We all learn a little about ourselves and each other during this episode as Archer and Travis face their own prejudices. Also it’s a mini Quantum Leap reunion as Dean Stockwell makes an appearance alongside Scott Bakula.
Overall we liked this episode, even if we were beaten over the head with the message.
For anyone who may have missed it.. The internment of American citizens of Japanese-descent was fucked.
Memory Alpha: Link
Enterprise 01×21 – Detained
Directed by David Livingston
Written by Michael Sussman & Phyllis Strong
Guest Stars: Dean Stockwell, Dennis Christopher, Christopher Shea
There Are Four Mics is a weekly Star Trek podcast discussing the Star Trek episodes and movies in stardate order.Join Anna Heiser, Jason Allen, Joe Heiser and Joshua B. Jones as we discuss the 21st episode of Star Trek: Enterprise, Detained.
Direct download available here: Link
Subscribe, rate, and review us on iTunes!
Music credits:
Faith of the Heart/Where My Heart Will Take Me – performed by Russell Watson, Jerry Lubbock, and the New York Trek Orchestra
Archer’s Theme – Dennis McCarthy and New York Trek Orchestra
====
Show Notes
Enterprise 1×21 – Detained
Cold Open
Travis awakes from what looks like one heckuva snooze in some sort of shed lying next to Captain Archer. He peeks out the door and sees a pair of Suliban walking by.
Joe and Chris are all about this cold open. Jason and Josh–Not so much. SOME of us felt like this scene had already been done in a previous episode, Shadows of P’Jem, but with Archer and T’Pol.
While seeing casually dressed Suliban give Joe that same funny feeling as seeing cats standing up, everyone else seems to be a fan of the Suliban look.
Act I
Just as Archer and Travis are about to break out of their Suliban filled prison, an alarm goes off and they’re escorted to an office. They learn they’ve violated military space and are in a detention facility. A transport vessel will arrive in three days to take them to a hearing for their release — until then, they are to stay in prison.
While refilling their water pail, Archer sees a Suliban child and takes it upon himself to scold her father for forcing her into joining the Cabal. Papa Suliban advises the captain he has no idea what the hell he’s talking about and tries to hurry up with his laundry. The Suliban make to leave just as the guards show up and scoot Old Man Suliban into solitary confinement for violating curfew.
Big question for the stickler side in all of us, what’s the timeline on this? How’d they get shot down while the Enterprise would have been around? How long were they unconcious? Enterprise is five light years away, do they not know where the Captain is right now? So many questions.
The episode sets Grat up as a reasonable person pretty quickly and effectively. It’s easy to perceive him as just as much a victim of protocol and paperwork as the imprisoned Travis and Archer. Even the guards give this vibe of general acceptance and tolerance of the Suliban, almost like a begrudging alliance in this shitty prison environment they all must share.
Archer gets pretty high and mighty right off the bat. It’s understandable to have opinions, but if you believe yourself to be surrounded by your worst enemy why make a fuss at the water pail filling station? And then to walk over to a random Suliban and get in his face about raising his daughter? Not cool, man. Not cool.
What we liked:
We get to learn more about the Suliban, making them a more fleshed out alien race.
Anytime there’s mention of the Temporal Cold War, it’s going to be a good time.
We all really enjoyed the guards being set up as pretty ok guys. Lended a level of complexity that would have been lost if they were all stereotypically gruff.
What we didn’t like so much:
Archer’s behavior came out of nowhere!
The timing of events in this episode is kind of funky, but it’s not a distraction.
Act II
Colonel Grat informs the Enterprise of the Captain and Travis’ status, and directs them to Tandar Prime for the trial. The next morning, Archer comes across the Suliban he screwed over the night before and asks for the details about what’s up with this whole situation. Danik paints a bleak picture where the Suliban Cabal launched an offensive, and all Suliban within Tandarian space became suspects and were eventually rounded up into internment camps regardless of their citizenship status.
During an inspection, the guards tell Archer that Grat wants to see him, and forbid Travis from coming along. Grat tells the Captain to mind his own business and quit chilling with Suliban so much. He then quizzes Archer about the circumstances of the Broken Bow incident, and demanding details of the other encounters he has had with the Suliban. After Archer refuses to clarify, Grat advises the Captain that if this interrogation takes very much longer, he might miss the transport tomorrow morning.
Again, the Colonel’s status as the friendly uncle who also happens to be a prison warden continues in his interactions with the Enterprise. Trip is quick to throw the law out the window, but eases back as T’Pol assures him that the Captain will be alright. Which was a welcome change in Trip’s character, considering his explosive, and mutinous, reaction during Civilization.
How Grat got all of this intelligence is never adequately explained, at least as far as Joe is concerned. And Archer’s high-and-mighty attitude seems a little too easy so early in the episode. His previous experiences have been violent and deadly, seems strange he could turn it around so quickly and then condemn others for feeling as he did not 24 hours ago.
What we liked:
Trip is showing some character development, and the writers signs of moving away from the “suspect T’Pol first” storytelling.
What we didn’t like so much:
Archer’s morally superior attitude isn’t well earned in these scenes. It feels shallow compared to real character growth.
Act III
Grat calls the Enterprise to let them know the magistrate is busy with other matters, and there will be an unfortunate delay. While the line is open, Hoshi is able to trace the signal to its origin and the Enterprise changes course to go have a looksee.
Danik the Suliban encourages the Captain to spill the beans about what he knows, but he refuses because he is a man of principle. Archer decides it’s time for a good old fashioned prison break, and Travis gets scolded by a Suliban for being a bigot.
The Enterprise arrives and offers to beam up Archer and Travis but they say hold off cuz they’ve got big plans on the agenda, even though some of the Suliban have some concerns.
Grat interrogates the Captain again regarding the mysterious communication signals coming from his cell, and then they drag in a beaten up Travis to drive home the point that they know what’s up and confiscate their communicators.
As the Enterprise prepares to launch its rescue mission, they get a call from Grat on Archer’s communicator saying that would be a bad move.
A solid Act, though perhaps this is where the heavy handed theme of the episode fully emerges and is carried through to the final act. A lot of good interaction between the characters and a few examples of “show, don’t tell” are somewhat overshadowed by the theme of the episode being pummeled into us.
What we liked:
Travis’s apology to the captain after being interrogated was well received and contributes to a shifting perspective
Josh makes the bold claim that this is not only his favorite Travis episode but the best Travis episode so far. As it turns out, it’s among Anthony Montgomery’s favorite Travis episode too!
Josh and Joe both enjoyed Danik’s little aside to Sajen about his rudeness to Archer and Travis, suggesting there’s a relationship and history between these two people without spelling it out for us.
What we didn’t like so much:
The overt mention of the Japanese Internment felt a bit heavy handed. Star Trek, by its nature, frequently holds a mirror up to society which is one of the best things about the franchise. But in this instance it felt almost like the beginning of a PSA or after-school special, which feels less effective as a means to communicate important ideas.
Archer makes a pretty dramatic ethical flip from a few episodes ago. During the episode, Dear Doctor, Archer outright mentions that he hopes someone makes a “prime directive” to help make the tough choices out in the frontier. He adopts a non-interference stance and the Enterprise goes about their merry way as the Valakians continue to die out.
In this episode he goes from being highly suspicious of the Suliban to orchestrating a jail break. Not saying he was wrong, but a nod to the different thought process may have been warranted.
Act IV
Bruised and battered Travis comes back at that Suliban who called him a bigot just a short time ago and says that the Suliban is the real bigot here because he didn’t trust humans.
The Enterprise approaches the prison planet and jams their frequencies with fake offers of kindness. They also covertly beam down a mysterious thing to the planet before retreating in the face of the planet’s approaching patrol ships.
That mysterious thing they beamed to the planet turns out to be Malcolm wearing Suliban makeup armed with a bunch of phase pistols and explosives. The Enterprise returns and engages in a brief firefight with some scout ships, and then dumps a shuttlepod piloted by Commander Tucker into the atmosphere.
Reed blows a hole in the wall while Tucker is flying above blowing up guard towers and turrets. As he rescues the Captain from isolation, Reed is knocked out by Grat who is still defending this prison as a kindness to the imprisoned Suliban. Archer and Reed get the upper hand with their superior morality and their superior muscles, and make their way back to the Enterprise via the shuttlepod while the Suliban escape.
Is the Enterprise crew disguising themselves as another race racist? I have no idea. At the very least it seems like a gray area, but that’s not really an argument any of us want to get in here.
What we liked:
Very action oriented Act and they did that well.
What we didn’t like so much:
Jason loathed the scene of Travis’s attempt to delay by monologuing about the cafeteria food, feeling he seemed too wholesome and bland. Joe felt he was definitely channeling Wesley Crusher during that moment.
Episode Ratings
Joe: 3.5
Overall I thought it was pretty good! I could almost see it ending with a “Travis, what did we learn?” line, so it felt a little heavy handed. But overall, a fine episode.
Josh: 4.0
A bit low for me for Enterprise, but it just didn’t excite me the way some of the other ones do. It was just ok. Also quit trying to tell me how to rate my episodes.
Chris: 4.0
I enjoyed this episode. I liked that it featured more sympathetic Suliban, that we got to see more factions beyond the Cabal. I liked seeing Dean Stockwell and his interactions with Archer, and appreciated the improvement in Travis Mayweather’s character.
Jason: 4.0
I really liked this episode! Like Chris, I also liked that it expanded our knowledge of the Suliban, adding a lot of depth to the Star Trek universe. I didn’t really like Dean Stockwell here, but I don’t have much of a connection to Quantum Leap. I didn’t really like Travis’s performance or the end exactly.
Trivia Questions
Chris
Question: How many lights illuminate during the mid-day inspection alarm?
Answer: Four (Josh)
Joe
Question: What did T’Pol transmit to the prison to jam their systems?
Answer: Starfleet Charter, Vulcan Database, List of First Contacts between Humans and Alien Species, History of Earth (Jason)
Jason
Question: What is the Suliban girl’s name?
Answer: Nara (Joe)
Josh
Question: What is the number of the detention complex?
Answer: 26 (Jason)
This week:
Jason +2
Joe +1
Josh +1
Final Tally:
Joe – 22 pts
Jason – 21.25 pts
Josh – 8 pts
Anna – 7 pts
Chris – 5 pts