ENT – Similitude

Plot & Character (because they go hand in hand here like all the best Trek) -

There are enormous ethical issues about creating a clone of a crewmember that will only live for 15 days, harvest the tissue you need to cure his progenitor and then let it die. It’s a premise so ripe for Trek that I’m surprised it has taken this long for them to get around to it. What if the clone doesn’t want to die? What if the crew become attached to Trip II? What about the moral issue of creating a lifeform for the express purpose of exploiting it? Doesn’t that make the clone no better than an instrument rather than a person? T’Pol is quick to remind Archer that they will be growing a sentient being but he is blinded by his love for his friend. What you have is a living, breathing self-aware being who has been bred for death essentially and the episode pushes hard to make the crew confront the moral implications of that. Archer certainly doesn’t duck away from making some tough choices here; he takes the teenage Sim to meet Trip who is lying in bed dying. Some might say that is a cruel thing to do to a child, others would argue that the clone should be told as early as possible what he is alive for so he can spend his ‘life’ preparing for his death. Once he learns the truth that he wont survive the transplant Sim asks the obvious questions of why he shouldn’t just sacrifice himself now if he only has five days left to live…forcing the crew into the uncomfortable position of finding reasons to keep him alive that time. Like it or not, he is an exact copy of Trip and they don’t want to lose him, even if that means just for five days.

I’m really pleased that the writers managed to sustain (for the most part) that the Delphic Expanse is a dangerous place to be and has fresh dangers to threaten the crew.

Performance – Trineer’s performance as Sim is an interesting one because he plays this version of Trip with exactly the same charm but a much greater sense of innocence, as befits a man who has been alive for less than two weeks. He’s a much-undervalued actor in the Star Trek pantheon, overlooked compared to some far ropier actors in the franchise simply because of the show that he featured in. I would suggest watching Cogenitor, Similitude and Demons back to back to explore just how smart and brave his acting choices can be. Stick Unexpected on too just so you know he’s game for a laugh. Trip without the Texan street smarts is even more appealing, if that’s possible.

Great Dialogue – ‘I need Trip. I’ll take whatever steps necessary to save him. Even if that means killing you’ Scott Bakula delivers that line with such venom and emotion that I was quite taken aback.

Production – I was very impressed with the brevity of time it took to show Sim being grown and progressing through childhood. A Dr Phlox voiceover certainly helps (it’s like he can’t help but be amusing) but how director Levar Burton shows the passing of age in a few minutes is effortlessly achieved. The actors that they choose to represent the different stages of Trip’s development look remarkably similar to Trineer. That must have been an interesting casting session. Stand in that corner whilst we bring in lots of people who look like you and we decided could be you at different stages of your life. The incapacitated Enterprise covered in debris from the nebula looks fantastic, like it is resting under the sea and is covered in barnacles and rust. Something very simple like having the windows encrusted with dirt makes the ship feel so much more claustrophobic. It’s not so much Star Trek as Star Stuck. The score won an award and so I was listening out for it but I didn’t have to, it is the perfect kind of accompaniment. Emotive, exciting and unobtrusive. It’s cinematic at times, suggesting that something far more visually ambitious is occurring.

Best moment – The dialogue scene that we all knew was coming between Archer and Sim about the nature of existence, sacrifice and doing the right thing. Similitude was always heading here and it doesn’t disappoint. The performances are exceptional, both actors look on the verge of tears. Understandable, given what they are talking about.

The kiss between Trip and T’Pol has been a long time coming. So the fact that it happens between T’Pol and Sim is hilarious.

Worst moment – Similitude features what is probably the most blatantly manipulative teaser in all of Trek in that it tries to convince us that they are writing out Trip. This is a big deal because he is one of about four characters that are tolerable on this show. Can you imagine if the camera panned across the mourning crew and rested on the corpse of Mayweather or Reed? It would be a reason to celebrate. The trouble is I think the writer imagines that the audience are going to be wondering who dies at the end of the episode; Trip or Sim but honestly as soon as Sim is introduced the answer to that questions is obvious and the suspense around the teaser poofs into thin air. Enterprise simply doesn’t take those kinds of risks. I would have removed the teaser altogether and let the episode play out with all the material afterwards. That way we would never know that death is on the cards for ether character and we would wonder which of them might make it, or both.

I wish they hadn’t done that – At a point where Trip and T’Pol are relaxing half naked and massaging each other in their free time I think perhaps it is time for the pair of them to grab hold of each other and have at it. The point where his head is between her legs and she is leaning over and giving him what looks to be a colonic massage, I wonder if Trek has quite learnt how to build up sexual tension in a way that titillates the audience.

A reason to watch this episode again – ‘You’re not a murderer’ ‘Don’t make me one.’ An episode of Enterprise that makes you sit up and pay attention to the moral implications of what is happening and truly punches you in the gut with its unscrupulously manipulative premise. I can see why it is a favourite of the fans of this show. This is not exactly original stuff because it shares a lot of similarities with the Voyager episode Tuvix (a new lifeform that if left to survive will mean the death of someone else where the Captain has to explore the tough decision to murder him or not) but this is a far superior episode because it focuses on the one element I often criticise Enterprise for; focusing on the human element. By bringing the Trip/Archer friendship to the fore, Similitude reaches an emotional level that I would have suggested it couldn’t scale before this episode. I certainly have never felt the bond between these two quite so intensely before and it’s in an episode where Trip barely features. The moral and ethical implications of creating a clone for slaughter are given as much consideration as you can in 45 minutes – this might have been a more interesting experiment if Sim had an expiration of several months and he appeared in a handful of episodes – but to see Enterprise engaging with big philosophical questions of identity and mortality in such an intelligent way is very refreshing. I can see why Manny Coto was a shoe-in for the showrunners chair in the fourth season. This is a powerhouse first effort that hits harder than it has any right to.

****1/2 out of *****

Clue for tomorrow's episode -