Enterprise 1x24 "Desert Crossing"

rating: ****

the story: Terrorists try recruiting Archer to their cause.

what it's all about: There's a little something of everything to love about this one: big ideas, time well-spent with a pair of characters, continuity, and Clancy Brown.

Let's just get Clancy Brown out of the way.  Clancy's a big personality.  He's never really found that one (or two or three) projects that squarely put the spotlight on him, but he's always been an outsize highlight in the material he has chosen.  Scoring him, which surprisingly took this long to accomplish, is a major coup for Enterprise.  He instantly makes the episode seem that much bigger, just by being in it, and he sells the material as few guest-stars could have.  Anyone else, that lost dimension is the difference between mediocre and great.

But there's a lot more working around him, too.  "Desert Crossing" is a rare opportunity to see old friends Archer and Trip on an adventure together.  For Trip, the experience ends up eerily similar to "Shuttlepod One," and with different interpersonal dynamics we get a different experience out of him, which I think works better for him.  ("Shuttlepod" works as well as it does because of Reed.) 

The episode also acknowledges the loose serialization of the series to this point.  Clancy's character references the events of "Detained" as the reason he's convinced Archer will be able to help him.  That's a great way to give further dimension to a story, something Enterprise was particularly good at.  A lot of serialized TV storytelling can begin to feel too insular, events blending together in a bad way so that it's just something that keeps happening.  Knowing how to link stories together is its own kind of skill.

The big ideas are terrorism and Starfleet noninterference policy.  Terrorism was a big thing in Next Generation, with memories of Irish unrest permeating episodes that never quite seemed capable of exploring the idea.  Bajorans had been terrorists in Deep Space Nine, and of course between them there was also the establishment of the Maquis.  Fans were actually upset that the Maquis in Voyager weren't rebellious enough.  I don't think they ever really managed to reassess that in the wake of 9/11.  Enterprise eventually tackled 9/11 (it launched literally in the shadow of the attacks) in its third season, but "Desert Crossing" is like a soft preview of the topic.  Archer decides that Clancy's terrorists, like the Bajorans, and even the Maquis, were probably right in their actions.  This isn't really to say terrorism itself is a justifiable tactic, but that there's always a need to assess the justice of a cause. 

Anyway, it's another example of Archer considering a Starfleet protocol of noninterference.  In the real world we see oppression in a country and it's probably hard to not condemn the oppression itself, but...what to do about it is usually a far more difficult matter.  What are you ultimately signing up for?  Are you willing to make the commitment?  How does it change you to become involved?  These are the kinds of questions Archer asks, and helps further explain the basis of the Prime Directive (previously explored in "Dear Doctor" under very different circumstances), one of the central tenets of franchise lore.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - Exploring the concepts of terrorism and the Prime Directive.
• series - Loose serialization strikes again.
• character - Fine spotlight for Archer and Trip.
• essential - It's hard to describe an episode that deals with terrorism as "fun," but this is one of the most straight-up enjoyable experiences of the first season.

notable guest-stars:
Clancy Brown