Day 325: Enterprise, Impulse

Show: Star Trek; Enterprise

Episode Particulars: S3EP5, “Impulse”

 Summary: The Enterprise receives an automated distress call from a very surprising source, a Vulcan ship called the Seleya. According to T’Pol, it was trying to chart the outer rim of the Expanse before being pulled inside and vanishing. Enterprise eventually finds the Seleya in an unpredictable asteroid field that’s full of trellium ore, so while Tucker and Mayweather try to collect some, Archer, T’Pol, Malcolm, and a MACO named Hawkins (Sean McGowan) head over to the Seleya to mount a rescue attempt. They’re greeted with a dark ship, full of debris and damaged systems, and a crew of Vulcans who are completely violent, irrational, and unstoppable. Cut off from the shuttlepod, the away team has to find a way back through the horde, while also dealing with another problem. While they’re not entirely sure what’s going on, it appears to be atmospheric…and it seems to be affecting T’Pol.

Standalone Thoughts: I feel like I enjoy this episode despite myself. For one thing, the situation can be pithily summed up as “Vulcan zombies”, and while I hate zombie media, I’m ok with it here. I think this is because the thing that scares me most about zombies—their infectious nature—is missing, so I can watch the episode without worrying about whether or not any of the characters are going to start turning as well (except for T’Pol). More importantly, though, I mostly enjoy this episode even though, like “Extinction”, it doesn’t really relate to the Xindi plot. This is primarily due to atmosphere; sure, the tech crew used all the usual tropes of dark corridors and flickering lights (sometimes going overboard on both), but if it’s effective, I can’t fault them for sticking with the classics. There’s also a fairly good blend of tension and action, and the whole thing is pretty well paced. So if you just view the episode as a standalone, it’s fine.

However, two things annoy me about the episode, which combine with the lack of Xindi material to ultimately make me consider it middle-tier Enterprise. One is the way the story is told. After a very short and effective teaser of T’Pol being brought thrashing and screaming into Sickbay, we get more of Archer and Phlox trying to calm her down enough to treat her, and then the screen cuts to black and we get a “One day earlier” title card. We haven’t seen this technique used since the pilot, and it makes the teaser retroactively feel like a cheap trick to get our attention. It would have been much better if, once T’Pol was sedated, Phlox turned to Archer and said “Tell me exactly what happened”, and then most of the story plays out as a flashback, with occasional cuts to the present as Phlox runs into complications or T’Pol comes to and continues to act out. But this is minor as far as these things go. What’s more frustrating is that once again, something happens that renders previous material pointless. As I said in the summary, the Vulcan ship is in an asteroid field filled with trellium ore, which means they can use this ore instead of trying to synthesize it from the recipe they got in “Rajiin”. In one swoop, that whole subplot from last episode has become nothing more than a time waster, and that just adds to my disappointment that so far, the Xindi arc has been less well put together than I remember it. If it winds up becoming relevant again in some way (like Tucker finds a way to weaponize the compound), I’ll take back my comments here, but right now, I’m not very happy about it.

On a related note, now’s as good a time as any to mention that the timing within this arc is a mess so far. Even back in “The Expanse”, several months passed in the space of one episode, thus making things feel rushed.. And while I think the intent was to show that it’s hard to tell time in the Expanse, having the plot jump forward several weeks between episodes makes things less believable. I already mentioned in “The Xindi” that it seems implausible that Hoshi would only just start getting to know the MACOs after two months had passed, and in this episode, Tucker mentions that he’s been working with trellium for “weeks”, which means that at least two weeks have passed between now and “Rajiin”. This makes the finding of actual trellium ore even more frustrating, because instead of spending several episodes watching Tucker and T’Pol try and fail to synthesize it before getting lucky and finding the real thing, we’re treated to “tell don’t show” and lose a plot point we’d only just established. Jumping around in time was fine in Seasons One and Two; doing it now (or at least in regards to such big plot points) doesn’t leave me with confidence that the writers knew what they were doing. Honestly, if things don’t pick up soon, I’ll start to wonder if my memory of this arc is faulty. Which is definitely something I don’t want to happen.

How it Relates to the Whole: Although this episode once again doesn’t have much to do with the Xindi plot, it will actually wind up being an important part of T’Pol’s future development, so I’m a little more forgiving of it than I am of “Extinction”. I’ll be happier if that development winds up tying into the arc in a big way, but right now, this is sufficient.

Other: *There’s a fantastic overhead shot of the Enterprise during this episode. Not only is it an angle we haven’t seen before, but it does a great job of showing us how small and alone the Enterprise is on this mission. It would be right at home in a Xindi-centric episode, and in fact might have had even more of an impact there. Either way, though, I’m glad it exists.

*I should probably mention that although the away team took the infamous Shuttlepod One out to the Seleya, it’s Shuttlepod Two that winds up getting really banged up this time around. The two pods are never going to be even when it comes to damage, but at least the showrunners are trying not to keep repeating themselves on this front.

Badass Malcolm Moment: Malcolm once again spends most of the episode being amazing, so it’s hard to narrow it down to just one moment. After spending most of the episode thinking I’d go with the moment when he basically took down nine Vulcans single-handedly, his actions during the climax, when he put himself at tremendous risk multiple times (and for that matter, in multiple ways) before capping it off with a small show of strength, wound up winning out. I love the moments when Malcolm’s skills are shown in more subtle ways, but grand displays of bravery are more than welcome too.

After the Fact Update: Not only did the showrunners share my idea of referring to the Seleya crew as “Vulcan zombies”, it turns out the original ending for this episode was going to include a definite romantic moment between Archer and T’Pol. Apparently the writers really did want to make that a thing.