monkee reviews Shockwave: Part II
First Impressions: Serviceable, but not as good as Part I, as usual. Some nice crew moments, though.
Part II Syndrome: It's an unwritten Star Trek rule, I think. Part II's are never, ever, as good as Part I's. And in a sense, it's completely understandable. Part I sets up the conflict – Part I is edgy and dramatic. Part II resolves the conflict, and ends on a more settled note. It happens all the time, and not just on Trek. How many times have you read a great book that keeps you turning pages long into the night, only to have the ending seem a little anticlimactic? Still, you keep hoping that the writers will be able to maintain the intensity. Shockwave I was SO good, though, that I was certain Part II would be disappointing. I was expecting it! But even with lowered expectations, I came away feeling a bit cheated. It wasn't awful, but it was predictable, and there were some loose ends and bad calls. Fortunately, these were almost balanced out by some nice crew interactions.
Silik the Wienie: My biggest beef about Shockwave II was that it emasculated a perfectly good villain. Last year, Silik was creepy and vicious. He shot Daniels without batting an eye. Now, one hour into the second season, he's a complete wus! If he's that terrified of the shadowy Future Guy, we almost have to feel sorry for him. And I don't WANT to feel sorry for him – not yet! He was so desperate for instructions, and so terrified that he'd angered Future Guy, that he was almost in tears. And then even Archer (who's usually on the receiving end of these things) beat the crap out of him, and took him hostage. How am I supposed to take him seriously as a bad guy now? It's a shame.
Hostile Vulcans: According to my dictionary, the word hostile means 'feeling or showing enmity; antagonistic.' These Vulcans, particularly Ambassador Soval, are not 'irritated,' or 'miffed.' They are downright hostile! And it's just wrong. I sort of let this slide last year, in the interest of giving the ENT writers the benefit of the doubt, but I'm starting to get concerned. I'll be watching more closely from now on. I suppose they could still give us a logical reason for it, but it seems less and less likely. I can understand the Vulcans being wary of humans at this point, but the antagonism that they're displaying is unreasonable. Soval reluctantly admits that the Vulcan ship detected a large number of vessels surrounding Enterprise, and automatically concludes that T'Pol is being held against her will? I can't follow that reasoning. It would have been more logical to deduce that perhaps Enterprise had been delayed because they were in trouble. At the end of the episode, they do make some good points about things the humans have done wrong out there so far. They have some reason to be critical, but it's their tone that disturbs me. Illogical.
Archer and the Future Federation: We learn that getting Enterprise blamed for the devastating 'accident' in Part I was only part of the plan. When the Suliban were really trying to do is get Archer out of the timeline in order to prevent his future actions, which will probably include some involvement in the development of the Federation. This was set up to be the big revelation of the episode, but really, hadn't the astute viewer already figured this out from the temporal arc last year? I don't know, a lot of things that happened in this episode just didn't come as a big surprise to me, and I'm usually a fairly gullible viewer. I knew that Reed intended to get caught in Daniel's quarters, and I knew that the person Silik had contacted using the device from Daniel's quarters was Archer, and not Future Guy. If *I* knew, you can bet most everyone else did, too. It was all too predictable.
Don't Mess with Hoshi, Braga! I mean it! There are only two women on ENT, don't turn one of them into Uhura on her worst days. Hoshi did everything but actually say, "I'm frightened!" this week. Don't get me wrong, I don't really have a problem with her being frightened. Not every character on Star Trek needs to thrive on danger; in fact, it's refreshing that she doesn't. But don't have her stand there WHINING about it when she needs to act. 'Golly, I don't really wanna. Isn't there something else I could do?' Grrrr. I can appreciate that she's claustrophobic; it was even mentioned last year. I enjoyed the shots of her struggling with that as she made her way through the EPS conduit shafts. She was almost hyperventilating (nice acting by Parks). I just didn't like Hoshi balking at the beginning. She made some great strides last season in this area, let's keep her moving forward, okay?
Loose Ends: To complete my litany of complaints about Shockwave II, allow me to point out a couple of things left hanging. What happened to Silik? Archer had taken him hostage, but then we never heard another thing about him. Did Archer really just let him go? Why? Shouldn't he have turned him over to Starfleet, or even the Vulcans? Inquiring minds want to know. And what of Daniels? We can assume that Archer's safe return to his own timeline also restored Daniel's century, but couldn't we have had that confirmed? Maybe a quick shot in which poor Daniels finally gets to finish his morning coffee?
My goodness, but I've gone on and on, haven't I? A page and a half, and all I've done is bitch and moan! Did I like ANYTHING about Shockwave II?
Well, it's funny you should ask, because, as a matter of fact, I did!
I'll admit that I didn't spend a whole lot of time over the summer thinking about Enterprise. I enjoyed the first season, but the characters haven't quite wormed their way into my subconscious yet. But damned if I wasn't genuinely glad to see them on Wednesday night! And that was the best thing about Shockwave II – it nicely showcased our newest Trek 'family.'
Archer and Daniels: First of all, Archer really kept his head in the future. In fact, he handled the whole thing much better than Daniels did! I suppose I'll cut Daniels some slack, though. It's not every day that you make the 'biggest mistake in time travel history,' after all. Once they started working together, they were kind of fun to watch. And when you have characters do something completely implausible, like build a communicating-with-the-past device out of 22nd century equipment, it's nice to include a tongue-in-cheek line like "I learned how to make one of these in high school." Haha! And the line about the Romulan Star Empire book has to be Enterprise's funniest so far! Good of the writers to give us these little nods. They really *are* aware of continuity, I think.
Meanwhile, Back on Enterprise: The crew interactions back on the ship went a long way toward salvaging the episode for me. It's just so cool to see them coming together, like past Trek crews. I love that even locked down in their quarters, they managed, with difficulty, to find a way to communicate and concoct a plan. (And yes, it certainly helped that the Suliban were being uncharacteristically DENSE!) And I actually enjoyed the Hoshi-loses-her-shirt scene, so help me. (It's true. I'm turning into a 14 year-old boy. Scary.) I think it was the deer-in-the-headlights look on Reed's face. Hee. And I thought Blalock did well with the drugged interrogation scene, and the ensuing scene with the holographic Archer in her quarters. "You're on the ceiling. Why aren't you on a monitor?"
Suliban Cell Ships: I'm not usually all that impressed with battle scenes, but I did enjoy the shots of Enterprise being surrounded and overwhelmed by the cell ships. The climactic scene was exciting, and it was fun knowing why the shooting had suddenly stopped when the bridge crew didn't yet.
Speeches: Despite the evidence proving that Enterprise wasn't responsible for the tragedy, Ambassador Soval is still pushing for the ship to be recalled, until an impassioned speech by Archer, and a 'flawlessly logical' one by T'Pol. Nothing all that unusual here, but they played out nicely.
But gazelles? I mean, gazelles? Hahaha. I suppose we should just be grateful that he didn't use another water polo analogy, right?
Character Interactions: I liked Archer and Daniels, as I mentioned, and the teamwork on Enterprise between Trip, Reed, Sato, T'Pol, and Mayweather, in their respective quarters. My very favorite scene of the whole episode, though, was the middle-of-the-night Archer/T'Pol conversation. Sure it had some 'shippy overtones, but it was also just...nice. It showed a level of comfort between them that I find appealing.
'Shipper Watch: But to heck with that, let's talk 'ships! There was plenty to chew on this week for the hopelessly romantic viewer. There was the aforementioned Archer/T'Pol bedroom scene. She was in her pajamas, for crying out loud! And we got that neat little line about Crewman Fuller's discretion! There was also Hoshi, showing up at Reed's door with no shirt on! And a nice protective-mode moment from Trip, when he yelled at the Suliban who was threatening to shoot Hoshi. Awww. Nice stuff. Nothing may come from any of it, but I just love it when our crewmembers actually seem to care about each other!
Archer Watch: He kept his head in a crisis – I'll give him that much. He seems to be doing a nice job of accepting what to him must seem impossible – time travel. And for once, *he* got to kick some butt, instead of the other way around. It's just too bad that the butt belonged to such a simpering, ineffectual villain!
Best Lines:
"The Vulcan Science Directorate has determined that time travel is impossible." (T'Pol, repeatedly, to Silik, and Archer)
"I made the biggest mistake in time travel history this morning. I don't intend to make it any worse." (Daniels, to Archer)
"You're on the ceiling. Why aren't you on a monitor?" (A perfectly legitimate question from a delirious T'Pol, to Archer)
"There's a lot more at stake here than bringing me back – or the mission." (Archer, to T'Pol)
"Whatever you're about to say, I don't want to hear it. Just get me a shirt." (Sato, to a stunned Reed)
"You certainly took your time. He had this pressed against my head." (T'Pol, to Trip)
"You may have overdone your pyrotechnic display. The scorching on the starboard nacelle is extensive." (T'Pol, to Trip)
"Please, repeat what you said!" (Desperate Silik, to what he thinks is Future Guy)
"I SAID 'you're an ugly bastard' !" (Archer, to Silik)
"I feel like I've been away for about a thousand years." (Archer, to the bridge crew)
"The concept of learning from one's mistakes shouldn't be difficult for a Vulcan of your wisdom to understand, Ambassador." (T'Pol, to Soval)
"I can't be sure, but I think Crewman Fuller might have seen me come in here." (Archer, to T'Pol)
"She tends to be discrete." (T'Pol, to Archer. And just what does she know about Fuller's discretion, anyway?)
"I think you put it over the top." (Archer, gratefully, to T'Pol)
THE Best Line:
"Romulan Star Empire? What's that?" (Archer, perusing the library shelves, to Daniels)
"Maybe you shouldn't be reading that." (Daniels, taking the book away)
Rating: 8/10. Disappointing after Part I's 9.5, but the episode wasn't a total loss.
Next Week: 11:59, T'Pol style. It could be awful, or hilarious. We'll have to wait and see. I have a feeling I'm going to enjoy seeing Vulcan's shoot pool and watch 'I Love Lucy!'
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