"Shockwave, Part II"

Written by Rick Berman and Brannon Braga
Directed by Allan Kroeker


In which Captain Archer struggles to find a way to return to the past and restore the future, as T’Pol and the crew of the Enterprise try to survive their Suliban captors...

Synopsis - Analysis - Memorable Quotes - Observations


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Synopsis

As the episode begins, T’Pol informs Silik that Archer is no longer aboard the Enterprise. When Silik expresses his doubts, T’Pol invites him to come over to the ship and find out for himself. Trip and Reed are completely annoyed with this decision, especially after T’Pol orders security to let the Suliban come on board without resistance.

In the 31st century, Archer demands to know how Daniels and his organization could still be around, if the future has been completely altered. Unfortunately, Daniels cannot be sure of the answer himself. As they comb through the ruins, Daniels notices that a specific monument is completely missing, as though it had never existed. He explains to Archer that the monument was for an organization called the Federation. They move on to the nearby library, and find the stacks filled with paper books instead of the expected electronic data.

Back on the Enterprise, Silik is told by his henchmen that Archer is nowhere to be found, but there are traces of temporal energy emissions in the lift. Also, it becomes clear that the Suliban data discs proving that the Enterprise was not responsible for the deaths of the colonists (from “Shockwave”) have not been copied. Silik demands that T’Pol tell him everything she knows. She tells him the absolute minimum. Silik orders Trip to shut down all systems other than engineering and life support. Then he confines the crew to quarters, and orders his henchmen to return the Enterprise to the nebula helix.

On Earth, Vulcan Ambassador Soval notes to Admiral Forrest that Archer is three days overdue, and has not yet delivered T’Pol to the Vulcan ship sent to remove her from the crew. When Commander Williams demands to know whether or not that Vulcan ship had detected the Enterprise, Soval is forced to admit that the Enterprise was last seen surrounded by several unknown vessels. It had since disappeared. The Vulcans, however, refuse to take that into account, and order their ship to seek out the Enterprise. After all, they know believe that Archer is holding T’Pol against her will.

Having returned to the helix, Silik tries to make contact with his mysterious benefactor from the 28th century, but there is no answer. Obviously, the changes to the future caused by Archer’s removal eliminated Silik’s allies as well. Silik’s second, Raan, tells him that he ought to destroy the Enterprise, but Silik orders him to bring T’Pol to his interrogators instead.

In the 31st century, Archer and Daniels look through several of the books in the library for some mention of the Federation. When Archer wants to know why the Federation is so important, Daniels tells him that the absence of the Federation has to be the result of Archer’s removal from the past. Everything up to Archer’s time is the same, but everything after that has been completely changed. Archer is completely confused by the importance being placed on his decisions, but Daniels suggests that his success leads to “other missions”.

Daniels comes to the realization that Silik wasn’t after the Enterprise, but Archer specifically. Moreover, by removing Archer from his pivotal place in the scheme of things, he brought about the changes that Silik’s allies might have been seeking. That being the case, Daniels decides that he must find a way to send Archer back to the past, so the timeline can be restored. With the only “modern” technology still available being Archer’s communicator and scanner, Daniels determines that he can create a communications device that can send an image back in time...the same method that Silik’s allies have been using.

Back on the helix, Silik pumps T’Pol full of psychotropic drugs, demanding to know who Archer is working with from the future. Apparently Silik is unaware of the nature of the faction Daniels was/is a part of. T’Pol merely states that the Vulcan Science Council has determined that time travel is not possible. Silik manages to get her to admit that Archer believes Daniels was from the future, and even though Silik killed Daniels (in “Cold Front”), Archer mentioned seeing him two days earlier. Silik demands to know where Archer was taken...the past or the future...but T’Pol regains her resolve and repeats the Vulcan Science Council’s mantra.

In the 31st century, Daniels and Archer use raw materials recovered from the ruins to create the additional components needed to construct the temporal communications device. Daniels makes it clear that they need to contact the Enterprise on the same day on which Archer was removed, because trying to communicate the circumstances prior to that point could make the current situation even worse.

Back on the Enterprise, Trip manages to use the comm panel for the door to his quarters to communicate with Reed, who is on the same deck, without using the main comm system. At the same time, the Suliban return T’Pol to her quarters. As she recovers from the interrogation, Archer’s temporal communication appears above her. Archer tells her that Daniels took him into the future, but in her current state, she’s less than willing to entertain the notion. Still, Archer manages to get through to her, and mentioning that she needs to find a way into Daniels’ old quarters, begins to outline his plan.

Not long after, with Trip’s communications trick now extended to the command crew, they realize that the EPS system ducts could be used to get someone out of their quarters. Hoshi is selected for the task, even though she is claustrophobic. They convince her to use the ducts to retrieve anesthetic sprays from Dr. Phlox, and then emerge outside of Reed’s quarters to begin releasing the rest. She manages to perform the task more or less intact.

Shortly, two of the Suliban henchmen patrolling the Enterprise find T’Pol in one of the corridors, acting incoherently. When she is captured, Trip and Reed ambush the Suliban with the medical sprays and confiscate their weapons. They send Reed off to Daniels’ quarters, where he retrieves some kind of device from a “spatial pocket” in the closet. Of course, the Suliban capture Reed immediately as he leaves, and Silik tortures him into telling what he knows. Reed eventually admits that he was ordered to destroy the device, because Silik would be able to use it to contact his allies in the future. Meanwhile, Trip and T’Pol take over engineering, and set up the ship so they can simulate a warp core breach.

Back on the helix, Silik begins using the device taken from Reed, desperate to contact his benefactors and find out what he ought to do, now that Archer is obviously out of reach. When the Suliban arrive in engineering just in time to see the systems begin to overload, they assume that the crew has chosen suicide, and Silik orders them to tow the Enterprise away from the helix.

Of course, instead of allowing Silik to contact his unknown benefactor, the device pulls Archer back from the future. As soon as the Enterprise is clear of the helix, they go into warp, attempting escape. The Suliban give chase en masse. As they race to catch the Enterprise, Archer beats down Silik and demands that he give Archer a means to return to the Enterprise, as well as the data discs proving their innocence.

When the Suliban catch up to the Enterprise, they immediately begin tearing into the ship. With the Vulcan ship nowhere to be found, the crew expects this to be the end. But then the Suliban stop firing, and Archer contacts them from one of the Suliban vessels. Once he is back on board, he leaves Silik in the dust and orders the Enterprise to find the Vulcan ship, so they can plead their case.

The Vulcans accept the evidence regarding the destruction of the colony, but they point out that there are still a number of incidents that have made the Enterprise mission a disaster, from their point of view. Because they believe the Enterprise is dangerous and that Archer, as its captain, is irresponsible, they maintain that the mission should be ended. Archer gives a speech essentially pointing out that humans can learn from their mistakes. When the Vulcans are less than impressed, T’Pol voices her own support for Archer and the Enterprise mission. The Vulcans react by walking out of the room.

That night, Archer stops by T’Pol’s quarters to let her know that her speech was the saving grace for the mission, convincing Starfleet to allow the Enterprise mission to continue. Still, T’Pol makes it a point to assure Archer that she still doesn’t believe in time travel!


Analysis

Thus ends the first of what will likely be a dozen or so two-part events for “Enterprise”. As is normal for television, regardless of the series or genre in question, setting up the impossible situation is much easier, and far more entertaining, than coming up with an equally stimulating resolution. The Star Trek franchise is rather well known for this lack of follow-through, and this episode takes that tradition and delivers a classic example.

For one thing, resolving the entire problem of pulling Archer into the future winds up being so simple that it amounts to a cop-out. Granted, it’s entirely consistent with what we’ve seen so far, but it’s still too easy a solution. Are we to expect, then, that every future appearance of the “temporal cold war” is going to be resolved using some device from Daniels’ quarters? When the writers can just write a device that solves any problem into any episode, it puts the weakness of the writing staff on stark display.

As cleanly as that plot point is resolved, there is some hope that the implications of this incident could be far more interesting than might appear. After all, having T’Pol give a happy little speech in support of the Enterprise might actually have made the tensions between Humans and Vulcans worse. After all, in allowing the Enterprise to continue their mission, Starfleet is widening the breach with the Vulcans that began with the incident at P’Jem. Also, it is going to be that much more difficult for the rest of the Vulcans to recognize whatever lessons T’Pol might learn during the mission.

The implication is clear. The Enterprise is now moving into completely unknown territory, and whatever support they might have had from the Vulcans is now unlikely to be available. This means that they are going to have to rely on new allies and their own strengths...and since we know that Archer is instrumental in bringing about Federation, this could very well be a part of that process. By withdrawing their support, the Vulcans could be giving Archer exactly the situation necessary to prove what humanity is capable of on their own.

Turning for a moment to the temporal cold war, we are given absolutely no reason to believe that sending Archer back to the past had the effect of restoring the future to its previous state. In fact, by revealing to Archer that his actions are supposed to create something called the Federation, and by extension, a future on Earth that results in a powerful organization able to police time itself, everything could change. We might discover, by the end of the series, that the true timeline was very different from what we now consider to be the future timeline.

There are still questions to be answered. After all, the orders given to Silik from the 28th century, and the various appearances of Daniels from the 31st, all need to be reconciled. As it stands, they are largely contradictory. Since it is likely that this is something the writers will return to, any changes to the future timeline are likely to be superficial at best. But that kind of simple thinking is what we have come to expect of the Star Trek franchise.

Taking that into account, we can still point to other interesting questions and possibilities. If Archer’s removal from the timeline eliminated Silik’s benefactor, then it opens the possibility that Silik’s allies are actually a part of the Federation in that later period. What if there were two or more factions within the later Federation vying for control of the timeline, and Daniels’ organization was the one that has been winning?

What if the events surrounding the very beginning of the Federation, the agreements and decisions made at its inception, could determine what kind of Federation emerges 1000 years later? Each side, then, would be fighting to influence Archer in terms of how he brings Federation into being. What’s interesting is that the 28th century faction appears to be more aware of Archer’s importance than the 31st century faction. It could be that the 28th century faction is actually more true to the ideals of the Federation we know, and they are acting out of desperation more than a lack of morality.

Regardless, it is difficult to tell what the effect of this incident might be on the progression of the second season. If the other series within the franchise are any indication, this is going to be the season of transition, where the strengths of the series are given focus. Considering the relative strength of the first season as compared to past offerings, the key elements ought to be bringing the hints of emerging Federation into focus, while solidifying characters towards the goals of establishing clear character arcs. It’s unlikely that this series will be canceled anytime soon, which ought to give the writing staff the confidence to give these characters something worthy of existence.

Certainly, the cast has come together very well. Several of the characters have been strongly established. However, it’s time that Dr. Phlox, Hoshi, Reed, and Mayweather get the same kind of treatment. The writers should use the now-familiar characters of Archer, T’Pol, and Trip to build on the relationships they have with the rest of the crew.

Finally, I’d like to mention that both Scott Bakula and Jolene Blaylock appear to have learned something after watching their performances in the first season. Bakula’s portrayal of Archer needed a bit more edge, and with the exception of that horrible speech at the end of the episode, he was given the chance to add that level of authority to his character. Similarly, Blaylock’s wavering portrayal of T’Pol has been replaced with a far more consistent approach in this episode. Hopefully, this is more than a temporary moment of enlightenment.

For all the opportunities that this episode presents, there are just as many moments that are squandered. This plot might have been better served by extending the events through an additional episode, to give some of the details more time for development and depth. Lingering behind this resolution is the worry that this series will progress with the same lack of daring that plagued “Voyager”, and so in the end, one is left with a somewhat blasé reaction when the episode is over. One can only hope that this impression is wrong.


Memorable Quotes

ARCHER: “The Romulan Star Empire...what’s that?”
DANIELS: “Maybe you shouldn’t be reading that...”

DANIELS: “I made the worst mistake in time travel history this morning. I don’t intend to make it any worse...”

T’POL: “You’re on the ceiling. Why aren’t you on a monitor?”

T’POL: “You certainly took your time. They had this pressed against my head.”
TRIP: “Had to make sure they were preoccupied!”

ARCHER: “I said, ‘You’re an ugly bastard!’”

ARCHER: “I’m not certain, but Ensign Fuller might have seen me coming in here.”
T’POL: “She tends to be discrete.”
(Um...is there something we should know, Captain?)

T’POL: “I still don’t believe in time travel...”
ARCHER: “I know you don’t...”


Observations

- You know, it’s been months, and I still can’t stand that theme music...

- There was some incredibly bad dubbing throughout the episode, but especially during the early scenes with Archer and Daniels.

- I love the way T’Pol’s recovery after her interrogation was portrayed...it was given just enough emphasis to show how terrible it must have been, if a Vulcan would react in such a way.

- Cool shot of Archer’s transmission in T’Pol’s pupils!

- Could Hoshi have made more noise while shuffling through the EPS system?

- While some might expect my favorite Hoshi moment to be her “exposure” in Reed’s quarters, but I actually thought she looked better in that nice black top...very flattering!

- That said, Hoshi’s exposure was completely unnecessary...

- The brutality of Reed’s torture is very well communicated; it also shows just how dedicated the crew of the Enterprise has become to their mission and their captain

- Could Archer’s little speech to the Vulcans have been more cheesy?

- I’m not sure why, but in the final scenes, T’Pol’s voice sounds almost “squeaky”...

- Having found the first season design of the Vulcan ships a little too high-tech for this era, you can imagine what I thought of this more streamlined design. It just doesn’t fit in my mind.

Overall, this was a nice enough episode, and it tied up all of the immediate questions from last season’s finale very neatly. But that’s simply too easy, and in these days where other series have taken things much farther, “Enterprise” would benefit from giving their solutions less resolution and more edge.

I give it a 7/10.


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