Enterprise 3x17 Hatchery - There be spoilers, my children!

[Gatac]

[color=#000000ost_uid0]Summary: Crew finds crashed Insectoid ship. A couple of eggs in the hatchery still live, one sprays Archer in the face with some goop. He becomes obsessed with protecting the eggs, even to the point where he's willing to part with one third of the ship's antimatter to repower the crashed ship. When T'Pol crosses him, he has her relieved of duty. Eventually, the senior officers stage a mutinity against Archer and the MACOs. Phlox finds out that the goop made Archer feel protective towards the eggs, and the hunt goes on.

Opinion: I'm torn. On one hand, I saw the plot twist at about half of it, which is better than at once, but not as good as I'd like it. Also, why screw with this mind control stuff again? Can't somebody have a different opinion without being under alien influence for once? Think about how scary it would have been if it had come out in the end that the goop had nothing to do with it, and that Archer really wanted to help those eggs. Of course, that would perhaps be too high a concept for Enterprise. (Besides, his paranoia was drawn as subtle as a 2x4 to the head.) The Reed/Hayes rivalry, on the other hand, was pretty good: the whole shebang was used to differentiate and develop the two and their mutual relationship. It's not a knock-down/drag-out fistfight, but I'll take it. The CGI shot of the shuttlepod landing for the first time was also really nice.

All in all? Slightly above average. The A-story is a partial loss, but the subplots work for the most part. Definately better than the Doctor's Orders, in my humble opinion.

Gatac[/colorost_uid0]

[Derek]

[color=#000000ost_uid0]I actually saw the twist from the beginning. Again, the trailer tripped me off (maybe I should stop watching the next week's trailer). Mutiny almost invariably means mind control/altered/drugged. So when Archer gets sprayed, of course he's been affected.

Nevertheless, I was still pretty impressed with this episode. Archer didn't go immediately insane, and seemed fairly rational in his decisions. I wish they had stayed with the issue of ethics vs. warfare. Is it really true that "All's fair in love and war"? That could've been touched on more.

However, they did touch on the issue of when is it right to question authority and when is it right to rebel. Of course, a lot of this ties into the Reed and Hayes conflict. Interestingly, Malcolm supported the rebelling, whereas just last year he was the one who wanted more discipline and seemed much more inclined to obey the Captain without questioning ("Minefield" for example).

Speaking of Hayes and Reed, this is really one of the most interesting storylines this season for me. I've really enjoyed their rivalry, the way they work together, and the way they work against each other. What's funny to me is that Hayes seems the more professional between him and Reed. He seems more ready to set aside differences for the good of the ship while Reed has the paranoia of thinking Hayes is after his job.

So of the plots in "Harbinger", we had something telling more about the reshaping of the expanse last week, something telling more about the Hayes-Reed conflict this week, will next week tell us more about the T'Pol/Trip relationship? I hope not.[/colorost_uid0]

[Celeste]

[color=#000000ost_uid0]I have no idea what's going on for next week, but it's probably just another one of UPNs hyped up ads. As far as the episode was concerned. I saw the ending a mile away. But it was still good. They're still not using Hoshi or Mayweather at all, sheesh. Do the writers hate them or what? Anyway, not much to say about this one. It was good, but I wouldn't watch it again.[/colorost_uid0]

[Wowbagger]

[color=#000000ost_uid0]I liked this episode quite a bit, even though I realized the Evil Alien Mind Goo was more than we thought immediately. Â It just seems to be that, as Derek said, the Goo was totally unnecessary. Â I, for one, was 100% behind Archer's decisions right up until he proposed the distress call, and I thought his argument was pretty good even there. Â If only Archer was slightly more rational in a few critical scenes, it would have worked well without the Goo. Â But, as usual, the writers seem afraid of any real, "Similitude"-like, character development.

On another note, imagine how cool it would be if one or more of the parents of these eggs were at Azati Prime, and this incident had some serious positive consequences as diplomatic leverage.[/colorost_uid0]