Enterprise
| Season
3
Directed By: David Straiton
Written By: Chris Black & Brent V. Friedman
Rating:
  
Reviewed on: 9 March 2004
Reviewed by: Michael Axe
We finally get to a “pay-off” episode in the Xindi-arc, with Archer finding the first real link to the secret Xindi weapon. But instead of a brainless, all-action episode to destroy the Xindi settlement, we get a more thoughtful episode, that explores the situation from the perspective of those building the weapon, as Archer must decide how far he’s willing to go to achieve his mission…
In many ways, I suspect this episode marks the end of the first “chapter” of the Xindi arc. Archer and his crew finally find a definite link to the Xindi weapon, and take their first real action to prevent its completion.
But more than that, this episode marks the conclusion of a personal arc for Archer, the arc which saw him willing to go to any lengths to achieve success (even nearly killing a prisoner) and saw him driving his crew nearly to breaking point. We’ve already seen a softening of Archer’s attitudes over the last few episodes, including the return of “movie night” in an attempt to combat crew fatigue and low morale.
But in this episode, we witness the return of the Captain Archer we knew from previous seasons – the man who thinks before he shoots. To begin with, Archer’s treatment of the Sloth-Xindi chief is similar to his actions in previous episodes this year, as he displays a “by any means necessary” approach to the interrogation. But as he learns about the Xindi race’s history, and about the ignorance of the scientists to the work that they are carrying out, he begins to see the Xindi as a race of individuals, rather than as an unseen, faceless enemy.
The dehumanisation of the enemy is always the first step in a war – and it’s a step the Xindi Council seem to have fallen for. However told them that Earth would wipe out the Xindi, the Xindi Council have fallen for it completely, seeing humans as a faceless enemy that will destroy them if they don’t destroy Earth first. This is also how Archer viewed the Xindi at the start of the season, but as in real life, it is rarely that straightforward.
In this episode, Archer begins to realise that the Xindi (even those involved with the Xindi Council, as opposed to the odd wanderers encountered before) are individuals, just like everyone else. Some, like those on the Council, believe in the propaganda about the humans, while others are either able to make up their own minds or are in the dark completely.
In this episode Archer begins to see passed his blind hatred of the Xindi, and his decision to trust the captive Sloth-Xindi against the advice of the more militaristic Reed and Hayes is a sign that he is returning to his more balanced judgment demonstrated in previous seasons.
The episode also works on the allegorical level, as a lot of good sci-fi does, by reminding us that not all members of an “enemy nation” are actually enemies, and that many of them may have no idea what is really going on. Equally, the actions of the captured Sloth-Xindi remind us that it’s not enough to simple do your job and bury your head in the sand when it comes to how your work is used by others.
All in all, a surprisingly thoughtful episode shows that Enterprise can still put plot and depth before empty action when it comes to arc-heavy episodes.
Michael Axe is the author of a number of novellas and screenplays, and is a main reviewer for ST Universe. All his reviews are copyright © Michael Axe and are used here exclusively with his permission. |
