monkee reviews 'Singularity'
First Impressions: Not much of a story, but great acting by the regulars.
Trek Lite: This is a twenty-minute story, stretched into a full episode with scenes of everyone bickering and being annoying!
No, I'm being too harsh. At least there was a good reason for their bickering and being annoying! Enterprise sets off to explore a black hole in a trinary star system, but the anomaly is releasing radiation that causes the crew to become obsessed with something trivial going on in their lives at the moment. It doesn't happen all at once, and it's fascinating to watch the transition in each of them. The acting makes this otherwise slow story watchable. It's Trek Lite, but at least it's Trek Lite done well!
And the cast was fully utilized – always a good thing, in my book. Let's look at them one by one...
Archer: Archer becomes obsessed with writing a preface to a biography that's been written about his father. He only notices the aberrant behavior of his crew as a minor annoyance/interruption in his quest to write the perfect preface, which at one point is nineteen pages long!
Trip: His story was the humorous highlight of the episode for me. Before the Enterprise enters the radiation belt, Archer makes a simple request for him to make the Captain's chair more comfortable. This is what Trip becomes obsessed with, with amusing results. He decides to design Archer a 'throne,' complete with cup-holder, and tactical displays, and wants Archer to look at swatches for the headrest. It sounds stupid, but Trinneer really pulls it off! The biggest disappointment of the episode for me was that, in the end, he fixes the chair by simply lowering it by one centimeter. I was SO hoping he'd have come up with a design that looked more like Kirk's chair!
Reed: Another amusing highlight. Reed actually becomes obsessed with something useful, security protocols. He thinks there should be a single command that will ready the ship and crew for anything – polarize the hull plating, bring the weapons online, etc. This is, of course, the precursor to the 'red alert' we know so well, and it's hilarious to watch him experiment with names and even the sound of the claxon. It gets on everybody's already frayed nerves, and he carries it way too far, but in the end, his protocols prove to be invaluable, and Archer decides to keep them.
Hoshi: When Chef becomes ill, early on, Hoshi volunteers to cook in the galley. She prepares a traditional Japanese recipe handed down for generations in her family. Everyone likes it, except Reed, who makes an off-hand comment about it being too salty. This sets Hoshi's obsession off, as she tries to perfect the recipe by making it over and over again, while the crew goes hungry. She fires her hapless assistant, and even shouts at Archer (who barely notices).
Phlox: Phlox was downright creepy. He becomes obsessed and paranoid about Mayweather's headache. Eventually, he sedates the poor man against his will and prepares to hack off twelve centimeters of his parietal lobe for testing. Only a timely nerve pinch from T'Pol prevents the procedure. Billingsley's acting was especially good – he seemed completely in character at first, and made a realistic transition into a mad doctor.
Mayweather: As Phlox becomes more and more insistent on running test after test, Mayweather becomes more and more concerned about his duties, fearing that he'll be demoted if he doesn't get back to his post. His role was the lightest, as always, but he worked well in combination with Phlox.
T'Pol: She's immune to the effects of the radiation, so we witness the crew's deterioration through her eyes. I can't help but think she didn't respond quickly enough to what she was observing. Yes, it happened gradually, but once she realized the extent of what was going on, she surely could have responded more dramatically. Poor Mayweather is just lucky she finally decided to act in time to prevent his lobotomy! And I wouldn't have minded seeing her respond to physical threats from both Archer and Phlox in kind. Both of them deserved to have her go Kung Fu on them!
Ah well. I suppose even a Vulcan is reluctant to see that everyone around them has gone completely batty. And she probably didn't want to strike a superior officer, so she didn't act when Archer manhandled her. And Phlox did have a laser scalpel pointed at her face. The nerve pinch is mightier than the Vulcan martial arts…
One more quibble, though – she just left Phlox lying on the floor next to his laser scalpel, with poor Mayweather still strapped to the bed! She admitted that she didn't know how a Denobulan would respond to the nerve pinch. What if he'd woken up and started Mayweather's surgery anyway?
Cold Shower and Bad Coffee: I like to think that there's a better way to perk someone up in the 22nd century, but maybe, in cases like this one, there just isn't. She certainly got his attention, anyway. With a (fully-clothed) cold shower, some bad coffee, a lot of hand touching, and eye contact, she managed to get Archer up to the bridge to pilot the ship through two suns and a debris field, while she shouted out critical course headings.
Continuity: Excellent continuity this week, with references to the Suliban, the Mazarites, Reed's problems with Archer's command style, Archer's father, Zefram Cochrane, and the fact that Phlox doesn't like to be touched. See how easy and painless it is? The references are there for regulars to appreciate, but don't get in the way of a new viewer's understanding of events. More, please.
Porthos! Poor Porthos! That pup should request a transfer! Archer SNAPPED at him this week. His beagle, his buddy, his pal! How could he? Poor Porthos had to flop dejectedly on his doggie bed and sulk. Great acting by the canine, again!
Character Interactions: I enjoyed Archer and T'Pol's scenes the most – they seemed very natural together, and I loved the last shot of the episode, with him turning to her, once again, for advice on his preface. The Phlox and Mayweather interactions were nicely done, too – very tense. Reed and Trip were hilarious together, as always. They actually come to blows over their total disregard for each other's obsessions. Actually, I liked all of the crew interactions this week. The dialog was especially well written and acted.
Archer Watch: Even in his obsessive haze, he showed concern for his crew, and T'Pol was able to get through to him. I think he did all right. Plus, he was wise enough to see that Reed's annoying security alert protocols had merit (well, they did save the ship, after all). Perhaps he shouldn't be insisting that Trip fix his chair before he does 'real' work, but heck – a Captain's entitled to a little bit of selfishness sometimes, right?
He better not yell at that dog ever again, though. I mean it!
'shipper Watch: T'Pol and Archer certainly had their hands all over each other this week! It made sense for the story, but you could read something into it if you wanted to. There was also just that little bit of interesting tension between T'Pol and Trip, and Reed and Sato.
Best Lines:
"Malcolm – don't call it 'battle stations.' Think of something less…aggressive." (Archer, to Reed)
"It's a CAPTAIN'S chair. It's just as important as your…Reed alert." (Trip, to Reed)
"Reed alert. That's not bad…" (Reed, to Trip. Yeah, it's a groaner, but it made me smile anyway…)
"QUIET!" (Archer, to Porthos, his beagle, his pal – poor thing!)
"You dragged me up here so you could identify some radiation?" (Trip, to T'Pol)
"They both sound like a bag of cats!" (Trip, to Reed, regarding the security alert claxons)
"CARROTS!" (Sato, to her hapless assistant, Cunningham)
"If you're so hungry, fix yourself a sandwich!" (Sato, to Archer)
"If I hear that alarm one more time, I may have YOU taken out and shot!" (Archer, to Reed)
"How about I just attach the cup-holder?" (Trip, to Archer)
Rating: 8.5/10. There was hardly a story to speak of, but it was an interesting psychological drama, and the writing and acting were stellar!
Next Week: Oh my GOD – they're gonna kill off Hoshi! I can't believe it – how could they? Oh. Wait. The transporter seems to be involved. I'm pretty sure I've seen this episode before, or at least one (or two, or three) very much like it, but it's all in the execution. It could be good! Besides, it's a HOSHI ep. I like Hoshi!
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