It isn't a good sign when my favorite episode so far involves essentially none of the main cast. It also has Vulcan's lying their asses off all over the place but whatever. This is by far the best episode of ENT so far and I really hope this trend continues. Season one was a total train wreck so hopefully season two can continue the trend of improving. It didn't hurt a bit that the town they filmed the episode in reminded me strongly of one of my favorite towns, South Lake Tahoe. And yes, I know it was some town right outside LA, isn't everything in television? I also really liked the idea of a Vulcan deciding to stay behind and live out his life on earth. I actually wish they would go back to him at some future date, but from what I have seen on the Wiki this is highly unlikely. This episode clearly borrows a few things from The Voyage Home, but not in a bad way.
We open with T'Pol about to have dinner with Trip and Archer. The captain asks her about a visit she made to the town of Carbon Creek when she was last on earth and she offers the story of the first Vulcans to visit earth. They are surprised it wasn't the one from FIrst Contact, but she assures them her great grandmother was on earth in the 1950's. A Vulcan ship was there to investigate sputnik when they suffered engine trouble and were forced to land in isolated Pennsylvania. Her grandmother, T'Mir, was in charge after the captain was killed in the crash. She and the two surviving crew, Mestral and Stron. She and Stron head into town to look for supplies and Stron gets some cash by winning a game of pool. They make friends with the bartender and her son who is an aspiring engineer looking to go to college but without much money. Stron starts working odd jobs around town, mostly plumbing, and Mestral gets a job in the local coal mine.
Things seem to be going fine but T'Mir is concerned that Mestral and the bartender are hitting it off romantically. One day there is a collapse in the mines and Mestral insists on saving them with a phaser with T'Mir resists, that assists with. Soon after they learn that the aspiring engineer has failed to get enough money for college so T'Mir sells the idea for velcro to get enough money for him. Soon after they finally hear from a rescue ship by Mestral doesn't want to leave. In the end T'Mir tells the captain of the rescue ship that Mestral was killed and cremated along with the captain and he believes her since Vulcans don't lie. Trip and Archer are incredulous and T'Pol refuses to tell them if the story was true, but that evening she returns to her quarters and unwraps T'Mir's purse from her time on earth.
Review: Damn I wish more of ENT was this good, and maybe it will be. I kinda doubt it, but it was really fun to see Vulcans trapped in the 1950's. I still don't get why they can just lie all the time, but whatever, it worked well for this story.
8 out of 10
No comments:
Post a Comment