monkee reviews 'Doctor's Orders'
First Impression: YAWN!
The Premise: Enterprise encounters a 'transdimensional disturbance,' where the expanse is being reconfigured. Detouring around the region would take too long, but traveling through it disrupts the human neocortex. Phlox, however, as a Denobulan, is immune, so the decision is made to temporarily put everyone on the crew into a coma and leave him to monitor them and take care of the ship. Because Tucker doesn't want the warp engines engaged inside the unpredictable region, the journey will take about a week at impulse.
The Complication: Things go smoothly enough at first. Phlox bustles about the ship with Porthos, who is also immune, dictating a letter to his colleague (Dr. Lucas, the same person he wrote to in the first season's 'Dear Doctor'), monitoring the crew, and taking care of the ship's systems. Then, however, he begins seeing and hearing things. T'Pol, who apparently is also immune, suggests that he's stressed and needs sleep. But his hallucinations become more severe – he sees crewmen walking about who are supposed to be comatose in their quarters, he sees something crawling on the hull outside Archer's viewport, and finally he sees Insectoid Xindi attacking Hoshi. When he finally accepts that they are hallucinations, he tries to turn the ship over to T'Pol and put himself into a coma, too, but she refuses, claiming that the region is affecting her as well. She can't control her emotions, and has no focus. When the two discover that the disturbance has expanded, and it will be another ten WEEKS before they can get out, they decide they need to go to warp, despite Tucker's warnings. Because T'Pol is mentally incapacitated, Phlox must do it himself. There are complications, but in the end he is successful. He awakens the crew, and all's well that ends well.
The Twist: There's one last surprise in store for him, though. T'Pol has been comatose in her quarters all along – she wasn't immune after all. All that time, she was just a transdimensional disturbance-induced hallucination!
The Denobulan in the Corridor: Last week, I complained that the A, B and C story lines made 'Harbinger' a muddled mess. This week, there's only an A story, and I must admit that I was bored! I didn't keep count, but I'd swear that a full third of this episode involved Phlox traveling through empty corridors – striding briskly with Porthos, walking warily, or running in terror from hallucinations. I like John Billingsley and Phlox, but gosh – there was just nothing going on! Anyone who's seen Voyager's 'One' (or even anyone who hasn't) was able to figure out that he was hallucinating immediately. Aside from a few amusing details and moments, it was mostly a matter of waiting the story out.
The Rant that Wasn't: All that corridor walking did at least give me time to mentally compose my rant. And it was going to be a heck of a rant! Why, I was going to say, does losing emotional control and focus suddenly turn T'Pol into an idiot? Why would she suddenly become a damsel in distress, cowering in engineering? I was furious! I began to despair that TPTB had finally gone off the deep end, and taken their overly creative interpretation of Vulcans just one step too far!
Phew. I’m glad I don't have to deliver that rant after all. It makes me weary just thinking about it! Because of the neat little twist at the end, it all makes sense. One could argue that I should have known better – that it should have been obvious that T'Pol wasn't real. I reckon that's true, but in my own defense, I think the average Enterprise viewer may be getting accustomed to seeing T'Pol behave irrationally!
So, the bottom line is that not a whole heck of a lot happened in the episode, and I was bored. In this respect, it reminded me of last season's dreary 'Vanishing Point.' However, unlike 'Vanishing Point,' this episode actually developed the main character, Phlox, and contained some extremely clever and amusing moments. I don't have a lot to say about the main story, but let's go over what was good!
The Teaser: All right, now you had to know THIS was coming. Say it with me! Awwwwww! Is this not the cutest damned dog ever to grace the television screen? What an adorable teaser! The camera pans Enterprise's empty bridge, engineering, vacant corridors. Suddenly, the fearless space pup appears, trotting purposefully through the ship. He is clearly on a mission, and he is being pursued by an aggravated but bemused Denobulan. Ah – so that's his destination. He scratches at the door to Archer's quarters. Phlox, shaking his head affectionately, lets him in so he can hop up on the bed and lick his Dad's comatose face. I'm sorry, but if you don't think that's sweet, there's something wrong with you!
The Details: Porthos is begging, but not for beggin' strips, or even cheese! Nope, this time, he wants one of Phlox's leeches. Phlox obliges, then casually consumes one himself. Hee. We also get another really good look at Phlox's gnarly toenails. In fact, we get a good look at quite a bit more of Phlox...
Naked Phlox! Oh, mercy! Well, if you think about it, though, why should he even bother to get dressed if he's the only one conscious? Forget Starfleet issue blue underwear – why not go completely au natural? He strolls into sickbay wearing absolutely nothing! Of course, the more interesting Phlox bits are cleverly concealed by equipment and camera angles, just like in the popular charity calendars. Billingsley pulled this off with panache, and the direction was seamless. I loved it, and considering that we're talking about naked Phlox, that's saying something!
Dr. Lucas: In 'Dear Doctor,' we learned that Phlox had a human physician friend who was currently on Denobula. This week, we find out that Dr. Lucas has returned to Earth in the wake of the Xindi attack, and that he lost a lot of colleagues. I appreciate the continuity, and would love it if Dr. Lucas made an appearance on a future episode. It might be interesting and fun to hear him dictate a letter to Phlox.
Creepy: Despite the fact that we knew all along he was hallucinating, there were still some moderately suspenseful and creepy moments. Insect Xindi clicked over a prone Hoshi, and later, a deformed zombie Hoshi accused Phlox of not keeping his word to keep them safe. Archer and Trip both made hallucinogenic appearances – Archer to say he clearly shouldn't have trusted Phlox with his ship, and Trip to chastise him for the decision to go to warp. My favorite creepy scene, though, was Phlox spotting something crawling on the hull from the viewport in Archer's quarters – it was a clever homage to the (in)famous 'Twilight Zone' episode which featured William Shatner. "There's a creature! Out there on the wing!"
Heart-Stopping Fear: By far the scariest moment, though, came when Phlox, stalking imaginary Xindi, came within INCHES of shooting the fearless space pup with a phase pistol! Poor Porthos!
The Voice of Reason: I was relieved when the twist at the end was revealed, and T'Pol turned out to have been comatose the whole time. When I watched the episode a second time, I really appreciated what they'd done with the hallucination of T'Pol. Phlox's troubled mind conjured her up to be his companion, his voice of reason, a devil's advocate, and his incentive to take action. It's interesting, in retrospect, how much time he spends talking to her while she's not actually on-screen. It makes sense that the imaginary T'Pol would be helpless – it motivated Phlox and spurred him to action.
The Familiar Pleasures of Home: In his letter to Dr. Lucas, Phlox expresses some homesickness for the first time. Later, he tells the imaginary T'Pol about Denobulan cities, which are vibrant, communal and 'crowded by choice.' Denobulans are gregarious and sociable, and he misses his people. I liked this. It gives a more interesting edge to his sometimes overly cheerful character.
Character Interactions: In reality, Phlox has interesting conversations with Tucker (who tells him to wake him up if there's a crisis, even though it will mean certain brain damage or death), Archer (who offers gratitude and encouragement before he's put under) and T'Pol (who talks to him about events at the end of the episode.) For the most part, though, Phlox is really only interacting with himself. Even with Porthos, Dr. Lucas and pseudo T'Pol, he's talking to himself. It was interesting and unique.
'shipper Watch: Nothing doing on the 'shipper front this week. Mercifully, Phlox's interactions with pseudo T'Pol were platonic.
Archer Watch: He was fine. The plan was a sensible one, even if it didn't go as smoothly as they all hoped. And I liked his words of encouragement to Phlox. And I've said it before – you've got to love a Captain who isn't ashamed to give his beagle pal some smooches!
Mayweather Watch: Bwahahahaha! He made an appearance, but he was in a coma! Poor Anthony Montgomery! Mayweather did get a mention, though, in a flashback – Phlox expressed his admiration of him as a top-notch helmsman.
Best Lines:
"It's a leech, you know. It will clean out your intestinal tract. Don't tell the Captain." (Phlox, to Porthos)
"If it comes down to saving me or the ship...look, I'm makin' it easy for you." (Trip, to Phlox)
"As Captain of this ship, I'm responsible for everyone on board. There aren't many people I'd willingly turn that responsibility over to. You're one of them." (Archer, to Phlox)
"I'm NOT going alone! Come, Porthos. Come! I'd be better off talking to my Pyrrithian bat!" (Phlox, to Porthos)
"I should never have let Mr. Tucker talk me into watching 'The Exorcist' last week." (Phlox, to Porthos)
"Would you stop creeping around the ship like a Draxon cloud viper!" (Phlox, to pseudo-T'Pol)
"As I mentioned before, I have no regrets about accepting my position on Enterprise. But it has struck me recently how much I miss the familiar pleasures of my home." (Phlox, to Dr. Lucas)
"Whimper..." (frightened Porthos, to Phlox and pseudo-T'Pol)
"You nearly shot the Captain's dog!" (pseudo-T'Pol, to Phlox)
"Fortunately, I am not very proficient with hand weapons." (Phlox, to pseudo-T'Pol)
"I was getting...irritated with you." "Apparently, I deserved it!" (pseudo-T'Pol and Phlox)
"You won't do that. Because your duty is to look out for the welfare of this crew. Why do you think the Captain allowed you to sedate him? Because he trusts you." (pseudo-T'Pol, to Phlox)
"I'm a physician, not an engineer!" (Phlox, to pseudo-T'Pol)
"You're suggesting that I read the MANUAL?" (Phlox, to pseudo-T'Pol, regarding starting up the warp engines)
"You're going to screw this up, Phlox. You're going to kill everyone!" (pseudo-Trip, to Phlox)
"You must have enjoyed having the ship to yourself." "It wasn't nearly as empty as I anticipated." (the real T'Pol, and Phlox)
Rating: 8/10. Disappointing for a sweeps month, but I did like some of the humor, and, of course, the fearless space pup!
Next Week: Yikes – a mutiny! I haven't read much about this one – looks interesting, though! Stay tuned...
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