Shockwave II Review by Li

Synopsis:

The second season opener of “Enterprise” starts off when the first season ended: Suliban are surrounding the ship and Silik is demanding that Archer be turned over to him. T’Pol insists that Archer is not there and suggest they come on board to conduct a search. Meanwhile, Archer and Daniels are 800 years in the future, on Earth. Daniels realizes that he made a mistake by pulling Archer into the future.

Silik and his crew go over to the ship and when they don’t find Archer, they confine everyone to their quarters. They torture T’Pol with drugs to give them information. She is only able to tell them that Archer got into the turbolift and disappeared. She also keeps repeating the Vulcan Science Directorate has proven that time travel isn’t possible. A Suliban crewman reports to Silik that there is a temporal signature in the turbolift. Silik interrogates T’Pol about Daniels, but in her drugged state she keeps repeating what she said before.

Back on Earth in the 22^nd century, Vulcan ambassador Soval is arguing with Admiral Forrest, demanding to know why Enterprise is three days late in its return to Earth. He accuses Archer of kidnapping T’Pol and sends out the Vulcan ship T’Kir to look for Enterprise and bring her back.

The Suliban take Enterprise back to the helix that we saw in “Broken Bow.” Silik must contact Future Guy with further orders. He doesn’t know what to do now that it looks like Archer has indeed gone into a different time period.

On Earth in the 31^st century, Archer and Daniels discover that the Federation never existed. The fact that Daniels pulled Archer from his time period to save him has altered the timeline. Archer asks why he’s so important. Daniels tells him that after this mission there are other missions into deep space. Daniels insists that Archer must be returned to his time, but the equipment for time travel has been destroyed. Suddenly, he asks Archer for his communicator and his scanner. He sends Archer to find some copper. They are going to rig something up.

On Enterprise, Trip has figured out how to route intraship communications-which the Suliban have shut down- through the EPS grid. He contacts Reed, first of course, to see if it works. He then goes about contacting the other bridge officers. T’Pol is resting in her quarters after her ordeal with Silik. Archer appears to her in a visual message. Archer tells T’Pol to listen to him very carefully. Later, T’Pol, Trip, Reed, Sato and Mayweather are shown discussing a plan over the rigged communications systems in the ship. Hoshi is elected to get hypo sprays from Dr. Phlox since she is the smallest crewmember and will fit in the conduits. Reed then goes to Daniels quarters to get something. As he’s leaving, he encounters two Suliban. They take him to the bridge where Silik demands to know what Reed was going to do with the time travel device that he’s taken from Daniels’ quarters. Silik then goes back to the helix and puts the device onto the platform where Future Guy has always materialized when he gives Silik instructions. Back on Enterprise, Trip and T’Pol use the hypo sprays to knock out two Suliban in Engineering, and rig a “warp core breach” to get the remaining Suliban off the ship. The Suliban then tow Enterprise to the edge of the gas cloud, where the helix was hidden. Just as it looks like Enterprise is about to explode, she warps off toward Earth. The Suliban take off in pursuit.

In the helix’s temporal chamber, a figure appears on the platform with the time device. He kicks Silik in the chest and takes his weapon. It is Archer! He tells Silik to call off the Suliban pursuing Enterprise; otherwise he’ll pay with his life. Archer takes a Suliban shuttlepod, with Silik in it, and meets up with Enterprise.

In the final scene Enterprise is docked with the T’Kir. Soval, in a relay from Earth, tells Archer how he has upset the balance in the whole quadrant in the last year while on his “mission of exploration.” Archer gives him a speech about humans learning how to make their way in the galaxy. T’Pol also gives a speech about how it took hundreds of years for the Vulcans to learn the same thing. Trip abuses Soval verbally, calling him “pathetic.” Adm. Forrest then tells the crew that a review will still be done regarding their first year in space. In the last scene Archer expresses his appreciation for T’Pol by going to her quarters and thanking her.

Review:

This episode scored 45 points (plus some extra) on the ENT*EP Rating System.

Trip was DA MAN in this episode. He knows Enterprise inside and out, not only pushing her warp engine to extremes in previous episodes, but how to make communications operational again by rigging them through the EPS grid. Of the bridge crew, he, of course, contacts his good friend Lt. Malcolm Reed first, who knows that it’s Trip on the other end of the “line.” Malcolm is well aware of Trip’s brilliance as an engineer, having witnessed it firsthand on many occasions. Now that he knows his communications mock up works, Trip tells Malcolm not to go anywhere, as he will attempt to contact the other bridge officers. This is a great advantage to the Enterprise crew, since Archer had contacted T’Pol earlier using a communications device capable of sending messages through time. In his message, Archer outlined a plan for T’Pol to follow to get him back to the 22^nd century.

Trip plays a very big part in successfully luring the Suliban away from the Enterprise. Archer’s plan is set into motion when T’Pol pretends that she is “freaking out” to get the attention of a couple of Suliban guards. One of them puts a phaser to her head, and as they attempt top haul her away, Trip and Reed jump down from their hiding places and knock the Suliban out. T’Pol, who makes a cutting remark every time Trip is in her sphere of vision, teases him that he waited too wait long before he jumped down to knock out the Suliban. Trip gives it right back to her, telling her that he wanted to make sure the Suliban were completely distracted. After they haul the Suliban into Trip’s quarters and give Hoshi the phasers with instructions to shoot them if they regain consciousness, Trip turns to Malcolm. He asks Malcolm if he’s sure he wants to do “this,” that it could get “pretty ugly.” He is very concerned about what might happen to Malcolm and his worry is evident. With these words and the furrowing of his very expressive eyebrows, the audience is made aware that Malcolm is about to embark on something dangerous.

His act of going to Daniels’ quarters and retrieving something from there proves to be very dangerous indeed. As poor Malcolm is being beaten mercilessly by Silik for information, Trip and T’Pol rig up a spectacular light and sound show for the Suliban, making it look like they’ve set the warp engine to overload. As they are warping away from the cloud, T’Pol tells Trip that he shouldn’t have been so authentic in rigging his mini-explosions; there are scorch marks on the nacelles. Trip, with his usual good humor and big, easy smile, assures her that he’ll remember that next time. He’s so glad to be away from those ugly bastards that he isn’t offended at T’Pol’s less-than-complimentary remarks on his pyrotechnic display.

Archer returns from the 30^th century, and upon hearing the sound of his voice, Trip exclaims, “Son of a bitch! He did it!” He is elated that his captain has made it back to the 22^nd century. Later, while Ambassador Soval is busy reprimanding Archer about the mistakes he’s make in the last year, Trip cuts in and gives Soval a piece of his mind, angering the Vulcan to such an extent that he exists the room in a huff and flurry of flying robes. And yes, I did say anger. Don’t let Soval fool you into thinking he left because he had to go to the bathroom. Will his disrespectful remarks come back to haunt our favorite engineer? It’s quite a possibility, since Soval wields a tremendous amount of power with the council that is going to review Enterprise’s first year in space.

The Official No Shirt, No Shoes, Great Service!

ENT*EP Rating System:

75+: Outstanding Episode      50-75 points: Very Good Episode

20-50 points: Good Episode            10-20 points: Average Episode

Keep Track!

1) Trip's hair mussed or loose:                                   5 points                                   _   5      

2) Trip has major screen time:                                   20 points                                    20      _

3) Reed smiles:                                                          20 points                                   _20         

Plus, I would like to give this episode another 50 points for Trip’s sheer brilliance and knowledge of engineering and EPS conduits, without which, Enterprise wouldn’t have escaped the Suliban and Archer would never have come back to the 22^nd century!