ENT: E²

         I guess B&B couldn't resist sneaking one more time travel story in before the end of season 3. Actually I wouldn't be at all shocked if the conclusion somehow involved time travel as well. This is another episode that feels crippled by being part of the larger story arc. It neither stands on its own nor actually moves the story forward in any way which turns what would otherwise be maybe an interesting episode into pure filler. The Enterprise from the past succeeds at its mission either way which is to make sure they never exist, but that also means they presumably never existed. Trek rules means they get to keep the stuff from that timeline though presumably. Also I never bought the idea that past Enterprise was going to screw them over. It just didn't make any sense.
         We open with a very old T'Pol telling her son that they have failed to stop the probe going to earth and their only choice is to find Archer. In the present Trip is trying to help T'Pol deal with what she is going through, but she isn't interested. As Enterprise approaches the nebula with the wormhole they are intercepted by another ship from Earth, well, not another ship, themselves but with a different crew. It seems when they entered the nebula it sent them back 130 years in time in addition to several light years distance. Their captain, Lorian, is the son of Trip and T'Pol. He tells them not to enter the wormhole but to instead let his people modify Enterprise to go warp 6.5 but Archer has his doubts. Meanwhile the Xindi are discussing Archer. Degra is determined to let him address the council, but none of the rest of them seem interested.
         The two Enterprise crews are getting to know each other and it is clear things have been pretty rough for past Enterprise. Lorian is also evidently not interested in Archer hesitating to listen to him. T'Pol tells Archer that there may be a way other than high warp which pisses Lorian off. When Archer opts for T'Pol's plan instead of Lorian's things go bad. Lorian sends teams to steal present Enterprise's plasma injectors and after a fight both ships end up disabled. Eventually they work things out and team up to get present Enterprise through the wormhole, but the other ship never makes it. We close with Degra arriving just as he promised.

         Review: Not awful, but didn't really do all that much either which is clearly a problem. In the end they could have just skipped this one any maybe saved a bit more screen time for the conclusion.

4 out of 10