| Review : |
Bravo to everyone here. Enterprise not only gets its butt kicked, but it gets its butt kicked hard. The only time time we see a starship get this badly damaged in Trek is Voyager in Year of Hell...and technically, that didn't even happen. We see the crew forced to deal with their extreme situation, and stress shows with some surprisingly good acting. And finally, brilliantly, the show actualy succeeds in presenting a moral dilemna: is it right to attack and steal from the innocent to save billions of lives? Great acting, great writing, great special effects: one of Enterprise's finest outings. |
| Review : |
This is without a doubt my favourite Enterprise episode, comparing easily with DS9's darker efforts and Voyager's "Year of Hell". The trashed, dying Enterprise struggles on as the Xindi rather conveniently (and unbelievably) let it go. The crew are battered, their morale is on the floor, yet they won't give up: they're going to patch the Enterprise together with spit and glue if necessary. Most of this episode is one excellent scene following another. It shows the consequences of Enterprise's defeat on not only the ship, but the crew as well, with so many excellent characetr moments. Even the comm system sounds fried (I always felt the intra-ship communication should sound more like modern radio, not as sharp or clear as on TNG etc). Archer looks like he's been through hell - everyone does - and this theme will be continued throughout this season and early season 4. I didn't like the visual damage to the ship's exterior, it looks really fake, but I was able to smugly smile when my brother sarcastically said "Don't worry, it'll suddenly be back to normal next episode" as it remains in this state for quite a while. I also didn't like the T'Pol as drug addict plot thread, it seemed unnecessary to pad an episode like this and the whole emotion/addiction thing could have been much better handled. As for the closing battle, this is one of the few meaningful confrontations in latter-day Trek where whoever wins, everyone still loses, which is what fighting usually means: defeat no matter what. |
