Day 320: Enterprise, The Expanse

Show: Star Trek; Enterprise

Episode Particulars: S2EP26, “The Expanse”

 Summary: The Enterprise is recalled back to Earth, but not because of anything they’ve done; a sphere of unknown origin attacked Earth, cutting a visible swath through Florida and part of South America, vaporizing seven million people. On their way home, Enterprise is approached by the Suliban, who also have a surprising message for them. Their contact from the future informs Archer that this attack is related to the Temporal Cold War, when one of the other factions told a race called the Xindi that they would be destroyed by humans in four hundred years. The Xindi decided to go all-out and kill the humans first, and will be building a superweapon that will blow up the entire Earth unless Archer can stop them. This isn’t going to be easy for three reasons. One, first Archer has to convince Starfleet and the Vulcans to let him do this. Second, the Klingons are still after him for what happened in “Judgment”. And three, the Xindi live in a very warped region of space known as the Delphic Expanse, a place very few ships have ever returned from. With Earth on the line, however, Archer and his crew are more than willing to take the risk.

Standalone Thoughts: I think this is an episode that works best on a first time viewing. When you don’t know what’s going on or what everything will lead to, it’s intriguing and shocking. On rewatches, it mostly just feels like setup for future events. While it can be interesting to realize which plot threads are going to wind up playing large roles in subsequent seasons, all the episode really does on a rewatch is remind you that things are about to get more serious. That doesn’t make the episode bad, just a bit underwhelming, though at least it offers up promise for Season Three. And while this is a pathetically short discussion of the episode, that’s really pretty much all I have to say on the matter. The acting is decent, the pace moves along at a good clip (maybe even a little too fast), and the effects are mostly good except for one scene on Earth. But those register less than all the information that’s thrown at you, so the end result is that you come away from the episode feeling like you’ve got a lot to process. Though I guess that makes sense; the crew wanted to keep you talking about it for three months. The more to tease out and speculate on, the better, right?

How it Relates to the Whole: This is a pretty big one. For a start, it’s kicking off a season long story arc. It’s also getting the Temporal Cold War plot involved, so we’ll get more material on that front too. Throw in yet another followup on “Judgment” (with a slim possibility that there could be more later), and you’ve got an episode that’s probably just as essential viewing as the pilot. Looks like they were going all in on trying to get the viewers invested in coming back for Season Three.

Other: *I don’t know if it’s because it was too expensive to maintain or if there was a plot-related reason, but the show has dropped the slow motion effect that happens every time the Suliban talk with their benefactor from the future. I’m a little sad to see it go, to be honest; it was a neat look.

*Season wrapup: This season was of much more variable quality than Season One. It started out about on par with Season One, then hit a spate of blah episodes (looking back, I’d say it starts with “The Seventh”, but it doesn’t get really mediocre until “Vanishing Point”). Then the writers and technical crew suddenly got their act together and made up for lost time by giving us a lot of good episodes in a row, blending well-done individual stories with continuity from past episodes and hints of future Trek events. Admittedly, the final episode isn’t quite as strong as most of the last third of the season, but as I said, at least it’s effective for first time viewers, and it still offers up promise to rewatchers that Season Three will be interesting, even if it’s only by virtue of being different. Here’s hoping that it’s interesting in a good way.

Badass Malcolm Moment: With not much to go on today, I’ll go with the fact that Malcolm seems pretty excited to try out their new torpedoes. The little smirk he gets on his face when he’s ordered to try a more powerful burst suggests that this is a man who has complete faith in both his weaponry and his abilities. Of course, as we’ve seen for two seasons now, that faith is generally justified.