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| 'Dear Doctor' Season 1 Episode 13 Date: unknown Coming across a pre-warp vessel adrift in space, Archer's compassionate nature lands Phlox with an ethical dilemma: can it be right to interfere with the natural processes of evolution, even when millions of lives are at stake? Summary Ensign Sato brings Phlox a letter from a colleague on the Interspecies Medical Exchange: a Dr. Lucas, the first human to study medicine on Denobula. Phlox begins his reply, telling Dr. Lucas that he believes he is overcoming his shipmates' wariness of their alien chief medical officer. Although his assignment was only supposed to be short, Phlox notes that he is enjoying a unique experience, even if his work is mostly limited to scrapes and bruises. Occasionally, however, Phlox's work becomes more interesting and perhaps even desperate. Such proves to be the case when Review After the blip of 'Civilisation' and 'Fortunate Son', Enterprise has managed to serve up two excellent episodes in as many weeks, thus outdoing much of Voyager and recalling the good old days of The Next Generation. Although it's far too early to say that Series V will rival TNG in quality terms, the potential is now undoubtedly there. On a purely visceral level, this is a satisfying episode. The effects are excellent - including the first use of all-CGI aliens since Voyager's Species 8472, and an excellent shot of Enterprise reversing course and heading for Earth. The space battle scenes, the levelling of the lunar mountain range and the phase cannon deployment are all uniformly well-executed and believeable. If there's one thing that this show can't be faulted on, it's space sfx. Oh, and lest I forget: the music... The score in this installment is among the best created for a Trek episode. Although there's by no means a memorable "theme" such as that created for Species 8472 in 'Scorpion', or anything approaching the majesty of First Contact, there's a deftness of touch shown in this score which serves to elevate the episode above its admittedly predictable subject matter. Also, it's about time that the Enterprise got some firepower. From the Suliban pods in the pilot to the Malurian ship in 'Civilisation', we've always seen Enterprise outgunned, if not outmatched. It was high-time for the viewers, as well as for the crew, that Starfleet's top ship got some teeth. Those superficialities aside, this is a Reed episode from start to finish: from the construction of the cannons, to the chat with his parents, to Hoshi bungling asking him what his favourite food is, to his argument with Tucker over the cannons' power source. It's the character's - and Dominic Keating's - strongest turn since 'The Andorian Incident': once again, we get to see the lieutenant in a position of authority, giving orders, being pushy, and not being afraid to stand up for his opinion when he knows he's right. It suits the character, and serves to elevate him in importance over the increasingly irrelevant Mayweather and the charming-but-marginalised Sato. The fact that Reed's parents didn't know that he was Enterprise's armoury officer doesn't come as much of a surprise to the viewer, largely because we didn't really know what his job was either (tactical? Security chief?); here is a 'second-tier' character with actual potential. That's if, of course, we get to learn anything about him other than the fact that he really, really likes guns and that he once had a crush on a waitress. Reed's reticence to get involved with any form of relationship with Hoshi is in keeping with his generally shy and reserved demeanour, but it will serve the character and Keating (not to mention the show as a whole) well if we see him gradually come out of his shell over the next few years. Reed's parents aren't the only loved ones back at home who are being frosty; Tucker's girlfriend has broken off their relationship, thus lending the title of the episode a double meaning; in a sense, relations back home are the 'silent enemy' as well, reminding the crew of that which they've left behind in the name of exploration. Tucker tells his engineers that they all knew the risks when they signed on to Enterprise, but rather than it being a hollow, cliched statement, there's a sense that there's another meaning to his words: the risks of losing people you care about a hundred light-years away. It's a nuance which is clever and very welcome. Of course, the cutting-off of relations with Earth, both in the initial communiques and then via the destruction of the Echo amplifiers, serves to underline Enterprise's isolation as well. Several elements come together in this episode to form a cohesive narrative, something which is all too often overlooked when formulaic plotlines rear their ugly heads. A familiar plotline is a charge which could quite easily be levelled at 'Silent Enemy'. It's pretty obvious that Reed's birthday dinner will always take place, that Tucker will follow his suggestion to route the impulse power to the cannons and that his work will end up saving the ship. But this installment is an example of what can still be achieved in Star Trek when it's willing to be a bit more adventurous in its storytelling and character development. On DS9, this would have turned into a changeling-hunting episode. On Voyager, Janeway would have probably initiated the self-destruct sequence. On TNG, Picard would have negotiated after Data came up with a way to communicate. Here, Archer takes an immediate lead, furious with the attacks on his ship and racing below to lead the security team heading off the invasion. Picard would have nodded at Riker and simply said, "Number One," letting his first officer deal with the physicalities. It's perfectly in keeping with what we've seen of Archer so far for him to lead the assault, and it's also very satisfying to once again see a captain get their hands dirty. Archer is the other star of this episode. The decision to contact Vulcan clearly weighs heavily on him, but his obligations to and feelings for his crew clearly counterbalance his latent prejudices. It's this sort of decision that enables the viewer to like Archer - the ability to overcome his own shortcomings - rather than the covert racism he's displayed in the past. His conversation with Tucker, and his friend's reminder that if it weren't for the success of the Klaang mission the Klingon Empire might be in a far worse state right now, reminds me of Spock's line to Kirk in the original series when he said that "You don't have the right to be vulnerable in the eyes of the crew". Tucker fulfills a useful function once again. Twice in two weeks? Could this be the end of my Tucker-baiting mission? Certain direction choices made in the episode are a little odd - the angles in the dimly-lit corridor chase scenes could have been a lot tighter and more tense, for instance - and there's another Phlox moment where, after Archer's panicked hail to him to attend to the injured crewmen, he responds with a cheery "I'll be right there!" That really needs to stop at some point. But these are nitpicks. All in all, 'Silent Enemy' is an excellent episode, thoroughly entertaining, with some growth for a largely sidelined character and a workout for the ship's captain. If Enterprise continues to turn out shows of this calibre for the remainder of the season, then we could quite conceiveably get our best first year - well, ever. High praise indeed, but the potential is undoubtedly there. Final grade B+ |
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| Season One Episode Thirteen Original Airdate (US): 23/01/2002 Original Airdate (UK): 25/03/2002 Neilsen (What's this?): ?.?/? |
| Scott Bakula as Captain Jonathan Archer John Billingsley as Dr. Phlox Jolene Blalock as Subcommander T'Pol Dominic Keating as Lieutenant Malcolm Reed Antony Montgomery as Ensign Travis Mayweather Linda Park as Ensign Hoshi Sato Connor Trineer as Commander Charles 'Trip' Tucker, III Guest Cast Kelly Waymire as Crewman Elizabeth Cutler David A. Kimball as Essek Chris Rydell as alien astronaut Karl Wiedergott as Larr Alex Nevil as Menk man |
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| Teleplay by Maria Jacquemetton and Andre Jacquemetton Directed by James Contner |
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| F.Y.I. This episode achieved the highest fan rating for the first season of Enterprise at TrekToday.com: 8.6/10. Previous Episode 'Silent Enemy' Next Episode 'Sleeping Dogs' 'The hell with nature. You're a doctor.' |
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