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Timothy Lynch's Enterprise Episode Review

WARNING:  This review contains spoilers that are extensive (and
not well cloaked) for ENT's
"Minefield."
 
In brief:  A welcome return to form.
 
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"Minefield"
Enterprise Season 2, Episode 3
Written by John Shiban
Directed by James A. Contner
Brief summary:  When the Enterprise stumbles into a Romulan
minefield, Reed finds himself in a life-or-death situation.
======

Well, *that* was a great relief.  After the waste of an hour that was
"Carbon Creek," I could have done with an apology.  I didn't get that,
but I did get one of the stronger pieces "Enterprise" has had as a
series to date.  New arrival John Shiban has gotten his contribution to
the series off to a good start.

The premise is relatively simple:  the Enterprise comes across a planet
that looks a little too good to be true, and soon discover that's because
the planet's been mined by a race calling itself the Romulan Star
Empire.  One mine explodes against the hull, damaging the saucer
section quite a bit -- and when another, slightly disabled, attaches
itself to the Enterprise, it's up to Lieutenant Reed to disarm it.

A groundbreaking idea?  No, though it's one that takes advantage of
this century's lack of shield technology.  The reason it works on a
story level, for the most part, is that everyone's paying attention to the
details -- the solutions tried, both successful and not, don't feel like
cheats.

One of the earlier "pay attention to the details" moments comes after
the second mine is discovered.  Up until then, it wasn't clear to anyone
on board exactly what had happened other than one hell of a boom --
but with this one visible, Archer assumes there must be others.
Rather than whipping up some new goofy tech device, however, he
makes use of the technology he already acquired in "Shockwave,"
detecting the Romulan mines by slightly modifying the same beacons
he'd used to pierce the Suliban cloak.  Considering all the times that
Trek protagonists have acquired some useful technology that we then
never see again, this was a welcome change of pace.  (T'Pol's "I'll try
shifting the phase variance" was the usual technobabble, though --
even "I'll try related frequencies" would've scanned better.)

Most of the issues surrounding the mine were dealing with its
specific functioning -- not being an ordnance expert (particularly
when it comes to the 22nd-century variety), I've no idea how plausible
it sounded to those who *are* such experts, but the internal logic
hung together just fine.  For instance, as soon as we saw the mine, I
imagine many viewers (myself included) wondered, "okay ... so why
hasn't this detonated yet?"  Reed answers that one rather quickly after
a scan:  its sensors were disabled to the point where it doesn't
"realize" it's actually hit anything.  Fair enough.  (Visually, I liked the
fact that any external shot of the ship didn't show the mines, even
when the characters could see them using the Suliban beacons.)

At least as important, however, is how well this episode hung together
on a character level.  On the level of "small things," I appreciated that
Archer, in a welcome change, doesn't micromanage when the ship's
first hit -- he asks just enough questions to assure that his people
know what they're doing, then he shuts up and lets them do their jobs.
More, please.  (Similarly, I appreciated the fact that Hoshi, even while
sidelined with a concussion, finds a way to make useful contributions
while stuck in sickbay.)

The feature characters, however, are Reed and Archer -- and like
"Shuttlepod One," most of the episode comes down to whether you
buy into their character interactions.  I did.  The teaser felt a little bit
broad -- I can understand Reed being uncomfortable having breakfast
with Archer, but there seems to be almost too much emphasis on
making him a complete cipher.  (Last year he had no favorite food,
and now he doesn't follow any sports and has no apparent hobbies.
Okay, folks -- now we've hit the level where *I* have more of a life
than Reed does...)

That said, however, Reed finds himself stuck having conversations
with Archer later, when he finds himself stuck to the ship -- literally.
I'd heard enough advance spoilers to know that Reed somehow gets
pinned to the hull by the mine, but I didn't know it was meant quite so
literally.  Ouch, but that's gotta sting.  (It also struck a balance
between showing lots of gore because they could, and being so
careful that you're not convinced of the situation.)

Regardless, once Reed gets pinned, Archer goes out -- initially to
attend to him, but when it quickly becomes clear that he can't free
Reed without detonating the mine, Archer decides he needs to
deactivate the mine himself under Reed's tutelage (and despite Reed's
protests -- unfortunately, he's not exactly in a position to enforce his
dictates).  Archer then decides he wants to continue the conversation
that was interrupted at breakfast -- apparently it helps calm his nerves.
Again, fair enough.

It's here that many people will probably claim that Enterprise is
ripping off its own "Shuttlepod One," since the only times Reed
seems to have "real" conversations that reveal himself come when he's
convinced death is near.  That trait is certainly real enough, but I think
it's more of a character trait specific to Reed than it is a writing crutch.
If it were solely a writing crutch, Reed and Archer would have wound
up the same fast friends that Reed and Trip have become -- and it
looks to me as though that's not the case.  Reed has a bit more respect
for Archer's command style than he did previously, but what I found
most interesting is how many criticisms Archer elicited.  Reed's a very
by-the-book officer, it seems -- which means both that he's somewhat
uncomfortable when Archer isn't and that he'll never, *ever*, say such
things in defiance of his captain.  Most armory/security officers have
had the former trait -- certainly Worf and Odo did as regards their
superiors' lack of caution -- but having the added deference is an
interesting twist on the idea.  Assuming that this goes someplace, I'm
intrigued.

(There's also every possibility that given the events of "Shuttlepod
One," Archer might *think* he and Reed are now good buddies, and
then get forcibly reminded he's not at some point.  I'd love to see a
scene like that, actually.)

We also get a further look inside Reed's past, prompted by Archer
wondering why Reed didn't go into the Navy like the dozen or so
generations of Reeds before him.  "God knows I tried," notes Reed,
and therein lies the tale.  Reed was raised on the water, and had every
intention of joining the family business, but for one minor flaw -- he's
aquaphobic.  This again struck me as an explanation that fit what
we've seen of Reed -- it's something he'd see as a major character flaw
and thus be unwilling to discuss, and something he'd probably also
feel he had to "atone" for by being an officer above any reproach.  I
like it.  (Of course, if we see him swimming any time soon, I'll be
singing a very different tune...)

Eventually, however, push comes to shove:  deactivating the last
detonation circuit triggers a backup which nearly detonates the mine.
The mine *cannot* be defused -- and with an angry Romulan vessel
hovering not too far away waiting less than patiently, there seems to
be little choice but to go with the backup plan, and jettison the part of
the hull to which the mine's attached.  All well and good, except for
the minor problem that Reed's attached to it as well...

At this point, Reed tries to make the issue a foregone conclusion:
rather than talk Archer into letting him go, he simply detaches his air
hose, letting his oxygen supply leak into space.  While the scene
worked (and again showcases Reed's by-the-book mentality as
opposed to Archer's save-'em-at-any-cost approach), I'd be wary of
using anything like this too often.  If Reed's frequently in a position
where he's willing to sacrifice himself for the crew, it'll be time for
someone to sit down and have a talk with Archer pointing out that a
tactical officer with a death wish is a bad combination.

The solution they do come up with is convincing -- I've got some
quibbles, but they're really on the level of quibbles only.  Archer
returns to the ship, gets two shuttlepod doors and brings them back
out to the hull.  Trip detaches that section of hull, and when the two
have drifted sufficiently far away from Enterprise, Archer cuts Reed
loose.  The mine immediately re-arms and prepares to detonate, but
from past experience Archer knows there's a lag time.  He and Reed
jet off into space, and position the pod doors between themselves and
the mine, so that they're shielded from the blast.  Enterprise finds
them, picks them up, and everyone's safe.  I wasn't quite on the edge
of my seat, but I was keenly interested in what they were going to do,
and bought into the choices they made.  Need a climactic scene do
much more?

The quibbles?  Well, the main one is that I'm having difficulty seeing
how Archer and Reed can manage to swivel in space the way they did
to bring the doors around, and even more difficulty envisioning how
they can *stop* the swivel when they're at the right position.  Perhaps
more accurately, I can see how it'd be possible using EV suit jets
(assuming there's more than one on each suit), but that approach
didn't seem to be used.

A related issue is one that arose throughout the show:  while there are
likely a million and one reasons why the transporter wouldn't solve
their problem at this stage in its history, the question of its use should
have come up.  It's gotten them out of a couple of tight fixes already,
so why not here?  (If nothing else, I'd have used it to beam Malcolm
away at the end, so that only Archer needs to do the stunt with the
doors.)

I also wish that the show had gone on just a minute or two more.
Okay, for the moment the ship is safe and Reed's under treatment ...
but there's a decent-sized section of hull missing, and lots of damage
from the one mine that did explode.  Enterprise needs repair work
that's both extensive and imminent, and I'd have liked to see that at
least mentioned.  The reason it's only a minor concern is that it
appears from the preview for next week as though they find a repair
station, so I can hope it's addressed there; if not, this'll be VOY's
"Deadlock" all over again.

Lastly, there's the question of the use of the Romulans.  On some
level, using Romulans here was somewhat superfluous, since the plot
didn't really require their presence specifically.  On the other hand,
since we "know" the Earth-Romulan Wars aren't too far in the future,
there's no real reason *not* to use them if you can do so in a
plausible way, and I think Shiban pulled that off nicely.  The only real
things Archer and company learned about the Romulans at this
juncture are that they've laid claim to one specific system, don't like
intruders, and have some nice cloaking technology.  Having
rewatched "Balance of Terror" recently, the use of the cloak is a bit
questionable, since its existence seems to surprise Kirk's era, but that
strikes me as a fairly minor tweak.  (On a visual level, I also liked that
the first shot we get of the ship decloaking and coming into view is
*very* similar to the first such shot in "Balance of Terror," and that
the front profile of the ship is very similar to that of its 23rd-century
counterpart.  Someone decided to have a little fun.)

Some other notes 'n' observations:

-- There were a few minor inconsistencies within the episode that
struck me as a little sloppy.  The number of detonation circuits is
listed as both four and five, and at one point Reed tells Archer to turn
a particular unit clockwise, only to have us see him do exactly the
opposite.  Minor stuff, but something for those inclined to pick nits.

-- I didn't buy Hoshi mispronouncing the word "Romulan."  If she
had a visual document in front of her, that'd make sense ... but she
was decoding someone else's *spoken words*.  It's hard for me to
see how a lapse like that would occur.

-- I liked Reed's abrupt "I have to use the bathroom" problem, but I
do wonder why EV suits aren't designed for that sort of thing in the
first place...

-- I'm glad Travis got to get some serious piloting in, but the interface
he used for precision flying looked awfully silly.

-- Okay, when Archer and Reed are "riding" the pod doors away from
the explosion, did anyone else expect T'Pol's, "Captain, respond!" to
be met by "Yeeeeeeee-haaaaaaa!" a la Slim Pickens?  :-)

-- Similarly, having absorbed entirely too much Python through the
pores of my skin at an early age, when Archer asks Reed, "so how
long was it?", I couldn't help responding, "That's rather a *personal*
question, sir."

-- For those wondering why Reed uses "aquaphobia," which mixes
Greek and Latin roots:  given that "hydrophobia" is actually an older
term for rabies, using that form might have given the scene a
somewhat different spin.  ("I suppose I thought I'd just grow out of
it."  "What?"  "Hydrophobia."  "Archer to bridge:  have Mr. Reed put
down.")

That should cover it.  "Minefield" isn't perfect, but it's a sound
offering on both a plot and a character level.  I was quite comfortably
drawn in -- and in the end, that's an important bottom line.

So, let's sum up:

Writing:  The plot played fair and the characters behaved accordingly.
Niggling complaints only.
Direction:  Generally snappy pacing, and judicious use of sound in
space.
Acting:  One of Bakula's better turns -- and Keating, of course, did
fine.

OVERALL:  Call it a 9 for now.  "Please, sir -- may I have some
more?"

NEXT WEEK:
 
A repair station is not what it seems.

Tim Lynch (Castilleja School, Science Department)
tlynch@alumni.caltech.edu <*>
"If I were the kind of captain you think I should be, I'd bust your ass
back to crewman."
"Begging your pardon, sir -- but if you were that kind of captain, we
wouldn't be having this conversation.  You'd have cut me loose by
now."
-- Archer and Reed
--
Copyright 2002, Timothy W. Lynch.  All rights reserved, but feel free to ask...
This article is explicitly prohibited from being used in any off-net
compilation without due attribution and *express written consent of the
author*.  Walnut Creek and other CD-ROM distributors, take note.

Related Links:

Where to Watch - Local channels and airtimes.
VHS, Laserdisc and DVD availability.

Cast:

Scott Bakula as Captain Jonathan Archer
Connor Trinneer as Chief Engineer Charles Tucker III
Jolene Blalock as Sub-commander T'Pol
Dominic Keating as Lt. Malcolm Reed
Anthony Montgomery as Ensign Travis Mayweather
Linda Park as Ensign Hoshi Sato
John Billingsley as Dr. Phlox

Guest Cast:

Timothy Glenn as Med Tech
Elizabeth Magness as Injured Crewmember

Creative staff: