" form a successful troika of episodes that represents some of Enterprise's most involving storytelling to date. Surely, in the past three shows we've seen more pure substance than in any three shows from the rest of the season. And when I say substance, I mean not just plot advancement (although there's plenty of it) but also a reasonable level of thematic relevance. I'm tempted to wonder why we had to sit through so many vapid episodes ("Extinction," "Harbinger," "Carpenter Street," "Hatchery," etc.) in order to reach this point. But I suppose when you have 24 episode slots you need to fill, there are going to be some casualties in the midst of all the setup.
On a thematic level, "The Forgotten" refers to the Enterprise's casualties (a better title might've been "The Remembered" given the point here). When the tally is finalized, the battle in "Azati Prime" has claimed 18 crew members. In a crew of less than 100, that's a significant blow.
"The Forgotten" is both commendable and necessary because it humanizes and faces up to the subject of death rather than ignoring it as a throwaway piece of action plotting. Earlier in the season I mentioned that the issue of fatalities had been rather superficially glossed over — especially considering that the first two seasons saw zero fatalities (at least as far as we were shown). You'd think the first deaths aboard Enterprise would've been something of a tragic milestone — but then maybe not considering there had already been 7 million killed in the Xindi Swath.
The episode begins with Archer giving a speech in the engine room, promising that the mission will go on in the name of those who died on Earth and also "for the 18." It's an effective way to start the show, on a solemn but determined note that follows up the past two episodes and makes this feel like a legitimate piece of an actual trilogy, with the ship going through an extended recovery.
The story's structure involves two basic threads — one regarding the nuts-and-bolts plot involving the Xindi negotiations, the other regarding a more intimate character theme. The two threads at times cross over relevantly into each other's territory. In Story A, we have Archer making the arranged rendezvous with Degra inside the cloaking field of one of the spheres. Archer's goal is to present evidence that convinces Degra that the sphere-builders are the real enemy manipulating everyone. In Story B, we have Trip coming to terms with personal loss. Archer has assigned him to write a letter to the family of Crewman Taylor, one of Trip's engineers. Trip cannot face this task, because Taylor's death reminds him of his sister Elizabeth, who died in the Xindi Swath.
Degra, along with the unnamed Xindi council member who is always flanking him (Rick Worthy), comes aboard the Enterprise, where Archer walks them both through the evidence. He shows them the Xindi reptilian corpses brought back (forward?) from Earth 2004 and put into frozen storage since then (I admit that I'd written them off as long forgotten). He shows them the bioweapon-development technology that they were using. He shows them the scans of the sphere-builder that perished aboard the Enterprise. (Degra: "Perhaps your atmosphere was toxic to him." Phlox: "I believe our universe was toxic to him.")
What I especially liked about these scenes was Archer's cold — and yet cool — response in the face of what could've been endlessly frustrating skepticism. Not convinced? Well, then, follow me into this room and take a look at this. Still skeptical? I have something else to show you over here. Scott Bakula has refined to a near-science Archer's utterly serious determination, and here plays him as a man who is going to show the Xindi what's what, is certainly not going to smile about it, but is also completely rational and calm in going about it. It's an interesting performance that keeps us right there with Archer in his attempt to let the facts speak for themselves.
Trip, however, makes things a little more personal. In a tense but respectably restrained scene, Trip confronts Degra over the mass-scale death Degra's weapon caused on Earth, including the death of his sister. It's a dramatically effective scene, not just because of what it contains but also because of what it does not contain. Trip is angry but does not lash out over the top. Archer and T'Pol both shut him down but not without a certain understanding. Degra takes his licks and then takes them to heart. There are uneasy emotions at work here, but there's also a certain amount of civil rationality that is maintained, and it makes the scene credible.
Later, there's a wonderful and subtle moment that I cherished. After Trip and Reed extinguish a fire on the hull of the ship, which leaves Reed injured, Trip finds another opportunity to lash out (again, understandably) at Degra. A disquieted Degra walks solemnly out of the room. Just before he walks through the door, he pauses for the briefest moment, as if he might say something. But he instead silently steps through the door without turning around. This is just about perfectly played. Degra, I have no doubt, wanted to express some sort of regret. But what could he possibly say that would be of any value to Trip? In this case, it's perhaps better to say nothing. (The writers have done an excellent job of humanizing Degra in the past half-dozen or so episodes, and it's no coincidence the series has been looking better during that same period.)
Trip's dilemma of writing the letter is played out explicitly in a dream sequence where he talks to the deceased Crewman Taylor (Kipleigh Brown) and explains how difficult it is for him to come up with the right words. She tells him: "Just remember me. Is that asking so much?" "Yes," he responds.
Of course, it's overly obvious that his inability to confront his sister's death is the psychological root of his inability to confront Taylor's death, but it still makes for a couple well-acted, well-directed, substantive scenes. It also supplies some welcome closure for an issue that was prevalent early in the season before being set aside.
T'Pol, meanwhile, helps console Trip, which is an appropriate choice; earlier in the episode we saw her telling Phlox that she can no longer suppress her emotions, even after her Trellium-D detox. Phlox likens her situation to that of a genie being released from its bottle. She may have to learn to live with her emotions.
I guess what I'm saying here is that "The Forgotten" tells its story with the sort of conviction that was not apparent earlier in the season. Now that we're facing crunch time, the pieces are much more easily and effectively falling into place. Degra reaches his personal turning point when the issue is forced: A reptilian ship appears and threatens to derail the Enterprise's alliance with him. Reluctantly, he agrees to team up with the Enterprise and attack the reptilians. He even destroys them to keep them from reporting the alliance and derailing the plan, which is to have Archer meet with the council and show them the evidence.
All of this is accomplished with solid and efficient storytelling, good performances, and a respectable balance of plot and character. Right now is about as optimistic as I've felt about Enterprise in as long as I can remember.
Next week: Tomorrow's Enterprise meets Today's Enterprise. (No mention of Yesterday's Enterprise.)
Previous episode: Damage
Next episode: E2
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40 comments on this post
Wed, Jul 29, 2009, 7:52pm (UTC -5)
Mon, Oct 25, 2010, 2:40pm (UTC -5)
Thu, Dec 30, 2010, 5:25pm (UTC -5)
Tue, May 10, 2011, 8:17am (UTC -5)
No fear! The inevitable traces of imperfection are still present, but there's also a lot to smile about in this episode (well, actually "The Forgotten" exudes more of a *sad* mood, but you get my point). I guess I'll start with the negative (in bullet form so as not to delve on it):
• Archer's speech, while a welcome novelty at last (the captain finally acknowledges the casualties) could have been done a lot better (see Adama's speeches on Battlestar Galactica for some REAL inspiration).
• The same can be said about Tucker's letter. Too short IMHO, although it did move me.
• When T'Pol tries to comfort Trip, why didn't she hug him or something? If she has now access to all these emotions, the writers should have embraced the opportunity. Instead they have her simply put her hand on Trip's shoulder sympathetically.
• How the Reptilian ship found Degra & Archer's rendezvous point is conveniently ignored.
• More importantly and all things considered, this episode's MAIN event isn't Archer's speech, repairs to the Enterprise, T'Pol's feelings, or Tucker's letter. It's the fact Degra has gone past the POINT OF NO RETURN!!! He attacked and destroyed a Reptilian ship! This essentially means *civil war* (that is, unless you buy the fact the ship was destroyed quickly enough, before it had a chance to alert to other Reptilian ships). This is a momentous occasion, one that Degra should have acknowledged with a lot more gravitas and solemnity.
All that aside, I agree with everything Jammer wrote. A very good outing.
I will disagree on one point though: "Has the season perhaps turned the corner"? No. Only time will tell. Optimism in this series is a luxury I cannot afford, lest it bite me in the ass (as it repeatedly has in the past) later.
Sat, Oct 27, 2012, 11:23am (UTC -5)
BTW, the Reptilian ships are awesome in appearance.
Tue, Dec 4, 2012, 2:20pm (UTC -5)
Including that first comment, that if they'd kept to this kind of quality more consistently, Star Trek (the real one not the crappy alternate timeline reboot movie thing) would still be airing today. Very true.
Fri, Feb 15, 2013, 12:55am (UTC -5)
I'd also like to say (To Marco P.) if you're waiting for bad episodes, don't be so surprised to get some. You can say the same for any 26 episodes show. And if you need to overanalyse each one of them to find the flaws, well, you can do that for the other series too. Yes, even in BSG ! And I disagree about the hug: the way it was shot and how the lines were delivered, I thought it was spot on.
As to what killed the franchise, I'd say it's more a sequence of events more than just Enterprise. The producers have been too avid and should have spread the series over time, with pauses. For example, having DS9 and Voyager almost at the same time was not good. Then, each show have had 7 seasons of (average) 26 episodes except for TOS (and TAS) + the movies. They gave us exploration the cow boy way, exploration in perfect circumstances, a space station and a war, a ship stranded in space and now a prequel. After a while, the stories in the same universe are bound to become redundant.
If we rewatch Trek, it's because it was good quality. Today, I'm looking for a new sci-fi show that's entertaining and makes me think. Well, if you have something in mind, feel free to share, because I find myself looking at a void... No more Farscape, BSG, B5, Firefly or Trek. Not even a Stargate. Sigh.
Sat, Sep 21, 2013, 10:44am (UTC -5)
Tue, Oct 15, 2013, 8:43pm (UTC -5)
Fri, May 23, 2014, 5:25pm (UTC -5)
Mon, Jul 14, 2014, 6:57pm (UTC -5)
I also at first felt T'Pol should hug Trip, but I think having her study his face and look in his eyes had more emotional impact.
I completely understood Trip's angry comments to Degra, and while his going off wasn't diplomatic, I immediately saw how it could actually help get Degra to see the humans as people who experienced pain, pain that he was directly responsible for. And that idea did come out later from Degra himself. Well done, Trip. Well done, Degra. Well done, show.
On a less emotional note, I also enjoyed the EVA segment -- seeing how parts of the hull can be removed and what a plasma vent might look like satisfied the SF nerd in me.
Wed, Jul 16, 2014, 8:31am (UTC -5)
Little taken back about Jammer's comment.
"Has the season perhaps turned the corner?"
"Turned the corner"???? Season 3 has been a great ride, these last 3 episodes just elevate it.
Everything is well done in this episode.
Suspenseful, dramatic, realistic, tense... the ship is blown to hell, struggling to just "stay afloat"... just great stuff.
I've seen this episode probably 8 times and I still tear up when Trip is talking about his sister to T'Pol. Wow. I can only imagine losing a family member and keeping it all bottled up inside for so long. Conner's and Jolene's performances were outstanding.
Outstanding writing adding Trip having to write a letter about losing one of his team.
This trilogy is one of the finest in all of trek!
Easy 4 stars for me.
Wed, Feb 25, 2015, 6:25pm (UTC -5)
Wed, Feb 25, 2015, 6:28pm (UTC -5)
Sat, Apr 25, 2015, 12:48am (UTC -5)
Not much to add, except did anyone else catch Seth McFarlane as the crewman who got chewed by Tripp, at 14.08?
Sat, Apr 25, 2015, 12:51am (UTC -5)
Wed, Jun 24, 2015, 11:07pm (UTC -5)
Nice little scenes everywhere such as between Trip and Phlox, Trip and Archer, Trip and Degra and even Trip and T'Pol, (wonderfully understated and they reseisted the temptation to throw them into each-others arms) - all well written to allow the actors to work and even used the guest actors well. Also the first time in the Xindi Arc where it seems that its all starting to pay off and begining to build towards something really interesting.
Not as good as BSG (which I am also working through) but definately a step up from some of the earlier Enterprise stuff.
Wed, Aug 12, 2015, 8:44pm (UTC -5)
Sat, Oct 31, 2015, 6:59pm (UTC -5)
It helps that Connor Trinneer is an exceptionally talented actor and one of the best actors to ever appear in Star Trek, up there with Stewart and Rene Auberjonois. He really sells it. His breakdown in front of T'Pol was extremely effective and outright riveting to watch, and the last scene where he finally says goodbye to his sister had tears rolling down my face.
One of the best episodes of any Star Trek in my book.
Sun, Nov 1, 2015, 6:40pm (UTC -5)
Agree holeheartedly.
I too lost some tears in this episode.
One of trek finest.
Mon, May 2, 2016, 12:26pm (UTC -5)
Sun, Jul 10, 2016, 3:25pm (UTC -5)
Tue, Jan 3, 2017, 4:16am (UTC -5)
Luckily with this "trilogy" of episodes - Azati/Damage and now The Forgotten, I'm glad I pushed through the first two lackluster seasons to get to this point. While the Xindi arc itself hasn't lit my world on fire, it is certainly a nice change of pace from the dull/redundant episodes that we got back in Season 2.
Connor did a terrific job capturing the sort of endless "denial" that a person goes through after the tragic loss of a loved one. Great stuff all around. Looking forward to finishing out this season, which has been a MUCH NEEDED improvement after the majority of 1 and 2's stories.
Mon, Jul 10, 2017, 5:34pm (UTC -5)
The best parts of the episode revolve around Trip and facing the loss of his subordinate and again his sister. A great actor can make the viewer go through the emotions and that is achieved sufficiently here. It's good that ENT is humanizing the casualties.
A lot is going on in this episode as it tries to move the story forward. The plasma leak didn't do anything for me - reminds me of "Minefield" with Reed/Archer out on the Enterprise. Also didn't care for Phlox telling Trip to go sleep -- I think in these extreme circumstances, he should pretty much keep going until exhaustion -- there's so much that needs to be done.
Archer is good in this episode too -- very logical, methodical about providing evidence to Degra and his buddy. I do think the part about destroying the Reptilian ship is a bit hard to believe given how powerful it looks and Degra's ship being so small and the Enterprise not really having much weaponry left.
Great end to what I guess is being called a "trilogy" of episodes. 3 stars for me -- the emotional aspects of this episode are the strong parts whereas some the "action" aspects seem a bit unnecessary as if trying to cram too much in 1 hour.
Wed, Aug 9, 2017, 8:33am (UTC -5)
That said, this episode and Damage are as good as anything in DS9's war arc.
Sat, Sep 23, 2017, 6:25pm (UTC -5)
This is what Voyager should have been. A ship out in the middle of nowhere with no help from home, doing things they don't want to just to survive, their ship getting damaged and actually taking time to fix, etc. If this was Voyager, this episode would never have existed. The ship would have been magically fixed and the deaths of crew members basically ignored. Voyager had such a promising premise and wasted it on fluff. Too bad it took Enterprise to actually use that premise effectively.
I'm glad Enterprise did though.
3 1/2 stars from me for each of the last three episodes
Tue, Mar 20, 2018, 1:48pm (UTC -5)
Sun, Oct 7, 2018, 4:54pm (UTC -5)
Sun, Oct 14, 2018, 8:29am (UTC -5)
That being said, your calling out of his “petulance” is harsh. This episode makes it explicit that he has not, up to this point even attempted to come to terms with Elizabeth’s death. Imagine then coming face to face with the man who killed your nearest and dearest relative and extrapolate what your reaction might be. THEN imagine that not only did this man kill a member of your family, but he’s responsible for a Hitler-esque level of genocide. Don’t you think that actually, Trip’s apparent petulance was pretty understandable and in fact his reaction as a whole was rather restrained?
To paraphrase Khabib Nurmagomedov, I’d have changed his face on sight.
Wed, Nov 28, 2018, 5:51pm (UTC -5)
Sat, Mar 30, 2019, 11:37pm (UTC -5)
Sat, Oct 12, 2019, 9:21pm (UTC -5)
Wed, Jan 1, 2020, 9:00pm (UTC -5)
- It’s hilarious to see Seth MacFarlane as some random crewmember who gets yelled at by Trip. His cameo could’ve come in any episode and it was just luck that landed him in such a great one! Today he’s much more recognizable thanks to the Orville and his movies, but back then, none but the biggest geeks would’ve noticed. I remember there being a small amount of hype about him at the time. And wouldn’t you know, today Brannon Braga works for *him*!
- Among the many standout scenes, I also have to commend the excellent way that Trip’s dream sequence is staged: Taylor’s darkened, smashed-up quarters, a ghostly light across her face. It’s eerie and powerful. Kudos to LeVar Burton, whose directing chops are IMO underrated. (He also directed another one of Trek’s finest, Voyager’s “Timeless.”)
- I think part of the reason most of us love this trilogy of episodes so much comes down to screenplay structure. If you think of the entire Xindi arc as one long story, we’re at the end of Act 2, the “all-hope-is-lost” moment, the gearing up for the final confrontation. “Damage” showed the crew at their lowest point, while “The Forgotten” shows Degra’s crucial moment of character change and sends the Enterprise toward the season’s climax: the meeting with the council. Of course, these episodes are really well done on their own, but they get a huge boost from being at such a crucial part of the story. If the creative team nails it, “all-hope-is-lost” moments can make for the most effective, powerful portions of any serialized story. See: The Empire Strikes Back.
Sun, Oct 18, 2020, 5:35pm (UTC -5)
Some very recent unethical activity stealing a war coil... the best of humanity is not on display here. If anything Degra’a attitude is to be admired.
Remember ST 6... ‘everyone is entitled to inalienable human rights’ said to some Klingons... they didn’t take that well.
Same here.
Fri, Dec 11, 2020, 7:45pm (UTC -5)
One of the most powerful scenes in ALL of Trek.
Great three episodes, shows just how good Enterprise can be when the writers decide to leave the Trek comfort zone.
Sun, Jun 13, 2021, 8:32am (UTC -5)
I also took note of Degra's slight pause after Trip remonstrates with him. Wonderfully played by Randy Oglesby (yes, even without dialogue and with his back to the camera!) - there really is nothing that Degra could have said to Trip in that moment, and you can see that he almost wants to anyway, but then the futility of it catches up to him.
The show has done a great job of expanding Degra's character over the past few episodes, and although I'm not sure I'd be so forgiving if someone told me they'd repeatedly wiped my memory and subjected me to what was effectively psychological torture for extended periods of time, I nonetheless see the parallels between Archer's attitude in "Strategem" and here: in that episode, he used deception to extract information, tried to gain Degra's trust under false pretenses. But now, he's being open and honest with him, and it's leading to a de-escalation of the Xindi conflict. This, to me, is a textbook demonstration of Star Trek's values and message.
Sat, Jun 26, 2021, 8:20am (UTC -5)
Only thing that bothered was how the primate — who was still unconvinced of Archer and his ability to convince the council — went along with destroying the reptilian ship.
This, and the monumental leap of faith Degra is taking, should have been better developed and explained.
I’ll just pretend some conversation happened off-camera that tipped the primate over to fully supporting the alliance strategy.
Sun, Feb 20, 2022, 9:14pm (UTC -5)
Thu, Jul 21, 2022, 5:36am (UTC -5)
>how in the heck are they still humanoid?
May be they're not, may be they altered their appearance so the Xindi would trust them more.
Thu, Aug 31, 2023, 10:51am (UTC -5)
This is barely science fiction.
This is barely Star Trek. You could probably lift all of this and throw it into any war genre or even maybe cop drama.
Is there a point to it? Is there a point to T'Pol taking drugs for some reason because she likes emotions now? This is SNW level crap.
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