665. Precious CargoFORMULA: The Perfect Mate + Elaan of Troyus
WHY WE LIKE IT: Archer's interrogation scene.
WHY WE DON'T: Padma Lakshimi's acting.
REVIEW: A really, really derivative script, this one. It's the classic "two people who hate each other fall in love on a desert island" shtick, which must have seemed even more familiar to Scott Bakula and his fans given that Quantum Leap did an episode on that once. The reuse of a beautiful Kriosian in stasis further mirrors The Perfect Mate, except Kaitaama is shrewish where Kamala was charming. Interesting to get a sense of Krios before the Klingons took it over, but they really didn't reinvent the wheel when it comes to the plot.
I won't argue that Padma Lakshimi isn't a beautiful, exotic woman, but the acting just wasn't there for me. At times, it seems like it's her poor handle on the Enlish language, at others, her model/celebrity chef roots are simply showing. It doesn't help that Kaitaama is written to be a romance cliché, going from total disdain of Trip to sleeping with him in very little time indeed. She's an object, so it's perhaps fitting that her acting be wooden.
The shipboard stuff is more interesting as Archer and T'Pol put on an outrageous good cop/bad cop routine to intimidate a kidnapper into giving up his ship's position. Nice staging (did they empty the mess hall for this or are there large empty rooms on Enterprise?) and a real hoot. T'Pol sizes the man up for his coffin, of all things. It's like a personal Corbomite Maneuver.
And there are some good production values too. The swamp set is expansive enough to be credible (finally, an environment Hillbilly Trip can be comfortable in), the jungle music quite good, and the crash landing well done.
LESSON: Kriosians carry Valt's jerk gene too.
REWATCHABILITY - Medium-Low: Between the acting train wreck that is Kaitaama and the mind-numbing romantic comedy plot... Just look at the pretty girl and set brain to off.
Comments