Ok, overall this was a great episode, but not entirely for what it did, but for what it did with the show. This episode has a clear message of, "we agree the temporal coldwar was kinda dumb, but it should conclude somehow so we are going to wrap this as fast as possible and move on to better stories." My only serious complaint is how it makes clear that what they did to "fix" the timeline shouldn't have worked since the assassination of Lenin still happened so WWII is still hella messed up. Not sure how destroying a time machine in 1944 would solve a problem that took place almost 20 years earlier, but whatever, the temporal cold war is done and I am over it.
We open with the nazi conquest of America well under way with Hitler touring New York city (why wasn't this a story about killing Hitler????). However it is clear that the evil time travel aliens and their nazi allies are starting to have some serious differences, specifically why the aliens haven't given the nazis the super weapons they were promised. It seems this causes the head evil alien to have a change of heart and he offers to return Trip and Tucker in return for hearing out a proposal of his. Archer plays along but doesn't keep up the ruse for long and soon they are shooting at each other. Also it turns out that the Trip who was returned is actually Silik, but the other aliens are not aware of this as Silik stole a bunch of their data. Archer decides to team up with Silik along with the resistance mafia to go in and destroy the time machine once and for all. They make it inside and disable the shields but Silik is killed in the process. Enterprise ends up flying in low of New York City and getting in a gun fight with super stukas armed with plasma weapons, but they also destroy the time machine just before the badguys use it to seal our fate forever. We close with Daniels telling Acher they won't see each other again since the temporal cold war is now over apparently.
Review: A fun and action packed episode that is only bogged down but some fairly serious plot holes, but still manages to get us out of a terrible plot line that didn't seem to be going anywhere. Not perfect, but a sign of good things to come I really hope.
6 out of 10
Saturday, February 25, 2017
Friday, February 24, 2017
ENT: Storm Front
I am not sure we are ever going to get a real explanation for why Enterprise was thrown back in time, but it seems like if they aren't their world won't exist so I guess I can accept that. This is by far the most interesting thing the temporal cold war has given us in all of ENT so I can't really argue. I am not sure who the new gray faced, red eyed aliens are, but presumably the Suliban have something to do with it. Also, it seems like maybe they don't need to worry about messing up the timeline too much at this point. It is going to be interesting to see how they solve this problem since at this point history has already been pretty badly damaged. Even if the allies manage to pull off a victory the German conquest of the east coast of America seems like a bit of a problem for the timeline.
We open with Trip and Tucker in the shuttle flying into San Francisco under heavy machine gun and then flak fire. They head back to Enterprise which has realized they aren't in the right time. Archer meanwhile is being transported by German soldiers through the woods when they are ambushed by what turns out to be the mafia resistance. Archer gets taken to Alicia Travers apartment in Brooklyn, she is a member of the resistance and believes he is an American serviceman. The nazi aliens meanwhile have figured out Archer is from the future and send out goon squads to try and locate him. In the shuttlebay Trip is attacked by Silik, the Suliban leader who steals a shuttle and despite weapons fire from Enterprise manages to make it to the surface. Also a totally messed up Daniels shows up on Enterprise and manages to tell T'Pol that this is part of the temporal cold war, but the cold war just got hot. Archer manages to convince his mafia/resistance buddies that there are strange creatures working with the nazis and they set up a meeting with one. Trip and Tucker beam down to look for the shuttle and plant charges to destroy it, but just then the nazis arrive. Archer and the mafia interrogate the alien they contacted but he won't talk, luckily Archer recovers a communicator from him. Trip and Tucker appear to have been captured and things don't look much better for Archer, but just in time to gets through to Enterprise and both he and Alicia are beamed to safety.
Review: Lots of action and some actual story too. Plus Archer is written like a human being instead of some perfect jesus figure like he was the first three seasons which is a huge improvement. Can't give this a higher score until I see the conclusion, but I am actually looking forward to it which is really nice.
6 out of 10
We open with Trip and Tucker in the shuttle flying into San Francisco under heavy machine gun and then flak fire. They head back to Enterprise which has realized they aren't in the right time. Archer meanwhile is being transported by German soldiers through the woods when they are ambushed by what turns out to be the mafia resistance. Archer gets taken to Alicia Travers apartment in Brooklyn, she is a member of the resistance and believes he is an American serviceman. The nazi aliens meanwhile have figured out Archer is from the future and send out goon squads to try and locate him. In the shuttlebay Trip is attacked by Silik, the Suliban leader who steals a shuttle and despite weapons fire from Enterprise manages to make it to the surface. Also a totally messed up Daniels shows up on Enterprise and manages to tell T'Pol that this is part of the temporal cold war, but the cold war just got hot. Archer manages to convince his mafia/resistance buddies that there are strange creatures working with the nazis and they set up a meeting with one. Trip and Tucker beam down to look for the shuttle and plant charges to destroy it, but just then the nazis arrive. Archer and the mafia interrogate the alien they contacted but he won't talk, luckily Archer recovers a communicator from him. Trip and Tucker appear to have been captured and things don't look much better for Archer, but just in time to gets through to Enterprise and both he and Alicia are beamed to safety.
Review: Lots of action and some actual story too. Plus Archer is written like a human being instead of some perfect jesus figure like he was the first three seasons which is a huge improvement. Can't give this a higher score until I see the conclusion, but I am actually looking forward to it which is really nice.
6 out of 10
Thursday, February 23, 2017
ENT: Zero Hour
Honestly this is a pretty solid conclusion to what has so far been the best season of ENT, and yes, I know that is damning by faint praise. But at the same time it did at least pay off most of what it set up despite the rather strange ending. Getting to see Archer detonate the head reptilian was satisfying and the destruction of the spheres was about what I expected. However the arrival of the Andorians to save Earth was unexpected and badass. The dumb netflix capsule summary mentioned unexpected help by I honestly didn't expect the Andorians. they have been gone for so long that it was really cool to have them show up when earth needed them the most. The scene where Daniels tries to talk Archer into not going himself was dumb, there is literally no way the writers were going to let anyone but Archer actually stop the weapon so that made the scene really feel like filler in an ep that didn't have room for it.
We open with everything happening at once. Trip and T'Pol are trying to figure out how to destroy the spheres but not also Enterprise as Archer gets Hoshi and Malcolm ready to go with him to stop the weapon. The friendly Xindi are being helpful, but it seems they may be too late. The weapon arrives at Earth, but still needs several minutes. The Xindi destroy a space station we have never heard of for no apparent reason and as Degra's ship flies in totally outgunned Shran shows up with the other Andorians and saves the day. T'Pol meanwhile flies Enterprise into the area around the guide sphere which is no heavily distorted. Trip needs a few minutes and the sphere builders show up to try and stop them, but of course at literally the last possible second the plan works saving them and destroying the spheres. Archer, Malcolm, Hoshi and some unnamed MACO's beam into the weapon and Archer starts the overload sequence. There is a lot of fighting but it eventually comes down to Archer versus the head reptile. Archer wins but is maybe killed in the explosion. On Enterprise the aquatics show up to take them back to Earth, but when they arrive they aren't greeted and when Trip and Tucker take a shuttle down they are shot at by P-51's. Cut to a german field hospital in WWII where Archer is lying wounded surrounded by nazi's, one of whom is revealed to be a alien as we cut to commercials.
Review: A satisfying conclusion to a season that was overall better than the first two, but still had some serious low points. Actually looking forward to next season and a new writing team!
7 out of 10
We open with everything happening at once. Trip and T'Pol are trying to figure out how to destroy the spheres but not also Enterprise as Archer gets Hoshi and Malcolm ready to go with him to stop the weapon. The friendly Xindi are being helpful, but it seems they may be too late. The weapon arrives at Earth, but still needs several minutes. The Xindi destroy a space station we have never heard of for no apparent reason and as Degra's ship flies in totally outgunned Shran shows up with the other Andorians and saves the day. T'Pol meanwhile flies Enterprise into the area around the guide sphere which is no heavily distorted. Trip needs a few minutes and the sphere builders show up to try and stop them, but of course at literally the last possible second the plan works saving them and destroying the spheres. Archer, Malcolm, Hoshi and some unnamed MACO's beam into the weapon and Archer starts the overload sequence. There is a lot of fighting but it eventually comes down to Archer versus the head reptile. Archer wins but is maybe killed in the explosion. On Enterprise the aquatics show up to take them back to Earth, but when they arrive they aren't greeted and when Trip and Tucker take a shuttle down they are shot at by P-51's. Cut to a german field hospital in WWII where Archer is lying wounded surrounded by nazi's, one of whom is revealed to be a alien as we cut to commercials.
Review: A satisfying conclusion to a season that was overall better than the first two, but still had some serious low points. Actually looking forward to next season and a new writing team!
7 out of 10
Wednesday, February 22, 2017
ENT: Countdown
I will admit that they did find a way to make the wait for the conclusion actually make sense. I had assumed that when they launched the weapon into space it was launched, but no, it was apparently not activated yet which kinda makes sense. What doesn't make sense is how they built a room to hold it with giant doors on the surface of a planet after having constructed it under water. Why not just keep it in space? Or under water again? Not really sure about that. I hadn't really realized that Hayes had become a fairly important character until a few episodes ago, but honestly he has the best arc of any of the characters on the show at this point including his definitive conclusion/death saving Hoshi as a member of the crew in this episode. I actually really liked how the insectoid Xindi turned on the reptiles when they saw that they were wrong, kinda rare in fiction like this for bad guys to be shown as actually smart and self interested.
We open with Hoshi on the reptilian ship. She refuses to help of course, but they inject her with brain parasites to make her more compliant. Archer meanwhile is trying to convince the aquatics to join him and they seem interested, but only if he can turn off the spheres. Trip and T'Pol are working on that and fighting a lot as T'Pol loses control of her emotions which she finally admits to Trip, but not the reason. Malcolm has a bit of a confrontation with Hayes, but it is clear they two are on the same side now, just both stressed at the loss of the MACO on the previous mission. Malcolm gives Hayes the job of getting Hoshi back which is something he clearly wants to do, but his job is on the bridge right now. Hoshi meanwhile is now working with the reptilians. Well, at first she keeps resisting, but eventually gets the aquatic launch code decrypted. The sphere builders meanwhile turn on the spheres to protect the weapon. The MACO's manages to get Hoshi back, but Hayes is killed on the mission. The reptilians manage to get the weapon launched and into the subspace corridor as the insectoid leader realizes Archer was right about the sphere builders, but too late, his ship is destroyed by the reptiles.
Review: Only one more episode left in this story arc and while I object to how long they took to get here, it does at least seem to be coming together. Certainly a lot better than the dumb temporal cold war.
6 out of 10
We open with Hoshi on the reptilian ship. She refuses to help of course, but they inject her with brain parasites to make her more compliant. Archer meanwhile is trying to convince the aquatics to join him and they seem interested, but only if he can turn off the spheres. Trip and T'Pol are working on that and fighting a lot as T'Pol loses control of her emotions which she finally admits to Trip, but not the reason. Malcolm has a bit of a confrontation with Hayes, but it is clear they two are on the same side now, just both stressed at the loss of the MACO on the previous mission. Malcolm gives Hayes the job of getting Hoshi back which is something he clearly wants to do, but his job is on the bridge right now. Hoshi meanwhile is now working with the reptilians. Well, at first she keeps resisting, but eventually gets the aquatic launch code decrypted. The sphere builders meanwhile turn on the spheres to protect the weapon. The MACO's manages to get Hoshi back, but Hayes is killed on the mission. The reptilians manage to get the weapon launched and into the subspace corridor as the insectoid leader realizes Archer was right about the sphere builders, but too late, his ship is destroyed by the reptiles.
Review: Only one more episode left in this story arc and while I object to how long they took to get here, it does at least seem to be coming together. Certainly a lot better than the dumb temporal cold war.
6 out of 10
Tuesday, February 21, 2017
ENT: The Council
In terms of making the Xindi story line actually pay off in some way this episode may be as good as it gets. Not that in theory the following episode shouldn't be even better, but I am low on faith in this show by now. Unlike the past few which were entirely reflections on how the crew are handling things, now they actually have to do something. Also I was wrong about how things went down in this episode and that is a good thing. I get tired of episodes that you can see how they end in the first five minutes. Especially a story that has taken so long to pay off, it better conclude well. Trek has historically had problems with concluding big story arcs so I hope this is the exception. Also, I am pretty sure there are two more episodes this season and I am not sure how there is enough story. I am going to be hella pissed if tomorrow somehow manages to be filler.
We open with Degra leading the way to the Xindi council while T'Pol, Travis, Malcolm and some Maco guy we haven't met before go to try and get information from inside one of the spheres. There is lots of foreshadowing that the dude is going to die and sure enough, but I am getting ahead of myself. When Enterprise gets close to the council the reptilians show up and try to stop them, but the combined primate, arboreal and aquatic force prevails and they enter without incident. Archer and Hoshi take a shuttle into talk to the council. It seems to be going ok until the reptilian councilor gets pissed and storms off. Afterwards Degra talks with Archer and explains they need a good visual, the aquatics in particular find them more convincing that words and he starts working with Trip and Phlox on a plan. T'Pol guides them through a hologram covered entrance to the sphere in an unnecessarily stressful way, but I guess she is a jerk now that she has emotions. They get inside and find the core, but are being followed by some sort of killbot. In the council chamber Archer and Degra present an hologram of the sphere builder from the pod and it seems to do the trick, the reptilians even agree to hold off on launching the weapon. But of course behind the scenes they have been talking with the sphere builders and this is a ruse. Their leader stabs Degra to death for the destruction of the reptilian ship and they call the council to announce they are unilaterally launching the weapon. The Maco is predictably killed by the killbot but the others escape just in time to see Enterprise chasing the weapon as it disappears into a subspace corridor.
Review: Lots of action but also lots of story. For literally the first time watching this show I am looking forward to tuning in tomorrow to see where this goes. Probably downhill, but so far so good.
7 out of 10
We open with Degra leading the way to the Xindi council while T'Pol, Travis, Malcolm and some Maco guy we haven't met before go to try and get information from inside one of the spheres. There is lots of foreshadowing that the dude is going to die and sure enough, but I am getting ahead of myself. When Enterprise gets close to the council the reptilians show up and try to stop them, but the combined primate, arboreal and aquatic force prevails and they enter without incident. Archer and Hoshi take a shuttle into talk to the council. It seems to be going ok until the reptilian councilor gets pissed and storms off. Afterwards Degra talks with Archer and explains they need a good visual, the aquatics in particular find them more convincing that words and he starts working with Trip and Phlox on a plan. T'Pol guides them through a hologram covered entrance to the sphere in an unnecessarily stressful way, but I guess she is a jerk now that she has emotions. They get inside and find the core, but are being followed by some sort of killbot. In the council chamber Archer and Degra present an hologram of the sphere builder from the pod and it seems to do the trick, the reptilians even agree to hold off on launching the weapon. But of course behind the scenes they have been talking with the sphere builders and this is a ruse. Their leader stabs Degra to death for the destruction of the reptilian ship and they call the council to announce they are unilaterally launching the weapon. The Maco is predictably killed by the killbot but the others escape just in time to see Enterprise chasing the weapon as it disappears into a subspace corridor.
Review: Lots of action but also lots of story. For literally the first time watching this show I am looking forward to tuning in tomorrow to see where this goes. Probably downhill, but so far so good.
7 out of 10
Monday, February 20, 2017
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
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
Sunday, February 19, 2017
ENT: The Forgotten
This episode could have just as easily been called the easily forgotten. The good parts were the bits dealing with how Trip, T'Pol and Malcolm are struggling to deal with the pressures of the situation they are in. The bad parts were everything to do with the main story and the Xindi. Since it turns out Archer doesn't actually have any proof of anything Daniels has told him and in fact the only reason he believes him I suspect is the race thing it seems like the arboreal Xindi has a real point. Why should they trust the humans? It seems the sphere builders have legitimately helped them already a few times.
We open with a flashback to Trip dreaming about the death of his sister and then it is straight into a memorial for the fallen after the credits. The ship is barely holding together and the crew aren't in much better shape. Trip especially hasn't slept in days and only gets more stressed when Archer assigns him the job of writing to one of his fallen engineer's family. They make it to the meeting Degra who brings the arboreal representative and Archer shows him all the evidence, but really it isn't that much and he isn't all that convinced. A reptillian ship shows up and they work together to destroy it so we see Degra is at least serious. There is an incident with a plasma fire on the outside of the ship and Trip and Malcolm go to repair but Malcolm doesn't watch out for his own safety and passes out from too much heat. Lots of being stressed out and not much actual story.
Review: Not much happened honestly other than a look at how the crew are handling the stress.
4 out of 10
We open with a flashback to Trip dreaming about the death of his sister and then it is straight into a memorial for the fallen after the credits. The ship is barely holding together and the crew aren't in much better shape. Trip especially hasn't slept in days and only gets more stressed when Archer assigns him the job of writing to one of his fallen engineer's family. They make it to the meeting Degra who brings the arboreal representative and Archer shows him all the evidence, but really it isn't that much and he isn't all that convinced. A reptillian ship shows up and they work together to destroy it so we see Degra is at least serious. There is an incident with a plasma fire on the outside of the ship and Trip and Malcolm go to repair but Malcolm doesn't watch out for his own safety and passes out from too much heat. Lots of being stressed out and not much actual story.
Review: Not much happened honestly other than a look at how the crew are handling the stress.
4 out of 10
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