monkee reviews 'Storm Front, Part One'
First Impression: Not destined to be an episode for the ages, but entertaining enough, and a decent start to the season.
Just a week ago, in my Season Three review, I was discussing 'Carpenter Street,' and mentioned that Star Trek should no longer assume that sending characters back in time would make an episode an instant classic. Storm Front is a prime example. Time travel! Nazis! ALIEN Nazis! Billie Holiday on the radio! Sorry guys. It's fun, but it's hardly 'City on the Edge of Forever' material, now, is it? I don't mind, though. This isn't one of the mini-arcs slated for the season that I really cared much about. I'm willing to go along for the ride, and anticipate better things to come.
Nazis and ALIEN Nazis: Trek Nazis make a comeback, as promised in the 'mind-blowing twist' (or the 'just freakin' weird twist,' take your pick) in last season's finale, 'Zero Hour.' Archer finds himself among them as the episode begins, with a memory of having seen an alien Nazi with gray skin and red eyes when he first regained consciousness. Suddenly, 'the resistance' attacks the Nazi convoy carrying him. Archer is shot, but escapes. Alicia, a member of the resistance, takes him in and nurses him back to health.
Archer quickly confirms that he is back in Earth's past, and things are not playing out the way they did before. The Nazis have successfully invaded the United States. Alicia's apartment is in a Nazi-occupied Brooklyn, and other members of the resistance include mobster loan sharks named Sal, Carmine, and Vic. Chuckling and rolling your eyes yet? I was, but in a good way, mostly. All this stuff is a Trek geek's dream, but I AM a Trek geek, after all...
Consider poor Archer, if you will. He just saved Earth, got blown up in (or beamed out of) an exploding super weapon, and now he's got Alien Nazis and more time travel to contend with. It's a wonder more of these poor Trek Captains don't end up in serious therapy.
Nazi's in the White House: With admirable restraint, I'm not going to say ONE SINGLE WORD about the Nazi flags draped over the White House. Any snide comment I might make would be tasteless and terribly unfair, anyway, so I'll keep my mouth shut for once. I will say that I enjoyed the White House scenes. The sets weren't 'West Wing' quality, but I still kept expecting President Bartlett to come out and give those bad Nazis what for!
The Plot Thickens...Meanwhile, back on Enterprise, the ship is orbiting Earth, but they, too, are stuck in the year 1944, with the timeline not as it should be. Just as they're trying to figure it all out, two things happen. 1. A dying, deformed Daniels appears in sickbay and says that he's the one who sent them back in time. 2. Slithering Silik appears, attacks Trip, and steals a shuttle. Enterprise fires at the shuttle, and he's forced to crash land.
Just One Damned Thing After Another...In the midst of all this was my favorite scene in the episode. Trip goes to see T'Pol to apologize for jumping down her throat earlier. "I was just all set to get home," he says in despair. "I wasn't expecting to be in another...situation." For some reason, this just really cracked me up. I guess I've always wanted a Trek character to say something like that. 'Man, it seems like we get ourselves into one of these messes almost every damned WEEK!'
Seriously, though, it was a nice scene - one of those gentle, quiet moments between Trip and T'Pol that I'm so fond of.
Daniels: Daniel's body is in a state of temporal flux. Some of him is ancient, and some is almost fetal. His body is (understandably) twisted and deformed. In short, there's nothing Phlox can do for him and he has less than twenty-four hours to live. He keeps losing consciousness, too, so they can't get much out of him except that he did send them back, the temporal cold war has become an all out conflict, and there's someone they must stop.
The Return of the Suliban: At first, they think he's referring to Silik, who attacks Trip, but then pulls him out of the shuttle bay before he decompresses it. Why is he there? What did he want with Trip? Why didn't he just let Trip die? As Reed says, we'll just have to put these on our list of things to ponder. Hahahaha! Reed cracks me up. Trip and Mayweather head down to the crash site to look for Silik.
For me, the return of the Suliban was a welcome thing. It's an indication that Enterprise is returning to its roots. As I've said, I loved the Xindi arc, but I'm also glad to see it go. I would like to see the whole temporal cold war thing resolved now, so we can move on.
Angel of the Resistance: Alicia is a definite Star Trek 'type,' an angelic woman who steps in to help our heroes - think Edith Keeler and a hundred others, most recently Bethany in last year's 'North Star.' Still, it would be difficult not to like her, she's strong and ethical in the face of adversity, and she looks to a better day.
When Archer tells her about the gray-skinned, red-eyed Nazi, she takes him to Sal, who's heard a similar story from a man who sells (false) information to both sides of the conflict. One of his customers matches the description. Archer and the other members of the resistance are there for their next meeting.
When Tuvix Goes Bad...The Alien Nazi customer is played by Tom Wright, which I found distracting since I just re-watched Voyager's 'Tuvix' recently. Having kindly Tuvix's voice come out of this Alien Nazi's mouth was just too surreal for me. Nevertheless...
The resistance ambushes him, and discover that the stories are true. Alicia and the mobsters are well and truly freaked out - this is the first extra-terrestrial they've ever seen, of course. In addition to the gray skin, bony protuberances and red eyes, he also has yellow blood. Archer is freaked out, too, for a different reason. This explains a lot. He demands information and gets it when the mobsters start to get ugly. The alien Nazis' species is involved in the temporal war, but they are trapped until they can build a conduit to get back. "You won't stop us!" he crows. "When we get back, you'll never have existed!" One of the mobsters shoots him dead. Because that's what mobsters do, Dammit.
Alicia in Wonderland: Archer and the gang are chased down by other alien Nazis. Because of the phaser and communicator they found on Archer initially, they believe he is a temporal agent. They've also detected the Enterprise in orbit. They want answers. Sal buys the farm, and Carmine covers Archer and Alicia. They can't escape, but Archer, at the last minute, uses the communications device he took off the alien Nazi in the alley to contact Enterprise. They are beamed to safely. Alicia takes it in stride, all things considered. "Don't ever do that again," she tells Archer. Hee.
I loved this scene. Alicia is covering Archer, even though she has no idea what he's doing fiddling with the alien device. When she runs out of ammunition and the Nazis approach, she slumps down in utter defeat, certain that they're doomed. It's fun, because of course we know they aren't.
Archer Lives! We knew Archer was alive, but the Enterprise crew still thought he was dead. The look on Hoshi's face when she detects his hail is heartwarming and priceless. When he arrives on the bridge, she gives him a big hug. Reed looks pretty close to hugging him, too, but settles for a manly shoulder thump. And T'Pol...well let's just say she was on the verge of a Spock-finds-out-Kirk-is-alive-after-all emotional display. Awww! And Porthos! Is there anything sweeter than a father and fearless space pup reunion?
Daniels Dies. Again. Daniels regains consciousness long enough to fill Archer in. The alien Nazis are the most dangerous species of all the factions involved in the temporal cold war. They have defeated the temporal agent/protectors in the future, and now they must be stopped on 1944 Earth or all is lost. Their leader is the head alien Nazi, Vosk. If Archer can defeat him before he completes the conduit, the timeline will be restored. As soon as he's finished relaying the pertinent information, Daniels dies. Again. Alas, poor Daniels - the temporal agent who can destroy history before he's even finished with breakfast. Will he return? I reckon he will, if the timeline is restored. And that's good, because I'd miss seeing that Michelin Man outfit of his.
Meanwhile, back on Earth, Trip and Mayweather don't find Silik, but they do manage to destroy the shuttle, which is by then swarming with Nazis. Unfortunately, they are captured and brought before Vosk, who tells them that their colleague escaped. Since the two of them don't know Archer is alive, they have no idea what he's talking about. I think they're in for a rough interrogation. Poor Mayweather. He finally gets a B story, and now he's going to get beat up! And poor Trip! Alien Nazis, and no beach to lie on...
Xindi? What Xindi? Boy, when they put an arc behind them, they really put an arc behind them, don't they? The Xindi get barely a mention this week. That's all right, though. As I said, it's an indication that they're moving on. Yet I know, based on the spoilers I've seen, that there will be repercussions from the Xindi arc. Hopefully, they'll strike a nice balance between moving on, and realistic consequences.
The End of the Temporal Cold War? Daniels indicates that if they succeed here, the war will be over. How can a temporal war EVER be over? I mean, couldn't someone just go back to the day before Archer arrived and stop him? I guess we'll just have to put that on...
Our List of Things to Ponder. And it's a ponderous list, because the story becomes convoluted quickly. How the heck did Archer get down there in the first place? Did he fall from an exploding weapon in space? Did someone (Shran? Daniels?) beam him off and down to Earth? Maybe it doesn't matter, but I like to know these things! Why did Silik want Trip to get in the shuttle with him? Why did he save his life afterwards? And how did Silik's crashing shuttle manage to land right outside of New York City, where all the action is taking place? I mean, it was CRASH LANDING, and Earth is a pretty big planet! And here are some rhetorical questions. Why do so many Trek Nazis look exactly like J. Paul Boehmer? Why are Trek mobsters always so darned cute? Why would Phlox put grated cheddar on Porthos' chicken liver when he ought to know better by now? And why does Archer continue to trust Daniels when he's clearly the most incompetent temporal agent that God ever put breath in? Inquiring minds and monkees want to know!
Archer Watch: Boy, that Captain Archer is made of stern stuff, isn't he? After a year of trauma with the Xindi weapon, he finds himself in Earth's past with alien Nazis in a temporal paradox, and he barely bats an eye. I know they were pressed for time, but wouldn't a few minutes of disbelief and confusion have been more realistic? Did he think he was dead? Hallucinating? Come on, now - no one is THAT together! Despite my disbelief, though, I'll give him credit. He's doing exactly what he should do as the situation unfolds. And he's back to his old self, showing compassion to Alicia and to his crew, and toughness, when needed, to the mobsters and the Nazis. Yes, the man can even get a Nazi officer to like him!
Archer objected to the mobster's strong-arm tactics with the alien Nazi, which is interesting considering some of his own recent actions. Is a little bit of yellow blood making you squeamish, big guy? Didn't you nearly torture someone to death last year? Ah, well. Perhaps Archer will add this to HIS list of things to ponder later on. I think some Archer soul-searching is planned for a later episode. I'm looking forward to it.
'shipper Watch: I mentioned the nice T'Pol/Trip scene. T'Pol also appeared pretty close to tears when Archer returned. She wanted to hug him, I could tell. It was sweet! Archer also had some nice reunion moments with Hoshi, Reed, Phlox and Porthos. There was nothing romantic about his relationship with Alicia, which is as it should be. She's married, after all. Hopefully, when the timeline is restored, her husband will return safely from the Pacific. She deserves a happy ending!
Mayweather Watch: He got stuff to do! Real stuff that was part of the story, and more to come in part two! Yippee!
Best Lines:
"Someday I will go to Hollywood, and I will meet Betty Grable. Maybe you will introduce me, huh?" "She's not your type." (Nazi officer and Archer)
"I was just all set to get home. I wasn't expecting to be in another...situation. I was going to lie on a different beach every week for two months. The only thing to figure out was whether I was going to start in Tahiti or Cancun." (Trip, to T'Pol)
"On the other hand, my singing would sometimes drive my children to tears." (Phlox, to Porthos, after opting not to sing him a Denobulan lullaby)
"He pulled me out of the launch bay before he decompressed it!" "Another item on our list of things to ponder." (Trip and Reed)
"Just shut up and tell him!" "I can't talk and shut up at the same time." (the cute Trek mobsters)
"I'm picking up another signal." (small smile) "It's faint." (Hoshi, to T'Pol, after picking up Archer's hail)
"We have a great deal to talk about." (Vosk, to Archer and Alicia)
"It'll have to wait." (Archer, to Vosk, as the transporter takes him and Alicia away)
"I sent you to this point because it is here that Vosk can be stopped. If you succeed, the war will never happen. The timeline will be restored." (Dying Daniels, to Archer)
Rating: 8/10. Yeah, it was all a little silly, but I enjoyed it anyway.
Note: I'm going to try to be a somewhat harsher critic from now on. I'm always going to rate higher than most Trek reviewers do, because I base my ratings on the average television show, and Star Trek nearly always exceeds that. But I need to make it a little more difficult for an episode to get a rating of 9/10 or higher. Those episodes should really be special. That's my plan, anyway. We'll see how well I keep to it.
Next Week: Storm Front, Part Two. Let's see how many questions on our 'list of things to ponder' get answered. I'm looking forward to it, and the rest of the season. Welcome back, everyone!
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