"The Xindi"

Written by Rick Berman and Brannon Braga
Directed by Allan Kroeker


In which Archer gets the first solid lead on one of the Xindi, and manages to get captured in the process of finding it; meanwhile, Trip struggles with the ongoing effects of the terrorist attack on Earth...

Synopsis - Analysis - Memorable Quotes - Observations


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Synopsis

As the episode begins, leaders of the Xindi, apparently from several different races, debate whether or not the arrival of the Enterprise is a sign of invasion. An insectoid member demands that Enterprise be destroyed, but other species argue for tests and observation. The Xindi Council finally decides to keep an eye on Enterprise for a while.

Meanwhile, Enterprise is on its way to a mining colony, where Archer has been told a Xindi is working. Reed is worried that Archer is rushing things, but Archer strongly thinks otherwise, considering that six weeks in the Delphic Expanse has yielded no clue as to the whereabouts of the race that attacked Earth.

In the mess, Hoshi gets to know some of the new military additions to the mission, a few of the Military Assault Command Officers (MACOs). Hoshi amazes them with her linguistic skills. Shortly, Trip takes Archer to observe one of the more recent anomalies caused by the Expanse...oddly shifting gravity fields within the confines of a single cargo hold.

Shortly, T’Pol meets with Phlox in the sickbay. Phlox is trying to figure out what the dead Xindi found in the attack probe looks like; the sample suggests reptilian physiology. Phlox mentions that Trip is having a great deal of trouble sleeping ever since the attack on Earth, so Phlox suggests that T’Pol attempt to use Vulcan neuropressure to aid Trip in dealing with the loss. T’Pol resists the suggestion, but Phlox insists. T’Pol finally relents, and Phlox agrees to send Trip to her quarters soon.

Enterprise arrives at the mining colony, and Archer and Reed go to the surface. Guards take them to meet with the director of the mine, who barters for liquid platinum for the chance to speak with the Xindi. Archer wants to confirm that the man in question is Xindi, so the director gives Archer a severed finger for analysis. Trip continues to have trouble sleeping, dreaming about her sister’s death, and being unable to save her.

Phlox confirms that the finger is Xindi, but it’s from a different yet related species: humanoid, this time. Phlox believes that there’s more than one species of Xindi. Trip informs Archer that the liquid platinum is on the way, and then asks Phlox for more help sleeping that night. Shortly, Trip and Archer take the platinum to the colony. Archer demands to see the Xindi immediately.

Archer and Trip are taken into the mine, and the Xindi is brought to them. During small talk, they learn that the mine produces a material used in insulating starships. Archer immediately demands that the Xindi give the coordinates for his homeworld. The Xindi counters that he wants to escape in exchange, since the miners are slaves. Trip, sick of the process, throws the Xindi against the nearest wall.

T’Pol contacts Archer with news that three warships are on course for the planet, apparently related to the colony. It soon becomes clear that Archer was drawn to the colony so that Enterprise could be confiscated and the crew enslaved. The Xindi promises to get Archer and Trip to the surface in exchange for escape. T’Pol, meanwhile, finds herself stonewalled by the director of the colony.

T’Pol orders Reed to develop a rescue plan, incorporating the MACOs under the command of Major Hayes. Within the mine, the Xindi takes Archer and Trip to an unused plasma conduit. The Xindi opens the emergency baffles within the shaft, so they can climb towards the surface.

Reed and Hayes argue about which team should conduct the rescue, the security team or the MACOs. T’Pol agrees with Hayes, which makes Reed very unhappy. He knows that Hayes undermined his authority and questioned the ability of his men.

The director is informed of the prisoners’ escape, while the Xindi leads them up the shaft. The director identifies the location of the prisoners, and orders his men to redirect plasma into the conduit. In the process of climbing, the Xindi mentions that there are five distinct species of Xindi, and all of them vie for control of the others.

Before they can learn more, the plasma begins to re-route. The only option is finding the closest access hatch and getting back into the mine. They barely make it out of the conduit in time. Once they are inside the mine, the guards capture them and take them to the director. The director orders them taken to the surface and killed, but as they are about to be taken up, the MACOs arrive on the scene.

A firefight ensues, and Archer and Trip eventually get a clear path to the surface. Archer is ready to leave the Xindi, but he promises to give Archer the coordinates of the Xindi homeworld. But once on the surface, the Xindi is severely wounded by a sniper. Archer grabs the Xindi on the way into the shuttlepod, and the Enterprise gets away before the colony’s ships can arrive.

With the colony long since behind, Phlox informs Archer that the Xindi died from his wounds...but he gave the coordinates of the Xindi homeworld with his dying breath. Shortly after, Phlox gives Trip a placebo, and then asks him to drop something off to T’Pol before bed. When Trip arrives, T’Pol pretends to be having trouble sleeping, and asks Trip to help her with a simple neuropressure exercise…one that oddly requires her to be half-naked. Trip gamely helps out, but when T’Pol offers to return the favor. After some stiff resistence, Trip allows T’Pol to perform the neuropressure.

Sometime later, Enterprise arrives at the coordinates of the Xindi homeworld. However, there is no sign of an inhabited planet. A debris field is detected, and it is soon clear that it was the Xindi homeworld. Evidence shows that it was destroyed over 100 years earlier, and there had been a population there at the time. Archer notes that the evidence contradicts the information that the future benefactor of the Suliban gave Archer after the Xindi terrorist attack. Recognizing that the Xindi are still preparing another attack on Earth, Archer orders the ship deeper into the Expanse.

The Xindi Council convenes again. The more humanoid Xindi species advise that they remain hidden, and let Enterprise destroy itself. The insectoid Xindi, however, informs the rest of the Council that his people will destroy Enterprise if the newest weapon is not completed soon...


Analysis

After a first season that adequately set the stage for the series, regardless of a lack of cohesive tone, the second season slipped also immediately into cruise control. Unfortunately, it slipped into cruise control at about 20 mph. There was little or nothing in the way of character development, the plots almost immediately became retreads of concepts from earlier installments of the franchise, and in the end, it was clear that the plot threads had to move in a different direction.

Hence the decision to take the current geopolitical and social crises and apply them to “Enterprise”, which is actually not a bad idea. Two years after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the enemy is still not clearly defined, and everyone has a different interpretation as to how an effort against terrorists should be conducted. By providing what appears to be a clear-cut case of seek and destroy, “Enterprise” gives its audience a resonating chance at catharsis.

Or rather, it should. The issue remains one of writing ability on the part of the executive producers. Unlike JMS (“Babylon 5”) or Joss Whedon (“Buffy”, “Angel”), who were able to write as well as anyone on the writing staff and chose people to work with who could be trusted, Rick Berman and Brannon Braga continually undermine the writing staff with their own uninspired efforts. It’s simply a matter of knowing where to apply one’s skills. Berman and Braga are businessmen, and as such, they should leave the writing to the writers.

That’s not to say that “The Xindi” isn’t a good try at injecting a different flavor into the series. It’s simply a question of the execution of ideas. It’s fairly clear that Berman and Braga sat down with the Paramount executives and tried to hammer out elements from other beloved genre series that could be injected into “Enterprise”. How else to explain the sudden appearance of somewhat darker and stranger aliens, that seem like the mild cousins of the aliens from “Farscape”? Or the sudden and very anti-Berman tactic of switching to a more serialized season arc, ala “Babylon 5” and Whedon’s cult hits?

Neither change is a bad one. If Berman and Braga looked at the fourth season of “Farscape” and how moving into unknown and dangerous territory was an interesting plot direction, then that’s a good thing. And fans have been clamoring for a more serialized concept since the end of “Babylon 5”, when David showed Goliath that a massive franchise history is easily trumped by inspired confidence. Not everyone is a fan of “Farscape” and “Babylon 5”, let alone the work of Joss Whedon, yet it cannot be forgotten that all of those series threw down the storytelling gauntlet that Berman and Braga had little choice but to pick up.

This season of “Enterprise” is the result, and if the first episode is any indication, then the expected strengths and weaknesses have manifested themselves. The strengths are the new elements and a more focused direction for the series, essentially a mixture of those borrowed concepts from recent popular shows and recent history. Again, using the terrorism angle is not a bad idea, since it provides an instant level of conceptual understanding and avenue for social commentary.

The weaknesses are well known. Berman and Braga can beg, borrow, and steal ideas from wherever they like; it still doesn’t make them writers. The reactions to the Xindi attack on Earth lack subtlety, Archer and the crew still cannot seem to break free of their naïveté, and too many writing crutches are dropped into the script.

It’s more clear than ever that the writing is interfering with Bakula’s portrayal of Archer. When the writing is passable, Archer speaks with authority and stern purpose. When it’s overloaded with terrible cliché, the writing bogs Bakula down into a lack of dramatic cadence that leaves Archer sounding confused and frustrated. The same happens to several characters in this episode, and one can almost hear the annoyance in the voices of the cast. They know that it can be better, but they are forced to settle for what they can get.

In terms of plot progression, this episode sets the stage simply enough. Enterprise has reached the region of space where the Xindi reside, but they have yet to find information regarding the Xindi’s exact whereabouts. Apparently part of the problem is that their intelligence from the Suliban’s future benefactor was incorrect. In essence, Archer (and by extension Earth) has been attacked by terrorists, and the subsequent search to destroy weapons of mass destruction and unseat the Xindi regime behind the attacks is hitting its first roadblocks.

The analogy is incredibly direct. The Xindi attack appears to have been for reasons other than what Archer and the others may believe. The Xindi themselves view the entry of Enterprise into their space as an invasion by the enemy, and from their point of view, Archer’s intentions would certainly appear that way. Also note that Archer is ready to fight when he gets to the Xindi homeworld; there’s little doubt how his actions would be perceived.

It’s also clear that sooner or later, the question of whether or not the war against the Xindi is the correct action to be taken. There’s no doubt that the Temporal Cold War is still very much a part of the plot, since it appears that both sides of the conflict are being outwardly manipulated. This is actually one of the more interesting plot threads of the series, since the motivations behind the war could turn out to test more than just the character of the crew and Starfleet Command.

After all, if Archer was slowly but surely moving Earth and Vulcan towards the foundations for Federation, what better way to change the patterns of the game than to manipulate a war that destroys Archer’s reputation among the Vulcans and potentially eliminates Earth, whose involvement was critical to the effort to create the Federation? Adding military involvement to the Enterprise mission suggests to the rest of the quadrant that Earth has far from peaceful intentions, and T’Pol can hardly influence Vulcan society as a pariah.

At the same time, if Archer manages to find the Xindi and work out a relatively peaceful solution to the situation, it could very well reverse the current damage and take the question of Federation forward by leaps and bounds. In this respect, the presence of the military provides the possibility of a philosophical debate. The military is already attempting to influence decisions by the crew. Dealing with that pressure could mean the difference between igniting an endless war and defining the underlying Starfleet philosophy.

The makings of a strong season exist, but certain tendencies have to be avoided as much as possible. Berman and Braga should let the writing staff do its job, and they should avoid allowing easy solutions to “ratings” play a factor. It’s clear that Berman and Braga are out of touch with the audience, as soon as the opening credits begin. But they also need to avoid the desire to pump needless sex and violence into every episode. The neuropressure subplot was completely unnecessary. One wonders if the cast members forced to spurt out the dialogue justifying that subplot, all for a “racy” semi-nude scene, felt cheated or used.

Even taking the weaknesses into account, this season premiere was a little slow and lacking in depth. The reality is that Berman and Braga dumped the elements that should have been in the premiere into the second season finale, to give the network some level of assurance that the series was still viable. As such, the third season starts with what is really the second episode of the arc, and the result is something that is unlikely to attract new viewers.

The third season begins, then, with plenty of potential, but the same issues of execution that plagued the first season and made a waste of the second season. Berman and Braga should develop a writing staff and let them work out the season arc on their own, with the executive producers providing oversight rather than strict control.


Memorable Quotes

ARCHER: “Any volatile materials in those cargo containers?”
TRIP: “I woulda known by now...”

PHLOX: “I’m sure with your delicate guidance-”
T’POL: “Delicate is not a word I associate with Mr. Tucker.”

TRIP: “You know, I’m not sure why...but I’m just itching to kick the hell out of you!”

T’POL: “Commander Tucker, are you implying that I am making sexual advances?”
TRIP: “No! No, no, no, no, no, not at all! I don’t...”


Observations

- Is it me, or does the Xindi Council look a lot like something out of the “Star Wars” prequels?

- Well, at least they figured out what a teaser is...

- And here I thought that the theme song couldn’t be worse...so of course, they take the vocal track and match it with one of the worst backing tracks ever conceived!

- That has to be some of the worst exposition ever written to introduce the creation of a conference room I have ever heard...

- Thanks for bringing us up to speed, Captain Summary!

- Oh, wait, it gets worse...the incredibly strained casual conversation between Hoshi and the new MACOs, where nothing natural survives...

- Of course, this brings up the question of why it’s taken more than four months for the Enterprise bridge crew to actually meet some of the military personnel on board!

- Daniel Dae Kim, who plays MACO Chang, played the incredibly slimy Gavin Park on “Angel” and first officer John Matheson on “Crusade”, among other genre appearances...

- Oooo...look! CGI flying cargo containers!

- “Try not to breathe”?

- Doesn’t that mining colony director look like that dude from the film “Millennium”?

- Trip’s sister has some funky hair...

- An entire act of exposition...after an entire season finale of exposition. Oy.

- I think Trip’s a little stressed...

- OK. That blue suit is much, much better than the old grey one. No frelling contest!

- Love Trip’s expression when he has to reach down into the sewage...

- Also very funny was the Xindi dripping said sewage all over Archer’s face!

- Nice move with the controlled slide...

- That was some pathetic commando work!

- Nice breaking of the neck, though...

- Were we supposed to be impressed by the female commando’s fighting style?

- Why would the MACO sniper move so damn slow in the process of jumping into the line of fire and setting up his shot?

- What’s with that really cheesy “red, white, and blue” warp thing at the end of act 3?

- OK, now that’s what I call gratuitous exposure of skin...completely unnecessary...

- Trip’s expression during the neuropressure is priceless!

Overall, this episode is somewhat lacking as a season premiere, and it’s clear that the new elements for the series haven’t quite come together. It’s still too early to judge whether the series can jumpstart its creativity, but letting the rest of the writing staff get involved would help. At least the episode provides some mild interest.

I give it a 6/10.


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