Archer brings a spy on board.
It’s pretty hard to do this plot without some people coming across as morons. There’s a little bit of stupidity (not locking Rajiin in her quarters), but it’s at a reasonable level. Really, this Rajiin is just a very effective spy, quite good at her job. Still, I’m sure that Reed would find a few elements to critique.
It was nice that the inevitable boarding party defeated Enterprise by superior weapons and tactics, not from stupidity on the part of the crew. But sadly for Archer in his quest to collect the full set of Xindi, he gets a species he’s collected before.
Callbacks: Slave girls! Sure, not Orion, but still slave girls. Also the idea of the ‘seductive alien spy’ is, the way its done here, something that feels a lot more like TOS. And if I’m not mistaken, there was a Jeffreies tube set there as well (the old school TOS ’45 degree angle’ one).
After five episodes, how am I feeling about this Xindi arc? I haven’t stopped to mention, but this is now full-up modern serial story telling – this episode makes almost no sense to a casual viewer without knowing what’s gone on before. We’re starting from the end of the previous episode, with only a few time skips. We have clear plots to pursue (T’Pol/Trip, this Macguffin-D metal, finding the Xindi, Xindi building their weapons). So far we’re in the build up stage, but there are some promising elements being developed. But it’s not feeling enough like Trek to me. Today was a little better, but I want to see more ‘wonder of exploration’ – if I just want a gaggle of alien species, I can go watch Star Wars.
694 down, 43 to go.