05/17/2003 Archived Entry: "Enterprise 2x21: The Breach"

This episode has 2 plots going. In one, the doctor has to convince an injured person to trust him. The patient is from a race that was engaged in a bloody war with the doctor's people hundreds of years ago and the two races have not seen nor talked to each other since the end of the war. The patient would rather die than let the doctor touch him so the doctor struggles throughout the episode to convince the man to let him help. This is the stronger of the two plots mostly because John Billingsley can act in circles around everyone else on the show. His character is more compassionate, funny, angry, frightened, and 'human' than any of the real humans are ever shown to be. The doctor is the deepest of all the characters in the show, he has the most range of actions and reactions; everyone else seems 2 dimensional in comparison.

The second plot involves 3 members of the crew trying to get some geologists off a planet. This story is here mostly for its action and comic relief from the drama involving the doctor. It even serves up a gratuitous firefight at the end. What I find strange is that, in the time of Enterprise, rock climbing hadn't evolved passed what we know it as. They had self-anchoring pistons but nothing else that was high-tech. In a universe of warp-drive and artificial gravity you'd think that rock climbing would be a little easier.

I liked this episode overall, but mostly because of the Doctor parts. Thinking back, was it standard to episodes of Trek to have 2 plots running concurrently? I can think back to some that had a major plot and a minor subplot, but Enterprise seems to have quite a large number of episodes that try to tell 2 whole stories in 40 minutes.

If I had to give this a rating, it'd be 8/10

Replies: 2 comments

Remember that TNG episode where Beverly, Worf and Picard go on that mission in Cardassian space? The one where Picard gets caught and interrogated in the continuation with the four/five lights thing? Anyway, I'm pretty sure they rock-climb in that episode and that they still don't have much in the way of new gadgets.

I may just be forgetting them, though.

Posted by Romer @ 05/17/2003 12:43 PM EST

ya was trying to think about another rock climbing episode, but couldn't think of one. i think you're right though.

they should have anti-gravity suspensors! =)

Posted by Rayne @ 05/17/2003 01:59 PM EST