2x16 Future Tense

[8.6/10] Enterprise’s blockbuster episodes have been a little lacking so far. Incidents with enough stakes, stamina, and creativity to sustain the full blown, more action-y side of Trek can be challenging on a show that has to revert to the status quo. But “Future Tense” delivers on an episode with both enough exciting twists and turns in the fireworks department, and in a unique problem that poses specific, distinctive challenges for our heroes to overcome.

That comes in the form of one big time travel-assisted game of hot potato. When the Enterprise comes across a mysterious capsule ship, with no discernible engine and impossible geometry within, they realize the find could be important. The intrigue doubles when its near-mummified, seemingly human passenger is revealed to also have DNA from Vulcans, Tellerites, and others. One convenient jaunt into Daniels’ old quarters reveals that the ship is from the future, and that this is a glimpse of what lies in store for humanity and our fellow spacefaring species.

But “Future Tense” isn’t just another “hey check out this weird thing we found in space” episode. The find puts the Enterprise in the crosshairs of the Suliban, who naturally want to gut and process the ship to get an edge in the temporal cold war. It also puts them into focus for the Tholians(!), who seem slightly more hospitable at first (warning of the effects from time radiation from the vessel), but who prove to be just as determined to grab the ship for themselves.

“Future Tense” gets extra juice from paying attention to both Enterprise continuity and broader Star Trek continuity. While it’s a little cheesy that the show defaults to using Daniels’ database whenever it’s plot necessary, this feels like the right time in the season to bring back the Temporal Cold War and the notion of time-traveling historians, not to mention T’Pol’s disbelief in the possibility of either. At the same time, it’s a thrill to see the Tholains depicted as one of the “other factions” involved, given their presence in parallel universe-tripping stories from other Trek shows. And I especially love the red herring of the human body in the capsule being mistaken for Zephram Cochrane and his mysteriously disappeared ship.

The only catch is that the episode also picks up some threads that I wish it would just leave alone. On the one hand, I love the notion that 1,000 years in the future (er, further future), cross-species romance is prominent enough that the human’s genome is a hodgepodge from different sources. It speaks to the continually utopic, diverse view of the future that has always been in Star Trek’s DNA. But the show mostly uses it to include clunky lines of dialogue that suggest Archer and T’Pol are considering the prospect of an interspecies relationship, while not being willing to admit it to themselves, and I am just tired of the show shipping this chemistry-less pairing.

It also picks up on T’Pol’s skepticism for the possibility of time travel because of the Vulcan Science Arm, which seems a bit out of character, even if it works with her gradual skepticism of Vulcan authority in general. That’s really her arc here -- seeing more evidence and being increasingly willing to believe her own eyes and experience over the received wisdom of her Vulcan superiors. Time travel just seems like an odd lever to use for that.

Still, it also leads to some of the best material in the episode -- the quieter moments when characters are just debating things. It fits the philosophical, honed-through-discussion bents that are some of Star Trek’s best assets. Hearing T’Pol and Dr. Phlox debate healthy skepticism versus healthy acceptance of things that might surprise you gets to the heart of the episode, and it’s always interesting when the two non-humans on the ship compare notes. Having Trip and Malcolm debate whehter they would want to travel to and/or know about the future raises the type of engrossing metaphysical questions that time travel stories create and grounds them in something personal.

And even the debate between Archer and T’Pol over what to do with the capsule from the future won me over. I have to admit, I was on board with T’Pol’s suggestion to destroy the ship before she even made it. Given the close scrapes Enterprise had already faced because of it, and the risk of polluting the timeline, my initial impulse was that they should just destroy the damn thing and be done with it. But Archer offered a fair retort -- that whether they like it or not, they’ve already been involved in this Temporal Cold War already, and this ship offers a chance to get more information, understand the risks and rewards better, and maybe be prepared for the next incident, in a way that justifies, or at least provides a fair rationale for, taking that risk.

The ensuing fight is a thrill. In true blockbuster style, the episode gives us three different stories in the climax where our heroes are trying to avert disaster. T’Pol is in command and trying to stall for time whilst under attack by the Suliban and Tholians, a peril that’s heightened when she discovers the Vulcan ship having been disabled by the Tholians. Archer and Reed are in the launch bay, trying to put a warhead onto the future vessel to blow it up and hopefully spare Enterprise from the crossfire between the Tholians and the Suliban in the process. And Trip is working to fix the future ship’s transponder, in the hopes that it might signal someone for help.

The ensuing battle is the best that Enterprise has managed to pull off. The splashes and flashes between the alien ships is a thrill, and the tension while the rest of the Enterprise crew tries to hold things together in the midst of this fracas is outstanding. What’s particularly great is that after all the efforts our heroes go to, the “blow things up” route ends up being a dud, and it’s the simple act of the people from the future beaming away all their stuff that neutralizes the situation. It’s a simple, but logical solution, and the fact that it was the most low key part of the climax makes it even better.

If this is how Enterprise wants to do its blockbuster episodes in the future, then count me in. The combination of a conflict-causing macguffin, a cause for multiple philosophical debates, and fights that have good motivations and good solutions make this one as sound as it is exciting. The Temporal Cold War episode have been hit or miss so far, but this one remains squarely on target.