Day 344: Enterprise, Zero Hour

Show: Star Trek; Enterprise

Episode Particulars: S3EP24, “Zero Hour”

Note: According to Wikipedia, declining audience numbers and difficulties with the studio led to Season Three only having twenty-four episodes instead of the usual twenty-six. The same thing happened to Season Four, only it was slightly worse there. Though I’ll cover that once we reach that point.

 Summary: As the Xindi weapon hurtles towards Earth, the Enterprise faces not one, but two cases of “Mission; Impossible”. On the one side, you have Archer, Malcolm, several MACOs, and a disoriented Hoshi racing towards the weapon on Degra’s ship in the hope of stopping the weapon before it reaches its target. On the other, you’ve got Enterprise trying to disable or destroy Sphere 41, with the sphere builders well aware of their intentions and throwing up obstacles accordingly. Given what we’ve seen this crew accomplish over three years and especially in the Expanse, though, there’s a good chance they’ll succeed if they all focus on doing what they do best. There’s something to be said about the power of teamwork, after all.

Standalone Thoughts: While “Countdown” had too much going on, this episode is pretty straightforward. You’ve got Enterprise trying to disable the sphere, and Archer and his away team trying to stop the weapon from blowing up Earth. It’s easy to follow, the cuts between the two keep the pace going while generally avoiding cutting away at particularly crucial moments, and there’s a good balance between action and cooldown. Plus, there’s one element that is just wonderful; the only way it could have been more awesome would be if it hadn’t been hinted at early on.

Naturally, there are some weak spots, but they’re relatively minor. Some things, especially in the Enterprise plot, are resolved a little too quickly and neatly. It’s possible these things are addressed in future episodes, but I don’t believe that’s the case. The conclusion is overall satisfying, though, so it’s forgivable. I could also do without Hoshi continuing to show evidence of being a Mary-Sue, but unlike previous episodes, it’s not drawn as much attention to, and it’s clear things are actually taking a toll on her. Overall, while this is an episode I wouldn’t think too deeply about, it ties up most of the Xindi plot threads and gives you plenty of bang for your buck. It’s not a wholly perfect ending to the story, but given everything they threw into the second half of the season, I’d say the crew (both inside and outside of the show) did an admirable job.

How it Relates to the Whole: I think I can safely say without fear of spoilers that this episode pretty much resolves the Xindi arc. I can also say that it sets up the start of Season Four, though obviously we’ll go into more detail on that tomorrow. There’s also another nod to the future of Starfleet (and Star Trek) and a resolution to one of Enterprise’s running gags, but if there’s any serious long-term developments, we’ll have to wait and see in the next twenty-two days.

Other: *After the “previously on” segment, the first thing we see in this episode is Dolim and some of his henchmen toasting their success, complete with eating live mice. It’s a nice nod to the diet of most reptiles, but it still kind of felt like “evil for evil’s sake” to me.

*At one point on Degra’s ship, Archer takes the time to make a log entry. First off, this doesn’t exactly seem like an appropriate time. Secondly, it’s not his ship; would the Xindi have really let him make a recording? I understand that the show wanted to show the passage of time and let us know how things were going, but Archer talking to Malcolm, Hoshi, or one of the Xindi about the situation might have felt more realistic here.

*Season Wrapup: This is a season you may have to adjust your expectations for, at least early on. If you’re under the impression (as a first timer or as someone drawing on their memories after having not seen it for a while) that the entire season is related to the Xindi arc (with one or two “fluff” episodes like “North Star” to keep things from getting too dark), then the first half of the season might come as a bit of a shock to you. It does have relevant episodes (“The Xindi”, “Rajiin”, “The Shipment”, “Carpenter Street”, and to a lesser extent “Anomaly”, “Exile”, and “Chosen Realm”) but it feels like there are long gaps in-between them, and it can feel like the show and the arc is spinning its wheels, even if there are good episodes in there like “Similitude”. It might be better if you think of the first half as a story about learning to cope with the Expanse as well as searching for the Xindi, but I admit I never quite got the knack for that one. Happily, from “Proving Ground” on, the arc picks up steam and is overall well-executed, though as discussed, there were some things that probably could have benefitted from more screentime. The different levels of quality do make it hard to figure out how I’d rank the season in comparison with the other two, though. It’s more actively engaging than Season One, but Season One generally maintained the same quality level of “perfectly decent”, whereas Season Three has some serious clunkers. I’d probably be more likely to watch episodes from Season One and Two than I would be from Season Three, but at the same time, those episodes are standalones, whereas you need to watch several Season Three episodes to get the full story, which is more of a time commitment. Actually, when you get down to it, my problem is figuring out which season I’d consider the “worst”. So let’s table that discussion for now and see how I feel after a rewatch of Season Four, shall we?

Badass Malcolm Moment: A pretty easy choice today; Malcolm taking out a Xindi with a few well-placed kicks, including a flying kick to the face. I don’t care what Daniels says, Malcolm is important to future events. If nothing else, he has to be around in order to make sure everyone else survives.