{"id":6577,"date":"2017-10-12T13:00:05","date_gmt":"2017-10-12T20:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=6577"},"modified":"2017-10-02T14:17:23","modified_gmt":"2017-10-02T21:17:23","slug":"mark-watches-enterprise-s04e07-the-forge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2017\/10\/mark-watches-enterprise-s04e07-the-forge\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘Enterprise’: S04E07 – The Forge"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the seventh episode of the fourth season of Enterprise<\/i>, a terrorist attack on Vulcan puts T\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Pol and Archer on a path toward discovering a massive conspiracy. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch Star Trek<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Trigger Warning: For discussion of terrorism, consent<\/b>.<\/p>\n

Let me be a broken record before I get into all of the stuff that I really enjoyed here: Hoshi Sato and Travis Mayweather are actual characters on your show. Please give them things to do. I mean, at least Travis got to hold a board while a bomb nearly went off underneath him? Hoshi doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t do anything at all! WE ARE FOUR SEASONS IN, OKAY, THIS IS UNFORGIVABLE AT THIS POINT.<\/p>\n

And it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so unfortunate because the other<\/i> characters are getting such rich and vibrant stories. I have no idea how long this arc will last (and y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m so impressed that season four is going from arc-to-arc), but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a stunning examination of the Vulcan culture that Enterprise<\/i> has given us. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so different<\/i> from what we see on all of the future series, and so I wonder if we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll ever get a bridge to those eras. Do these Vulcans ever come to accept mind-melds? Where do the Syrannites fit into the future of Vulcan? And I love that these were the questions I was asking as I watched this episode, which is beautifully shot and acted. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a difficult thing to imagine at this point because Vulcan is still<\/i> in a state of conflict. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a lot of talk here of Vulcan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s violent past, but you can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t ignore what happens in the present time!<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Forge\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is absolutely about that reality. When the Earth embassy is bombed on Vulcan (RIP Admiral Forrest, YOU WILL BE MISSED), I found it telling how quickly the Vulcan authorities provided two very<\/i> believable narratives to Archer about the cause. Granted, he rejected the Andorian connection, but it still counts. The Syrannite possibility is more coherent and possible, and Archers plunges into that lead, all the while unaware of just how constructed<\/i> everything was. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s down on Vulcan in the most desolate part of the planet (more on that in a bit) while Phlox, Reed, and Tucker all discover how quickly the Vulcans\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 claims fall apart.<\/p>\n

Which… yeah, this episode really skims over how that one human \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the only real witness to the crime who survived \u00e2\u20ac\u201c doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t consent to the mind-meld because he can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t<\/i>. So while I totally understood why it was fucked up that Ambassador Soval was shamed and the evidence hidden, no one seemed to comment on the part he should<\/i> feel bad for. He went into someone\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mind without their permission! Will that guard even survive<\/i> what happened to him? I think this would have come across better if Soval could have been scandalized about the stigma around mind-melds and<\/i> the violation of consent.<\/p>\n

I do<\/i> love everything on Vulcan while Archer and T\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Pol try to cross The Forge. I LOVE IT A GREAT DEAL. I am taking a guess here, but I think<\/i> this episode was filmed somewhere to the north of Los Angeles? Maybe the Antelope Valley or Simi Valley? Regardless, this is one of the most visually stunning episodes in the whole show, and The Forge looks both terrifying and gorgeous. And it has<\/i> to be! This is a desolate locale on Vulcan, and it needs<\/i> to give the viewer a sense of isolation. The contrast between the red sky and the whiteness of the desert is haunting, and it absolutely adds to the story.<\/p>\n

I love a good mystery, too, and I cannot figure out why Stel was the person who planted the bombs. I cannot figure out why T\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Pol\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mother hid<\/i> the fact that she was a Syrannite from her daughter her whole life. And who are the Syrannites? I got the sense from \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Forge\u00e2\u20ac\u009d that they aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t what the more traditional Vulcans said they were. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s something else going on here, isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t there? Arev had to be desperate<\/i> to mind-meld with Archer and pass along his… soul? That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s my guess. He passed the essence of who he was into Archer, who then guided them to the sanctuary, but WHY? WHAT SECRET ARE THEY HOLDING? There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s gotta be some big secret here!<\/p>\n

Anyway, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m hooked. I have only the tiniest of theories here, which is that the more conservative\/traditional Vulcans want to thwart any chance of an alliance with humans. That doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t explain everything, of course, but it seemed way<\/i> too convenient to just blame everything on the Syrannites.<\/p>\n

I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t believe I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m already getting another story arc on Enterprise<\/i>. WHAT IS THIS SEASON.<\/p>\n

The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Forge\u00e2\u20ac\u009d can be downloaded here for $0.99<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n

– My YA contemporary debut, ANGER IS A GIFT<\/a>, is now available for pre-order!\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong>If you’d like to stay up-to-date on all announcements regarding my books, sign up for my newsletter<\/a>! DO IT.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"