684. RajiinFORMULA: The Perfect Mate/Elaan of Troyus + Counterpoint
WHY WE LIKE IT: Xindi attack!
WHY WE DON'T: Rajiin is no Orion slave girl.
REVIEW: The Xindi are apparently suffering setbacks as we meet the scientist in charge of the superweapon, so the reptilians and insectoids decide to open up the possibility of a bioweapon. And that's where Rajiin comes in. Obviously an agent of theirs from the word go, she still surprised me by not having the proverbial "heart of gold". Sure, she acknowledges that Archer treated her well, and she's not unsympathetic to the humans, but she still remains cool and detached from her actions and helps the Xindi get the biological information they need.
She comes in the guise of a slave girl running from her owner who plays on Archer's compassion to apparently get out of a bad situation. It's one huge set-up. I'd read that instead of Osaarians being used in Anomaly, the writers toyed with the idea of using Orions instead, and basically showing how they became pirates. Well, that didn't happen, but it feels like Rajiin was conceived at about the same time. She has the same kind of intoxicating abilities Orion slave girls are supposed to exhibit, and it would have been really cool too. (We'll have to wait for the fourth season for a proper green slave girl.) Not having her be an Orion meant she could also have that medical scanner super-power, but that's a highly dubious ability that really should have been done with a proper device.
Everyone falls under Rajiin's spell, which includes a combination of scanning, pheromonal allure, hypnosis and memory wipes, but she's eventually caught and brought to the brig. It seems a mind totally opposed to her can resist the effects. Since we don't quite know how rotten she might be at this stage, there's some humor to the proceedings, and playful kinkiness as the girls also fall prey to her charms. Once she's caught, the Xindi attack to retrieve her in an exciting sequence. Exciting because we get to see some of their ships for the first time (the manta ray ones, at any rate, which I'm not entirely sure about), and lots of weird weapons. The Xindi are immediately formidable with their armors resistant to phase fire, silly putty that fires shots into your back, and handy vortexes to get the hell out of Dodge. Do these guys even need a superweapon? Certainly makes our guys instant underdogs.
There are also a lot of nice bits scattered throughout the episode. Archer still suffers from the after-effects of the mutagenic virus. Trip worries about rumors that he and T'Pol. Ensign Cutler is kept alive in spirit by a mention from Phlox. And the quest for trellium-D to insulate the ship from those spatial anomalies brings the crew to a market on a really cool floating city, and a chemist who trades his metallurgical recipes for common kitchen spices. Trip and T'Pol blowing up a lab is also pretty fun.
LESSON: Vulcan muscle tissue is green. Of course.
REWATCHABILITY - Medium: A lot of nice elements, including the first head-to-head confrontation with some Xindi, but the main guest character is both obvious and disappointing.
Comments
Never again.