[9.7/10] Enterprise throws Archer, and the audience, right into the middle of things. In a cold open, we see Archer punch a guard, T’Pol sitting in the captain’s chair and, oh by the way, the Earth blowing up. It starts the episode off with an exclamation point, something to confuse and excite you and let you know what whatever the clawbacks and do-overs that will likely be involved, this will not be business as usual.
It’s rightfully freeing for the series. One of the problems of being a prequel, even one with a century between you and the next known adventure, is that you’re still boxed in to some extent. There’s a similar concern with having to be a week-to-week television show. These things create limits on how many galaxy-shaping events you can contend with and how many changes to the status quo you can make on an episode-by-episode basis.
But “Twilight” is essentially a “What If?” episode, one that asks how things would be if humanity lost the struggle with the Xindi, if Archer’s mission failed in spectacular terms, if our heroes turned into the last vestiges of their civilization rather than the vanguard of the Federation. By opening up to what amounts to an alternate timeline, Enterprise is free of continuity snarls and late-episode reversions to the mean that limit the real consequences from almost any choice Archer and company could make.
That freedom and possibility makes it an amalgamation of some of the best and most exciting episode from The Next Generation, with the deadly consequences and opening shock of “Cause and Effect”, the bad future-averting time shenanigans of “Yesterday’s Enterprise”, and even the glimpse of the wearied captain living another life in “The Inner Light.” This episode (whose title I’m now realizing may be a play on the seminal TNG episode), is the equal to those, using the alternate universe possibilities of its premise to grow and change its characters, and to take chances, that are otherwise near-impossible on a weekly television series.
For one thing, we get to see Archer weak and diminished, a different look for the usual state of dignity and “fathers know best” bent the character maintains. The impetus for all of this is that after an unexpected encounter with an anomaly, Archer moves T’Pol out of the way and takes the brunt of the impact. The incident fills his brain with interdimensional parasites that give him retrograde amnesia, to where he can’t form new memories after that date.
As much as I rail on the character of Archer and Scott Bakula’s performance, both are very good here. There’s something about seeing Archer humbled, struggling, not quite what he was and frustrated by that fact, which makes him more relatable and sympathetic. While there’s a bit of overacting here and there, Bakula plays Archer’s disorientation and dismay quite well, selling the impact of having such monumental news given to you each day, and working as the audience surrogate for absorbing the shock of all the details unveiled.
The only catch is that the episode roots some of this in more abortive will they/won’t they romance material with Archer and T’Pol that I still find utterly unavailing. But even that plays better here, as the notion of T’Pol feeling particular responsibility for Archer after he suffered this condition while saving her life, and the two growing closer through twelve years of care and convalescence, helps sell a deeper connection between the two of them that the show’s other efforts at tender moments of unspoken affection can’t come close to matching.
Even apart from the great character work and different sides of our heroes on display, it’s also just neat to get a twelve-year short story in miniature here. The tale of Earth being destroyed, a convoy of human ships searching for a new home, and trying to rebuild and hide themselves when their attackers are still in pursuit is a premise that fueled the reimagined Battlestar Galactica for four seasons. “Twilight” dips into the same sense of desperation, of rebuilding, of loss and survival, exploring the hardship of what losing this fight would mean and thereby adding more palpable stakes to the Xindi mission in the process.
Beyond that, “Twilight” just offers a cool science fiction story. The notion of interdimensional worms, whose eradication in the present could result in their disappearance in the past, is the traditional sort of sci-fi weirdness that Star Trek is great for. Sure, there’s holes here and there -- like why doesn't Phlox eliminating some of the parasites earlier in the episode change the timeline? And it’s another dose of “Archer is the most important person in the universe” which I’m not a fan of. But it’s a time-skipping solution to a wild time problem, that feels of a piece with The Next Generation’s finale in that vein.
Of course the solution can’t be a simple one, and we have to go out on an extended fight and set of action scenes. The thrill is a little diminished by the inevitability that Archer and company will almost certainly set things right. The status quo must be maintained, even on the edges of “What If?” episodes, after all. But there’s juice to seeing familiar characters perish that stands out from the usual threats, dogfights with T’Pol taking out two Xindi ships at once or Trip making one final stand against them are exciting, and even the closing firefight offers thrills on its own merits.
It’s amazing, then, what Enterprise is capable of when you take the bumpers off. I don’t know if this amount of incident and detail would be sustainable on a weekly television show. Presumably we’d need more than just those hairstyle changes and exposition dumps to sell these types of major developments. But unconstrained by forty years of T.V. history, and the need to have more story to tell, the series gives the audience its best outing ever, and shows the promise and creativity this show has lurking beneath the surface, if it’s only allowed to come out and play.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2019-07-24T22:37:01Z
[9.7/10] Enterprise throws Archer, and the audience, right into the middle of things. In a cold open, we see Archer punch a guard, T’Pol sitting in the captain’s chair and, oh by the way, the Earth blowing up. It starts the episode off with an exclamation point, something to confuse and excite you and let you know what whatever the clawbacks and do-overs that will likely be involved, this will not be business as usual.
It’s rightfully freeing for the series. One of the problems of being a prequel, even one with a century between you and the next known adventure, is that you’re still boxed in to some extent. There’s a similar concern with having to be a week-to-week television show. These things create limits on how many galaxy-shaping events you can contend with and how many changes to the status quo you can make on an episode-by-episode basis.
But “Twilight” is essentially a “What If?” episode, one that asks how things would be if humanity lost the struggle with the Xindi, if Archer’s mission failed in spectacular terms, if our heroes turned into the last vestiges of their civilization rather than the vanguard of the Federation. By opening up to what amounts to an alternate timeline, Enterprise is free of continuity snarls and late-episode reversions to the mean that limit the real consequences from almost any choice Archer and company could make.
That freedom and possibility makes it an amalgamation of some of the best and most exciting episode from The Next Generation, with the deadly consequences and opening shock of “Cause and Effect”, the bad future-averting time shenanigans of “Yesterday’s Enterprise”, and even the glimpse of the wearied captain living another life in “The Inner Light.” This episode (whose title I’m now realizing may be a play on the seminal TNG episode), is the equal to those, using the alternate universe possibilities of its premise to grow and change its characters, and to take chances, that are otherwise near-impossible on a weekly television series.
For one thing, we get to see Archer weak and diminished, a different look for the usual state of dignity and “fathers know best” bent the character maintains. The impetus for all of this is that after an unexpected encounter with an anomaly, Archer moves T’Pol out of the way and takes the brunt of the impact. The incident fills his brain with interdimensional parasites that give him retrograde amnesia, to where he can’t form new memories after that date.
As much as I rail on the character of Archer and Scott Bakula’s performance, both are very good here. There’s something about seeing Archer humbled, struggling, not quite what he was and frustrated by that fact, which makes him more relatable and sympathetic. While there’s a bit of overacting here and there, Bakula plays Archer’s disorientation and dismay quite well, selling the impact of having such monumental news given to you each day, and working as the audience surrogate for absorbing the shock of all the details unveiled.
The only catch is that the episode roots some of this in more abortive will they/won’t they romance material with Archer and T’Pol that I still find utterly unavailing. But even that plays better here, as the notion of T’Pol feeling particular responsibility for Archer after he suffered this condition while saving her life, and the two growing closer through twelve years of care and convalescence, helps sell a deeper connection between the two of them that the show’s other efforts at tender moments of unspoken affection can’t come close to matching.
Even apart from the great character work and different sides of our heroes on display, it’s also just neat to get a twelve-year short story in miniature here. The tale of Earth being destroyed, a convoy of human ships searching for a new home, and trying to rebuild and hide themselves when their attackers are still in pursuit is a premise that fueled the reimagined Battlestar Galactica for four seasons. “Twilight” dips into the same sense of desperation, of rebuilding, of loss and survival, exploring the hardship of what losing this fight would mean and thereby adding more palpable stakes to the Xindi mission in the process.
Beyond that, “Twilight” just offers a cool science fiction story. The notion of interdimensional worms, whose eradication in the present could result in their disappearance in the past, is the traditional sort of sci-fi weirdness that Star Trek is great for. Sure, there’s holes here and there -- like why doesn't Phlox eliminating some of the parasites earlier in the episode change the timeline? And it’s another dose of “Archer is the most important person in the universe” which I’m not a fan of. But it’s a time-skipping solution to a wild time problem, that feels of a piece with The Next Generation’s finale in that vein.
Of course the solution can’t be a simple one, and we have to go out on an extended fight and set of action scenes. The thrill is a little diminished by the inevitability that Archer and company will almost certainly set things right. The status quo must be maintained, even on the edges of “What If?” episodes, after all. But there’s juice to seeing familiar characters perish that stands out from the usual threats, dogfights with T’Pol taking out two Xindi ships at once or Trip making one final stand against them are exciting, and even the closing firefight offers thrills on its own merits.
It’s amazing, then, what Enterprise is capable of when you take the bumpers off. I don’t know if this amount of incident and detail would be sustainable on a weekly television show. Presumably we’d need more than just those hairstyle changes and exposition dumps to sell these types of major developments. But unconstrained by forty years of T.V. history, and the need to have more story to tell, the series gives the audience its best outing ever, and shows the promise and creativity this show has lurking beneath the surface, if it’s only allowed to come out and play.