Enterprising

Hey, whaddaya know? That's two episodes of Enterprise in a row that have really kept my attention on the screen! I'm starting to feel quite hopeful about the second season...

I think the main point in favor of this week's episode is that it focused very strongly on Malcolm Reed. I really like Malcolm, with his dry, dark sense of humor and his traditional British reserve behind which lurks a whole host of fascinating quirks. Unlike so many Trek characters, his personality isn't all on the surface, and that really appeals to me. I like characters who are a bit of a challenge to figure out, who reward time spent with them by revealing new, previously-hidden facets of their characters, and Reed fits the bill quite well.

Less complex characters can become more interesting when they're seen interacting with more complex ones, too, and there is a bit of that with Archer and Reed here, I think. I dunno, though... I've said before (probably several times) that something about Scott Bakula's performace as Archer has generally seemed a little off to me, but that he did seem to suddenly become more comfortable in the role at the end of the first season. I'm afraid this episode possibly represents a step -- or at least a half-step -- backwards for him in that regard, though. It's really odd. He'd start out a scene a little "off"; halfway through, the click would happen and he'd suddenly feel completely natural as Archer; and then he'd lose it again and slip back into giving a performance that came across as awkward and vaguely artificial. I really wish I could put my finger on just exactly what the difference is, though, because whatever it is, it's very subtle. Something in his inflection or his body language... Very strange. And it's rather a pity, too, because otherwise I think this is a defining episode for Archer. He really does demonstrate that Kirkian quality of refusing to accept a no-win situation and instead finding some so-crazy-it-just-might-work solution to pull out of his butt. I think they've tried to do things like that with Archer in the past, but this is quite possibly the first time it's really worked for me.

Now, if only some of the other characters could have a few defining moments... At least Travis got to do some tricky piloting this episode, and Phlox got to patch some people up. I was beginning to forget that they were still on the ship! Particularly Travis. At least Phlox gets some good character definition in the few scenes he's actually in, and he did pretty much get an entire episode centered around him last season. Travis so far is almost a complete nonentity. Which is kind of a shame. I mean, the actor seems competent enough, and they did come up with a potentially interesting backstory for Travis, but the writers just don't seem to have the faintest clue what to do with him.

Anyway. So much for the character stuff. The other main point of interest in this episode, of course, is that it introduces the Romulans (however briefly), and, amazingly enough, yes, it does do so without any truly egregious breaches of continuity. (Of course, the series is still young, and I have no doubt we'll be seeing more of the Romulans in the future. Or rather, not seeing, unless they really do decide to walk all over TOS continuity.) I do have a small problem with the idea of cloaking devices even existing this early, but that'd kind of already been established in previous episodes, so it's not anything I can blame this one for.