Episode 52: The Expanse

As season two of Enterprise drew to a close in the Spring of 2003, the powers that be must have realized that the show was approaching a crisis. It's viewership had dropped to an average below 4 million people per week (down from the opening audience of 12.5 million according to Wikipedia) and several late-season shows had attracted fewer than 3.5 million viewers.


They had driven away most of the core Star Trek fans and, at a time in the arc when most successful shows were starting to build their ratings, Enterprise was failing to catch on.
B&B must have known that they had to do something special to help the show recover. Risks had to be taken.


To their credit, they seem to have latched upon what might have been a successful strategy. Drawing on elements that had helped previous Trek series maintain or even gain viewers, they introduced an intense, long-term story arc and a terrifying new threat: the Xindi. Sure, the Xindi are no match for the Borg when it comes to the inducement of terror but they are pretty good nonetheless.


And the idea of creating the Xindi as a direct and looming threat to the very survival of Earth is a pretty darned good one.


As you can see, I am a lot more positive about "The Expanse" than I was about many of the episodes that preceded it. Well, let me rephrase that: I am a lot more positive about the promise for future episodes that is created in "The Expanse" than I was about what came before it.


Because "The Expanse" doesn't really have a full developed plot of its own. It serves mainly as a launching pad for Season Three and the Xindi campaign.


As a result, "The Expanse" suffers as an individual episode of Star Trek.


There isn't really a plot. There is simply a series of to-be-related events that set the stage for the next season.


An attack on Earth leads to the recall of Enterprise. On the trip home, Archer is kidnapped by the Suliban for the sole purpose of permitting their future-age boss to warn the Enterprise captain of the grave new threat a race called the Xindi pose to both the human race and the timeline. It seems the Xindi are now the tokens of some other faction of the temporal cold war and have been told that Star Fleet is destined to destroy the Xindi if the Xindi don't destroy Earth first.


As it nears Earth, Enterprise comes under attack by a Klingon bird of prey commanded by our old friend Duras but, with the help of several older Star Fleet warp ships sent out to meet it, Enterprise manages to fight off the Klingons and make it to Earth in once piece.


While home, Archer convinces Star Fleet of the Xindi threat and talks Admiral Forrest into permitting him to lead Enterprise to the Delphic Expanse where the Xindi are said to live. The Vulcans warn against undertaking such a dangerous mission on the basis that time travel has been proven impossible by the Vulcan Science Academy so the information Archer has received must be faulty and the Expanse is such a scary scary place. T'Pol is ordered to return to Vulcan for re-assignment once Enterprise's quest is granted.


Meanwhile, Enterprise is refitted with more powerful armour and new "photon torpedoes". It also takes onboard a contingent of trained soldiers to help when and if the Xindi are found. Archer agrees to drop T'Pol off on Vulcan on their way out for the 3-month trip to the Expanse and is delighted when she decides, en route, to resign her commission and stay with Enterprise.


The next commercial break apparently encompasses three months because, when we return, Enterprise has arrived at the barrier to the Expanse. Unfortunately, Duras has come with them. And he's brought friends. Too bad for Duras that the captains of his two escort birds of prey have no honour and prefer to retreat rather than follow Enterprise into the Expanse; even more too bad for Duras that Mayweather knows how to fly Enterprise in a big loop to expose Duras' weak rear shielding to Enterprise's enhanced new weapons.


The episode ends with Duras destroyed and Enterprise entering the Delphic Expanse.


Yes, you're right. B&B packed a lot of stuff into this 42-minute episode.


The Duras sub-plot is included, I think, as an effort to give "The Expanse" a beginning, middle and end and some ongoing suspense. Unfortunately, it fails and is just silly.


Further, it involves Klingons behaving in some pretty unKlingon ways, such as showing fear in the face of the unknown (or showing fear in the face of anything) and backing away from a battle on several occasions.


Further, why would Duras and his pals wait until Enterprise reaches the Expanse before attacking. Their ships are faster and Enterprise has been three months on the journey -- surely they could have caught him before then?


Still, after the insulting garbage Enterprise offered through much of the latter part of the second season, "The Expanse" at least offers some hope for future seasons.


The episode does raise some problematic questions, however:


1. What exactly is Archer's mission? This is never discussed nor made clear. From the fact that Enterprise's defenses and armament are both enhanced, and that a large group of soldiers are taken onboard, it would seem that the mission is a military one. One warp five ship against an entire civilization that has the capability to send a little ship all the way to Earth and kill seven million people in a matter of seconds? I trust we are going to find out that Archer's mission is a diplomatic one, to broker a peace deal with the Xindi so that neither has to wipe out the other.


2. Why is Tucker permitted to take part (as, basically, the third in command) when he is so clearly emotionally unhinged (and dangerously volatile) in light of the death of his sister? "The Expanse" is written (over-written, in fact) to make it clear that, if and when Enterprise finds the Xindi, its Chief Engineer is going to be advocating war (and revenge) at all costs and could be an unstable element in the negotiations.


3. Why would the Suliban not be invited to aid Enterprise in this mission? It is clear that the Suliban future-boss sees the actions of the Xindi as being problematic, and he makes it clear that they are acting on behalf of another faction in the TCW, so why would he not order the Suliban, with their advanced abilities, to support Enterprise in approaching the Xindi?