ENT: Bounty

         I saw the episode title and it instilled hope in a way I haven't felt in a long time. My hope was that maybe the crew would finally mutiny against Archer and the rest of the series would be Trip's cruise to Risa. But no, this is about Archer's escape from prison catching up with him when a bounty hunter manages to capture him easily. It seems pretty obvious that the Klingons wouldn't give up on someone escaping from their infamous prison system so of course they sent a bounty hunter. Luckily for them Archer is also an idiot who doesn't bother with security so he is easily grabbed from his own ship with no more than a hand phaser. Unfortunately most of the rest of the episode is Archer-centric with just a few interludes of the B story about T'Pol getting sick and having Pon farr show up out of nowhere because ENT.
         We open with Enterprise hanging out at an unoccupied planet doing some exploring and shore leave. They encounter a Tellurite vessel that seems hostile at first, but then turns friendly. The captain (and sole occupant) is named Skalaar and he offers to come aboard to give them tips on cool places to visit. Archer and Trip head to the airlock to meet him but he guns them both down and leaves with Archer. They rush to get the away teams back only when they arrive T'Pol and Phlox have caught an alien infection of some sort and must stay in decon. Meanwhile Archer learns Skalaar is a bounty hunter and he is being taken back to the Klingons. There is a lot of Archer moralizing at the guy which of course works because the writers just love Archer. After messing around and ending up on a planet for a while which doesn't serve the plot at all they get back underway and Archer finally convinces Skalaar that the Klingons are no good. Skalaar turns him in and gets his cash (less than promised because Archer has to be right). Archer manages to easily escape and even wins a fist fight for once. All this time T'Pol has been having premature Pon farr for the purposes of comedy and Trip has been failing to save the day.

         Review: Way to much Archer for me to be able to take it seriously, especially since this is all about him proving what a good guy he is while not really acting like all that good a guy. Pretty average for ENT honestly.

4 out of 10