monkee reviews 'Minefield'
First Impression: Wicked special effects, decent story.
Here am I sitting in a tin can...As I've mentioned before, I'm not usually all that observant when it comes to cool special effects, but you couldn't MISS the great shots this week! There were a lot of things that simply had never been done before, and that's rare for a franchise that's been going for so long. We've seen people walking on the hulls of various ships before, but never with the wide views of space beyond, with planets and decloaking ships. Very cool! My favorite shot? Archer and Reed floating up and away from the ship on the detached hull plating. Now THAT must be a strange feeling! I'll also mention the gaping hole blown in the saucer at the end of the teaser, Enterprise's first severe structural damage. Great stuff!
Archer and Reed: Like 'Shuttlepod One' and 'Desert Crossing,' this episode isolates two characters in order to explore their personalities and relationship. I was wary about this, because I find both Archer and Reed to be a little on the bland side. It worked out better than I expected, though, because the episode focused on their differences, and on the two of them trying to understand each other. Reed is spit and polish, by the book, and has never, up until now, understood Archer's more laid-back command style. Now, pinned to Enterprise's hull, and forced to walk Archer through defusing a mine, he finally gets a chance to express his concerns. And Archer gets a chance to address them. It worked pretty well, although it was still slow at times.
Man of Mystery: What's interesting is that despite 'Shuttlepod One,' and now 'Minefield,' we STILL don't know all that much about Reed. I like that. We do get some interesting backstory here about Malcolm's Navy roots. He comes from a long line of Royal Navy men, and he wanted that life, too, but couldn't have it because of his aquaphobia, or fear of drowning. This might explain his father's coldness in 'Silent Enemy,' from last season. Malcolm's hero is his great uncle, a nice touch, considering what we saw of T'Pol's ancestor in 'Carbon Creek.' Malcolm's great uncle also suffered from aquaphobia, but faced his fears, and drowned while heroically keeping the reactor of a submarine running while his crewmates got to their escape pods. When the mine situation begins to look grim, Malcolm is willing to make that sacrifice as well, telling Archer just to cut the hull segment loose and get away from the Romulans while he can. He even tried to force Archer's hand by disconnecting his own air supply. Archer is able to find a more creative solution, of course, and when the episode ends, the two men are far more comfortable with each other, and even joking around.
Reed's social awkwardness reminds me a little of TNG's Barclay, and in a good way. As an introvert myself, I like the idea that there's a place for those like me in the Trek future!
The Romulans: Ah, yes, the Romulans. Berman and Braga have their work cut out for them here. TOS will show that although humans and Romulans are in conflict at around this time, there's never any visual contact. So far, so good. We saw the warbirds uncloak, and we heard and learned to translate the language, but we haven't actually seen a Romulan. In some ways, it's much more interesting NOT to see the enemy, so I hope they can keep it up!
You go, Hoshi! See? MUCH better this week! Injured by the initial mine explosion, she actually had an excuse to whine – after all, she had a concussion – but instead she kept trying to leave sickbay so she could do her job. Instead of just blindly accepting that she couldn't, she had the tapes brought to sickbay, and did her job from there. This is the Hoshi I like to see – the Hoshi that developed over the course of last season. So let's just consider her Shockwave 2 behavior to be an aberration, okay?
But am I missing something? Why did Enterprise have to wait until Hoshi could translate and formulate a response? Why couldn't they just talk to the Romulans in the hopes that they had better translation equipment? Just because they couldn't understand the Romulans doesn't mean the Romulans couldn't understand them. I'm just asking.
Sickbay in Chaos: A busy sickbay always lends a note of reality to an episode, especially when a huge hole has been blown in the ship. Explosions tend to injure people, no? It was great to see Phlox supervising a triage with every trained emergency medic on the ship. Voyager blew it in a big way in this department – it's good to see they've learned from those mistakes.
Hey, that kid can FLY! Mayweather still didn't get many lines, but at least he was DOING something this week! He had to fly out of the minefield, under extreme pressure. The scenes were tense and well filmed. Great! Now, let's let him talk, too!
When you gotta go...Reed had to pee in his EVA suit! It was a nice, light moment, but I really wanted Archer to make some sort of Al Shepard comment. Shepard had to pee in his suit, too, when the first suborbital flight was delayed. Would have been a nice touch to mention it, is all I'm saying...
Character Interactions: Besides Reed and Archer, nothing stood out. It was nice to see everyone working so smoothly together, though. And I did enjoy T'Pol's resignation to Archer's plan. "I assume there's no point in my questioning your command?" The woman learns fast!
Shallow Observation: My, but Trip looked cute in 'scruffy' mode, didn't he? Well, *I* thought so, anyway!
Archer Watch: Well, he certainly is stubborn about not losing crewmembers – I'll give him that. And that's not a bad thing, but, as even Kirk discovered, you have to face down the no-win scenario at some point. The suspense is building. Enterprise has yet to lose a crewmember (except for Daniels, who doesn't really count since he's not dead anymore...). How is Archer going to react to that first loss? In general, I like Archer's command style, and I'm glad he's not the captain Reed thinks he should be. I do think he needs to do more than just be 'aware' of Reed's security concerns. 'Wheeee! A new planet – let's go walk up a volcano!' You can have a casual command style, and still exercise some common sense!
'Shipper Watch: You could, no doubt, read all KINDS of things into the Archer/Reed scenes, but what would be the point? Some interesting fanfic, I suppose. I also thought T'Pol was awfully gentle with the injured Hoshi, which was sweet. And I enjoyed Trip and T'Pol's scenes together, although that may just have been me. Did I mention how cute I thought Trip looked with his face all smudged?
:)
Best Lines:
"This isn't a visit to the principal's office, Malcolm." (Archer, to Reed)
"If you plan to go to warp, sir, you'll let me know?" "We'll try to remember." (Reed and Archer)
"You'll have to wait in line for a myosmotic eel to cauterize your wound. He's getting quite a workout today!" (Phlox, cheerfully, to hapless, bleeding crewman)
"Please, sir, may I have some more?" (Reed, to Archer, regarding his medication)
"If I were the kind of captain you think I should be, I'd bust your ass down to crewman!" (Archer, to Reed – at least he's not threatening to knock him on his ass, although I suppose he's already there, isn't he?)
"Begging your pardon, sir, but if you were that kind of captain, we wouldn't be having this conversation. You'd have cut me loose by now." (Reed, to Archer)
"If I may say so, sir, your style of command does have its advantages." (Reed, conceding that it's good to be alive, after all)
Rating: 8.5/10. I was going to give it a 9, but on second viewing, I found the special effects just weren't enough, and the story was just a shade to slow for my tastes. Still, it was a nice exploration of Reed and Archer, and an acceptable introduction to the Romulans.
Next Week: Hey, continuity! The ships needs substantial repairs, but it looks like the service station they pull into exists only in...the twilight zone. No, wrong show. But SOMETHING is screwy about the place...On a personal note – next week's review may be delayed by a few days.
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