Day 343: Enterprise, Countdown

Show: Star Trek; Enterprise

Episode Particulars: S3EP23, “Countdown”

 Summary: Reptilian councilmember Dolim, wanting to unite the Xindi under his leadership, has stolen the Xindi weapon and intends to use it against Earth as originally planned. As the weapon requires launch codes from three different Xindi species, he’s kidnapped Hoshi and will be forcing her to translate/break the code from the Aquatics, since she showed an aptitude for it in “The Council”. As he does that, Archer uses that time to try to get the Aquatics (generally the most neutral and slow to act race) to officially join the Human cause. One of his bargaining chips is that Tucker and T’Pol have discovered that one of the nearby Spheres, Sphere 41, is one of four spheres that are essential for keeping the Expanse together. Disabling it may be enough to end the machinations of the sphere builders, though of course, they’ll have to figure out how. And with all the various factions running around, that’s not going to be easy.

Standalone Thoughts: There’s really not too much I can say about this episode. Not because it’s bad or bland, but because so much happens that it all kind of jumbles together. There’s a lot of action and excitement to get your pulse racing, mixed with some quieter moments to let things calm down while also advancing plots and subplots. It’s all generally well-executed, and definitely worth watching. About the only things I really have anything to talk about is that we get yet another example of Hoshi’s Mary-Sueness, which irritates me, and that there’s another good scene between Malcolm and Hayes, making that subplot worthwhile. Besides that, it’s something that’s easier to watch than explain. Rest assured, though, it’s another episode that’s allowing the second half of Season Three to be much stronger than the first.

How it Relates to the Whole: As with “The Council”, this episode directly ties into tomorrow’s episode. When it comes to longer term consequences, that’s a little harder to tell. Certainly one subplot has been wrapped up, but otherwise, we’ll find out soon enough.

Other: *Yet another single today. When Archer meets privately with the Aquatics, they’ve finally translated Human language so that they can be understood without subtitles. Both of the two we hear speaking have a certain distorted quality, but while the male Aquatic sounds relatively normal despite that, the female sounds like a robot. I have no idea why one sounds more artificial than the other (the sound filters had trouble with the actresses’ voice?), but it can be a little distracting when you hear it.

Badass Malcolm Moment: As Archer, Malcolm, Jannar, and the other humanoid Xindi (who never got a canonical name, but is played by Tucker Smallwood) are considering their options now that Dolim’s made off with the weapon, the two Xindi are saying that they’d be severely outgunned by the Reptilians and Insectoids. Malcolm rather forcefully points out that a) Enterprise has done this sort of thing before, and b) they really shouldn’t be backing down now. Archer nods and immediately starts looking for more ways to even the odds. I’m guessing Archer would have done that even if Malcolm hadn’t been there/offered his opinion, but it sure looks like Malcolm gave him a bit of a pep talk. Then again, this may have been somewhat self-serving on Malcolm’s part—based on his love of weapons and fighting, he may just have wanted a challenge…