Episode 27: Shockwave Part 2

Blah blah blah, a little torture, a lot of T'Pol in her underwear, a little completely nonsensical technobabble and you've got "Shockwave Part 2".

Archer is trapped in the shattered remains of Earth's distant future with a distraught Crewman Daniels and no apparent way to return to his own time... or any other time, for that matter. Meanwhile, T'Pol permits Silik and his Suliban chums to board Enterprise to confirm that Archer is no longer there, leading to the entire crew being held prisoner in their own cabins and the ship being piloted back to the Suliban Cabal's space center.

Silik then discovers that, for some reason, his mentor from the future isn't answering his calls, a very convenient development for the Star Fleet crew.
As they search through the remarkably intact remains of some famous American library which I no doubt am expected to recognise, which is still packed with remarkably preserved paper books (I mean, the paper has apparently survived some kind of war and then something like FIVE CENTURIES and still holds up pretty well), Daniels refuses to tell Archer anything about the future he left behind (why, since they are apparently trapped, he worries about contaminating the already destroyed timeline I'll never know) but does tell Archer that he is the absolute key to everything good that comes after his initial voyage on Enterprise.

T'Pol is dragged into the Suliban interrogation chamber in her skivvies and pumped full of truth drugs She writhes and shakes and proceeds to tell Silik the truth, though her truth does not include any information about where Archer went or how he got there, so she's not much use. Tucker manages to figure out a way to get the comm system working well enough to contact Reed, then Sato, then finally T'Pol. He doesn't seem interested in talking to any other member of the crew, however, even though many of them might be more useful to him than a Communications Officer, for example. Nope, main cast only for this episode.

Daniels finally hatches a plan to build some sort of a device using Archer's 22nd Century scanner and communicator that will permit Archer to communicate with Enterprise -- it's a miracle. Daniels sends Archer off to search for certain materials he needs for his work, a scene that is slightly reminiscent of Kirk's search for the materials Spock needs to access his tricorder's memory in the 1930s in "City on the Edge of Forever". Archer actually asks the question we've all been asking -- why not just send me back in time to a week before all the problems started, rather than to the precise moment I left -- and Daniels explains that he has already made one history-altering mistake so he's not willing to risk making another.

The explanation, of course, is no explanation at all. But at least Archer asked the question.

A drugged out and slightly delirious T'Pol is returned to her quarters by the frustrated Suliban, only to find Archer's face floating at the ceiling above her. Archer is talking to her from nine centuries into the future and, even more amazing, he can actually hear her too. Yep, Daniels sends a cheesy projection of Archer's face along with his voice back through time and, despite the fact that he has sent absolutely no microphone tech back as well, Archer can hear and decipher the delirious Vulcan's mumblings.

Did I mention that, for some reason, Daniels sends Archer's face back to T'Pol's quarters even though Archer should have expected T'Pol to be on the bridge at this crucial time? It's almost as if Archer and Daniels know that the Suliban have imprisoned all the Enterprise crew in their quarters!

Archer feeds T'Pol an intricate plan. T'Pol communicates that plan to the others through Tucker's makeshift comms system and soon we have a scantily clad, sweat soaked Sato worming her way through the air ducts to obtain hypo sprays from Phlox (who, apparently, keeps large quantities of sedatives in his quarters) and the to deliver them to Tucker and Reed. In a classic B&B twist, Sato manages to lose her sweaty t-shirt just before arriving at Reed's quarters, creating a wonderful opportunity for some cheesecake with a dose of hyper-sexualisation to boot.

Reed volunteers to go into Crewman Daniels' quarters to obtain some piece of technology he left behind and then to permit himself to get captured and tortured until he divulges to the Suliban that Archer ordered him to destroy the technology before it fell into Suliban hands, for fear that the Suliban would use it to contact someone. This is an interesting twist since it implies that Archer and Daniels knew, somehow, the Silik was having problems contacting his mentor from the future. How did they know this? Your guess is as good as mine.

Silik takes Daniels' technological doo-dad and rushes back to the chamber where he contacts his mentor from the future and tries again. But it's a clever trick. Daniels needed his doo-dad in the Suliban future contact chamber to permit him to combine his technology with the Suliban technology to transport Archer back to the present. Archer bursts out of the time stream, pummels Silik into submission and demands free passage.

Meanwhile, Tucker and Reed overwhelm the Suliban engineers running Enterprise's engine room and then begin a fake warp core breach. Convinced that Enterprise is about to blow up, the Suliban drag it away from the helix cluster and set it adrift, fleeing in the opposite direction to avoid getting caught in the matter-antimatter explosion of Enterprise's engines.

As soon as they're free, T'Pol, Tucker and Reed turn off the breach and Enterprise goes to warp. Things seem good until 30 or so Suliban ships catch up to them and begin to tear her to shreds with their advanced weapons. Just when all seems lost, the Suliban ships call off their attack and Archer reveals that he is in the sole remaining Suliban ship with Silik as his prisoner.

Enterprise then continues on its merry way, only to receive a transmission from Star Fleet telling them that, while it appears clear they were not at fault for the original destruction of the mining colony that started the whole mess, the Vulcans are still bullying Star Fleet into cancelling their mission.

Archer gives an impassioned speech, T'Pol challenges the illogic of the Vulcan arguments and the treachery of their own behaviour. Admiral Forrest advises Archer that Star Fleet command must consider the situation.

This gives B&B another chance to put T'Pol in her jammies for a late night chat with Archer, who delivers the news that T'Pol's arguments carried the day and Enterprise is to be permitted to continue its mission.

Yep. T'Pol plays most of the episode in her skimpy pajamas, Sato is first portrayed as fearful, weak and unprofessional and then, when she actually comes through in heroic fashion, loses her top and suffers the indignity of arriving at her moment of glory with her hands clasped over her breasts for the enjoyment of her male colleagues and the masturbatory teen viewer.

All the rest of the characters in the show are male. And the plot is ridiculous.

Oh, and Tucker is at his best. First, when the Silik orders to his soldiers to kill Star Fleet crew at the slightest sign of resistance and T'Pol has ordered compliance, our idiot engineer immediately resists, attempting to assault a Suliban soldier. He disobeys a direct order from his (female) commanding officer and puts the lives of all of his crewmates at risk.

Then, when Archer and T'Pol are attempting to present a strong, impassioned and logical case to the Star Fleet leadership, Tucker explodes in anger and starts yelling at the Vulcan contingent in the group. He interrupts two of his superior officers to shout at and insult his superior officers' superior officers and puts the entire mission at risk.

And nothing is done about it.

B&B have outdone themselves with this embarrassment of an episode and this embarrassment of an officer.