"Precious Cargo"

Written by David Goodman, Rick Berman, and Brannon Braga
Directed by David Livingston


In which Trip becomes involved with the plight of a haughty female hostage when Enterprise encounters an alien vessel...

Synopsis - Analysis - Memorable Quotes - Observations


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Synopsis

As the episode begins, the Enterprise drops out of warp to respond to a distress call from an unknown alien ship, disrupting Trip’s downtime. The aliens are apparently having trouble with one of their life support systems. Once on Enterprise, the aliens explain that the life support system in question pertains to a stasis pod in which a young woman is being held. They have been commissioned to return the woman to her homeworld, and placed her in suspended animation for the long journey.

The aliens are treated to a meal and a bath, while Trip begins working on the power system for the stasis pod on the alien vessel. Trip takes a look at the woman, and finds her somewhat attractive. Still, he tells the aliens he can begin work immediately.

Archer notes to Goff that their ship is only capable of warp 2 or so, and offers to take them the rest of the way on Enterprise. Goff politely refuses, preferring to go his own way. When Archer presses the point, Goff explains that the woman is not even expected for months. Archer decides to let it go.

Back on the alien ship, Hoshi helps Trip with the repairs of the life support system. According to Plinn, the woman has been studying medicine at a research colony. Hoshi notes that Trip is taken with the thought of who the woman is, and then returns to Enterprise. Then he hears a noise from the stasis pod. The woman is awake, and screaming for help.

On Enterprise, Goff gets a signal that the pod has been activated, and quickly leaves for his ship. When Goff gets to his ship, he finds Trip trying to break open the pod. He objects, but when Trip tells him that the woman is suffocating, he opens the pod. But when Trip opens the pod and tries to explain to the woman what happened, Goff knocks him out.

Goff calls Plinn back to their ship. Archer, now suspicious, tries to call Trip. When there’s no reply, Archer sends Reed and his men to “escort” Plinn to his ship. At the airlock, Goff sees the security men and opens fire. Goff jumps back into his ship and breaks loose of Enterprise, leaving Plinn behind.

Enterprise takes chase, and Archer orders Reed to fire on their engines. The alien ship appears to be disabled by the attack, and Archer orders them to come within grappling range. However, the alien ship begins venting some kind of gas, and then unexpectedly slips into warp. The vented gas mucks up the Enterprise warp nacelles, and within moments, the alien ship is out of sensor range.

On the alien ship, Trip recovers, only to get attacked by the woman. The woman speaks in a language Trip cannot understand, but he tries to talk to her anyway. He notices that her hands are bound together, and he offers to cut her bonds. Before he can do anything, though, Goff comes into the cargo hold and orders Trip to continue his work without delay.

As soon as Goff leaves, Trip unties the woman’s hands. He tries to find out if she’s seen his Universal Translator device, and she quickly produces it. It takes a little doing, but before long, they are able to understand each other. She asks him how long she’s been in stasis, but he doesn’t know.

When he unsuccessfully tries to contact Enterprise, the woman asks how they became involved with her kidnapping. Explaining his side of the story, she explains that she was abducted while trying to return home from a diplomatic mission. She also realizes that he’s unaware of who she is, and introduces herself as Kaitaama, first monarch of Krios Prime.

Trip suggests that they should find a way off the alien ship, but Kaitaama immediately scoffs at his idea. Kaitaama orders him to stay until her ransom is paid and they are released. Trip naturally continues with his original plan, making it clear that he’s not one of her subjects.

Back on Enterprise, Archer and T’Pol question Plinn about Goff’s plans. Plinn swears that he’s as much a victim of Goff’s schemes as everyone else. Plinn even claims that he has no knowledge of their ship’s destination. Archer suggests that they work together, and asks for the alien vessel’s warp frequency. When Plinn refuses to answer, Archer orders T’Pol to take Plinn back to the docking port airlock, and leave him inside until he comes up with answers.

On the alien vessel, Trip continues working on a way out, and Kaitaama continues to provide little more than ridicule. Kaitaama thinks he ought to simply fix the stasis pod and play along. Trip, of course, has no such intention and thinks that Kaitaama would be better off with him. However, when he finally finds a way out, he notes that without a working stasis pod, it’s likely that she’ll be tied up for months in the dingy cargo hold.

When he moves to leave, she asks him how he intends to stop the aliens from firing at whatever escape pod he uses to escape. He notes that he intends to modify their internal sensors, so the aliens will never know that the escape pod is even gone. Kaitaama finally consents to come with Trip, but all she does is complain and criticize. After dealing with the sensors, they make their way to the escape pods. Of course, they’re only designed for one person, so they have to cram in tightly.

They leave the alien ship, and quickly drop out of warp speed. Trip charts a course for the nearest planetary system. Kaitaama finds the tight quarters and Trip’s company to be less than acceptable. Her constant criticism is also making his temper flare. Still, he knows that they’ll only survive if they try to work together.

Back on Enterprise, Archer has Reed deliver Plinn to one of the conference rooms, which has been cleared of everything but a single table and chair. Archer informs Plinn that he’s being set under tribunal, and that Starfleet has asked the T’Pol to stand in judgment. The tribunal is merely a formality, and T’Pol’s punishments are apparently brutal. Archer makes it sound very convincing, and after T’Pol plays her part to the hilt, Archer is able to convince Plinn that his only chance is to provide the desired warp frequency.

Trip and Kaitaama discuss some personal matters, and Kaitaama reveals that the First Monarch is not permitted to socialize with members of the opposite sex. Trip figures that ought to be lonely. As they approach the only nearby planet with anything close to habitable conditions, he manages to get them to ground alive and relatively intact.

They find themselves within a tropical jungle environment. Trip finds a good place to set up camp. When Kaitaama notices that Trip is bleeding on his shoulder, she orders him to take off his shirt so she can tend to his wound. Trip objects, but eventually relents. Kaitaama is worried about their provisions, but Trip seems to think they can live off the land.

As time goes by, Kaitaama doesn’t get much more personable. She doesn’t take it well when Trip orders her to do basic chores, and they wind up arguing. That leads to wrestling, and of course, that leads to kissing. Soon, they are rather comfortable being scantily clad around one another in post-coital bliss. That is, until Trip notices a noise coming from the escape pod. He finds a homing beacon has been activated, and destroys it in the hopes that it’s not too late.

Shortly, Goff is on the planet. He spies Kaitaama and what appears to be Trip sitting at the camp. He fires on Trip, but it turns out to be a dummy in Trip’s uniform. Trip attacks him, driving him into a swamp. Goff gets the better of him, but Kaitaama knocks him out with a tree limb to the head. Trip drags Goff out of the swamp, despite Kaitaama’s objection. As Trip searches in the swamp for Goff’s weapon, Kaitaama hears more movement in the nearby brush. Of course, it’s Archer, T’Pol, and Reed.

Back on Enterprise, Trip says farewell to Kaitaama, who is being much nicer to him now. Even though she’s not allowed to associate with him now, she invites him to visit her when she’s officially First Monarch. He has a huge smile on his face as she stepped onto the waiting Krios battle cruiser.


Analysis

Sometimes, when a genre series takes a cliched plot and puts its own spin on it, the result is an unexpected treat. And sometimes, especially when the writing is less than inspired, the result is an exercise in pulling teeth. In the case of this episode, the writers manage to take a very, very old story and demonstrate that they have nothing new to say about it.

The story of the uptight and arrogant woman and the rogue man finding romance through adversity has been done and re-done more times than one can even begin to imagine. One would think that the early days of Starfleet exploration would have provided something novel in this instance. But instead of introducing some kind of alien culture with very different customs, or something a little more involving, the writers come up with Kaitaama, a character that is only vaguely alien.

Padma Lakshmi, the actress who plays Kaitaama, could easily be mistaken for a fashion model. In fact, her performance here would seem to indicate that she would have a much greater chance of success in that field. Her line delivery takes whatever chemistry might otherwise exist between Kaitaama and Trip and wipes it completely away. Considering that this relationship is central to the episode’s success, it is a fatal flaw. It only serves to highlight the fact that she was cast mostly as eye candy, because there is little chance that her character will ever be seen again.

With the weaknesses in the relationship between Kaitaama and Trip, the only thing that might have preserved some measure of dignity for this episode would have been her alien abductors. Exploring the reason why the aliens were involved in the kidnapping, beyond the simplistic hostage and ransom gig, might have made her plight a little more intriguing. Instead, the aliens are immediately written as thuggish bad guys with little or no guile to spare.

There is one good scene in the entire episode, in which Archer and T’Pol stage a military-style tribunal in order to trick Plinn into believing that his life is in danger. The scene is comparatively so strong that it makes the rest of the episode look even worse. Archer shows a little bit of creativity in this situation, first threatening to toss Plinn out of an airlock and then with the tribunal. It’s a far cry from the diplomatic blundering of “A Night in Sickbay”.

For better or worse, this episode is a perfect snapshot of the Plinn season thus far, at least in terms of the Berman/Braga scripts. The overall concepts are uninspired and derivative of earlier episodes from the franchise. There is little or no character development, and some characters are placed into scenes where they don’t belong simply to allow them something to do. Every so often, there’s a hint of the promise shown in the first season, but those moments are surrounded by lack of inspiration.

Credit must be given to Berman and Braga for having enough creativity to get “Enterprise” started on its journey. However, it would appear that they are out of ideas and need to let the series find its own voice. The first place to look, one would think, is the existing writing staff. But if those writers aren’t capable of the task, then fresh minds should be brought to the fold. Otherwise, this series is going to be on life support before the season is out.


Memorable Quotes

KAITAAMA: “Is your entire species so ill-mannered?”
TRIP: “No...just me...”

KAITAAMA: “I thought you had a plan!”
TRIP: “I was only joking. Don’t they have a sense of humor where you come from?”
KAITAAMA: “Among the commoners. Only joking...”

KAITAAMA: “It’s unacceptable to touch the First Monarch!”
TRIP: “You’re welcome to step outside until I’m done...”

TRIP: “I think I found the landing thrusters...”


Observations

- With the episode starting with harmonica music, it almost reminds me of “Firefly”. Too bad, since this episode doesn’t even come close to measuring up...

- Hey, gee, another barely there teaser...must be a Berman/Braga epic!

- Could the aliens have been portrayed in a more negative way? It was obvious from the Plinn they appeared that there was more to their story...

- Is it me, or did Kaitaama look like a doll while in the stasis pod?

- How exactly is the alien ship supposed to fit in their docking bay, as Archer offers?

- I love how Trip keeps trying to talk to Kaitaama as though she will somehow understand his indistinct, alien hand signals...

- T’Pol makes a very convincing evil judicial administrator...

- The date stamp for this episode is September 12, 2152. Unless I’m mistaken, this season is moving through time rather quickly...more than 8 months in less than half a season!

- You know, I hate to say it, but with her hair down and in that silk slip, Kaitaama is a rather attractive woman...

Overall, this episode failed on a number of levels. Only one or two scenes in the entire episode were done with any competence, and much of the blame falls on the writing and the incredibly lackluster performance of Padma Lakshmi. This series needs someone other than Berman and Braga to put this series back in the right direction.

I give it a 3/10.


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