By Steve Krutzler / 10:28, 25 October 2004 / ENTERPRISE Reviews

Synopsis: Back home the crew face vacations that aren't particularly relaxing.

Review: Like ST:TNG's "Family," which followed the catastrophic and tense "Best of Both Worlds," ENTERPRISE's own season four begins with "Home," an episode with much the same function. Namely, to provide a break in between the crisis of the previous two parter and the crisis to come. The problem, in part, is ENTERPRISE's own "Two Days and Two Nights" did this far better and that "Home" lacks the color and life of either "Family" or "Two Days and Two Nights," episodes that could merge humor, pathos with revelations about the breaking points and healing powers of the characters.

"Home"'s strongest of the storylines focuses on Archer coping with a cynical and dark view of exploration and Starfleet driven by his own self-loathing and sense of betrayal of his original mission. We also encounter Captain Hernandez who may help bury once again the foolish idea propagated by some using the borderline non-canon TOS episode, "Turnabout Intruder," that women can't be Captains. It is good to see such a character on STAR TREK, particularly as female Captains have not been as visible as they should be; seven years of Captain Janeway have done quite a lot to hurt the perception of the role of the female Captain as a leader to a professional crew, rather than Janeway's substitute mother figure to a family of misfits. And even though Captain Hernandez in the episode is reduced to a stereotypical nurturing and romantic interest role, the actress still manages to make her come across as competent and professional.

Bakula gives another capable performance in "Home" that reminds us once again that Archer can be a strong character when he's given something to work with. Here he projects both frustrated anger and idealism as we see him coming to terms with the events of the previous year and gaining a sense of peace from them. Even coming to terms with the Vulcan Ambasaddor. The battle on top of the mountain and the mountain climbing itself are both cliches, but they're not badly used here, even if we can finally maybe offer a grateful prayer that the funny looking wire sculpture Xindi suits may have actually seen their last use on our TV screens except for when reruns of season three come calling again; if they ever do.

By contrast Trip and T'Pol's Vulcan adventure is far weaker, not the least because it relies on non-existent chemistry between two characters who seem as if they could exert more appeal on some of the prayerful stone statues standing around the matte backgrounds than on each other. Still, T'Pol's mother is well acted and comes across as a real person rather than another one in a long line of mean ENTERPRISE Vulcans, which is what she appears to be at the beginning of the episode. And the unexpected and dramatic ending, rather than a cliched and nauseating scene in which Trip and T'Pol announce their love for each other adds significant power to the story by elevating it from a story of true love to a story of sacrifice, which is always stronger. And the neo-Japanese decor of T'Pol's mother's home makes the episode seem somewhat more graceful than it is.

The weakest link of the stories is the afterschool special section on Phlox facing prejudice on Earth. While Phlox puffing up his head like a blowfish is good for a laugh, the material is earnestly tedious and cliched and a distinct matter of condescendingly preaching obvious virtues to a sleeping choir. Worst of all, this entire scene is all the more hypocritical since rather than being blatantly outrageous and unfair by ENTERPRISE's moral standards, the redneck's treatment of Phlox is quite similar to Archer and Trip's Season one treatment of T'Pol and other Vulcans. But instead of making use of this opportunity for some of Enterprise's crew to recognize and deal with their own prejudices, we have the Enterprise crew nobly and gallantly rising to Phlox's defense and lecturing us, them and even Phlox on prejudice.

Maybe it was the influence of seeing Team America: World Police but for a moment there before the fists began to fly, I thought that instead of fighting, Reed, Phlox and Mayweather would rise and sing a rousing pop anthem about tolerance and diversity. Sadly, instead all we got was five minutes of them hanging around in one of the most fake looking bar sets ever followed by one of the most fake looking fight scenes ever. Perhaps the next time ENTERPRISE decides to take a ground breaking story idea that has only been previously tackled by such groundbreaking series as HAPPY DAYS, BEVERLY HILLS 90210 and the COSBY SHOW; they might try using it in a way that makes you think instead of yawn, and that speaks to an adult awareness of the complexities of human nature instead of educational slogans aimed at small children.

All in all, "Home" doesn't live up to the more complex storytelling combinations of "Family" or "Two Days and Two Nights." It lacks the sense of fun those two episodes had and the character development isn't nearly up to par either. But nevertheless it's a useful placeholder episode that marks the ending of one time of trial for the Enterprise crew and the beginning of the next.

Next week: Brent Spiner is back...and he has a really creepy laugh.

	More Top Stories	Comments
Nov 23	J.J. Abrams and Chris Pine Talk How Gratifying That Star Trek was Well Received, Working with Leonard Nimoy and Star Trek XII	0
Nov 23	Chuck returns to NBC with a special two-hour show on Sunday, Jan 10, 2010, before returning to its regular time slot, Mondays at 8pm on the following night. It's return to prime time television can be attributed to a successful fan renewnal campaign last year. CHUCK is a one-hour, action-comedy series that follows Chuck Bartowski (Zachary Levi, "Less Than Perfect") -- a computer geek who is catapulted into a new career as the government's most vital secret agent. This upcoming season will include some special guest stars, including Brandon Routh of "Superman Returns" who will play CIA agent Daniel Shaw in an episode, and the addition of SUBWAY restaurant as a major advertiser to the show. Chuck averaged a 4.0/6 rating last season, about eight percent better than the recently cancelled "Trauma". Ratings-challenged Heroes moves back an hour when Chuck returns on Monday nights. STAR TREK VOYAGER's Robert Duncan McNeill serves Chuck as a supervising producer and director.	0
Nov 23	5-Page Preview of Third Issue of Galactica 1980 Comic Book	0
Nov 22	Quinto, Urban, Saldana, Cho and Greenwood on Their Hopes for Star Trek XII	3
Nov 22	Exclusive Digital Content Now Available With New Star Trek Movie on iTunes	1
	Story Archives...Browse:   AllBits - Miscellany Deep Space NineEnterpriseGamingGeneral Genre/SciFiGeneral Star Trek PeopleStar Trek: NemesisTodays TribbletsTrek BooksVoyagerFeatures