For those who are new to my episode reviews, you can find the post where I establish my point criteria here.
Overview – Captain Archer and his crew finally
reach home after successfully completing their mission to stop the Xindi from
destroying Earth. As the crew are setting about relaxing and enjoying some much
needed shore leave, they learn that the latest crisis has left Earth changed.
In addition to that, T’Pol and Tucker travel to Vulcan together where T’Pol’s
mother informs her daughter that the time to marry her fiancée is now. Each
member of the crew seeks to adapt to the changes in their respective lives.
Score: 8/10 – Reminiscent of TNG’s episode “Family”,
this episode takes the crew back to Earth to be debriefed and recuperate from
overcoming the latest crisis. Several of the main characters each have their
own story as they deal with the aftermath of the Xindi crisis. Archer is
struggling with the emotional consequences of some of his decisions, and the
toll of those choices reaches a breaking point when he snaps at Soval. T’Pol
and Tucker must rectify their feelings for each other, but it does not end the
way we may have expected it as T’Pol ends up marrying Koss with Trip witnessing
the ceremony. As for the rest of the crew, an interesting story of xenophobia
that has gripped Earth encircles them, focussing mostly on Phlox being the
target of the hatred while Travis, Malcolm, and Hoshi support the good doctor.
This almost should have been a two part episode to allow each of the stories to
develop more, but what we are given is sufficient for our characters and is a
nice break after the exhausting Xindi conflict. I found the xenophobic
storyline to be the most interesting, and yet it received the least amount of
air time. The good news is that its theme is picked up later in the season. It
was nice that the T’Pol-Tucker story did not follow the typical “forbidden
love” angle which would have had Tucker somehow stopping the wedding. The end
part of that story leaves it open-ended for the time being, and it will also
feature prominently in future storylines. With Archer, we are introduced to
Captain Erica Hernadez, who is a nice potential love interest for Archer. She
will show up again as well. Overall, this episode does a good job at changing
gears of the show, finally putting the Xindi arc behind and moving forward with
some interesting new ideas.
Relevance – 3 points. Obviously we bring closure to
the Xindi conflict. In this episode it is revealed that 27 members of Archer’s
crew died on that mission. We also see how many of the decisions that Archer
made on that mission have been haunting him. Archer makes several references to
episodes from the past three years, most notably “Impulse” where Archer had to
destroy a Vulcan ship with all her crew. There is also the appearance of Koss,
T’Pol’s fiancée who was mentioned in Season 1. Their storyline has more to be
told. We also have the seeds sown of the xenophobic group called “Terra Prime”
with the anti-alien sentiments that are witnessed by Phlox and the others. A
lot of storylines are either continued or have the foundations established in
this episode, making it important to see.
Continuity – 3 points. Story continuity and universe
continuity are both good here. Character continuity is also good. I especially
found Phlox’s response to the racism shown against him interesting. At first, I
thought he would not have chosen to remain on the ship when invited to go for
his beloved egg drop soup, but upon further reflection it makes sense. Phlox
has always been one who would rather avoid making people upset, and while he
will defend his patients with passion, he is less likely to make a scene on his own behalf.
Character Development – 3 points. A lot goes on here
for our crew, with Archer, T’Pol, and Tucker seeing the most advancement.
Archer gets to finally deal with all the negative emotions that have built up
over the last season. T’Pol gets married, and Tucker finally admits that he has
feelings for her. For both of them this episode is significant in their
development. Even the other crew members get some attention. We see Phlox
persecuted for being an alien, and then see him calmly withdraw internally.
Mayweather and Reed defend him in a bar brawl, but Sato tries to comfort him
emotionally. It showed how close these four had become throughout the series.
Social Commentary – 3 points. There are three
stories here, and each carries its own message and/or commentary. Archer’s
deals with the emotional toll of hard decisions and shows us that it is
necessary for us to deal with these types of emotions as soon as it is
expedient. T’Pol and Tucker deal with the forbidden love. If we are not true to
our own feelings towards others, we may find that those we love may be forced to
choose someone else. Finally, with Phlox’s tale, we have an extremely relevant
message about the dangers of xenophobia. This, as mentioned previously, will
come into full fruition in a later episode. Regardless of which, the warning
against hating those who are different could not be more relevant than today.
Cool Stuff – 2 points. I have to score a point for
Phlox’s defence face. That was one cool little surprise. I also want to score a
point for the scenes on Vulcan and the rock-climbing that Archer and Hernadez
were doing. It was some great views we able to witness.
Rank – Admiral (22
points). This
episode may be lacking in some of the action that was prevalent in the two-part
season opener and much of the previous season, but “Home” gives us a nice
break. It advances most of the main characters and lays some important
groundwork for the rest of the season.
If you would like to check out my other episode reviews for Enterprise, simply click here.
If you would like to read an episode review from any of the Trek series, click the following link to get to the series catalog. If the episode you want reviewed has not been done yet, then feel free to request it in the comments and I will see what I can do.
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