Episode 74: The Council

The season's final three episodes, beginning with "The Council", deliver the much anticipated, much hoped for action-packed climax and conclusion of the Xindi plot arc that has sustained the entire third season.Well-written and dramatically unrelenting, they flow so smoothly and inexorably into each other that I watched them all in one sitting.

Writing about each separate episode for this blog will pose something of a challenge.

"The Council" is written by Manny Coto.

Thanks to Archer's success in opening negotiations with Degra and the Xindi Primates in previous shows, this episode begins with the Sphere People deciding they have to intervene directly. Too many possible timelines now show Earth surviving. First they approach Degra, challenging his loss of faith, but Degra refuses to fall for the ploy. His doubts are too deep to be assuaged that way.

The Sphere People get a much better reception when they approach the Reptilians, promising Reptilian dominance over the Council after Earth dies

Sensing an opportunity, Enterprise sends a shuttle to a nearby sphere to collect its redundant data core to produce more evidence against the Sphere People. Enterprise herself, meanwhile, moves to the Council where Sato and Archer present their evidence.The Reptilians, to everyone's surprise, express support for delaying launch of the weapon to hear more from Archer, a ploy that distracts the rest while the Reptilians and Insectoids steal the weapon but that, in the end, backfires because it opens the door for the deeply reflective Aquatics to consider Archer's arguments.

Meanwhile, back in the Sphere, Reid, T'Pol and a MACO battle the automated defense systems (long arms with nasty claws and weapons on their ends) and, after watching the MACO get vaporised, Reid and T'Pol make it back to the shuttle pod with the redundant memory core (a box of CDs, to be honest) in their possession.

The Reptilian leader visits Degra in his quarters and then brutally murders him for the destruction of the Xindi warship in one of the previous episodes, promising as the light disappears from Degra's eyes that he will track down and murder Degra's family as well. Archer is informed of Degra's death and the theft of the weapon -- he discovers his only real hope is to make a plea for help to the Aquatics.

During that plea, Archer promises that, if helped, Enterprise can destroy the Spheres as well. This makes the Aquatics turn to listen, though a decision is still to come. Meanwhile, Reid and Major Hayes continue to rebuild their relationship as they try to deal with their guilt and anger over the death of the MACO soldier in the Sphere.

Enterprise flies off with a fleet of smaller Xindi Primate and Arboreal vessels in an attempt to stop the Reptilians and Insectoids from taking the weapon into a conduit bound for Earth. They fail and, in the battle, the Reptilians beam Sato off Enterprise's bridge and take her prisoner.

The episode works fairly well. Coto keeps the action rolling and doesn't introduce too many "give me a break" scenes. I laughed at the creative presentation of the Sphere's redundant memory core (it really does look just like a box of CDs) and I could not get over how pristine the shuttle pod is when the ship that houses it is such a mess.

The development of Xindi culture is interesting. The Primate and Arboreals seem genuinely to miss the extinct Avians while the Reptilians despise them as failures for going extinct in the first place. Meanwhile, it becomes clear that the Reptilians and Insectoids have developed as the muscle of the Xindi race, providing protection to the others in exchange, I would guess, for other valuable consideration like scientific research, perhaps food production, etc. We learn, for example, that the Reptilian ships, in particular, are bigger and more heavily armed than are those of the Primates and Arboreals but that the Primate ships are faster.

The position of the Aquatics in the order of things is less clear. The Aquatics are, apparently, the deep thinkers of the group. They take their time to consider even the smallest decision and usually make very wise choices. On the other hand, as we learn in the next episode, Aquatic ships are much bigger and more powerful than even those of the Reptilians.