“Damage”
Page 6 of 7Still, I have mixed feelings here. How far will Archer go? He has *tortured* a prisoner once to get information (see “Anomaly”). Now he is acting like a heartless criminal. But then why did he do it is the question? Did he have a choice? I don’t see what else he could do. He has a chance to meet with Degra and plead his case to the Xindi Council. He has only three days to get to the meeting place. There is no way to get there without a warp drive. The lives of billions of people are at stake. What would you do in his place?
Looking at it another way, if he doesn’t stop the Xindi from destroying Earth, what will the future be like? The Illyrians would end up dying as well as everyone else if the Sphere-Builders get their way and alter the known universe so he’s actually saving their lives, the lives of the Xindi as well as those on Earth and everyone else for that matter. Getting the message from Degra adds the missing piece of the puzzle that justifies his decision. He’s not just after the super-weapon. He’s not obsessed or crazy or immoral for that matter. He has a clear, definite course of action to follow and he has no choice as to how to proceed.
Some fans may not like any of this. They may say, this is not Star Trek. Well, it isn’t is it? It’s a prequel which means it is *pre-* Star Trek. It makes sense and I’m glad that the premise is not being ignored.
We’ve seen some alliances and the presence of some alien species that will ultimately lead to the formation of the Federation. For instance, we’ve seen the Andorians, the Vulcans, and the Tellarites but they’re not *perfect*. It’s not easy and not rosy. It’s difficult and that’s great. We’ve seen Archer and crew wide-eyed at the chance of exploring the galaxy and now we see that it’s not that sweet and simple. That’s why I like Enterprise. It’s realistic.
Now don’t get me wrong. I love TOS and TNG. It showed the promise of a wonderful future. It showed a *powerful* and *perfect* human race conquering all the adversities of the universe and that’s great. But now in Enterprise we see that getting there wasn’t that easy. Archer is facing a great threat. He is doing what he thinks is right and is doing all he can do much like other captains have had to do in the face of great danger. His methods may not be *ethical* but then the situation is drastic.
Now onto the subplot and what is happening with T’Pol. I have to say that I’m surprised by all this. If she had been taking the Trellium-D to develop a tolerance to it, it would have made sense albeit be predictable. It would have still been foolish for her to try it but it would have been *logical*; a risk worth taking so that she and the others could protect themselves from the anomalies. Making the reason be that she wanted to feel emotions seems stupid at best, at least I thought so at first. But having thought about it I’ve changed my mind.
These are not the Vulcans of the future. It’s a given that Vulcans have emotions, strong emotions, which is why they have to control them. (https://broadskypartners.com) They are vulnerable to them and this is personified in T’Pol’s actions. They haven’t mastered control over their emotions yet. They are
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