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Star Trek: Enterprise reviews — season 3

Star Trek: Enterprise — 3x05 — Impulse

Synopsis

When Enterprise responds to a distress call from a Vulcan ship stranded in the Delphic Expanse, Archer and his boarding team are attacked by insane zombie-like Vulcans.

Remarkable scenes

  • The sight of the chaotic asteroid field.
  • The transporter malfunction.
  • T'Pol explaining the history of and reason for the Vulcan emotion suppression to Corporal Hawkins.
  • Archer: "I can't try to save humanity without holding on to what makes me human."
  • Trip: "Part of the fun of a mystery is trying to solve it before it ends. Using logic. You of all people should appreciate that." T'Pol: "Then use logic more quietly."

Review

I found this episode largely appalling. Most importantly, it was violent to an extreme. The brave crew shooting Vulcan zombies left and right sounds more like something out of a bad fanfic than a real Star Trek episode. Secondly, all that incessant flashing is enough to induce an epileptic seizure. Finally, T'Pol's character is abused once again. Jolene Blalock sports an amazing performance, making the blatant abuse of her character not so bad, but it's still annoying. Finally, far too much time was spent on that dreadful A plot concerning the crew stuck trying to escape Vulcan zombies; that extension at the end was just awful, and not nearly enough time was spent on studying the Trellium-D. Fortunately, the time mismanagement doesn't disadvantage the B plot too much. There's a decent amount of continuity here, we learn that Trellium-D poisons the Vulcan mind and that it's likely that the reason the crew of the Vankara from Ent: The Expanse went crazy was due to the Trellium-D. I was also liked Archer's declaration that he won't use the Trellium-D if it hurts T'Pol. These two details are what scores the episode two points, nothing more.