"I’m partial to the cayenne myself." - The A4T Rajiin Review

 

Gripes: Ms. Rajiin. Although attractive enough to be a believable sex slave, she wasn't up to the acting required to be a very believable spy or a sympathetic pawn. She whined, a lot. Just IMHO.

 

Other than that, I found this story slow. Slow to start, slow to develop, slow to peak and then BAM it was great in the last 10 minutes. It wasn't up to the other three eps so far.

 

Opener: The Xindi Council again! Wonderful. They are so poorly lit, though, it's hard to get a fix on them. The roles seem clearly defined, and even a bit stereotyped. Why does it have to be the icky bugs and scaly snake-men who are the baddies, while the noble sea creatures and fuzzy humanoids are okay? Still, at least we learned that the Aquatics *do* have a limit to their patience.

 

New info on "an option that was rejected" - ominous words of a more violent or direct attack or weapon? And it is becoming clear that they are indeed pawns themselves in the TCW - they have "our colleague's proposal" to consider; perhaps a Future Guy/Suliban or someone ELSE we haven't met yet. I can see this fitting into Section 31 and the Temporal Accords, but not into TOS's timeline very well.

 

Part One:

Candles. Facial massage. (Why is his shirt off for a facial massage - and what's worse :-O is he shaving/losing chest hair? I could have sworn there was more!) "Try that neck thing." Husky sex-voices from both of them. Very faux-erotic.

 

And then, the inevitable conversation (I wish it hadn't come so soon.) "We need to stop meetin' like this," Trip opines.

T'Pol: But you're sleeping better.

Trip: It feels great. I appreciate you taking the time, but…people are talking. *what a gentleman!

T'Pol: That disturbs you?

Trip: It shouldn't, I know. *awwww

T'Pol: I see no reason to be concerned.

Trip then brings up Malcolm, of all people to worry about. Isn't he telling Malcolm the truth? Of course Malcolm's jealous (no matter which ship you choose here) but aren't they friends? Why pick him and not the other 75 crewmen who are probably talking about it too?

T'Pol: It wouldn't be Lt. Reed's concern in any case.

*OOH! Does this mean Archer and Trip can do it and I don't have to worry about the fraternizing rules??? Did she just say the rules don't apply to two senior officers?

Still, Trip tries to be gentlemanly. But then he drops it in favor of more massage.

 

Archer is having nightmares now too! HE needs massage!!

1) from T'Pol? Nah.

2) from Trip? = he's been practicing his breathing! MMM HMMM.

Shirtless Nekkid Bakula chest and some icky leftover mutations on his skin that itch a lot. Nice continuity touch (I like the arc idea) that he *isn't* over the experience and is in fact still having the dream of the alien city from Extinction.

 

Archer/Trip/Malcolm visit the alien world, a collection of barges that was far less "Mos Eisley" than I'd feared. I was just thinking about Phlox and the caged animals when Trip said, "Phlox'd have a field day here." Two very fun looks from Trip as Archer tries to get some information about the Xindi. More fun looks when they meet their greedy contact. Trip apparently has little tolerance for haggling.

Alien: It's very rare.

Trip: …and expensive? :rolleyes:

Alien: I'm sure we could arrange a fair price…

Trinneer did this scene with such grace and subtlety, all coming through his face.

Trip stays to bargain for Trellium-D formulas and instructions while Archer and Reed head off.

 

Next stop: Prostitutes-R-Us. One captures Archer's attention, literally, as she zaps him with her hypnotic wiles. He's not interested (although he and Reed managed to look disappointed that they *couldn't* stay for a while and offended at the same time.)

 

Trip calls to say he's made a deal, and Rajiin breaks free and runs through the streets to find Archer and ask for asylum. He agrees immediately. When her pimp shows up, and Archer won't surrender her *or* pay for her, a fight ensues. Notably, Reed shields Rajiin with his body, instead of defending his Captain. Archer (or new improved kick ass Archer) finally wins a fight, so perhaps he'll forgive Reed for protecting the wrong person.

 

Part Two

 

Trip gets to have fun finishing the negotiations with Mr. Pepper-Snorter, whose nostrils are, uh, elevated.

 

Alien: Snnnnnnnnnoooooorrrrrrrrrrtt! AHHH CHHOOOOOOO <phlegm> OOOOOO!!!!

Trip: <disgust> (leans away, thinking "say it don't spray it")

Alien: What did you say this was?

Trip: Black pepper.

He proceeds to hand over a large portion of Chef's spice collection to the delighted alien, including

the hot pepper -

Trip: Thyme. Basil. I'm partial to the cayenne myself."

How wonderful a tidbit. He likes hot food. Must have some Tabasco in his blood after all.

 

Archer and Rajiin have dinner, but she's so darn obvious that she must be using her charms -- has he forgotten *completely* about his lady friend/spy on Risa? What a patsy they must think he is.

 

Trip calls: "We're in business."

Trip and T'Pol get to work synthesizing the trellium-D they'll need to protect the ship's hull from anomalies in the D.E. They do this in a special "death zone" on lower decks, because it's highly unstable (imagine!). The music at this point was very TOS.

 

Archer gets some! Rajiin pops into his quarters, works some mojo with her hands, and then suddenly he's kissing her. Just as suddenly, it's over, like it never happened, and they're three feet apart. Poor Archer is confused.

 

Trip and T'Pol's experiment is overheating. Turning off the power doesn't help. Some other kinda radiation doesn't help. T'Pol is practically beside herself with emotionless nonconcern (or logical self-preservation), but Trip wants to make it work.
T'Pol: We have to get out. We need to seal the blast doors!

Trip: You're welcome to leave!

She drags him out in time to avoid the explosion.

After they gingerly crawl back in…

Trip: We're back to square one.

And then he does it! The most amazingly cute thing ever - he pinches the bridge of his nose in frustration and fatigue. GAAAAHHHH. :thud: Sorry. that's a personal fave.

 

Hoshi, who pops up next to the transporter for no reason, catches Rajiin doing suspicious things. Rajiin works the hand mojo again and Hoshi is pliant as putty. They head into the turbolift in a preview of the <sarcasm> powerfully erotic all-woman scene coming up with T'Pol</sarcasm>.

Rajiin walks out of the shadows in T'Pol's room just as she starts to meditate.

 

Part Three

 

What follows is one of the more obvious bits of pandering to the "target audience".

Rajiin: I'm Rajiin.

T'Pol: I know who you are. What are you doing here.

Rajiin: Your door was unlocked.

T'Pol: I find that very doubtful.

Rajiin: Let me touch your face. And get close. Lesbian-close (okay, I’m paraphrasing).

 

She gives T'Pol the same magic rubdown she gave Archer, but T'Pol is resisting.

Trip to the rescue (almost)! Trip shows up for his massage appointment in another yummy t-shirt, but gets no answer. He overrides security when he hears noises, and finds T'Pol alone and unconscious. Not surprisingly, Rajiin swoops down and whacks him (with what? a vase? a Surak statue?), sending him reeling into the corner. He calls for security.

Rajiin, meanwhile is contacting her alien allies on some other ship to come get her. Reed goes on the hunt (he's been doing that a lot lately. A LOT.)

 

Sickbay: T'Pol lies on the table. Trip refuses Phlox's help for his bruised head. Archer watches Trip, then turns to Phlox and grills him about T'Pol. Apparently Rajiin messed with her brain and could have killed her. She'll be out for hours. Archer is furious. As he leaves, he turns to Trip and says,

"Have Phlox take a look at your head."

- so many layers to that one - it's their only real direct conversation in this ep, and it's still one-sided. They haven't talked to each other in so long, that I can see some big scenes coming where they finally reconnect.

 

Dark!Archer resurfaces

Rajiin: They'll kill me if you send me back.

Archer: How do you know I won't do the same?

Part Four

 

Apparently, the weapon is actually two weapons - a big planet-killer and a bio-weapon against humans. Xindi-Reptilians attack, and board Enterprise. The MACOs defend, but not very well.

 

Reed gets to hunt and defend what increasingly looks like a rabbit-warren of tunnels.

 

:O Xindi-Insectoids are on Enterprise! They have a deadly weapon!

:O Xindi-Reptilians have an even deadlier weapon!! Of course, we don't know if anyone died or not. That's a big gaffe. One Xindi is caught, after getting the pain stick from a MACO.

 

Rajiin is swept off to the Xindi ships and they vanish into what Travis calls a "vortex". Phlox points out that the Xindi was surgically enhanced (shades of the Suliban). Archer gets tough on a recovering T'Pol for no good reason except to vent his anger.

The Xindi Council again: angry that they've been exposed, worried that their plots will be stopped.

Xindi-Reptilians bring out Rajiin who reveals that she has full bioscans of the humans (from her hand-mojo). Was she enhanced too? Who is helping them?

 

It all stops abruptly with a real cliffhanger ending. NICE. (that's a respectful, 'good job' nice.)

 

PROMO: Excellent SFX when T'Pol freaks out!

 

TRIPPINESS:

 

One funny, sincere, but predictable scene with T'Pol.

One funny scene with the alien trader and revelation: he likes hot food!

One good explosion scene with T'Pol.

One tiny attempted rescue of T'Pol.

One tiny interaction with Archer.

 

At least they know that Trip and T'Pol have some chemistry. It's a pity that the Archer/Trip friendship has taken a back seat AGAIN. As I said, I hope this is leading up to something, and not *just* "Similitude".