Enterprise 3x23 "Countdown"

rating: ****

the story: The Xindi-Reptilians become increasingly isolated, but it may already be too late to stop them.

what it's all about: It was always going to be inevitable to compare the heavily serialized Xindi arc with the most famous previous Star Trek serialized storytelling, the Dominion War in Deep Space Nine.  "Countdown" is where the comparisons really begin to find parallels.  The Sphere Builders are much like the Founders, the Xindi like the Dominion.  But where the Founders never quite pulled the trigger in active participation and the Dominion never quite splintered apart, the Xindi have and splinter still further during the course of the episode.

By the final episode of Deep Space Nine, "What You Leave Behind," the Cardassians have come to regret joining the Dominion.  Damar has led a full-scale revolt, which leads to the Dominion devastating the Cardassian homeworld in retaliation.  But the Jem'Hadar, the shock troops of the Dominion, never seriously consider leaving, or do the Vorta, the bureaucrats of the Dominion, or the Breen, like the Cardassians allies from the Alpha Quadrant.  But The Xindi have already splintered: the Primates (I have referred to them as Humanoids; Degra and the councilman played by Tucker Smallwood came from this species) and the Arboreals (the councilman played by Rick Worthy, for instance) were the first to believe Archer.  The Aquatics join the good guys in "Countdown."  The Insectoids (who like the Aquatics are fully CGI) rebel against the Reptilians (represented by Dolim) by the end of the episode.  There's a whole species who became extinct before we ever met the Xindi: the Avians. 

The Founders, meanwhile, as shapeshifters sowed distrust within the Federation and Klingon Empire, but they played no active part in the war aside from the Female Founder acting as a kind of general.  The Prophets, however, intervened on the behalf of the Federation.  That's what the Sphere Builders do in "Countdown," suddenly aware that their plans have reached a precarious state.

These are fascinating contrasts.  The momentum "Countdown" represents in the arc, meanwhile, is itself an interesting counterpoint.  Deep Space Nine limited even its serialized storytelling at the beginning of the sixth and end of seventh season to the conventional restraints of episodic and two-part installments.  Story elements keep the situation heightened to a crisis state, but each individual installment tends to stand for itself.  You have to go all the way back to the start of the second season, in an entirely unrelated story, to find material in this series comparable to the three-episode momentum that concludes the Xindi arc: "The Homecoming," "The Circle," and "The Siege," which encompass a Bajoran crisis that eventually sees a military seizure of the station.  Yet it's fair to say that Enterprise has more breathtaking momentum.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - High stakes keep the action going in unprecedented serialized storytelling.
• series - The Xindi have finally splintered completely apart.
• character - Dolim attempts to exploit Hoshi's linguistic skills.  Also, Hayes proves to be the ultimate red shirt.
• essential - This ends up as the template for Enterprise's fourth season storytelling.

notable guest-stars:
Steven Culp (Hayes)
Scott MacDonald (Dolim)
Tucker Smallwood
Rick Worthy