The Council

DVD, Enterprise S3 (The Council)

An ensemble piece; making friends with your enemy; infiltration landing party action; and a space battle, all wrapped up neatly together? I should have guessed this was written by Manny Coto. I didn't need to guess, his name came up in the credits, the point is, this was him doing what he was good at: keeping plates spinning in action and story terms, but finding time for those important character-building moments, too. Even Travis gets a heroic scene, using the Shuttlepod's phasers to save Reed and T'Pol! The tragedy is that Degra's finished with this one, murdered in Reptilian cold blood, the last words he hears are the intentions for his family to suffer and die in the same way. By the look of horror on his face, does that mean he regrets what he did, in siding with the humans? I don't think so, he's proved himself an honourable man that would be a worthy citizen of the Federation Archer saw in the future aboard the Enterprise-J. The words he speaks with Archer about this great and unseen future, one we know so well from all the other series' of Trek, make this his finest hour, as do his words with Trip, the understanding that comes between them, Trip's hatred mended by the penitent and urgent exhortations of Degra.

Degra has proved to be the best new character this season thanks to Randy Oglesby's serious and affecting guilt and assertive proclamations against the error his race is making. It does sometimes seem as if it was too easy to trust the evidence of Archer, especially after we hear in this episode that the Guardians, as the Sphere Builders are known to the Xindi, showed visual proof of a future humanity destroying their race. But Degra is a good judge of character (except when he's taken off guard by the evil Dolim), and can see the Guardians for what they are. Just as the Xindi group was an emulation of the Dominion of 'DS9,' we discover the Guardians are an approximation of the Founders - worshipped by their underlings, they only want what's best for themselves, not those they saved for their purposes. Degra knows Archer now and has tested his resolve and motivations, and that trust carries Enterprise to the Council.

Not the most imaginative title to come out of the series. It evokes images of a town council rather than what it should, but this is the only aspect of the episode I found to fault. When Archer walks round the council chamber, eventually descending into the pit of his enemies that seemed so remote and inaccessible when we first saw it in the season opener, the magnitude of the situation and the weight of responsibility is heavy on the air. Hoshi is there to provide moral support, and more importantly, a translation of the non-humanoid Xindi races for her Captain's benefit, and while Archer's speech isn't as rousing as Degra's conversations mentioned before, he does what he came to do. Just seeing a fleet of protective Xindi ships around Enterprise gives you a warm glow, and the trip down to the planet, hearing of the sixth Xindi species, the Xindi-Avians (as well as their home planet being called Xindus), was well worth the time they gave it. I was thinking of 'Star Wars' when we see the Xindi shuttle bank down through clouds to this alien world, landing in a cave, the computer generated environments were that good!

Another CG environment they pulled off well was the interior of the Sphere that T'Pol, Reed, Mayweather and Corporal Hawkins visit, as the background to that must have been faked, yet it was difficult to distinguish between what was real and what wasn't. It helped immeasurably that the actors were really there instead of the usual lumbering CG figures that move like robots, and the one thing I recalled from the episode was Hawkins being grabbed by the defensive security arm, though I thought he got pierced rather than vaporised. It would have meant more if one of the MACOs we'd got to know and like had taken the redshirt role, but Reed makes up for that with his frustration over losing another crewmember. The place they visit inside the Sphere made me think of the V'Ger hub of 'The Motion Picture,' though not as grand, and I enjoyed having that little group go off on a mission while Archer does his thing at the Council.

The episode even started strongly, with a quick, clean recap of salient events to bring us up to speed, then the otherworldly (Prophet-like!), whited out council meeting of the Guardians, appearing and disappearing in fog-like brightness as they state their intent to destroy humanity, then straight into the opening credits! Like the Talosians they seemed to all be played by female performers, I don't know if that was relevant, but it did seem to be the case. One thing that was another case was the ability of Coto to make sure everyone had something important to do. Phlox has scenes with both T'Pol and Trip, updating us on the Vulcan's condition and reminding us of Trip's position as one who lost his sister to the Xindi attack. My favourite Phlox moment, however, was in the friendly chat he has with the Engineer after Trip notes he's losing weight (presumably something John Billingsley was doing that they decided to make part of the story, since Phlox had always been rather portly; it was part of his character), and he explains he's been having help from a tapeworm inside him - Trip's shocked by the idea ('a worm in yer belly?'), likely a little joke for those of us that know about the Trill!

Hoshi is useful to Archer, providing translation, but it seems she has a value to the rogue Xindi races that steal the weapon at the end, beaming her away with them, probably to somehow get the third activation code they need to arm the weapon. Like Reed and Hawkins I could have done with some build up to something like that, but these things are only wishful thinking in a nicely rounded episode. The Enterprise is returning to its former glory, getting tidier in the corridors, but I wish they had those beautiful displays of orange and yellow sparks spraying in the background more often! One reference that was sure to raise a smile was T'Pol's attempt at comforting Reed after the mission had gone awry: "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few." It didn't make Malcolm feel any better, but it shows that perhaps T'Pol is able to be a little more sympathetic to the humans she serves with, now that her emotions are running more freely. And I should mention the very rare use of holographic technology on this series: not once, but twice, as an exhaust port the Shuttlepod uses as entry into the Sphere is camouflaged by a false projection, and the 'canary' Guardian the NX-01 found was recreated, thanks to Xindi surgical technology to give the Aquatics something to look at.

Coto in the writing and Livingston in the directing both did a good job of pulling these various plots together, keeping the story moving as it was when the season started, and inserting plenty of detail to keep the brain chugging along in what could have been a relatively boring episode, considering it's all about Archer addressing a council. I actually thought that's what it was going to be like with the action saved for the last two episodes, but this proved to be a pleasant surprise which dealt with just about everyone and everything in the ongoing story. I've really learned to like Degra so I wonder how the story will progress without that sympathetic figure to get into the ethical side of things, but Oglesby's contribution to the season can't be underestimated: like Kes in 'Voyager' I didn't much care for him the first time through, but with a greater appreciation of the season as a whole, I will miss the character, not something I expected to happen from his early appearances.

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