Day 330: Enterprise, Similitude

Show: Star Trek; Enterprise

Episode Particulars: S3EP10, “Similitude”

 Summary: While experimenting with the warp core in the hope of allowing Enterprise to remain at Warp Five for long stretches of time, the ship flies into a patch of space that disrupts the process, nearly causing the reactor to overload. Tucker manages to stop it, but is badly injured in the process, to the point where he winds up in a coma. With the engines damaged and weird magnetic gunk gradually accumulating on the hull (which is poised to cause long-term problems), having the chief engineer around is more important than ever. Phlox comes up with an unorthodox and admittedly questionable solution; one of the creatures he uses for medicinal purposes can, when injected with DNA from another organism, become a perfect clone of said organism, though its growth rate is rapid and it only has a fifteen day life cycle. If they clone Tucker, they can harvest the parts they need from said clone to get him back on his feet. Archer decides to go through with it, and the clone, known as Sim (played by Maximillan Orion Kesmodel, Adam Taylor Gordon, and Shane Sweet in addition to Trinneer), quickly proves to be an inquisitive, personable character, which seems to have Trip’s memories in addition to his own. Which is just going to make explaining the situation that much harder.

Standalone Thoughts: Yes, this is another episode that doesn’t directly connect to the Xindi arc, but like “North Star”, I’m willing to forgive it, albeit for very different reasons. For one thing, this episode wouldn’t work as well without the Xindi mission as a backdrop. Had Tucker been injured in regular space, with easy ways to contact the Vulcans or Starfleet, it wouldn’t have felt quite as necessary to take the steps that Archer does. Having time be of the essence and no outside group to turn to for help makes the decisions that much more meaningful. Which ties into the second reason this episode works; it acknowledges the various moral dilemmas involved with making life just to harvest it for material. They aren’t discussed in-depth, but I think that’s better for the episode, because then we don’t veer into preachy territory. Instead, we can see the misgivings everybody has at varying times, and both sides of the argument are presented with the quiet understanding that there isn’t an easy answer to this. It has the same complexities as “Dear Doctor”, but manages to tone down the uncomfortable sensation “Dear Doctor” generated, and that’s all to the good.

The episode is also buoyed up by great acting by all the various Sims. You really come to care for him, which helps sell the dilemmas just as much as the lack of heavy-handedness. The ending feels earned instead of manipulative, and I’d say that’s almost entirely due to Trinneer’s performance in the last five or so minutes. The younger actors all do fine jobs too, and since kid actors are grating to me more often than not, consider that high praise. Bakula, Blalock and Billingsley also play their interactions with Sim well, giving the whole thing a feeling of family. It’s not quite as light-hearted as the genre divergence of “North Star”, but the tone is still a nice break from the seriousness of the previous stories, while also having just enough darkness to remind us of the stakes and the reason why the Enterprise is out here. Once again, I’m reminded of what Enterprise is capable of, and can face the rest of this arc with tentative enthusiasm. Don’t let me down, guys.

How it Relates to the Whole: This episode may not further the Xindi arc, but it definitely takes strides towards developing the connection between Tucker and T’Pol, so it is actually relevant. There’s also some callbacks to prior episodes, though given the nature of Sim’s development, that was probably inevitable. Doesn’t mean I don’t like seeing them, though.

Other: *If there’s one thing I dislike about this episode, it’s the fact that it once again starts with a decent teaser, then jumps back in time to explain how we got to that point using intertitles instead of characters recounting events as flashbacks. They had a setup for that built right into the teaser; I’m astonished they didn’t take advantage of it.

*While trying to explain things to a young Sim, Archer takes him to a shuttle bay and lets him fly the model starship that we first saw in “Broken Bow”. It’s a nice enough moment, but what I want to know is, why does Archer have that model on Enterprise? Has he really had it with him for all these years? What was the point of having it on the ship, especially when it takes up a lot of space and he (presumably) won’t be using it? And while I will allow that it’s a nostalgia thing/something he brought up for the sake of his dad, it seems like something that should have been left behind for the duration of the Xindi mission. I’m not saying it would have made a huge difference in terms of weight or space, but I still can’t help but feel like it doesn’t belong there.

*During a tense moment, Sim says he only needs a few more seconds. T’Pol responds “They won’t last a few seconds.” I get the intent, of course, but I can’t help but be amused that technically, a few seconds passed while she was saying that sentence. It might have been better if they’d changed the line to “one more minute”.

Badass Malcolm Moment: Malcolm’s heavily involved in the secondary conflict of the episode, from diagnosing to solving the problem, but while he shares this honor with Mayweather and Sim, his best moment is probably when he puts himself at risk to save the day. Sure, it’s part of his job and less glamorous or dramatic than a noble sacrifice, but taking that risk with no complaints is, as I’ve said before, awesome in its own way.