[7.6/10] Every once in a while, Star Trek gives you something more impressionistic than literal. Maybe it’s the 2001-aping sequences of The Motion Picture. Maybe it’s a character having a vision or a dream or a fantasy. Maybe it’s The Original Series tossing together some kind of negative zone fight.
I’m a sucker for those moments, when the show prioritizes emotion and feel over the purity of sense and realism. That’s why I love what I’d consider the climax of this one, when J’enel and her brother forge a psychic link between one another. He realizes that his people were not killed; she realizes that her brother is sacrificing himself. He feels the weight and the guilt of the lives lost due in part to him; she assuages his regrets with reassurances that it isn’t his fault.
All the while, colorful lights flash across their faces. The dialogue is delivered in voiceover, signifying the fact that this conversation is one of the mind rather than of the body. We see their expressions tell the tale, of shock, of horror, of relief, of sadness. It’s not much, but it’s a way for the climax of this story arc to come is not just another dogfight, or a clash between civilizations, but also the mental reach and connection of lost siblings, reaching for one another in a time of strain and hardship, and finding a strange sort of solace and salvation across the stars.
Unfortunately, the whole episode can’t be quite that lyrical or quite that good. “Aenar” picks up where “United” left off, and yet shifts to what is a related but separate story that can be roughly divided into three, eventually united factions: the protagonists, the antagonists and, for lack of a better term….the romantagonists.
(I’m so sorry.) The protagonists are Archer and Shran, who venture to a remote Andorian cave in the hopes of finding the titular race of blind, telepathic, semi-Albino Andorians. They’re searching for them because the usual Treknobabble equipment has figured out that the Romulan drone is operated remotely and by someone with great telepathic abilities, with brainwaves that could only come from this rare offshoot of the Andorian species. If the Enterprise has any hope of combating this drone, which twist and moves faster than their sensors or targeting scanners can match, they’ll need an operator of similar mental dexterity.
So Archer and Shran go down to the surface, and manage to find these being surprisingly easily. It speaks to a level of narrative convenience in this episode, where plot obstacles are leapt over quickly, important relationships are forged in the span of a scene or two, and who a character is gets established with one big expository speech. Still, the buddy routine between Archer and Shran still has some juice in it, and while Shran’s bravado-induced injury feels just as convenient, it leads to their meeting the Aenar who come to help. The Aenar feel very much like something out of The Original Series, for better and for worse. The entire notion of this secret, cave-dwelling group of hidden underground psychic pacificists feels like a mishmash of sci-fi tropes. Despite that, there’s something striking and ethereal about the frozen systems of caves and outposts they occupy, and something downright angelic about the Aenar themselves.
Between the pacifism, the slow gentle way in which they speak and act, and their fey, otherworldly appereances, there’s something soothing and unblemished about the pale Andorians. The way they understand Archer’s good intentions but refuse to contribute anything to a war, their communal leadership, their hallowed requests for permission before entering another being’s thoughts all give them a unique presence distinct from other aliens that Archer and company have encountered. Sometimes the show is a little over the top and corny about it, but as the introduction of what amounts to a new species, it’s a good look.
The antagonists, as usual, are the Romulans. But for them, by contrast, we barely get any color or motivation or characterization for why the bad guy is doing all of this. All we get is one very writerly monologue about how the head bad guy used to be a senator who was expelled for uestioning the Romulan philosophy of constant expansion and conquest, who now pushes the limits of what the Romulan forces can accomplish. That’s an interesting enough backstory and rationale, especially when there’s doubts within the Romulan senate about the validity of this work, but it all feels very perfunctory when you just have the main baddie announce it.
And the romantagonists (again, so sorry) are, as usual, T’Pol and Trip. I’m on record as being on board with this pair’s romance, but I am also tired of this will they/won’t they B.S. Maybe I’m biased by knowing that the series ends in eight episodes, but I’m ready for the show to either pull the trigger on their relationship or stop toying around with it.
That said, I actually like their scenes together quite a bit. There’s a certain subtelty in both performance and even the writing when Trip is asking what T’Pol thought about in a near-death situation, with the implication that he was clearly thinking of her. T’Pol offers her usual stiff Vulcan upper lip, which seems to break Trip’s heart, even when she turns around later and tries to tell him that she appreciates his care and concern. Of course, there’s a scene where T’Pol tries to use the psychic steering wheel, and Trip is worried, and oh the heart-rending drama of it all!
I’m being a little harsh here. Again, Blalock and Trineer pull a lot of this material off well. I’m just tired of the show rolling around in it. There’s a meaningful story to be told about Trip being in love with T’Pol and worrying that it’s interfering with his work, making it hard to be around her. But we have only the barest of reasons why T’Pol isn’t interested in him anymore, and it doesn’t justify the belabored scene that closes out the episode where Trip asks for a transfer.
It also doesn’t help that this episode is, true to its Original Series influences, exceedingly slow despite how much material the writers try to pack in. We have Shran succumbing to a dose of insta-love with J’enel (which the actors are good enough to almost pull off.) We have the firefight and reversal and death that ends this Romulan drone arc. We have a discovery of a mysterious people, and a romance, and a plotting foreign government trying to disrupt interstellar peace. Despite all of that, you’re liable to spend at least some stretches of “Aenar” looking at your watch.
The ending is worth the wait though. For all my grouses about sluggish pacing, or overstuffed scripts, or romantic wallowing, “Aenar” is an episode founded on the experiences and emotions of its characters. It is about the strength-giving affections between J’enel and Shran. It is about the heartfelt farewell between a Starfleet captain and an Andorian commander. It is about the tortured romantic feelings between Trip and T’Pol. And it’s about a brother and sister, trying to save one another, in a scenario when only one of them can succeed, or survive.
Enterprise, and Star Trek writ large, don’t always go that impressionistic or operatic in the climaxes of its biggest stories, but when they do, it can’t help but lure me in, and wipe away the other foibles that build to such a beautiful, poignant moment.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2019-09-01T13:35:30Z
[7.6/10] Every once in a while, Star Trek gives you something more impressionistic than literal. Maybe it’s the 2001-aping sequences of The Motion Picture. Maybe it’s a character having a vision or a dream or a fantasy. Maybe it’s The Original Series tossing together some kind of negative zone fight.
I’m a sucker for those moments, when the show prioritizes emotion and feel over the purity of sense and realism. That’s why I love what I’d consider the climax of this one, when J’enel and her brother forge a psychic link between one another. He realizes that his people were not killed; she realizes that her brother is sacrificing himself. He feels the weight and the guilt of the lives lost due in part to him; she assuages his regrets with reassurances that it isn’t his fault.
All the while, colorful lights flash across their faces. The dialogue is delivered in voiceover, signifying the fact that this conversation is one of the mind rather than of the body. We see their expressions tell the tale, of shock, of horror, of relief, of sadness. It’s not much, but it’s a way for the climax of this story arc to come is not just another dogfight, or a clash between civilizations, but also the mental reach and connection of lost siblings, reaching for one another in a time of strain and hardship, and finding a strange sort of solace and salvation across the stars.
Unfortunately, the whole episode can’t be quite that lyrical or quite that good. “Aenar” picks up where “United” left off, and yet shifts to what is a related but separate story that can be roughly divided into three, eventually united factions: the protagonists, the antagonists and, for lack of a better term….the romantagonists.
(I’m so sorry.)
The protagonists are Archer and Shran, who venture to a remote Andorian cave in the hopes of finding the titular race of blind, telepathic, semi-Albino Andorians. They’re searching for them because the usual Treknobabble equipment has figured out that the Romulan drone is operated remotely and by someone with great telepathic abilities, with brainwaves that could only come from this rare offshoot of the Andorian species. If the Enterprise has any hope of combating this drone, which twist and moves faster than their sensors or targeting scanners can match, they’ll need an operator of similar mental dexterity.
So Archer and Shran go down to the surface, and manage to find these being surprisingly easily. It speaks to a level of narrative convenience in this episode, where plot obstacles are leapt over quickly, important relationships are forged in the span of a scene or two, and who a character is gets established with one big expository speech. Still, the buddy routine between Archer and Shran still has some juice in it, and while Shran’s bravado-induced injury feels just as convenient, it leads to their meeting the Aenar who come to help.
The Aenar feel very much like something out of The Original Series, for better and for worse. The entire notion of this secret, cave-dwelling group of hidden underground psychic pacificists feels like a mishmash of sci-fi tropes. Despite that, there’s something striking and ethereal about the frozen systems of caves and outposts they occupy, and something downright angelic about the Aenar themselves.
Between the pacifism, the slow gentle way in which they speak and act, and their fey, otherworldly appereances, there’s something soothing and unblemished about the pale Andorians. The way they understand Archer’s good intentions but refuse to contribute anything to a war, their communal leadership, their hallowed requests for permission before entering another being’s thoughts all give them a unique presence distinct from other aliens that Archer and company have encountered. Sometimes the show is a little over the top and corny about it, but as the introduction of what amounts to a new species, it’s a good look.
The antagonists, as usual, are the Romulans. But for them, by contrast, we barely get any color or motivation or characterization for why the bad guy is doing all of this. All we get is one very writerly monologue about how the head bad guy used to be a senator who was expelled for uestioning the Romulan philosophy of constant expansion and conquest, who now pushes the limits of what the Romulan forces can accomplish. That’s an interesting enough backstory and rationale, especially when there’s doubts within the Romulan senate about the validity of this work, but it all feels very perfunctory when you just have the main baddie announce it.
And the romantagonists (again, so sorry) are, as usual, T’Pol and Trip. I’m on record as being on board with this pair’s romance, but I am also tired of this will they/won’t they B.S. Maybe I’m biased by knowing that the series ends in eight episodes, but I’m ready for the show to either pull the trigger on their relationship or stop toying around with it.
That said, I actually like their scenes together quite a bit. There’s a certain subtelty in both performance and even the writing when Trip is asking what T’Pol thought about in a near-death situation, with the implication that he was clearly thinking of her. T’Pol offers her usual stiff Vulcan upper lip, which seems to break Trip’s heart, even when she turns around later and tries to tell him that she appreciates his care and concern. Of course, there’s a scene where T’Pol tries to use the psychic steering wheel, and Trip is worried, and oh the heart-rending drama of it all!
I’m being a little harsh here. Again, Blalock and Trineer pull a lot of this material off well. I’m just tired of the show rolling around in it. There’s a meaningful story to be told about Trip being in love with T’Pol and worrying that it’s interfering with his work, making it hard to be around her. But we have only the barest of reasons why T’Pol isn’t interested in him anymore, and it doesn’t justify the belabored scene that closes out the episode where Trip asks for a transfer.
It also doesn’t help that this episode is, true to its Original Series influences, exceedingly slow despite how much material the writers try to pack in. We have Shran succumbing to a dose of insta-love with J’enel (which the actors are good enough to almost pull off.) We have the firefight and reversal and death that ends this Romulan drone arc. We have a discovery of a mysterious people, and a romance, and a plotting foreign government trying to disrupt interstellar peace. Despite all of that, you’re liable to spend at least some stretches of “Aenar” looking at your watch.
The ending is worth the wait though. For all my grouses about sluggish pacing, or overstuffed scripts, or romantic wallowing, “Aenar” is an episode founded on the experiences and emotions of its characters. It is about the strength-giving affections between J’enel and Shran. It is about the heartfelt farewell between a Starfleet captain and an Andorian commander. It is about the tortured romantic feelings between Trip and T’Pol. And it’s about a brother and sister, trying to save one another, in a scenario when only one of them can succeed, or survive.
Enterprise, and Star Trek writ large, don’t always go that impressionistic or operatic in the climaxes of its biggest stories, but when they do, it can’t help but lure me in, and wipe away the other foibles that build to such a beautiful, poignant moment.