Day 278: Enterprise, Fortunate Son

Show: Star Trek; Enterprise

Episode Particulars: S1EP9, “Fortunate Son”

 Summary: The Enterprise is asked to investigate a distress call from the Fortunate, a freighter ship (which are colloquially known as “boomers” and have up until now been the primary source of Human presence in space). When they arrive, acting captain Matthew Ryan (Lawrence Monoson), explains that they were attacked by Nausicaans (a common occurrence for boomers), but that they’re handling things themselves, though they do accept some help when Archer offers it. Mayweather, who grew up on a boomer ship, is happy to have a taste of home but equally happy to show off the Enterprise, which marks the start of a new era in space travel. Ryan, on the other hand, doesn’t seem quite so enthusiastic about it, especially since he prefers boomers being self-sufficient. Though he has another reason for wanting the Enterprise to leave as soon as possible; he captured a Nausicaan (D. Elliot Woods) and is trying to get the shield frequencies out of the prisoner in order to get his revenge. And we all know that’s something Starfleet’s not going to condone.

Standalone Thoughts: While this episode still lacks that something that pushes it over into truly good, it’s definitely stronger than “Civilization” and has a lot of good material. For a start, the teaser is actually punchy and intriguing for once, and is then followed up by some decent worldbuilding when it comes to explaining how the boomers operate. There’s also a good idea in here about the conflict between Starfleet practices and boomer practices, but I’m not sure it was fully explored to the best of its ability. Archer, Mayweather, and Ryan talk about it a lot, but it generally feels more like “tell, don’t show”, and I think the episode is weaker for it. The same goes for the internal conflict Mayweather’s feeling, although there is a scene between him and Archer that works really well and allows good moments for both of them. Besides all that, I’m not sure how much more I can say on the subject. “Decent, but the conflict could have been stronger” pretty much sums it up.

How it Relates to the Whole: We’ll get a few more episodes involving boomer ships, but I’m not sure we’ll see the Fortunate again. We do, however, get a bit of continuity with “Breaking the Ice”, and Archer mentions “subspace relays”, which will play a part in an upcoming episode (not to mention drawing another connection to general Trek lore). Hey, it’s better than some of the other episodes this season…

Other: *All I’ve got today is a bit of housekeeping. Lawrence Monoson was actually in DS9’s “The Storyteller”, where I mistakenly called him Lawrence Monsoon. In that review, I compared him unfavorably to Keanu Reeves. To give credit where credit is due, while Monoson still looks and occasionally sounds like Reeves, his acting is much stronger in today’s outing. Either he had a better role or he really improved his craft in seven years. Regardless of which it was, I’d say he did a pretty good job this time out.

Badass Malcolm Moment: It’s pretty straightforward today; as soon as Malcolm realizes they’ve walked into a trap, he starts firing, which startles his opponents enough for himself and the rest of the away team to get to cover. It’s not always clear whether or not it’s good to be the one who shoots first, but it definitely was in this case.