In the thirteenth episode of the fourth season of Enterprise, Archer must navigate a tense situation while Reed and Tucker attempt to disarm the drone ship. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Star Trek.Â
I feel like this episode is great if you’re a Star Trek because of the references and some real cool visual imagery. Look, I can’t deny it was pretty awesome to see that ragtag collection of ships show up to go after the marauder drone. This is it! This must be how the Federation gets its start, and that certainly makes “United†entertaining. Archer faces a near impossible task in trying to unite multiple species and cultures, and he’s doing it while two of his crew men are facing down the Romulans, despite not KNOWING they’re up against the Romulans.
Couple this with a fight sequence that’s rather brutal and comes off as a giant visual reference to that one big fight scene in The Original Series, and you’ve got a lot of things I should have enjoyed a great deal. I did not dislike this episode, mind you, but my patience for Enterprise’s bizarre scripts is starting to wear thin.
Look, it’s smart that the writers forced these characters to deal with the ramifications of Lt. Talas’s death. I don’t think it made sense to ignore it, especially given how emotional Shran was for this woman. But as vicious as that fight scene was, LORD did it ever feel extraneous. The plot in “United†grinds to a halt once the script veers off into this ritual. And like… I get it? Sort of? Archer demonstrates that he “respects†the Andorians, and it is why he ultimately gets their acceptance. That’s an important developmental point, but it feels so CLUMSY. As soon as Archer said he was standing in for the Tellarite, I felt like the show was desperate to put Archer in the middle of everything. He already saved the whole world! And all of Vulcan! Damn, dude, please give ANYONE ELSE a chance to be the center of attention!
At the very least, I appreciated the tense and imaginative plot involving the drone Marauder. See, THIS IS WHY I LOVE SCIENCE FICTION. Shit like this is my JAM. I loved watching Reed and Tucker trying to outsmart their unknown opponents. It’s brilliant that this script only reveals their identity to the audience; the Enterprise crew never actually finds out who they’re up against. All they know is that this ship is involved in complicating matters between the Tellarites and the Andorians. And like all good science fiction, there’s a deeper matter at work. Reed directly disobeys Tucker’s order to save himself, and he ends up taking control of the drone after setting his phaser to explode. It’s a tense sequence, but it’s also an emotional one! I think it could have benefitted from a further exploration of the dynamic at hand, especially since this is like… the second time? Third time? That this has happened? There was that episode in season one where they both nearly froze to death? And that other episode where Reed got stuck outside Enterprise? And that other when… jesus, these two are like the perpetual punching bags for this show. LEAVE THEM ALONE.
Anyway, I can’t deny how cool it was to see the Federation sort of start, and maybe this isn’t the actual beginning, but it sure feels like it. Which is why I was shocked that this ended on ANOTHER cliffhanger with the revelation that the pilot of the drone (and the entire holographic system) for the Romulans IS AN ANDORIAN. And an albino one, it looks like????? WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON.
The video for “United†can be downloaded here for $0.99.
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