Episode 29: Minefield

"Minefield" would be a fantastic episode... if only it didn't foreground Armoury Officer Malcolm Reed who is rapidly developing into one of the most irritating continuing characters ever to appear in a Star Trek series.

We start in the Captain's Mess, where a clearly uncomfortable Reed sits down to breakfast with his Captain. Reed's life is his work and he appears to have no other subjects of conversation than duty and duty rosters, weapons and warheads. Archer, meanwhile, seems to believe that any male he encounters must love sports so, when his attempt to draw Reed into a conversation about England making the World Cup final, the two have nothing left.

Fortunately, T'Pol interrupts with news that Enterprise's scanners have located a Menchara Class planet not far away. For some reason, this seemingly routine news means meals are interrupted -- Archer and Reed head, with no small measure of relief, to the bridge.

The planet seems great, uninhabited but with plenty to investigate, and Archer orders Enterprise into standard orbit. No sooner does Mayweather move to comply than a massive explosion tears a chunk out of the ship's saucer section, injuring scores of crew members, including Sato, who is taken to Sick Bay with a severe concussion.

A panicked investigation discloses that Enterprise fell victim to a cloaked mine and, worse, that a second mine has attached itself to the primary hull, right near the impulse engine. Using the technology developed during "Storm Front" that was used to reveal the cloaked Suliban ship in that episode, the crew realises that Enterprise is, in fact, surrounded by an entire field of these mines.

Needing to deal with the explosive on their hull first, Archer sends Reed out to examine and, if possible, detach or defuse the mine. I doubt it is appropriate protocol to send a single crewman out on such mission -- safety would demand that space walks would be done in pairs, at least -- but Reed is alone as he informs Archer that the mine has two magnetic legs by which it clings to the ship's hull and a proximity sensor that appears to have malfunctioned, otherwise the mine would have blown up on contact.

Meanwhile, Archer orders Tucker to begin the work necessary to detach the section of the hull to which the mine is attached and permit it to float away into space, a just-in-case option that would leave their impulse manifold dangerously exposed.

A warship suddenly decloaks aft of Enterprise and it is a credit to the series' creative team that the warship is instantly identifiable as Romulan. With Sato unavailable, T'Pol uses the universal translator to try to decipher the warship's radio-only communication but fails, resulting in two warning shots fired. Archer orders Mayweather to begin the very difficult task of piloting the ship back out through the mines using thrusters and the warship disappears.

Reed continues his work but the mine suddenly sends out a third magnetic leg, which manages to pierce Reed's own leg and pin him to the hull. Archer dons a space suit and heads out to help him and we are treated to an extended interaction between two men with little wit and no charm as Archer works to defuse the mine. Reed alternates between doom and gloom (as per his behaviour throughout Shuttlepod One") and hectoring Archer about his lax and undisciplined leadership style. Archer, meanwhile, tries to keep Reed talking about his family history to distract them both from the tension of their situation as the Captain works to defuse the mine, following Reed's instructions.

Remarkably, Reed has gone from knowing nothing about the mine in early scenes to being an absolute expert on even the smallest details of the weapon's design and operation.

Sato works on translating the alien's language while still recovering in Sick Bay and is soon able to explain to T'Pol and Tucker that the aliens, who call themselves "Romalins", have claimed the planet and warned Enterprise to leave or be destroyed. T'Pol immediately corrects her pronunciation -- "It's Romulans", she says ominously.

Mayweather does yeoman's work in piloting the ship out of the minefield but two Romulan ships decloak aft of Enterprise. With translation now possible, T'Pol listens as the Romulan commander says that their scans show Enterprise is ready to release the hull section to which the mine is attached and orders Enterprise to do so and leave at warp speed. Tucker (who just loves to interrupt when his superior officers are on the phone) shouts out that they have a man trapped on the hull who will die if they comply with the Romulan command -- the Romulan commander says, too bad, you've got 80 or so more inside the ship who will also die if you don't comply.

Archer comes back inside and hatches a plan: he will bring two shuttle pod doors back out to Reed. Enterprise will release the hull plate, Archer will cut the mine's leg so as to free Reed (although that action will set off the mine's proximity fuse) and then the two men will use the shuttle pod doors to shield themselves from the blast and, with luck, make it back to Enterprise.

The only problem is, the Romulans don't want to wait that long. They hold fire when Enterprise releases the hull plate but charge weapons when it becomes clear Enterprise is not immediately going to warp. Archer and Reed (in a manner that is never explained) make it back into the ship's hold just in time and Enterprise goes to warp before the Romulans can fire.

If Reed and Archer weren't so ridiculously irritating, both individually and together, this would actually be a great episode. There is a lot to like here: the presentation of the Romulans, for the most part, matches Star Trek lore about this dangerous race; the tension is pretty good; and the secondary characters (Sato, Mayweather and Phlox -- in other words, those characters who are not white males) actually get significant screen times and are permitted to perform their jobs effectively to make a real contribution to the outcome.