Star Trek: Enterprise Episode Review
Season 1, Episodes 1 & 2
Enterprise, humanity's first ship capable of exploring the galaxy at Warp 5, is rushed to a premature launch after a lone Klingon warrior crash lands on Earth.
Perhaps the most important question you can ask about a pilot episode is whether it makes the viewer interested in checking out the rest of the series. In the case of "Broken Bow," the answer is certainly "Yes." This is a slick action show, technically competent and visually dazzling. It's easy to get swept away in its simple but fast-paced and engaging space adventure plot. The show is at its best during propulsive action sequences in well-realized new settings, but the writing holding everything together is worryingly thin.
Enterprise bursts out of the gate with smart production design evoking both modern-day space shuttles and the familiar aesthetic of more futuristic Star Trek series, and a fresh new setting ripe with unique storytelling opportunities. This is most welcome in a franchise that, after 3 series, 21 seasons, and 526 episodes in the same 24th-century world, had long grown stale. Of particular interest is the portrayal of humans as somewhat volatile underdogs, a welcome inversion of Gene Roddenberry's infamously infallible future superhumans. I'm less sure about the portrayal of the Vulcans in a somewhat negative light, serving as something of a strict uncle to humanity. This obstructionism is an intriguing new angle for Star Trek antagonists that would not have worked in the other series where the Federation was already dominant. However, it remains to be seen whether snobbish bureaucrats truly make good Trek antagonists.
The real villains, the shadowy Suliban, aren't as interesting yet. They work perfectly fine as shady bad guys for a basic "ferry a diplomat" story, which is all "Broken Bow" really is. However, it remains to be seen whether the Suliban and their temporal mysteries will be interesting enough as recurring foes. The special effects for their transformations are impressive for the time, even if they are essentially a riff on Deep Space Nine's Changelings.
Though "Broken Bow" does quite well with its presentation, I was left with significant reservations. The plot-focused writing leaves little room for the characters, who don't stand out much in a story that's not really about them. Captain Archer is clearly an attempt to create a rough-edged cowboy hero who gets things done, shoots first, and kisses babes, but those edges are just too rough -- he comes across genuinely unlikeable. His introduction, threatening to knock a Vulcan ambassador on their ass, ironically makes him seem like the biggest ass in the room. There is an admirable attempt here to establish a more fallible, flawed captain than we generally see on Star Trek, but I think the writers went just a tad too far in this first episode. As for the other characters, none are established much beyond what their jobs are. Worse, some of what we get is Tucker, Reed, and Mayweather having a couple different "locker-room talks" where they objectify alien women. Tucker and Archer also spend a great deal of time patronizing and yelling at their foreign coworker T'Pol. They do remind me of modern-day humans -- specifically, they feel like casually misogynistic, racist uncles.
No review of this episode is complete without mentioning the grossly lascivious decon chamber scene, which is full of porno-level male gaze photography of the female lead's body. This is a baffling sequence, in part because of the dissonance between the physical intimacy involved in the act of slathering lube over a coworker's naked body versus the completely innocent reactions of the characters. In "Broken Bow" and the chamber's other appearances this season, it almost plays as if the characters are completely asexual, obliviously carrying on their conversations without any acknowledgement that this might be a sexy or awkward experience. It's a disappointing affront to the audience's intelligence and a transparent, cynical way to attract new viewers. Call me puritanical, but were this scene not present, the episode just might have scored a point higher on my rating scale.
"Broken Bow" is a technically ambitious episode with a lot going for it, but it ultimately leaves a tepid impression. It did leave me interested to watch more, but I find I am now approaching Enterprise from a position of caution rather than optimism.
