Plot – Archer is still on Earth following on from the events of Home, which is a nice piece of continuity. From what I have gleamed from season four it feels like it is pulling the show in precisely the right direction. We’ve had some time travel nonsense, a chance to have a breather from the Xindi arc and now it is time to tackle some powerful material.
In a season that makes exploring Star Trek continuity its goal, season four kicks off with one of the most famous threads throughout the franchise thanks to Khan and Julian Bashir; genetically enhanced humans. I like that the Eugenics War is frequently referred to but no real details are given – it led me to believe that one of these shows would dare to pop back and take a look at just how disturbing that conflict was. Khan was bad enough, a wily and seductive man with incredible strength and tactical genius. He proved to be Kirk’s ultimate nemesis. Julian Bashir was the flip side of the coin. A sweet, occasionally arrogant but loving man who poured his life into medicine and saving lives. Enterprise pitches for a group of ragtag Augments from the war having escaped a facility where they were being held and out for vengeance against a society that would rather forget that they existed.
A gripping opening featuring two Augments taken prisoner on a Klingon ship and effectively wiping out the crew and taking over. The Klingons are considered the big bad on this show so staging a coup on one of their ships without breaking a sweat is kind of a big deal.
Character – I’m not really invested in the conflict amongst the Augments. The characters are a little too dry and po-faced to get involved with. When Khan was introduced I couldn’t take my eyes off him such was his magnetism. My eyes fell off the screen when it was populated with this bunch. The tension between Raakin and Malik is just two schoolboys thumping their chests and trying to prove which of them is the better man. I hope there isn’t two more episodes of this sort of thing.
Performance – Dave Power gives a sweet turn as Ensign Pierce, a rookie officer who is unprepared for the dangers ahead and falls apart as a slave of the Orion’s. He’s of the Reg Barclay stock, flawed and likable because of it and I feel sad to read on Memory Alpha that this was his only appearance. If I compare how drawn I was to him in his scant few scenes compared to how long it took me to even tolerate someone like Malcolm Reed, I feel the attention is being given to the wrong people.
Production – It’s always a pleasure to see Brent Spiner in Star Trek in whatever guise he happens to be playing and he gives this episode of Enterprise a particular sparkle with his star turn as Dr Soong. It does make me wonder if he was wasted all of these years playing such an emotionless character when this is the level of intensity, he can bring to the franchise but then I remember all the times that Data broke my heart and I tell myself to shut up. ‘Looks like you saved Earth for nothing’ he says with a cheeky look in his eye. Enterprise needs more of this kind of ironic humour. He’s basically like Garak; a complicated, intelligent and extremely sarcastic man with a penchant for one liners. ‘Your crew could use a sense of humour’ he says at one point and never was a truer word spoken.
When Khan showed up on the Enterprise he was dressed in the finest of clothes that made his eyes sparkle. Why then are these Augments dressed up like barbarians that have just escaped from the jungle? It feels like an attempt to link their look with the unclean savagery of Khan from the second movie…but that takes place in the future and was borne out of circumstances. There is no reason for them to be decked out in hole-ridden leather other than to think it looks cool. And it looks faintly ridiculous.
Best moment – The Orion slave auction – which has nothing to do with the episode itself – is dazzlingly well realised. I loved the image of T’Pol being lifted up like a rag doll to a flurry of excited bidders who don’t say a word but tap furiously at their padds. She refuses to give the affair any of her dignity and looks down on them as though they are beneath her. We’ve heard so much about the Orion Syndicate in DS9 that it is nice that we finally get to see what they get up to in their seedy joints.
Worst moment – Another episode where Hoshi and Merriweather have absolutely nothing to do. They must really hate these characters. I think they get a single line each.
I wish they hadn’t done that – Because this is a trilogy of episodes it means they have far more breathing room than usual. As a result this episode winds up feeling like it is going nowhere fast and that it gets to the good stuff right towards the end. This feels like a prologue to a two-part story rather than a vital instalment in its own right. The Augments story would have made a tight two-parter but at three parts it feels…unhurried.
A reason to watch this episode again – A number of good scenes and real sense that the series is delving back into the franchise continuity in a big way, however Borderland is a frustrating prologue to real meat of this story rather than an episode in its own right. Its purpose is to get us from A to B with Soong so the fireworks can really take off in the next episode. It is enlivened by Brent Spiner’s appearance as the witty and weird Dr Soong. I love the way he so effortlessly manages to wind up the Enterprise crew just by gently poking fun at them. The peek at the Orion’s is great fun too. It is a shame that the Augments themselves are such a pack of dullards. Compared to Khan (or even Bashir) this bunch are your tenapenny thugs spitting at each other and vying for command. I’m sure they could have been characterised more thoughtfully than this. This is watchable stuff, but much of it is inessential for the story ahead.
*** out of *****
Clue for the next episode:
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