Horizon:

Q: What’s it about?
A: About 43 mins.

Q: Need more details El Schmucco.
A: Travis’s Dad has died and Travis goes back to his old ship to see his family. While he’s there the crew of the Enterprise watch a movie and survey a planet.

Verdict:

Grade: B-

Christ on a bike, Reno, have you gone stark staring mad??? This was the most boring episode known to man.

Well, this was the first Ent episode to touch me on a personal level. So while the episode itself wasn’t terribly great over all, it did have its moments, but more importantly to me, there were some parallels in my own life which make grading this episode quite tough. Since I lost my Dad a few years ago and he was a merchant seaman for at least 2 decades, there were some things in this episode that rang true for me, which I doubt will ring true for many other people. It’s also hard for anyone who hasn’t lost a parent to empathize with storylines that touch that aspect of the self. That’s why I’m pretty sure most people will probably find this episode far less engaging than I did.

The ep starts off with what is up there as the most boring and irrelevant teaser ever devised. Mayweather is reading a book. He gets a call asking him to go to the bridge. He says he’s on his way. Firstly they already did this with Trip. Secondly – who THE HELL thinks this is worth putting in a TV show – let alone the teaser??? Seriously, B&B need slapping upside the head. Electro shock – SOMETHING!

But then we get into Act One and that’s forgotten. Travis gets the call about his Dad being dead. Archer goes to see him. Travis is in tears – and what plays out is one of the most spell binding scenes I’ve seen in a long time. AM CAN ACT! I mean, I had a tear in my eye. I felt that moment. And Bakula’s performance was spot on to go with it. ****, I didn’t know Travis’s Dad and I felt the loss too. From someone who's been there AM's reaction was exactly right IMO.

Unfortunately the rest of the episode doesn’t quite live up to this scene, but it comes close. There are a couple of shaky wooden moments from AM, but overall he gives a performance in this ep that lets us connect with Travis like we never have before. He’s thoughtful, he’s VERY smart, he’s caring. He’s a good guy. He should be easier to write for now AM has been given enough material to show the writers where Travis is at as a character.

The fan boy mention of an Orion Freighter was nice. The actual pirates in this ep are not names. Don’t know who they are.

The scenes with the Mom and Brother half worked and half didn’t. But that was mostly down to the material. Really what was missing was real in depth family complexities, like we got with Picard in family. It could have been achieved and was set up to be achieved, but two things let it down.

Firstly the attack on the freighter. Not only was it stupidly easy to defeat, it seemed to serve little purpose. It was a clumsy and juvenile way of getting the two Mayweather brothers to respect each other, and considering the brilliance of Act One, was really beyond pathetic. A much more adult approach was required.

Secondly, The dreaded B plot reared its head, and again, like a previous crap episode this season, bore none of the emotional content of the A plot, and sought to destroy what was being dealt with in the A plot.

T’Pol goes to the movies. Funny in places. Very well acted by everybody. The best line was when T’Pol says tongue in check ‘On the contrary. I’m looking forward to ‘Bride of Frankenstein’

But really, this is a thin plot, a one scene joke stretched out to episode length and barely disguising the fact that the writers didn’t know what to do with the rest of the crew. Well Jesus, you gave T’Pol a whole ep to herself in Carbon Creek. A real adult look at death and family and loyalty with Mayweather wouldn’t have gone amiss. Or at least a B plot that reflected the A plot.

So what we have all in all is a mixed bag. Some truly great acting from everybody, especially AM and SB. A great set-up. Some excellent soul searching moments, ruined by very poor construction, some flaccid and poor story choices and generally weak execution of a mature theme.

The plus side is that I really felt like I’d connected with Mayweather by the end of the ep, and considering how Mr/ token has been treated so far on ENT, that’s no bad thing.

Oh and…

A brief word on Technical stuff.

The score this week was excellent. It reminded me a little of moments from Star Trek 5. Very emotive. Certainly not wallpaper. Really great piece of music.

The freighter was brilliantly designed, inside and out.

---SPOILERS---


I don't generally review episodes, but I felt compelled to talk about this one, simply because it was such a pleasant surprise. We all have been talking for years about character-development episodes, and I feel that Enterprise has finally delivered a good one.

I was very surprised by Anthony Montgomery's performance. I misjudged his acting ability. I found myself being very empathetic to both him and his brother. I have only one sibling, a brother as well, so I suppose I saw a lot of parallels between my relationship with my brother, and Travis's relationship to Paul. I read Reno's review and he said he was able to connect with Mayweather losing his father--so this episode seems to be connecting with different people in different ways. I'd say that's a mark of good writing and acting.

For the B story, it wasn't all that engaging, but I did feel like we get to see a little bit of T'Pol's cultural isolation onboard a crew of humans. I think the plot conveyed that effectively.

Details:

HOT CHICK ALERT!!!

Nora (Nicole Forrester), Travis's childhood friend and crewmate... wow. EASILY the hottest guest star on the show thus far. Girl next door look for sure, but very beautiful. Hotter than Culter and the Kriosian chick. Props to Travis if she and he ever hooked up. Hope we see her again.

Special effects- Top notch, as usual.

The climax- I felt the problem was resolved too easily, and a bit too short, but it was only a vessel to facilitate the story tension between Travis and Paul, and it served its purpose.

They should name the damn alien race though!! Messes me up on the list.

Nitpick: I'm not a physicist, but does volume and weight displacement matter in a warp field, or in a vaccuum? I don't think it does... so Travis's comment was kind of silly.

Overall, I'd give it an A I've only given A's to five other episodes this season... (Carbon Creek, Minefield, Dead Stop, Cease Fire, Future Tense) so this is high praise from me.

I FEEL like we FINALLY know something about someone on this crew. We have a vested interest in their lives. Hope to have more episodes like this.

Originally posted by tanman
I thought it was a good episode. They really haven't done this before in the Trek universe. The whole cargo ship side of the Trek universe has not really been explored so much.

Finally some character development on the nameless black helmsman.

I think this is the best way to develop the Trek Universe, not through new aliens (read makeup) but through good character development and new stories etc.

I agree, why do they have to advertise every episode and give it a subtitle?

and what happened to the story arc?


Every week I am thoroughly impressed with the SFX of this show. They are really on par with the recent movies. The shots of the ship and different planets look incredible.

Originally posted by MvRojo

And if you mean the Klingon arc, the next episode dealing with Archer and his escape is on May 14th and deals with Tellarites and bounty hunters.

Originally posted by Red Dog
The fact that the positive reviewer has already given out 5 'A's this season should tell you something about his credibility.

Originally posted by mikehunt
I'm just waiting the the Enterprise version of "Yesterday's Enterprise"