ENT Rewatch Starlog, 27 January, 2024: Episode 3.07 āThe Shipmentā
Archer leads Enterprise to the colony planet identified by the psychic Tarquin and they find a facility controlled by Xindi Arboreals manufacturing a substance known as kemocite. He takes Malcolm and Major Hayesāleader of the MACOsāto the surface in a shuttlepod while Enterprise hides in the moonās orbit.
Their investigation of the facility leads to them detaining the projectās head in his nearby home; a Xindi named Gralik.
On Enterprise, Trip is investigating the Xindi Reptilian weapon they captured and realizes it has biological components. He asks Phlox to start investigating the strange worm-like creatures that seem to help regulate the weaponās power.
Archer confronts Gralik about the kemocite heās producing being used as a weapon, and has TāPol and Trip beam down a fragment of the original probe to prove that the kemocite used there came from this facility. Gralik is aghast that his work could be used in the death of 7 million people, and begins to reveal some history of the Xindi people. Heās been working with a Xindi Primate (āLike you, ape-likeā) named Degra who is in league with the Reptilians. The nature of the Xindi now is based on the aftermath of their century long war that not only ended with the Reptilians and Insectoids destroying the planet but the extinction of a sixth Xindi species, the Avians. Enterprise warns Archer that there is a ship approaching; Degra and the Reptilians have come for their kemocite early.Ā
Phloc determines that delta radiation can kill the battery worms in the Reptilian weapons, but omicron radiation will make them breed. Trip is initial planning to make an EM emitter which could disable the weapons, but Phlox warns the radiation necessary would be very harmful to humans. They decide they now have to test the weapon.
After a little cat and mouse with some Reptilian probes who want to know where Gralik is, Archer trusts him to go back into the facility and deal with Degra. He quietly taints the shipment, knowing this is the last Degra has ordered, so whatever weapon theyāre making must be close to being complete.Ā He also arranges for Archer to sneak a marked container onto the ship to allow Enterprise to follow where the shipment goes.Ā
When Trip tries to fire the Xindi rifle, it goes into overload, and he barely has time to beam it off Enterprise. They realize the Reptilians have rigged their rifles to self-destruct on any unauthorized user.Ā
After Degra has left with the kemocite, Archer shares a drink with Gralik. Degra had confessed to Gralik that they were building a weapon, but to deal with a āruthless alien species,ā and Gralik wonders if he betrayed his people. Archer promises he has not, but Gralik reminds him to remember that whatever Degra and the Reptilians are up to, not all Xindi are his enemy. Archer tells him the Reptilian ship jumped into a portal and theyāve lost the tracking signal, but Gralik responds that the portal range is only a few light years, and he must keep searching.
A very strong offering in this story arc, and very Star Trek in the idea that we shouldnāt be casting species-wide conclusions about intent. The point is slightly blunted by the fact that the episode really goes out of its way to present the mammalian Xindi as more reasonable while the Reptilians and Insectoids are vicious and not to be trusted. Itās not the first time Trek has based aliens on Jungian archetypes or painted a species with a broad brush (WHERE ARE THE KLINGON GARDENERS???), but in retrospect itās a slightly sour note in an other very well paced and written episode.Ā
I admit I forget where the research on the Xindi weapons is going in the overall arc, so I am looking forward to seeing how that plays out, rewatch or not; I havenāt watched ALL of this arc probably since it first aired, and Iām a little older than I used to be. I donāt always remember the details in Enterprise like I might from DOZENS of rewatches of TOS done in my youth!
And, as I already mentioned Klingons, just want to point out the actor playing Gralik here, John, Cothran Jr. had appeared as Klingons on both TNG and DS9, and notably is the Klingon Captain NuāDaq who remarks at the end of the TNG episode āThe Chaseā that if the ancient humanoid who seeded the galaxy āwere not already dead, I would KILL her!ā
Next Voyage: An anomaly removes Archerās ability to form long-term memories and he awakens to find he has forgotten 12 years of Human/Xindi conflict, and the entire human race is now in its āTwilight.āĀ
(Images taken from the main website for @trekcore; I am happy to remove the images if asked.)
