Episode 72: The Forgotten

If it weren't for strong performances by Connor Trinneer and Jolene Blalock as characters wrestling with similarly powerful but very different emotional ordeals, "The Forgotten" would be completely forgettable.

It's a bridge episode and, but for some excellent acting, nothing more.

Written by Chris Black and David Goodman, "The Forgotten" sets up Enterprise's desperate trip to the Xindi Council and Archer's impassioned plea for a diplomatic solution to the conflict between the Xindi and the Humans.

Still battling to patch up their battered ship, Archer and his crew meet up with Degra and some of his Xindi colleagues at the rendezvous point where the good Captain gives the Xindi leaders a tour of the evidence he has to support his claims. We finally find out what happened to the three Xindi Reptilians Archer and T'Pol brought back from Earth's past -- their bodies are held in cold storage and their technology stored in a locker -- and we see that the body of the representative of the Sphere People is also stored.

Degra appears convinced and offers to help Archer repair his ship but the other Xindi leaders (an Arboreal and another Primate) are not so certain. Meanwhile, Tucker is forced to deal with his long-contained anger and grief over the death of his sister in the original Xindi attack on Earth and of a valued crew member in a more recent battle. He takes his fury out on Degra in a manner that threatens to jeopardize Archer's efforts to establish trust and it is T'Pol, still battling her own overwhelming emotions in the wake of her Trellium addiction, who has to intervene to calm him down.

When a warp plasma conduit explodes in flames on the ship's saucer section and the resultant fire threatens the warp core itself, Tucker and Reid are forced to take a dangerous space walk to repair it. They are successful but only just. Reid succumbs to the heat of the fire and has to be rushed to Sick Bay for treatment. This is the last straw and Tucker lashes out at Degra one more time -- fortunately for Enterprise's mission, Degra is so guilt-stricken at encountering the devastation his weapon has caused that he takes Tucker's verbal assault as deserved and continues to help.

Degra convinces Archer that he must make a presentation to the Xindi Council soon but, as Degra and his ship prepare to leave, a Xindi Reptilian warship appears. Degra and his crew help defend Enterprise and then, in a surprising show of cooperation and trust, Degra's ship destroys the Reptilian vessel to ensure no reports of the Xindi-Star Fleet detente reach the other Xindi leaders.

There's nothing innovative nor particularly interesting about the main plot. On the other hand, the episode, which moves at a leisurely pace, provides Trinneer and Blalock opportunities to shine as actors. Their roles are not easy: Trinneer must show conflict, grief, guilt and almost impotent fury while maintaining his macho, ol' boy presentation; Blalock must convey the ongoing internal battle between her Vulcan upbringing and her roiling emotions while maintaining a rational public face.

Both provide impressive performances, better than the episode deserves. Far better than the fairly flat, wooden performances offered by just about every other member of the Enterprise crew. Now, that might not be entirely the fault of the actors: other than Tucker and T'Pol (and perhaps Phlox), every other major Star Fleet character is given little emotional range with which to play by the writers -- Archer is intense and often angry, Reid is quiet and seething, Mayweather and Sato almost not present at all.

Randy Oglesby, as Degra, meanwhile, manages to do a nice job of battling through his make-up and prosthetics to convey the internal turmoil overwhelming his character.