642. Sleeping DogsFORMULA: Fight or Flight + Starship Down + Day of the Dove
WHY WE LIKE IT: Hoshi. The Klingon kitchen.
WHY WE DON'T: The decontamination scene.
REVIEW: A mirror held up to Fight or Flight, Sleeping Dogs has Hoshi get her space legs and volunteer for a mission for once. She actively looks for weapons training and occasions to prove herself, and though she does everything she can to look nonchalant, you can see her freaking out inside. By the end, she WILL have proven herself, demonstrating the ability to take risks (risk is our business, after all). The mission is a transformative experience for her. She goes in faking courage and comes out courageous. And she does look good in a wetsuit.
Though you have the usual bits about the wonders of space (siren calls of the gas giants) and the annoyances of space travel (Reed's common cold in a can), the episode sticks to a single plot. Enterprise finds the hulk of a Klingon ship (a pretty cool class I wish we'd seen more of) in a gas giant's atmosphere and investigates the feeble life signs within. Seems like some Klingons got themselves drunk on poisoned wine. We've seen the inside of Klingon ships enough that the crew's exploration might have been tedious, but the addition of a gory Klingon kitchen adds a little spice. The CGI targs are thankfully only briefly seen.
In lieu of technobabble, Enterprise creates simple, straightforward dilemmas by badly distributing the skills sets required to succeed. Trapped on the ship drifting towards a crushed end, we're missing an engineer that could restart the engine. Up on Enterprise, Archer has to deal with a Klingon woman without benefit of the usual alien psychologist (T'Pol) or his translator (Hoshi). The characters simply have to compose with what they have left.
For Archer, that means brushing up on Klingon culture and doing his best to act tough and threatening rather than compassionate and helpful. Done well enough, but Scott Bakula lacks the edge needed to really sell it. Down on the ship, Reed uses the shockwaves from torpedo explosions to make the ship rise towards a rescue. A great tactic for a weapons officer in a format that too often gives Required Skill X to any officer that needs it. The better of two threads. I love it when a plan is just crazy enough to work.
The episode sadly ends on a cruddy and absurd note. We have Hoshi, T'Pol and Reed in the decontamination chamber, refusing to come out because it's so peaceful and relaxing in there. Maybe they're all more zen than Trip was in Broken Bow, but it doesn't look interesting, and their poses don't look relaxing even if the environment might be. As is, it just looks like cheap titillation again. I'm hating these decon scenes.
LESSON: Don't drink wine that was expected to be stolen.
REWATCHABILITY - High Medium: A good action piece with lots of bravery and bravura, and that uses the Klingons sparingly (only a couple are seen), but appropriately.
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