Day 360: Enterprise, Divergence

Show: Star Trek; Enterprise

Episode Particulars: S4EP16, “Divergence”

 Summary: After an attack by Klingons (who have been genetically augmented but are also slowly dying thanks to that mutated virus) leaves the Enterprise in danger of exploding if it drops out of warp, the Columbia, and Tucker in particular, come to their aid. Once that crisis has passed, the Columbia sticks around to help find Phlox. For his part, Phlox focuses his attention on curing the virus and stopping the Klingons from being augmented, though he’ll have to trick his captor, K’Vagh (James Avery) to do so. As for Malcolm’s involvement, Archer is less than thrilled, but a discussion with Malcolm’s contact, now revealed to be named Harris, allows him to at least see some of Malcolm’s motivation. Not that this makes him or Malcolm feel any better about the whole thing.

Standalone Thoughts: This is a very exciting episode, even if the details are a bit lacking. The opening action setpiece is blatantly cribbed from Speed, and we don’t actually get to see Archer come up with the possible solution (contact the Columbia for help), but the visuals, music, pacing, and acting all combine to make it a great watch. Similarly, the climax is a great blend of spaceship fights, tension, and clever thinking. Those who want sci-fi action will have nothing to complain about.

The acting is overall good across the board as well. The Klingon augments suffer from some of the woodenness that the human augments did, but the major players are all pulling their weight. Particular mention has to be given to John Schuck, playing a Klingon doctor in a way that’s sympathetic but still Klingon, and Bakula, for playing Archer in a way that makes him very firm but fair. And of course, I personally find Keating’s work as a very conflicted (yet still competent and even occasionally snarky) Malcolm to be wonderful, though I’m not exactly going to be objective about this. Still, he sells the material, and I think less biased people would agree with me on that score.

Even though I’d consider the episode to be very good, I do have a few minor complaints about it. For one, the Tucker/T’Pol material is mostly ignored. It makes sense on one level—given everything that’s going on, that’s the material that’s most easily left out—but after the odd scene we got in “Affliction”, the audience is going to want answers, and first timers may feel like it was dropped. That’s not actually the case, but it could bring down the viewing experience. I also think a reveal about the augments comes out of nowhere, though on reflection, it’s at least plot relevant. I think a bit of foreshadowing in “Affliction” might have been appreciated, though. And my biggest problem (though it’s still relatively small) is that I’m not entirely clear on what Harris’ motivation was. It probably should be somewhat nebulous, in keeping with his position, but even factoring that in, I can’t exactly figure out what he was hoping to gain. One scene in particular muddies the water even further, and while it does make for interesting speculation, it can leave you wondering what exactly the point of his inclusion was, other than to bring in some more Trek lore and give Malcolm something to do. Not that I’m complaining about either of those things, mind you…

To answer the question from yesterday, I consider this a satisfactory conclusion to the arc, even if not everything was fully paid off. It never felt rushed, even though there was a lot going on, and it struck the right balance of action, intelligence, and character work. It’s probably the most well-handled arc so far, though thanks to my biases, I hesitate to come out and say it’s the best. I’d definitely consider it in the top two, though, and I’ll be curious to see where the remaining two arcs fall on the spectrum. But first, another palate cleanser.

How it Relates to the Whole: Like I said yesterday, this episode explains a long puzzled over piece of Star Trek lore, while also reminding us of the darker side of Starfleet (which will, I believe, make one more appearance before the end of the show). As for the Tucker/T’Pol material, the episode didn’t really dig into that, but I believe we may get more of it in the next episode…

Other: *There’s a really neat zoom effect early on in the episode, as we pan out from Enterprise to see the Columbia in pursuit before coming in for a closeup on the bridge. It’s the first indication that the impending action scene is going to be very well-handled.

*SLIGHT SPOILER ALERT. I’ve joked before with family members that Tucker seems to be the character who most gets into trouble with alien species, from pregnancy to not getting along with diplomats. However, this episode revealed that Archer also has a recurring theme; having alien races get inside his head. Absorbed by a psychic slime monster in “Vox Sola”, getting his genetic code overwritten in “Extinction”, spores causing him to lost his memories in “Twilight”, being protective of the Xindi babies in “Hatchery”, carrying Surak’s katra, and now being injected with Klingon DNA…when he set out to make contact with new species, I’m pretty sure this wasn’t what he had in mind.

Badass Malcolm Moment: This particular moment comes almost immediately in the episode, where Archer, despite being angry at Malcolm, acknowledges that Malcolm is apparently the only person on board Enterprise who can supervise and help execute a between-ship personnel transfer at warp. And of course, Malcolm pulls it off despite it never being attempted at high speeds. Perhaps you can understand why Harris thought Malcolm would make an excellent addition to his team with skills like that.