Day 327: Enterprise, The Shipment

Show: Star Trek; Enterprise

Episode Particulars: S3EP7, “The Shipment”

 Summary: Using the information gained at the end of “Exile”, the Enterprise finds a planet where part of the Xindi weapon is being built. Archer, Malcolm, and Major Hayes head down to investigate, and find a facility that processes ore, and an overheard conversation reveals that they’re in the process of preparing a big shipment. Malcolm and Hayes are all for blowing up the facility, but Archer is somewhat hesitant, and decides to question the leader, Gralik Durr (John Cothran Jr.) about the weapon. But Gralik claims to have no knowledge of it, and seems horrified to learn about the attack on Earth. Which suggests that Archer’s mission may not be as clear-cut as he originally thought.

Standalone Thoughts: Overall, I’d say there’s a lot of good things about this episode, but there are some definite weak spots too. To shake things up a bit, I’ll start with the weaker material. This episode has a lot of exposition and discoveries about the Xindi, which are good on one level but can feel like too much of a muchness, especially after several episodes where nothing much was happening. My other issue is a smaller one, but ultimately I think annoyed me more, though keep in mind that this is something that will be more annoying to me than most. Simply put, Hayes and Malcolm spend most of this episode working together…and there’s absolutely no sign of friction. It was established back in “The Xindi” that Malcolm has a dislike for Hayes, or at least his way of going about things. This hasn’t come up since then, mostly because Hayes hasn’t been present. So now we have a prime opportunity to continue to develop that rivalry, but not only do they work together without complaint, they seem to agree on a lot of points. It’s a missed opportunity that goes against what was already established, and that can be disappointing, especially on a rewatch when you know how things play out.

If this episode does one thing right, though, it’s introducing our old friend grey morality into the arc. Not only do we get more of the “how far will Archer and company go to save Earth?” question brought up by “Anomaly”, but we start to see the Xindi as more than just planet destroying supervillains. As in the real world, some are good and some are bad, and a lot depends on perspective and how you interact with them. Depending on your tolerance for this sort of thing, this can start to feel a little bit like the show is sending a message, but for the most part, I think it’s well handled. If nothing else, it takes the story in a direction the audience might not expect, which I can always appreciate from a writer’s perspective. Though if my memory about the next three episodes is correct, the screenwriters weren’t entirely sure how to follow up on this, and thus took things in slightly more baffling directions…

How it Relates to the Whole: I’d say this episode is overall very important, and certainly essential to the Xindi arc. We learn more about Xindi history and relations, the crew gets a little closer to finding their target, and as discussed, the story starts to play even more heavily with character morality, which will come into play more and more as the arc goes on, at least if memory serves. Even if I think the episode falls a little flat, it’s certainly not for lack of content.

Other: *Another single today. When the away team arrives and makes its way through the forest, the music (especially the drums) has a very stereotypical “jungle” sound. I don’t remember it continuing throughout the episode, but it was noticeable enough for me early on that it made me shake my head.

Badass Malcolm Moment: Although Malcolm is present for a lot of the episode, he mostly spends it acting as a lookout. That being said, during the climax he has to act as both lookout and radio operator, informing both Archer and the Enterprise about the situation, so I think it’s safe to say he was essential to the operation. I’d prefer if he’d had more of a hands-on role, but you can’t have everything.