Archer, Malcolm and Major Hayes head down to a planet where they believe part of the weapon to be used against Earth is being built. But when they learn that the locals have no clue what they’re constructing, their plan to destroy the base seems a little premature.

On a basic level, once again there’s not really anything wrong with this episode. It moves the ongoing plot along a bit, it gives Archer a better understanding of who he’s dealing with, and Trip examines a Xindi weapon and barely escapes with his life. The problem is that it conforms to every SF cliché known to man. By incredible good fortune, Archer and company meet up with a worker who sympathizes with the plight of humanity, and he in no way betrays them to his superiors.

See my problem? This isn’t a plot. Everything goes according to plan. Despite the story seeming pretty pacy at the start, it quickly becomes apparent that nothing of great significance is going to occur, and the only thing that would save it is some kind of surprise twist or revelation. All we get is Archer trusting an alien with very little evidence, the alien coming through, no one getting hurt or in any kind of trouble – god knows why Reed or Major Hayes are even there, it’s not like they do anything – and the crew heading off to the next stage of their adventure.

There’s a bit of now-traditional Roddenberry-esque moralizing and war rhetoric as Archer finally realizes he can’t just hold every Xindi responsible for what happened on Earth, but if that’s the sole point of the story, it’s a lesson Archer should be long familiar with from human history. It seems a little odd if this is the first time the thought’s occurred to him.

The sub-plot about Trip’s examination of a Xindi weapon, and his efforts to counteract it or use it in some way, passes the time and I guess it has to be done, and the concept of a biologically-powered weapon that self-replicates is rather clever. It’s just a shame that the end result is the weapon being fitted with a self-destruct and Trip managing to beam it out into space just in time. Now, this is where I have a bit of a problem: how convenient that he has just enough time to get it off the ship, even though the transporter room is a long way away. And that’s the basic problem of the whole episode: it’s not based on plot, it’s based on coincidence and luck rather than anyone having to use intelligence to deal with a situation. That’s not the way it should work.

**

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