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Enterprise review: "Proving Ground".
(Episode 65)
Reviewed by Richard Whettestone.
THE PREMISE: The Andorians show up and steal the Xindi's failed super weapon so they won't have to attack the Vulcans. Archer blows it up and drinks some ale. It's also confirmed that Archer's stupid and failed to back-up his most important files that were deleted last week.
"Proving Ground"
Written by Chris Black
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Previously on Enterprise, I got no screen time and the ratings dropped. Coincidence? *Wink* *Wink*
Why did the opening ''Previously on Enterprise...'' segment show clips from the alternate future that Archer ended up in when he got amnesia? Where do you think the shot of the super weapon came from? How can we follow this show if you're reminding us of stuff that didn't even happen?
Also let's not forget that in that alternate future it was explained that Enterprise lost track of the signal that they planted in that Xindi cargo vessel, and that was just a few weeks after Archer got amnesia. Yet here we are a few weeks or more after, and they followed it to the source of the super weapon itself. So what was the big difference caused by Archer's memory that allowed the signal to NOT be lost this time? Nothing. It's all made up crap that doesn't make any sense.
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No, no. Build Up the Suspense!
And another wasted Teaser that did two things: the first, it wasted the Teaser on a pointless scene of Shran whining about how he can't find Enterprise when something better could have been done in its place, such as a funeral for the woman who died in the previous episode. But then Braga says continuity isn't important and us viewers are all twelve anyway.
The second thing it did was spoil the surprise when the Enterprise unexpectedly gets rescued and Archer finds Shran on his viewerscreen in a cleverly choreographed scene. That clever scene would have meant more if it was the first impression of the Andorians for this episode, not the sixth minute of screen time for them. Yeah, the previews would have already given their involvement away, but it still would have been better.
But instead we get another nameless crewmember who gets killed off screen without a care last week while Shran's appearance is mundane, padded out, spoiled and given away. We also lost an interesting Teaser.
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I'm a Vulcan. Don't get logical with me.
I can't help but be infuriated with this entire episode. The purpose of it was to have the Xindi secretly test their super-weapons to destroy Earth.
But yet all that top-secret testing is stupid considering the Xindi showed up out of nowhere and gave Earth plenty of forewarning about them when they gave themselves away by testing a low-yield weapon on Earth to begin with in last season's finale.
They want a weapon capable of destroying Earth, and hide their secret testing of a weapon capable of destroying a moon, yet show-off their technology when they attacked Earth to begin with when they attacked an ocean and dug a trench in Florida. But now it's suddenly top secret and hush-hush. How the hell am I suppose to enjoy something where the characters defy common sense.
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Then we'll bomb the Centauri and us Drazi will rule the galaxy! Wait, what race are we again?
How dumb are these aliens? They're like babies. They want it and they want it NOW. They don't seem to have any understanding that they need to test a smaller version of the weapon, even though it apparently was told to them many times. They continue to babble about how the evil humans MUST be killed, even though they refuse to explain why. And they continue to make shallow threats over and over. Every other line out of their mouth was either about how they needed to destroy Earth or else it was whining about how long it was taking to destroy Earth. They don't seem to know what they're doing. There's no content in these scenes.
We also only follow green leader.
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If only we had a Suliban Cell ship to sneak in and monitor the Xindi super weapon being tested.
And if only we had a Cell ship that was fast enough to chase after the Andorians.
And if only we had a Cell ship to use in our possible engagement against the four Xindi ships.
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