Day 359: Enterprise, Affliction

Show: Star Trek; Enterprise

Episode Particulars: S4EP15, “Affliction”

 Summary: The Enterprise has returned to Earth to witness the launch of the new NX ship Columbia, which Tucker has transferred to because he feels he’s getting too close to T’Pol. He may be right about that, because T’Pol has visions of him when she’s meditating…and somehow, Tucker seems aware of them. While he tries to deal with that and getting a feel for the new ship, a bigger problem emerges; Phlox gets kidnapped and brought to a Klingon colony, where he’s forced to work on finding a cure for a recently mutated virus, which it turns out the Klingons have very good reasons for keeping secret. Enterprise, of course, does everything it can to try to find and rescue him, but it’s going to be more complicated than they think. You see, Malcolm was contacted by a mysterious figure (Eric Pierpont) and told to keep certain details in the dark. Which means Malcolm’s going to have to really grapple with where his loyalties lie.

Standalone Thoughts: There’s a lot going on in this episode, and at the moment, it’s hard for a first-timer to see how it all ties together. There’s definitely a connection between Tucker’s transfer and T’Pol’s visions, and a similar (though currently unexplained) connection between Phlox’s kidnapping and Malcolm’s actions, but for now, it feels like a main plot and a subplot. I should stress that this isn’t necessarily a criticism, though; it’s normal to have a plot and subplot, after all. Also, all of these plot threads are interesting in different ways, and the episode does a great job of not giving you all the information, to encourage you to tune in next time. Given the issues Enterprise has with its teasers, it’s good to see they can catch your attention when it really counts.

The episode also contains some great individual moments. Tucker’s adjustment to life on the Columbia is mostly conveyed through little details instead of being spelled out, and I appreciate the subtlety. There’s a moment featuring the Klingon way of dealing with problems that’s amusing in a dark way, and this comes from someone who has an open aversion to black comedy. And naturally, I can’t help but notice and enjoy that Keating gets to let Malcolm be more than just the stoic armory officer with a snarky streak. It’s certainly the part that got the most attention from me…

Biases aside, this is a pretty good start to the arc. However, it also pretty much consists entirely of setup. If tomorrow’s payoff isn’t satisfying, this episode will look weaker by comparison, or at least be considered wasted potential. We’ll have to wait and see which way it goes.

How it Relates to the Whole: This arc pulls a lot of things together. Two plot points (one major, one minor) are a direct result of things that happened in two of the previous arcs. The Tucker/T’Pol relationship develops a new wrinkle that will wind up being a part of at least one other episode outside this arc. And while it won’t be officially revealed until tomorrow, fans of the franchise may be able to guess where this thing with the Klingons is going. Similarly, there are two pretty big hints in this episode as to what’s going on with Malcolm, and as a bonus, it’s a connection to my other favorite Star Trek show…

Other: *Yet another single observation today; I don’t know if the lack of miscellaneous details is a result of the writers not adding in too much extraneous material in these later seasons or if it’s just a matter of project fatigue on my end. Anyway, in this episode, we get to see Enterprise’s sister ship, the Columbia, launch, and it has a few differences. The two most noticeable ones are also the ones that seem less efficient than what we’ve got on Enterprise. One is a pole holding a computer terminal right between the tactical station and the Captain’s chair, which seems like a random addition and would be likely to get in the way during a crisis. The other is that there are large lights at the back of the bridge that move with (presumably) each pulse of the warp core. This seems distracting at best and a danger at worst. Given how often consoles explode in Star Trek, lights of that size seem like they could do some serious damage. I think whoever designed this bridge needed someone to give them a very honest second opinion.

Badass Malcolm Moment: I obviously do not approve of what Malcolm is doing in this episode, but at least (if an early scene is any indication) he’s doing it for the sake of helping his friend, and that combined with his obvious discomfort makes me feel more sorry for him than angry at him. It’s not much, but hopefully he’ll get to make up for it (in more ways than one) tomorrow…