By O. Deus / 07:16, 14 May 2004 / ENTERPRISE Reviews

Synopsis: Archer arrives at the Xindi Council while maneuvers continue among the Xindi races and the Sphere Builders before the launch of the weapon.

Review: The Council is many things but not the least among them a compelling argument for Manny Coto being in charge of Enterprise rather than Berman and Braga. As a complete episode it often comes off a bit disjointed but that is because its real accomplishments are in the characterization of the Xindi. A characterization that is long overdue. Unlike some of the previous episodes, this is not one dominated simply by the character of Degra.

While Randy Oglesby does deliver another resoundingly powerful performance as Degra in his final appearance; Coto fleshes the Xindi out by giving the other Xindi council members depth as well and making their interplay ppear more than the cartoonish stereotypes they have been up till now. The Avian skull alone is a deceptively simple but excellent touch that does more to bring depth to the Xindi and their agenda than all the Council meetings have throughout this season and until now. Details such as this or Degra's revelations about the role of the Sphere Builders in their lives should have been a part of the show long before this to make the Xindi and their motivations plausible.

By contrast the Enterprise crew doesn't come off nearly as well this episode. Archer is still focused but a bit too casual. His principal's office exchange with Hoshi is clever and well played but it also clashes with the context of the situation. 7 million people have died and this is Archer's last ditch attempt to preserve the remains of humanity and it makes him seem far too lighthearted and casual especially onsidering the terrible things Archer has had to do up till now to the point that he sent himself off on a suicide mission only a few episodes ago.

The real purpose of these scenes seems to be to remind us of Hoshi's existence as a human being with a likeable personality so that we're shocked and saddened by her kidnapping. But of course Enterprise should not have neglected her or Reed or some of the other crewmembers this season as gratuitously as they did in favor of the compelling ideas embodied by T'Pol's erotic massage parlor. However as in E2, Reed gets another small but effective scene. This time with T'Pol. It's ironic that despite all the fuss and all the effort dedicated to T'Pol and Trip and T'Pol's unlocking of her emotions with Trip; one of her best scenes and unquestionably best demonstration of the empathic use of her emotions is in a scene with Lt. Reed.

Billingsley's Dr Phlox of course is always entertaining to watch even if he's given little to do. By contrast Connor Trinneer who was certainly never one of Enterprise's best actors but managed to give a pretty good performance in The Forgotten, phones in his scenes in The Council. Not that he'd really even be noticeable alongside Randy Oglesby's work but at least he could have made an effort to put some depth in his performance. In this episode Manny Coto manages to make even the proverbial doomed redshirt stand out but in an episode full of compelling characters; Tucker is strictly a no show.

All in all the human side of The Council is easily outweighed by the Xindi side of it. It would have been intriguing if the producers had the guts to tell this episode's story from the Xindi perspective. It certainly would have been doable as Degra was already on Enterprise a lot of the time. But "The Council" comes as close to that as it dares with an episode in which the Xindi rather than the humans are undeniably the key players.

Again the issue of proof is dubious since all Archer presents is a holographic mockup of the Sphere Builder. Considering what Degra tells us about the level of devotion of the Xindi to the Guardians, half the Council seems rather willing to turn on them with limited evidence at best. If T'Pol's mission had returned from the Sphere with compelling evidence to the Council that might have more credibly explained their willingness to believe Archer's story. Still the radical steps taken by the Reptillians help tip the balance.

Degra's murder is excellently directed, written and played and stands as the best part of the episode. Much of it could have been done as a cliche but the writing gives us two personalities with two different worldviews colliding with one another in that room. Both are fanatics of a particular kind with two different visions of the future that will rebuild and reunify the Xindi. Degra's vision embodied in that handshake with Trip is incompatible with the Reptillian dominated Xindi Council hunting down the very last humans in the galaxy. The launch of the weapon becomes a tug of war between the moderates and the jihadis with the seeming victory going to the Reptillians and Insectoids seeking to rebuild a destroyed way of life through mass murder.

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