ENT – Demons

Plot – At the founding of the Federation, with representatives of many different alien worlds, Mayor Wilkins III from Buffy resides and makes the whole affair seem quite suspicious. It’s exactly where this series has been heading all along and it is pleasing to finally get there, just as the curtain is about to drop. I understand that the next season was going to see the inception of the Federation take place over a much longer period of time and given the quality of series four of Enterprise it would appear that that would have been a very worthwhile exercise. I’m pleased that this two parter and the close of the next story does prove that Archer and his crews’ journey was a worthwhile one and that they went on this adventure for a reason. I don’t think anybody was quite satisfied with the finale but the emphasis on the founding of the Federation is exactly where this show needed to be at its climax.

Enterprise is the first and only Star Trek series to make regular trips back to Earth and to have running storylines taking place there. Given that this show is all about those first steps out into space, it is quite interesting that this is easily the most grounded of all the Trek shows. After the Xindi attack there was a dangerous spout of xenophobia and this two parter picks up the threads that have been building throughout the season of distrust and of beings from other planets. That’s a really fascinating route to take the series down because one of the stipulations of Gene Roddenberry’s vision for the show is the lack of racism in the future. This actively shows that there was a fight for humanity to reach that laudable goal and that Archer and his crew were somewhat responsible for both fighting that hate and heading out to those worlds and make contact and find a common ground.

Character – Listen to the Enterprise crew berating a politician for failing to mention their contribution to ensuring the representatives from Tellurite and Andoria without slicing each other’s throats. They sound like petulant children who haven’t been given enough praise for their school work. They should be in it for the satisfaction not the glory. Archer is the humblest of the lot of them and it continues his redemption and increased likeability in the final season.

Hoshi creating and updating the universal translators is quite the feather in her cap. Little does she know that her device will be active for centuries to come and a huge factor in diplomacy and space exploration.

Good grief. Mayweather has a past. Who knew? His scenes with Gannet, an old flame of his who is reporting on the founding of the Federation, do more to give this guy a sense of character in one episode than the creators of this series have managed in four entire seasons. He’s still not especially compelling…but boy is he pretty and at one point he takes his shirt off and suddenly my interest perked right up.

Daniel Greaves makes for an interesting addition to the story. He’s Paxton’s right-hand man and a person of colour. It makes a visual point that whilst humanity has overcome its fear of people of different skin colour, it has now transferred that fear to people of other worlds. It’s a cynical point of view, but it seems to suggest that our dislike of the unlike will always end of pointing in some direction.

Performance – Is it possible to feel the lethargy of a cast that have been cut off in their prime and have to see in their contracts and the end of the season? That’s what I’m feeling here. Not a cast that is excited to get to the end of the season, but one that wants this over an done with now. The final episodes of TNG see the cast on top form and giving some of the best performances of the run. The Enterprise crew in comparison are going through the motions.

Peter Weller is a terrific actor but I’m not sure that his character has been written up to his strengths. He has a natural relaxed slur to how he delivers his dialogue and so needs a part that has been written with emotion that animates him. Instead he’s left to pontificate and stare out of windows for most of this episode and he frankly he looks a little bored. He comes to life a little towards the climax as his plans come to fruition but that doesn’t make up for 40 minutes of lethargy.

Great Dialogue – ‘Guess it all depends on who writes the history’ There’s a really pertinent discussion about a man who is only remembered as a racist despot and yet his work helped to save thousands of lives. It’s an old argument. Should people taint you with just one brush when there is much more you than your xenophobic beliefs?

Production – On the back of the mirror universe two parter it is a shame to have to head back to the Russell Watson ditty that has plagued this series since day one.

There’s an extraordinarily awful painted backdrop that suggests that Reed is standing atop a skyscraper at night that would be embarrassing to feature in season one of TNG in 1989 let alone feature in the CGI laboured world of 2005. Obviously, all the money had been spent on the impressive CGI landscapes for Earth and the mining colony, all of which look splendid and give the show a real sense of size and scale. Visually the show has the ambition of a movie, even if in writing terms I very much feel like the creators are writing for television.

This is LeVar Burton’s last episode of Star Trek in the directors’ chair and he remains the meat and potatoes director as far as I am concerned. I’d suggest that this needs a Allan Kroeker of Mike Vejar to bring it to life dynamically. Burton’s work is fairly static and performance-strong, whereas this needs somebody with a bit stylistic flourish. It’s serviceable, but should have been standout.

Best moment – The climax features some stunning FX work and the work of a true Bond villain as the facility on Mars is taken over and Terra Prime has the technology to attack any ship or planet in the system. If that sounds especially exciting, I must be telling it wrong. When the best of the episode is a subpar terror attack that feels like it can be defeated and won’t go down in the history books, you’re in a lot of trouble. I never felt any real stakes here. It just looks very pretty.

Worst moment – Coto doesn’t quite have the ability to slip Brookes and her true motives under the radar. The second she is asking to look inside one of the shuttle pods, red alert.

I wish they hadn’t done that – When the episode drops the bombshell about who the child’s parents are why does the scene cut so abruptly? The director is literally cutting away from the drama of everybody’s reactions, which would have been so interesting to see.

A reason to watch this episode again – There are lots of things I like about Demons; the chance to head back to Earth and catch up with the situation there, the show finally playing out the founding of the Federation, the emotion that is laden in the Trip and T’Pol storyline, Reed and Mayweather actually being given something to do. What I find frustrating is that this is the basically the first half of the series finale and given that Manny Coto knew that this is where the series was coming to an end it is a shame that he didn’t write something with a little more of a sense of occasion. I don’t know if the problem is in the writing or the direction but this feels very middle of the season rather than the culmination of everything that Enterprise has been doing. Think of All Good Things, What You Leave Behind and Endgame. Whatever you think of their individual merits they are all pushing the boundaries of what can be achieved on television and attempting to go out on an epic, emotional and unforgettable note. In contrast this a perfectly serviceable piece of drama with a valid point to make about rejecting racism but it really falls flat in comparison. It continues the trend of Enterprise feeling like the runt of the litter that can’t quite perform. If the series finale had been much cop then the weight of the series wouldn’t have fallen on this two parter but since it does it really has to pull up its socks and do something extraordinary and it simply doesn’t do that. If it feels like I am being too hard on Demons that is unfortunate because it is a perfectly competent episode. But I wouldn’t suggest it ever trips into high gear, and that is what is needed.

*** out of *****