Enterprise 1x12 "Silent Enemy"

rating: ***

the story: The crew shore up their defenses in response to repeated assaults from an unknown enemy.

what it's all about: One of the things modern serialized TV storytelling has sort of ingrained in viewers is the need for everything to be explained.  Some fans won't tolerate this being violated at all.  That makes a franchise like Star Trek, which has traditionally featured aliens-of-the-week for most episodes, a somewhat problematic entity.  "Silent Enemy," which is to say, is an episode that features "an unknown enemy" that remains unknown for the duration of the series.  Regardless of how well it works in the context of the episode, this is a kind of automatic mark against it, even if episodic storytelling remains a valid style and some things can remain mysteries.

Now, these unknown aliens mostly serve as further impetus for the crew to realize the perils of deep space exploration, such as Starfleet hadn't yet discovered, although certainly spacefaring pioneers like the Boomers would've encountered such difficulties as a matter of course.  What makes this different is that Starfleet, thanks to the Vulcans, has been a reluctant organization, quick to doubt itself, fall back and regroup, as the crew considers during this experience.  In a lot of ways, "Silent Enemy" isn't terribly different from "Fight or Flight," the first regular episode of the series, except now the crew isn't just wondering whether or not its mission is a good idea, but whether or not it's actually deadly.  It's another precursor moment, in some ways, to the Xindi arc of the third season, when the stakes are raised considerably.

Of course, it's also an excuse to push Reed into the spotlight.  The episode tracks him on two fronts, professionally and personally.  If Hoshi in "Fight or Flight" was a bundle of nerves, Reed here is presented in an impenetrable cloud.  The crew's efforts in getting to know him better are stymied repeatedly.  This is an insanely private guy!  Reserved doesn't really begin to cover it.  And although this character work ultimately pails in comparison to the later "Shuttlepod One," we also see why he was probably a good recruit for Section 31, a fact we don't learn until the fourth season!  Some fans scoffed at such a late revelation, but it's definitely within character, as this episode makes clear. 

And yeah, it's another excuse to help the crew develop some of the stuff we know from later in the franchise, and maybe that was an overplayed element of the series, in the first season, but when an episode explains exactly why it's doing something, it's easier to accept.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - This is kind of Enterprise-specific, all told.
• series - It's another step in the crew's development.
• character - The first real exploration of Reed.
• essential - In hindsight, perhaps even more revealing than it seems.