[color=#000000
ost_uid0]Well, here we are... another season of Enterprise comes to a close. "The Expanse" was certainly an improvement over "Bounty" and "First Flight", but I didn't like it as much as I enjoyed last year's "Shockwave". The following is a list of random thoughts that came to me during and following the episode.
[*]Despite my bet in the "Bounty" thread that we wouldn't hear from the Klingons about Archer, their vendetta against him seems to be growing. On the one hand, I'm glad to eat my words since it means the writers know the meaning of the word "continuity." On the other, the Klingon plot felt out of place when there was already so much other stuff going on.
[*]Soval's skepticism about Archer's time travel theory would have been very well placed and, well, logical, if he had been a little more calm (or a lot more calm) in his delivery. A detached Spock-ish or Tuvok-ish reply probably would have been annoying, but all he needed to do was take the edge off his voice and it would have seemed very Vulcan of him. T'Pol pulls off the Science Directorate line with ease... maybe she should give Soval some lessons on restraining his emotions. (She just better hope he doesn't get his hands on the decon tape from last week.
)
[*]Poor Trip... I kept hoping his sister would turn up, but in a way I think it's a good sign that she didn't -- it shows the writers aren't pulling any punches. Their reluctance to use the Reset Button in the past has always been a pleasant change from previous Trek. (If there's been an episode with a big shiny Reset Button, I can't remember it.) Connor Trineer also turned in a fantastic performance as Trip grieved (or didn't) for his sister.
[*]I actually found the deaths of the anonymous colonists in "Shockwave" more upsetting than the seven million people killed on Earth... even Trip's kid sister. Maybe it was the acting, or the writing, or maybe it was because in "Shockwave" the crew thought they were directly responsible for the deaths of the colonists. Either way, "Shockwave" had more emotional punch.
[*]NX-02, eh? I hope we get to see it out and about in the next season or two.
[*]Photon torpedoes? Already? Am I the only one with a TOS continuity alarm going off?
[*]Military personnel on Enterprise... this should be interesting. I forsee conflict with Reed, which I look forward too.
[*]Since when are Klingons afraid of anyghing, especially other species? Or, at the very least, when do they admit it?
[*]And, finally... it looks like Enterprise will be exploring the Delta Qua-- I mean, Deltic Expanse -- for at least the first few episodes of next season. I kept waiting for Archer to pause in the middle of the bridge, look around, and say "We're alone... in an uncharted part of the galaxy..."[/color
ost_uid0]