monkee reviews 'Rajiin'
First Impressions: monkee was pleasantly surprised! For an episode involving a BEAUTIFUL ALIEN SEX SLAVE, this wasn't half bad!
UPN Promos: Seriously, whoever's doing these promos should be shot. Or thrown out an airlock. Okay maybe just fired. They are doing the opposite of helping with these things! I'm guessing that they're turning off more viewers than they're turning on, but what do I know? All I can tell you is that if I were a discerning fan who didn't write reviews, I would have missed a good episode this week (and an excellent one last year Cogenitor). Therefore discerning fans who DON'T write reviews might very well be tuning out.
BEAUTIFUL ALIEN SEX SLAVE: The story didn't require a beautiful alien sex slave at all. Rajiin could have been anyone. But for whatever the hell reason, the people who bring us Trek have decided that their target audience is going to be the young male demographic, so she has to be a beautiful alien sex slave. The vast majority of the Trek fans I know of aren't young men, but...whatever. It's something that, when it comes up, I just roll my eyes and shake my head. It's not like sex hasn't been a significant part of Trek from the beginning. The only difference now is that it's a whole lot tackier. 'Edgier,' I suppose they'd have us believe. Now, the beautiful alien sex slave seduces the female crewmembers in addition to the males.
I suppose if they were making TOS now, Mudd's Women would have to come on to Uhura. And for no other reason than to lure the twenty year old male viewers away from 'Lost in Space,' where God only knows what would be going on between The Robot and Judy...
Despite everything, though, they managed to make Rajiin a sympathetic character. In the end, I cared what happened to her. And the episode was filled with so many other good things, that I'm just going to well, roll my eyes and shake my head, like I always do!
Xindi Council, Revisited: The Xindi characterizations are consistent with what we've seen before, with the reptilian and insect Xindi being the more aggressive, and the humanoid and sloth Xindi being the more conservative. So far, my favorite Xindi are the aquatic ones. They seem the most interested in finding a consensus and avoiding the bickering. Neutral Xindi. Sort of like Switzerland. Plus they're cute! Now, though, all of them are in a bit of a panic. They've had some setbacks in the development of the weapon, and they're arguing about what to do next. There's an ominous hint of 'another option,' one that the impulsive reptilian and insect Xindi are pretty gung-ho about
The Trip 'n T'Pol Show: Last week, I said, and I quote, "They need to find an episode where the story makes sense, then explore it in a non-adolescent way. Have them admit to each other that the intimacy is making them uncomfortable and why they think that is. How about a grown-up conversation on the subject?" Well, I'll be damned! While it's not all I might have hoped for, it's pretty close. For the first time, I actually enjoyed this particular subplot, AND it tied in well with the rest of the episode. The two of them discuss their shipmate's reactions to their 'sessions,' and T'Pol convinces Trip that it's really none of anyone else's concern. In addition, the two of them are involved in a professional project as well figuring out how to synthesize Trelium-D from Trelium-A, so they can bond it to the ship's inner hull. Later, their neuro-pressure sessions actually further the plot, when Rajiin attacks T'Pol, and Trip interrupts. Well done, this week. I was impressed.
Continuity: Massive amounts of beautiful continuity! I was stunned when Archer's restless itching actually turned out to be related to his being transformed into a different species the week before. Stunned, I say! I love it! And gosh you would expect repercussions from such an experience. This is what we hardly ever got, yet desperately needed, with Voyager. We also got a mention of Crewman Cutler. And Trelium-D. They're just doing a wonderful job with this Xindi arc so far. Keep up the good work!
Alien Port and Marketplace: Archer has met a chemist, B'Rat Ut, who claims to know the formula for synthesizing Trelium-D, which Enterprise needs to insulate themselves against the anomalies in the Expanse. He takes an away team (himself, Trip and Reed) to an alien artificial island/port/marketplace to meet with the chemist. This was a terrific set, with an interesting atmosphere. It's always nice to see a bustling alien gathering place.
B'Rat Ut: After some intense negotiation, the chemist gives them the formula, with some additional information one of the other vendors in the marketplace has been doing business with some Xindi. What I loved about this was that what B'Rat wanted in exchange for his goods were just everyday earth spices! And this makes sense why would these alien species always want technology and warp plasma? When Trip and Reed leave him the second time, he's snorting paprika and cackling with glee. Hee.
Sweat Sock Pimps and Interstellar Mongrel Nymphs: (identify that obscure lyric!) The other vendor turns out to be marketing in BEAUTIFUL ALIEN SEX SLAVES, so we're just going to call him spacepimp. Spacepimp says he did do business with two Xindi, but doesn't know where they went. He suggests that one of 'the girls' might, but Archer will have to buy them to find out. One of them catches Archer's eye, but he declines. Which is good, since it wouldn't be very starship captain-ly of him to buy a sex slave, even a beautiful alien one. But as he's leaving, the girl escapes and asks him for asylum. Unwilling to leave the girl to her fate, he fights off spacepimp and takes her to Enterprise. Sure, it's naïve and stupid, but it's also rather chivalrous. It's what the other captains would have done, for better or worse. (Apparently, they never learn!)
Rajiin: At first the woman, whose name is Rajiin, seems to be exactly what she claims to be a sex slave without family, or even cultural, ties. She barely remembers the name of her home planet, but Enterprise locates it and sets a course. She has a pleasant dinner with Archer, and he gives her permission to look around the ship. This is another phenomenally stupid decision, but hey at this point, I've stopped counting! She returns to Archer's quarters and attempts to seduce him by way of saying 'thanks,' scans him with her x-ray hands, then manipulates his mind [snip snide comment about how, with Archer, that probably wasn't much of a challenge] to let him think the whole thing never happened. Apparently, in addition to scanning people internally, she's also able to do Jedi mind tricks, which is how she gets past security, and Hoshi, who happens upon her when she's looking a little too closely at the transporter. Her luck runs out, though, when she attempts to scan and manipulate T'Pol, who resists. T'Pol ends up unconscious, but Trip breaks up the attempt. Rajiin bonks him on the head and flees as he's calling security. She communicates with someone off the ship about getting to within transporter range, but security and Archer apprehend her before she's able to escape.
Because she's a BEAUTIFUL ALIEN SEX SLAVE with...gifts...her mental manipulations are quite seductive, and involve a lot of meaningful eye contact and gasping. This could have been awful, but it wasn't as bad as it sounds. The actress, Nikita Ager, was able to pull it off. In a recent chat, Bakula commended her, saying 'It was a very challenging role, and she had to do it with not a lot of clothes on most of the time. But she did a wonderful job, and again, in a role that demanded a lot of different things from her.' And he's right. Not only did she have to be appealing and innocent, she also had to do seductive, menacing, mysterious, and, ultimately, somewhat noble as the episode progressed. Her performance was quite good, so...credit where it's due.
Xindi Bioweapon: [A bioweapon. Of course. Could the parallels be any more transparent? Is it time for me to shrug, roll my eyes, and shut up? Okay.] Two Xindi vessels appear and open fire on Enterprise. In the brig, Najiin reluctantly tells Archer that she was hired by the Xindi to do bio-scans so they can develop a bioweapon the 'other option' the Xindi council was discussing in the teaser. She tells Archer that the vessels firing on Enterprise just want her and her information, and don't intend to harm anyone. Archer declines sensibly, I think, since they'll most certainly harm the entire population of Earth with the weapon when it's done!
Xindi Boarding Party: Actual Xindi! Tromping around on Enterprise! Not surprisingly, when the inevitable boarding party shows up, it's made up of reptilian and insect Xindi. We'll find out later that they are acting without the approval of the council. Enterprise security and the MACOs try valiantly, but are no match for the kewl Xindi weapons, which...well, I'm not sure what they do. They fire a sort of goo on the walls, which then targets and fires multiple projectiles at opponents. In the end, the boarding party escapes with Rajiin. There is one Xindi casualty, but he killed himself by activating a special suicide gland. The vessels disappear into 'some kind of vortex,' so all Archer can do is order an autopsy and an analysis of the ships and the vortex. Bummer.
Just one quick comment I think these generic action sequences have improved since the days of TNG, DS9 and VOY. Perhaps it's because Enterprise is set two hundred years prior to those timeframes, and there's more of a sense of all this being new to the security teams. After all, they don't have a whole lot of experience with alien boarding parties at this point, so the outcome of these confrontations is never a given. And yet, despite that, we get a good sense of them really giving it their all. Or maybe it has nothing at all to do with the century, and these scenes are just being better directed. Either way, though, I'm enjoying them more than I used to.
A Better Ending? In the final scene, Rajiin is brought before the Council. She seems to have genuine respect for Archer, and tells the Xindi that there's more to the humans than they're going to learn from her biometric scans. They don't heed her words, and she's hustled out of the room. Although the Council hadn't agreed on this course of action, they do agree that now that they have the scans, they might as well proceed 'on both fronts.' It's a good ending. Nicely ominous, with room to bring Rajiin back at some point.
But I would have preferred a more unsettling ending. I liked Rajiin, but I think she should have died. In fact, I think Archer should have killed her. Not necessarily in cold blood, but perhaps in the firefight in the corridor, when he realized that he simply couldn't afford to let the Xindi get the data she'd gathered. Or perhaps he could have destroyed one of the fleeing Xindi ships for the same reason, knowing she was on board. Now an ending like THAT would have packed a punch! Archer is supposed to be a man on the edge, slipping into morally ambiguous terrain, isn't he? He nearly killed a man two weeks ago in the airlock. He threatens to kill Rajiin at one point, but she doesn't buy it for a second (although I noticed that SHE was smart enough not to dare him to). I just think it would have been interesting if he'd been forced to, reluctantly, in the end, simply because these are the sorts of decisions he's faced with now.
But I wouldn't mind seeing her again, either. I liked her. Moving on...
PORTHOS! We get a glimpse of OFFSP (our favorite fearless space pup), who's being kept awake by Archer's restless thrashing. I always love to see the little guy. One complaint, though where the heck was he when Rajiin came in to seduce and scan Archer? I SO wanted to see Porthos snarl at her. Or do unspeakable things to her leg! Heck, if you're going to have a BEAUTIFUL ALIEN SEX SLAVE on the show, you might as well have some fun with the idea...
'shipper's Watch: The Trip 'n T'Pol show gets an A this week. I liked them together. There was chemistry, and subtle tension, and it was blended into the rest of the story in a believable way. The rest of the episode's sexual tension involved Rajiin, who had decent seductive scenes with Archer, Sato, T'Pol and a hapless redshirt. Decent enough if you're into beautiful alien sex slaves, anyway...
Archer Watch: His job is to gather information on the Xindi and find them, and he's pursuing that goal as well as he could be. But perhaps rescuing damsels in distress shouldn't be a priority right now. And if he's going to rescue the damsels, he needs to at LEAST have enough common sense to post guards with them once they're on board. Dumb, dumb, dumb not to have done that! It might not have helped, but it really ought to be a standard precaution. Maybe Reed needs to have another chat with Archer on matters of general security.
Best Lines:
"People are talkin'...about me coming to your quarters at night. They think there's more going on than neuro-pressure." (Trip, to T'Pol)
"We're both senior officers. If we were pursuing a romantic relationship, it wouldn't be any concern of Lt. Reeds, would it?" (T'Pol, to Trip)
"The more you scratch, the longer it will take to heal." (Phlox, to Archer and this was accompanied by a good smack on the hand. Phlox SMACKED Archer!)
"I keep seeing myself back at that alien city." "You were transformed into an alien species. Don't expect to recover overnight." (Archer and Phlox)
"You have the most intriguing eyes. I've never seen a retinal structure this complex." (Phlox to Rajiin. Old smoothie.)
"We don't believe one person can own another person. You're free to go wherever you like." (Archer, to Rajiin)
"Leaving so soon?" (Archer, to Rajiin, as she unsuccessfully tries to call for transport.)
"If I tell you anything else, they'll kill me." "Who? The Xindi? What makes you think *I* won't?" (Rajiin and Archer)
"It's true that I deceived you, but that doesn't make your decision to help me any less admirable. The best thing for you to do is let me go." (Rajiin, to Archer)
Rating: The acting, the continuity and the Trip 'n T'Pol show make this a much better episode than you'd expect. 8.5/10 from the monkee.
Next Week: The darkness in the Expanse can drive a Vulcan mad. Look, Jolene Blalock can scream almost as well as Walter Koenig! This one looks good! And I'm hoping to get it reviewed much sooner than I have been lately!
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