Enterprise 3x24 "Zero Hour"

rating: ****

the story: The Xindi conflict's resolution.

what it's all about: Well, this is it!  And finally we see where Archer's bull-headed pursuit of victory has landed him, and that's almost more interesting to talk about than the episode itself.

But let's just acknowledge that seeing the crew defeat Dolim and the Sphere Builders is a terrific and thrilling reward, well worth investing in three episodes to see them beat the clock.  Archer first demonstrates his apparent lack of perspective by pushing Hoshi, who's just survived slightly worse pressuring by the Xindi-Reptilians in "Countdown," to help him destroy the weapon.  Then Daniels appears and at first it seems like a reversion to "Carpenter Street" making the Temporal Cold War arc look cheap, instead of "Azati Prime," which made it look strong.  Fans who think it's a little on the nose for Archer to be outright crucial for the birth of the Federation might gag at this material, and again, it makes the Temporal Cold War look weak if all it ultimately accomplishes is produce Daniels to say how important Archer is, in this instance putting truth to the old adage show rather than tell.  But by the end of the series Archer is once again being given credit for the Federation, and fans complain that we don't get to see his big speech in "These Are the Voyages..."  So I wouldn't worry too much about whether or not fans are happy about Archer's status so much as quibbling about how it's presented.

But the real treat of "Zero Hour" is its twist ending.  In a way, it redeems two other Temporal Cold War stories.  One is from near the start of the series, "Shockwave," which concluded the first season and began the second.  In hindsight "Zero Hour" links "Shockwave" with "Storm Front," the two-part story that opens the fourth season and concludes the Temporal Cold War arc.  Daniels showing up to warn Archer in "Zero Hour" in effect translates "Storm Front" into a rephrasing of "Shockwave."  "Shockwave" is about what happens if Archer is removed from history.  He and Daniels discover a future that has been devastated.  "Storm Front" suggests much the same, only instead of going with Archer and Daniels to the future, we go to the past, WWII.  Our last glimpse of Archer in "Zero Hour" is with Nazis staring down at him, and one of them is an alien.

Now, I began to view "Shockwave" as ultimately disappointing, and "Storm Front" has always frustrated me as a conclusion to the Temporal Cold War arc.  "Shockwave" shortchanges its story by making it too simple too early.  "Storm Front" shortchanges itself by providing no conclusive answers about "Future Guy," the leading antagonist of the bad guys in the conflict.  And yet, as Archer angrily states he's tired of being a pawn in someone else's conflict...he's also admitting what "Zero Hour" makes plain, that he has been a pawn.  The Temporal Cold War is a complex series of power plays.  "Storm Front" illustrates how a faction of antagonists becomes trapped in the past.  I always wanted to believe that alien Nazi was "Future Guy," but I guess that was never really necessary.  Archer's disgust is its own statement, and illustrative of his emerging need to take control of his own fate, and as such embrace his destiny.  But it's also a confirmation that Daniels wasn't kidding when he said Archer was crucial to the future.  Whether or not he ends up captive of the Nazis for a time, we see him isolated from his crew by the end of "Zero Hour," and so it's is Archer and not him and his crew that Daniels is worrying about.  It's his choice to destroy the weapon personally that Daniels worries about, the risk he's taking, and Archer is transported to the past, and the rest of the crew, separately, too. 

In a last desperate bid, Daniels is responsible for transporting Archer and the crew to the past.  Happily, he sets about the circumstances that stop the alien Nazi and also Archer's declaration.  So Daniels has actually helped push Archer out of the conflict.  You kind of need the whole context to appreciate this, and so I give "Zero Hour" most of the credit for this.  It's appropriate for Daniels' ultimate role to be obscure like this, as his first appearance, in "Cold Front," features his rival Silik trying to convince Archer it's not so clear cut about which of them to trust.  But both Silik and Daniels, or versions of them, die in "Storm Front," Silik more obviously as a hero.  So it really does even out.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - The big conclusion to one of Star Trek's biggest arcs.
• series - And the setup to the conclusion of another.
• character - Archer's determination motivates him to the last of his extreme actions.
• essential - Provides the key to unlock the Temporal Cold War.

notable guest-stars:
Matt Winston (Daniels)
Scott MacDonald (Dolim)
Tucker Smallwood
Rick Worthy
J. Paul Boehmer
Jeffrey Combs (Shran)

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

Enterprise 3x22 "The Council"

rating: ****

the story: Archer presents his case before the Xindi Council.

what it's all about: "The Council" is where the whole Xindi arc becomes operatic.  It's the end of a suite, in a way, the culmination of Degra's appearances and the conclusion of Dolim's transformation into the true face of villainy.  It also wraps up any lingering mysteries about the connection between the Xindi and the Sphere Builders.

Degra had emerged as one of the essential figures of the arc.  He became Archer's best shot at a diplomatic solution to the crisis through a series of events ("The Shipment," "Stratagem," "Azati Prime," and "The Forgotten") that saw him become go from enemy to ally.  In doing so he made an enemy of Dolim, the Xindi-Reptilian who rejects his logic, siding with the Sphere Builders and launching the attack without the full support of the council.

The council itself, as it represents the Xindi, is finally thrust fully into the spotlight, after having been featured throughout the season, with a full explanation at last.  We are given a history of the Xindi, and see the world they currently inhabit, the one ostensibly threatened by humanity.  Anyone still wondering what any of this was about will now have a definitive answer.

And Dolim murders Degra.  It's one of the great tragedies of the series, and one of its defining moments.  That's exactly the stature Degra had obtained during the course of the series.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - Casual viewers will have very little excuse not to understand the Xindi arc now.
• series - Another key moment of the arc.
• character - Degra's last stand.
• essential - Character deaths usually tend to mean something in Star Trek, and this episode nails another one.

notable guest-stars:
Randy Oglesby (Degra)
Scott MacDonald (Dolim)
Tucker Smallwood
Rick Worthy

Enterprise 3x19 "Damage"

rating: ***

the story: Archer must resort to desperate measures.

what it's all about: "Damage" continues the momentum from "Aazati Prime" in both obvious and subtle ways.  It directly follows the events of the previous episode in a serialized rather than two- or three-part episode fashion, something even Deep Space Nine shied away from during its heavily serialized six- and ten-episode arcs at the beginning of the sixth and end of seventh seasons.  Once again, only the later Discovery features storytelling like this.  But then it branches off into a more episodic development, even as it echoes material from the early-season "Anomaly" as Archer discovers he's going to have to make a tough choice about ethics if the crew will be able to continue its mission.

Specifically, he decides to raid another ship.  This is a bold moment, both for him and the series.  Repeatedly throughout the arc we've seen Archer pushed to his limits, but more often than not in metaphorical ways, such as when "Similitude" presents a Trip clone to demonstrate the importance of essential personnel to continue the mission.  This time there's no mitigating factor involved.  It is exactly what it is.

"Damage" also finally reveals a pair of secrets that've long been hinted: the Xindi Council is in contact with the Sphere Builders, and T'Pol has been compromised by a drug addiction.  The Sphere Builders link at last puts aside any doubt about all the time the season has spent exploring the mystery of the spheres almost at the expense of the Xindi.  T'Pol's addiction has been building since at least "Impulse," the "zombie Vulcan" episode where she first experiences the harmful effects of the Expanse on her people.  It's affected her relationship with Trip and now her ability to perform rationally, even though it gives her the perfect excuse to be Archer's loudest critic.  It's a perfect confluence of elements all the way around.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - As with a lot of serialized material I wonder how accessible it is to casual viewers.
• series - Although its significance is surely evident to committed viewers.
• character - From Archer to T'Pol, there's some heavy-hitting material here.
• essential - Just with Archer alone it's must-see.

notable guest-stars:
Casey Biggs
Randy Oglesby (Degra)
Scott MacDonald (Dolim)
Tucker Smallwood
Rick Worthy

Enterprise 3x18 "Azati Prime"

rating: ****

the story: The crew finally intercepts the Xindi weapon.

what it's all about: As proof that the whole season really is one big arc, the seeming climactic moment occurs now rather than at the end of the season...And then we discover that it won't be that easy. 

Daniels and the Temporal Cold War find a kind of redemption here, it must be stated.  In "Carpenter Street" a few episodes earlier, they'd been used as a kind of plot convenience.  Here they are used with pin-point accuracy.  For the first time ever, Daniels offers solid proof of a positive good in the future, an Enterprise-J that's involved in a battle with the Sphere Builders, the aliens manipulating the Xindi. He gives Archer proof that the Xindi in fact join the Federation in the future, and that will end up convincing Degra, the Xindi scientist who designed the weapon and whom Archer conned into giving them its location in "Stratagem," to abandon the cause and switch sides.  And then we discover that Dolim, the lead Xindi-Reptilian, will turn out to be the lead villainous Xindi...

All that accomplished in one episode, after building up material throughout the season.  It's remarkable, and probably unparalleled in Star Trek until Discovery, the first purely serialized series in the franchise.  It provides ample dramatic material for the rest of the season and makes the rest of it more desperate than the original mission itself, which was already desperate, but hadn't always felt like it was, until this moment, when all the stakes and players are finally revealed.  Kind of Shakespearean, really!

And it's probably the most thoroughly satisfying serialized material of the whole series.  Deep Space Nine wrung a lot of great material out of the Dominion War, but with only a single season to work with, Enterprise rises to the task and proves the worth of the whole experiment.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - Meets or exceeds the standard of serialized storytelling in Star Trek lore.
• series - The unquestioned great moment of the serialized aspects of the Xindi arc.
• character - Archer rises to the occasion as a bold leader.
• essential - You can't appreciate the arc or the series without savoring this moment.

notable guest-stars:
Matt Winston (Daniels)
Randy Oglesby (Degra)
Scott MacDonald (Dolim)
Tucker Smallwood
Rick Worthy

Enterprise 3x13 "Proving Ground"

rating: **

the story: Shran shows up, seemingly offering his assistance in the Xindi conflict.

what it's all about: One thing the third season didn't really do very well was integrate non-Xindi arcs.  The Temporal Cold War, for instance, proved an awkward fit in "Carpenter Street," and in "Proving Ground," Shran and the Andorians show up...Actually, that's about it.  They show up.

Okay, it's slightly more complicated than that.  The episode spends most of its time questioning whether or not Shran has an ulterior motive, and sure enough for most of it he does indeed seem to.  But then he doesn't.  The whole thing's a somewhat convoluted excuse to remind viewers that Shran still exists.  This would've been more relevant had he appeared earlier, or in more than just the season finale as a follow-up.  Instead he just feels tacked on.

I mean, it's not a bad thing.  It's just...awkward.  And it kind of contradicts the extreme dangers Archer and company have encountered along the way, most of them having little to do with dodging enemy Xindi.  That the Andorians can just stroll in at this point, it just feels forced.  Shran and Archer's relationship evolves more toward what it'll be in the fourth season, true, and so that's good.  But...

criteria analysis:

• franchise - Poor excuse to remind viewers that the Andorians are still around.
• series - Still, it's an arc-specific episode that will feel like something is being accomplished.
• character - It just has nothing to do with the Xindi arc, but rather Shran.
• essential - An episode that clearly should not have been developed in a vacuum.

notable guest-stars:
Jeffrey Combs (Shran)
Randy Oglesby (Degra)
Scott MacDonald (Dolim)
Tucker Smallwood
Rick Worthy

Enterprise 3x4 "Rajiin"

rating: **

the story: The crew takes aboard a troublesome passenger.

what it's all about: "Rajiin" quickly puts the season arc back into focus after lapsing in "Extinction."  Not only does it bring back the Xindi Council, last seen in the season premiere ("The Xindi"), but it shows them actively working on something.  At this point they still seem like a fairly anonymous group, perhaps comprised of actors familiar from various other appearances across the franchise, but little more than bad guys who show up once or twice an episode just to remind you they exist.  Once we've been properly introduced, later, these appearances take on greater significance.

The episode itself is another instance of Enterprise evoking the original series.  Kirk was encountering random beautiful women all the time; the association became so great that he was considered a ladies man regardless of whether or not he actively pursued every woman romantically.  The implication seemed to be enough.  Archer had been put in this position before, and this is one of the most explicit examples.

Other than all that, "Rajiin" is mostly an example of the arc being a continuous experience for the characters, as we touch back in with T'Pol and Trip, for example, during the therapy sessions Phlox suggested in the premiere.  So also is the acquisition of a compound the crew needs to coat the ship with; we'll see another explicit example, of why it's so crucial, in the next episode ("Impulse").

criteria analysis:

• franchise - Casual fans ought to be reminded of Kirk in the original series.
• series - Nudging the season arc along.
• character - I don't want to sell the episode too hard, but there is character work within, it's just not ultimately the point.
• essential - It would've been interesting if Rajiin had been a member of the Xindi Council.

notable guest-stars:
Randy Oglesby (Degra)
Scott MacDonald (Dolim)
Tucker Smallwood
Rick Worthy

Enterprise 3x1 "The Xindi"

rating: ***

the story: The crew begins its search for the Xindi in a processing plant.

what it's all about: After the big setup at the end of the second season ("The Expanse"), "The Xindi" kicks off the ambitious season-long serialized arc...in a manner that seems like a fairly slow start.  But it's got a ton of stuff it does accomplish, and its unique handling of this kickoff is itself pretty clever.

The biggest thing the episode accomplishes is introducing a host of recurring characters.  One of the things fans loved most about Deep Space Nine was its humungous assortment of recurring characters, who helped make the series feel lived-in.  Voyager never quite attempted to duplicate that, and even Enterprise in its first two seasons used recurring characters somewhat sparingly.  But the third season, at least in the third season, changes that.  Technically the only recurring character introduced in the episode to receive a proper introduction is MACO Major Hayes.  But the Xindi Council, including members who will become much more important as the season progresses (Degra and Dolim), also debuts, and it's this early peak at it that's the episode's best selling point.

Otherwise our crew attempts to make do with scratching for clues.  Some reviews upon its original broadcast remarked that it was downright disappointing to see Archer scramble through a sewer system rather than, y'know, engage the Xindi.  And it is a little disappointing that a season premiere, especially one that kicks off a major arc, has a relatively soft approach.  But it also eventually leads to a killer ending, one of the many mysteries the season will solve: why are the Xindi trying to protect a home planet that was...apparently obliterated years ago?

So in that sense, it's a really clever way to go about the premiere.  The majority of the episode is spent acclimating to new circumstances.  The MACOs are a major addition.  If none of them ultimately spends a lot of time in the spotlight, their presence alone is a key element of the season.  They even end up being featured in the later film Star Trek Beyond!  The concept itself is a fascinating addition to franchise lore, and entirely in keeping with a rougher early Starfleet still operating with spare parts from entities outside of itself (Mayweather and Reed, you'll recall, came from such origins, too).

criteria analysis:

• franchise - Casual viewers will probably end up baffled and underwhelmed.
• series - But Enterprise fans will eat it up.
• character - The incredible wealth of introductions is almost itself worth it.
• essential - Especially in hindsight, as some characters fleetingly seen here become much more important later.

notable guest-stars:
Steven Culp (Hayes)
Randy Oglesby (Degra)
Scott MacDonald (Dolim)
Tucker Smallwood
Rick Worthy
Daniel Dae Kim

Voyager 1x1/1x2 "Caretaker"

rating: ****

the story: Janeway goes hunting for the Maquis and her ship ends up stranded in the Delta Quadrant.

what it's all about: What an incredibly strong beginning.  I think that's really the problem fans had with Voyager, that it had such a strong push out of the gate, subsequent episodes that seemed to take forever to be relevant to the first episode (it's really not until "Eye of the Needle" five episodes later that episodic material gives way to series-specific matters again).  Context is really the key, here.  Fans had gotten used to Deep Space Nine's interest in continuing arcs, which at the point Voyager premiered was a series at the midpoint of its third season, when the Dominion had already appeared numerous times.  It had also, along with Next Generation, spent some time laying the groundwork for the concept of the Maquis, whom fans thought would make a significant impact on the dynamic of Star Trek storytelling, introducing more conflict between characters.  And in "Caretaker," that plays out nicely, but after "Parallax" (the first regular episode of the series) it seemed to fade into oblivion (always something of a myth, really).  That, and the franchise had lost the genre mandate among the fans, who had begun embracing Babylon 5 as the first of many viable cult alternatives, and of course that was a series built on serialization. 

Every character has a good reason to be where they are in the premiere, and some of them have surprises that couldn't be seen coming (Tuvok as a Starfleet spy among Chakotay's Maquis crew).  Torres and Kim play wonderfully against each other.  (Of course, that's a dynamic that largely vanishes from the rest of the series, as too does any resentment about Tuvok's double-turn.)  It's expected that the common problem of the need to return home against incredible odds thoroughly unites them, setting aside most differences...After all, this is still Gene Roddenberry's hopeful vision of the future, right?

And that's really what's at the heart of all the complaints about Voyager, a growing disconnect between concept and audience.  The long-existing fans had begun to grow restive at the prospect of embracing new material, and the newer ones had begun to move on.  And both blamed their lack of interest in Voyager on the show itself.  See any problems with that kind of logic?

The concept was always supposed to be key, here, a way to rejuvenate the simple exploration imperative of the franchise while also embracing some of the ethos that had cropped up during Next Generation, having plot threads that propelled interest forward, a compelling drama like the Klingon political intrigue or problems between Cardassians and Bajorans.  Voyager couldn't possibly have been conceived more cleverly to fulfill those objectives; its crime was not committing to the extent that fans were coming to expect, which would have only further alienated older fans...Basically a no-win scenario, which ironically was a classic Star Trek concept, too. 

Every character gets a clear introduction in the episode, which was following in the tradition set by Deep Space Nine's "Emissary," but where someone like Bashir was only suggested to be fresh out of the Academy, Harry Kim was depicted as so completely inexperienced he was almost taken in by, of all people, Quark, who even Bashir was never snookered by.  Tom Paris, meanwhile, is a kind of replacement for a similar character found in Next Generation played by the same actor (Robert Duncan McNeill), the bridge between Starfleet and the Maquis, really, the explanation as to how any of the Maquis could end up in a Starfleet uniform.  Where fans ended up assuming all Maquis were hopeless degenerates (a startling conclusion, considering the most famous and successful groundwork Maquis episode was Next Generation's "Preemptive Strike," which saw the beloved Ro Laren join the cause), Paris and Chakotay embodied redemptive arcs, which Torres (in "Parallax") would best illustrate, so that it wasn't so much where we first meet them that defines them but the reasons they ended up there, and how "Caretaker" gives them a second chance to make things right.

And there's the Doctor, and Neelix, and Kes, and the Kazon.  Fans hated the Kazon, too, considering them Klingons who'd fallen on hard times.  And would that really be such a bad thing?  The Delta Quadrant was supposed to be fresh territory.  In the breadth of the series, in hindsight, it's clear that the only unifying presence there is the Borg Collective, and that everyone else basically avoids each other or lives desperate lives, or both, or merely keep to themselves.  The Kazon are an excellent introduction to that concept, and if they are Klingon analogs, so much the better.  We think the Klingons are awesome because they were always presented as the Federation's opposite number.  But what if there was no Federation?  That's what Janeway's crew had to contend with, too, wasn't it?  Well, it's true of the Kazon as well.  They suddenly gain a lot of momentum with Voyager around, something to rally around, an enemy. 

Well, I always liked the series.  But the pilot even if considered in isolation is a heck of a concept.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - The clearest pilot of a Star Trek show to date.
• series - Sets up the concept nicely.
• character - Everyone gets a turn to shine here.
• essential - Everything you need to know, or will need to reference, or figure out about this show, can be found in the premiere.

notable guest-stars:
Richard Poe (Gul Evek)
Josh Clark (Carey)
Scott MacDonald
Armin Shimerman (Quark)

Deep Space Nine 4x4 "Hippocratic Oath"

rating: **

the story: Bashir and O'Brien become prisoners of the Jem'Hadar, but a rogue faction that wishes to be released from their Founder-engineered drug addiction.

what it's all about: "Hippocratic Oath" is the point where viewers realize that Paramount probably mandated a more episodic feel to the series than the serialization that had crept into Deep Space Nine in the third season.  This mandate would obviously be negated later on, but "Oath" betrays how much pushback had affected the producers, because while dealing with a crucial part of the show's mythology, it's never revisited despite the rest of this season and three more remaining.  Dropped elements rarely happened in Deep Space Nine without good reason or some satisfactory conclusion.  That simply isn't the case with "Oath."

In the third season the Jem'Hadar's drug addiction was introduced in "The Abandoned," part of the early part of that season in which the producers were trying to square with the more episodic tradition of the franchise despite playing with major new serialized elements of Deep Space Nine itself.  "Oath" is a kind of follow-up to "Abandoned," but it takes the form of a new conflict between Bashir and O'Brien, who had finally become bosom buddies despite a rough start to their working relationship.  It creates great drama, but in hindsight it also seems random and a little forced, dark for the sake of being dark.

There's a Jem'Hadar soldier introduced, the leader of the rogue faction, who could've easily become a recurring character, played by the ever-dependable Scott MacDonald, in arguably his best Star Trek performance among a whole host of roles spent buried under layers of prosthetics, from Next Generation to Enterprise.  He's arguably the most sympathetic Dominion figure the series ever featured (other than the stray rogue Weyoun clone or Cardassian defector like Damar).  Maybe for that reason he couldn't return, since the Dominion arc was still in its infancy at this point, so it was good enough to demonstrate, among the least likely component of this new enemy, that there was a chance for hope within it.  (Incidentally, the whole Xindi arc from Enterprise's third season is like the Dominion arc condensed, and so "The Shipment" is a better version of "Oath," if you want to see this series in improved form.)

All of which is to say, I just don't think this one worked, both in the short- and long-term, nearly as well as it should have, and it's all down to a temporary retraction of what was to define this series: its dedication to serialized storytelling.  "Oath" is an example of how not to do it.

A subplot involves Worf's attempts to find his place aboard the station, as he clashes with Odo over one of the series' oldest narratives: namely just about anything Quark tries to do.  It's an obvious story to do, and so it makes sense not to have constructed a whole episode around it.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - Medical dilemmas are a fact of life in Star Trek.
• series - Doesn't reflect well on the overall legacy of Deep Space Nine.
• character - At least pairs Bashir and O'Brien for their first story together since the second season.
• essential - It's too dark, even for a dark Trek.

notable guest-stars:
Scott MacDonald

The Next Generation 6x14 "Face of the Enemy"

rating: ****

the story: Troi is conscripted by Romulan agents to help dissidents escape.

similar to: "Second Skin" (Deep Space Nine)

my thoughts: This is, arguably, the best Troi episode of the series, a culmination of the "Chain of Command" and earlier efforts to have the character taken seriously as something other than the empathic counselor as originally conceived.

This is one of those episodes where a main character temporarily becomes a member of an alien species.  Most of the time it's voluntary (such as when Picard and Data are disguised as Romulans in "Unification," incidentally the start of the story continued in "Face of the Enemy") or through some quirk-of-the-week (exemplified by "The Inner Light").  Every once and a while, it's done for different impact entirely (Deep Space Nine's "Second Skin" is another good example), such as when Troi wakes up as a Romulan, and is forced to adjust on the fly as she learns what's really going on.

The Romulans were always such a hard species to feature in the franchise.  Inherently taciturn, like their Vulcan cousins, they were also decidedly more calculating, which cast them as enemies of the Federation and thus frequent opponents of crews in Starfleet uniforms.  Since this is an inherently difficult position to represent, it's not surprising that of all the major Star Trek aliens, Romulans alone have never been represented in an ongoing or even recurring basis (other than the relatively minor Tomalak). 

"Face of the Enemy" makes the novel solution of turning a main character into a Romulan, and thus we're given our one direct look into how a Romulan crew functions.  Like the Klingons, turmoil reigns, which is no surprise.  Like a preview of the Deep Space Nine Cardassians, paranoia is the order of the day as the Romulan CIA, the Tal Shiar, makes Troi's mission exceedingly difficult, although she proves up to the task thanks to the selfless support of her Romulan counterpart.

Helping smooth the story is the fact that two familiar guest-stars are supporting Marina Sirtis: Scott MacDonald, who was a go-to guy for Star Trek aliens, either as a good or bad guy (he really did do both, whether in Deep Space Nine's "Captive Pursuit" or the chief Xindi villain in Enterprise's third season) and Carolyn Seymour.  Both contribute their distinctive voices to give life to the frequently enigmatic Romulan species.

While it was hardly unusual for Star Trek to find a sympathetic Romulan (from the original appearance in "Balance of Terror" to Next Generation's best Romulan episode, "The Defector;" both Romulans and Klingons were inspired by the Cold War's Soviet Union, and in their unique ways it shows), "Face of the Enemy" presents a truly unique opportunity, which it nails. 

It doesn't hurt that Marina Sirtis absolutely, as she did earlier in the season with "A Fistful of Datas," rises to the occasion.  Anyone who wants to figure out how she managed her breakout performance in Star Trek: First Contact ought to look no further to see how it happened.

criteria analysis: franchise - series - character - essential (all criteria met)

notable guest-stars:
Scott MacDonald
Carolyn Seymour

Deep Space Nine 1x6 "Captive Pursuit"

**

The first time we get something to visit us from the other side of the wormhole introduced in the pilot as one of the most important elements of the series, it's a little disappointing in retrospect that the creators hadn't yet come up with the concept of the Dominion (introduced properly in the second season) or that the aliens featured in "Captive Pursuit" are never seen again...

Some of this ends up making the wormhole seem like an excuse to allow the series to circumvent its own premise and still do an alien-of-the-week episode, but it's at least interesting that Miles O'Brien gets his first notable episode, trying to mediate between an abused victim of another species' sport that has stumbled into our territory, and thus allowing everyone to muse on ethics, in a way Captain Janeway would have been proud of.

That's really it, though.  As representative of the series, "Captive Pursuit" comes up a little dicey, though it's the first regular episode dealing with an episodic problem unrelated directly to any of the series regulars to be worth watching.  Ah, that is to say, it's a suggestion that "Babel" is not the best you'll get from this show, and that's promising indeed.

franchise * series * essential * character

Notable guest-stars:
Scott MacDonald

Memory Alpha summary.