Harbinger

DVD, Enterprise S3 (Harbinger)

One of those episodes of Season 3 that I was waiting for, looking forward to the heated exchange between Reed and Major Hayes, but I didn't expect it to happen in this story, and I had the impression that it had more buildup in the first half of the season. It shows that you can't rely on memory, an impression can be created by a few scenes scattered here and there. I say a few, but it's hardly been anything, Hayes has barely featured. But this wasn't all about their feud, this was an unusual episode in that it was very much a modern Trek episode as you might find in 'TNG,' 'DS9' or 'Voyager,' with an A-story and a B-story, and in this case, even a C-story, and that it all takes place on aboard ship, a view into life onboard at this critical juncture in its mission. These things are uncommon enough on the series, but we also have the episode starting with quite a long recap montage, and a teaser, making it one of the longer intros for the series, and especially the season.

I don't know why they chose to write this kind of episode, but it works, and after some similar types of story in Season 2, such as 'Singularity' or whatever, stories that often didn't work because there wasn't enough characterisation going on, or a greater purpose, it's a pleasant surprise that they pulled it off this time, in the midst of a season-long mission. There were things that needed to be addressed, but 'Enterprise' often didn't bother, or did so in a half-hearted way, but not this time. I'm not sure what the main plot was, as all three have about equal exposure, but let's take a look at what we have here: it begins unexpectedly with Trip and Corporal Cole, the Engineer unwisely attempting Vulcan neuropressure on the young MACO woman. She's not one we've seen before, which is fair enough, as their number has never been tied down specifically, or at least, we haven't met them all, though we've seen a good few faces over the season. I would have preferred more of this Starfleet/MACO interaction from the get-go (though the actual nature of it, I admit, was not what I had in mind!).

The story is really a shortcut to Trip and T'Pol's pairing off later in the series, and something to get them to a conversation on the subject. I never liked what they did with T'Pol in this area, it smacked of ratings rather than being true to Vulcan heritage - she's not in Pon Farr, and Vulcans are supposed to despise touching under almost any circumstance, but here we have full on kissing, disrobing of a commanding officer, and apparent jealousy from her. If they had gone out of their way to say that T'Pol is an abnormal representative of her species, it would have made the blow to the cultural significance and the bending or breaking of so many established facts about her people a little easier to take. In their defence they have given us small insights into her history (such as the Grandmother that visited Earth, or her experience as a secret agent), and she has become so much more loyal to her human crew than the Vulcan High Command, even leaving with the humans on their mission, against orders. So we do know she is an atypical person, but she's not a good Vulcan to watch if that's your favourite race, as it is mine.

Trip enjoys her extreme candour, but is thrown when she pretends it was merely research into human behaviour, which makes the scene even more casual and un-Vulcan-like than ever. It also bothered me that they were having this private conversation in the middle of the Mess Hall with a room full of crewmates around them. The sound department takes the blame for the mood being wrong in this scene, as it should have been full of chatter, bustle, and the noise of clinking plates, to make the intimate nature of their talk less obvious and open. Instead there's a very low murmur and barely a whisper to be heard, so it didn't suit the scene at all, especially after both had shown interest in keeping things between them.

The strength of the episode is in its characters, and who would have thought that of a series that mostly concentrated on the next alien or planet. That's not to say there's nothing worthy of attention in space terms, as we get a bizarre gloopy mass converging from five Spheres, a giant blob of anomaly that looks like something that would have been seen in 'TOS' if they'd had the effects to pull it off in those days. I like that, and I wanted to explore inside that thing, but I suppose it was just meant to be a decoy to attract their attention so they'd rescue the cracking up 'canary' man (played by a member of Trek repertory, Thomas Kopache, whose name I saw in the opening credits, then forgot about and never thought about it being him under the makeup! I like it when they reuse people effectively).

When I first saw him being slowly ejected from his pod I thought it was a Suliban, so it was disappointing to find that that race still hadn't been used this season,  but not for long as the episode came together well - the makeup good, and the twist of it all being a ruse to try and halt the NX-01's mission (by plunging a phasing hand into the engine core and blowing up the ship?), made better use of the fellow than being one of those mysterious people we meet, rescue, then he either dies or we take him back to his planet and never really understand what the point of him was. But no, he gets the last word, proudly boasting that if Earth is destroyed his people will prevail, a hint that something greater was happening than just war between the Xindi and humans, and leaving the episode with a thoughtful tone.

Archer's descent continues, his morality being chipped away by his need for information. This time he even vocalises it to Phlox, saying they may need to bend ethics this time to find out what's going on. It's a slide into darkness that has been gradual, but you could peg it out on a graph with the things he's done and the attitude he's taken in certain episodes. He isn't too far gone yet, and in this he was justified in his concern over the alien, but it is worrying to see him making these concessions to his good morals. The alien's switch from weak and dying patient to able adversary didn't make full use of the potential horror of the situation. I'm not saying he should have snapped Phlox' neck or grimaced at the camera more, but there was something 'light' about the way he stalked, or rather wandered, through the ship, when his devastating nature and ability to walk through anything should have precipitated a feeling like the Borg in 'Regeneration' or Silik's similar mission hurrying through walls in 'Cold Front.' It's like the series can't quite muster atmosphere sometimes.

Saying that, I did think the music and direction were good, the score back to the edgy drum beats and portentous throb of 'big things are happening,' even if they were only opening the pod's hatch or tracking the alien. I liked many of the shots Livingston chose to do, such as the view from inside one of Phlox' creature cages, or looking out of the alien pod. That pod took me back to the one in 'Future Tense,' and while this story wasn't up to that standard, the episode had plenty going for it. My favourite part had to be Reed and Hayes 'hitting it off,' and not in a friendly way, but a literal one! It wasn't just the out of control fight and the taunting, or the phaser range scene like in one of the early seasons of 'TNG' when Riker and Picard hang out on the Holodeck for a similar session of target practice, it was a progression from Reed's issue right from the season's opening. I liked that Travis got to be a part of things (I imagine we saw only one group that was being trained as Reed must have a larger security team than that and there are definitely more MACOs), even if he did get slammed, but the episode would have been more complete if Reed had had a scene with the guy, talking about what happened, like the one he has with Trip. I suppose they felt there just wasn't room for Reed or Trip to have a lad's friendship with more than the two of them, another reason why Travis' exposure was reduced.

Even though the timeline of events leading to Reed and Hayes beating each other up was truncated, it was one of the things I remembered favourably about the season, and looked forward to. It's good that they get it out of their systems, and that there was room for a bit of amusement in what was a serious episode: the moment they're standing to attention after Archer's given them a strong talking to and left the room without dismissing them, was best, but there was also enjoyment to be had in the teasing during Reed and Trip's dinner, or Trip's bemused face whenever he's talking to T'Pol. I liked the mention of Jupiter Station, something that crops up now and again (visited in 'Voyager'), and the general feel of the episode as life on a starship, so rarely done well in the series. I look forward to Reed and Hayes working together as allies now the air has cleared, and making a stronger challenge for any race that chooses to oppose them. Incidentally, I wonder if they celebrated Christmas, since we're told this is set a couple of days after?

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