Enterprise 3x2 "Anomaly"

rating: ***

the story: The crew discovers the existence of the spheres.

what it's all about: While the Xindi arc continues to build at a slow pace, "Anomaly" establishes two additional, crucial layers to the season that will become more important as the story progresses.

The first of them is an extension of something that was previously explained in the second season finale, "The Expanse," that the region the crew has to explore is filled with dangerous anomalies (hence the name of the episode).  But what they didn't know, previously, was that some of the danger would come from other ships trapped in the region.  "Anomaly" gives the impression of Voyager's "The Void," where Janeway's crew was similarly at the mercy of other ships attempting to survive a strange region of space, forced to decide whether or not they would help each other.  It's an interesting insight into the greater mechanics of the arc, and how many moving parts there are within it.

What's fascinating is that this is actually the first time Archer exhibits the pressure the mission has placed on him.  Some observers have noted that he becomes driven, in this episode, to similar extremes as Janeway in "Equinox, Part 2," where they both use an airlock as a means of de facto torture.  There will be other moments in the season where Archer's desperation is on display, and much more personal ones (notably "Similitude"), but "Anomaly" effectively internalizes the mission for him in a way that had previously been reserved only for Trip, who lost his sister in the original Xindi attack. 

The other major soft development is the introduction of the spheres, which will become another investigation across the whole arc.  What they are and who built them and why...these will become crucial to the whole story.

Lastly, "Anomaly" will get a kind of sequel later in the season, "Damage," which will once and for all settle the matter of its overall relevance.  But more on that when it comes up.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - Casual viewers still won't really understand why any of this is important.
• series - But the episode establishes several key elements crucial to the rest of the season.
• character - Archer begins to feel the pressure of the mission.
• essential - In hindsight a hugely important episode in the arc, really.