Klingon hybrids with smooth foreheads and a ship in danger. Originally broadcast on February 25, 2005 this is Divergence.
The Episode:
Captain’s Starlog Date undetermined.
With the ship about to explode, Archer contacts the NX-02 Columbia and must find a way to get Trip aboard Enterprise at warp speed. Matching speeds they pull Trip aboard via the tether and, of course, he saves the ship in the nick of time by cold starting the engine. He succeeds, Archer calls out Reed who is forced to expose Harris because their actions have threatened the Enterprise. Harris tells Archer that Reed works for Section 31 and that even Phlox is on a critical mission for the Federation even if he isnt aware of it. Meanwhile. Phlox finds himself under the gun when he learns the Klingons plan to destroy the infected settlement if a cure isn’t found.
Using information from Starfleet Intelligence, Enterprise heads to the Qu’Vat Colony where Phlox happens to be. When Phlox needs to test the antivirus, Archer volunteers and the Captain begins suffering from the effects of the virus and begins to grow head ridges. Phlox finds a cure but the Klingons plan to claim or destroy Enterprise and Columbia so Phlox’s efforts may be for nothing. After a brief battle and a very tough negotiation with General the Klingons agree to not sterilize the colony and allow Phlox to distribute his cure throughout the Empire.
In the end Archer is recovering from the virus, Reed tells Harris to leave him alone and Tucker agrees to remain on Enterprise until they get back to Earth.
Is this a ‘Good’ Episode:
Honestly, this second part was better than the first one and really should have just been a full length movie episode. Come to think of it, they should have taken a nod from Doctor Who and made this season a series of movie specials. That aside, this story is one of the best and, like I mentioned in the last review, should have been trimmed down plot wise a bit. I mean, the Section 31 stuff wasn’t bad but really didn’t feel like it really fit in the overall story. Now, had they just hinted that Section 31 was involved and left it at that, it would have been much more interesting of an add.
One thing I love about this episode is that we finally see Enterprise and her sister ship Columbia in action together. Through this whole series we have only heard that Columbia was being built but it never seemed that we would actually get to see it fly and, while it really isnt much different than Enterprise, it was awesome to see. Not only that, but Phlox gets a massive chance to shine in this episode getting to literally save an entire species from extinction through his use of science and medicine. I mean, you can’t get much bigger than that. Heck, I am a little surprised this was even allowed in this series as, well, Phlox being in Starfleet and all, you would think this would have prevented an eventual war with the Klingons but no….
One big problem though, by the end of the episdoe, well, nothing had really changed. I mean, this one had a potential for a complete shakeup for the series and… well… it was just returned to status quo. Even Trip is back on Enterprise, albeit ‘temporarily’. Sure, Archer learns about Section 31 and the Trip/T’Pol relationship is (probably) back on again, but there are hardly any real repercussions. No one dies, nothing is really permanently harmed and, unless you count the rather short acquisition of ridges for Archer, well, no one was wounded in any real way. All we got out of this was a rather simplified version of why Klingons had no ridges in the original series. To be honest, while I really liked the story line, I much preferred Worf’s answer on Deep Space Nine.
Overall, great two parter, a little long in the tooth, but still, waaaaay better than all of season three.
Gleanings and Cool Bits:
Nothing really. First time for everything I guess?
Thanks for reading the Retro TV Review, I look forward to discussing the rest of the series with you, one episode at a time every Monday, Wednesday and Friday! Next Review: Bound
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Late To The Game 11/19/2021
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