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Peter Weller (r.) guest stars on Enterprise with regulars Connor Trinneer and Jolene Blalock.
As sad as I think it is that Enterprise won’t get what has become the standard seven seasons for a Star Trek series, what’s even more sad is to watch it stumble to the finish line. And “Demons” was probably it’s biggest stumble yet this season.
I like Peter Weller. I mean, heck, I grew up with him as Buckaroo Bonzi and Robocop. But, holy cow, was he given some lousy material to work with here. While I think Weller sadly hams up his performance, the dialogue he’s given is just so corny that I nearly changed the channel.
Seriously.
I was very tempted to go elsewhere, because every time he showed up and delivered another over-the-top, melodramatic monologue I thought I was going to get sick.
Honestly, I can’t think of another time a Trek episode elicited such a negative reaction from me. And I suppose one of the reasons it bothered me so much is that I thought the concept behind the episode was really good. One of the things that the show has really failed to deliver on is showing just how different humanity is at this point in time compared to other Trek series that take place hundreds of years in the future. Humanity in Enterprise is supposed to be a little more raw, not as passive. And while we’ve seen something of an edge in Archer or Trip from time to time, humanity as a whole has never really been explored.
In “Demons”, things are getting tense as Earth convenes a conference in order to form the first interstellar treaty with a collection of alien races, including the Andorians, Tellarites, and others.
We also discover that since the Xindi attack a growing sense of paranoia and fear has developed on Earth. A movement known as Terra Prime has grown in popularity, spreading the idea of preserving the human race and removing any and all alien influences. Leading this movement is John Paxton, who owns and operates a mining facility on Earth’s moon.
Somehow, Paxton has gotten his hands on the child of T’Pol and Trip. How this child was conceived is unknown, and when Trip and T’Pol go to the moon mining facility to investigate, they are captured by Paxton. Shortly afterwards, Paxton reveals that the facility is really a starship, and he escapes to Mars to take over a powerful laser system used to destroy asteroids. He sends out a message to Earth warning that all aliens are to leave the system or he will destroy Starfleet Command.
The idea itself is good. But the execution is so poor, I was honestly shocked at just how bad this episode was.
First, I’ve made no secret of my distaste for the Trip and T’Pol relationship. It’s been made so uninteresting, this one seemed to warp it even further. The baby issue was just plain stupid. Now, I personally dislike the introduction of babies in most dramas, so perhaps I’m a bit biased. I don’t know if the baby will turn out to not be their baby or what, but it’s just plain stupid.
Second, the drama between Trip and T’Pol was really forced. I can understand an initial shocked reaction, but it gets really dragged out here. Is it so far out of the realm of possibility that this baby was made without Trip or T’Pol knowing? The story wanted there to be conflict between the two so badly, but it just didn’t make sense. DNA samples could have been stolen to genetically engineer the baby. Yet this isn’t addressed. No other possible method of creating the child is really explored at all. Instead we’re given a silly conflict between Trip and T’Pol — did T’Pol get pregnant and not tell Trip? — further dragging out the lamest romance in television history.
Lastly, Paxton’s big speech at the end completely blew any reasonability that existed in Terra Prime’s movement. I think there was a logic that could be understandable to their motives. But then in the final moments Paxton twists it all into a racist, Nazi-esque speech that wipes out any rationality to his motives. Instead of a dynamic villain with potentially viable concerns, he suddenly becomes just another power hungry bigot.
My hope for this episode now rests in the hands of Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens. They penned the follow-up episode, “Terra Prime”, and I’m hoping their swan song for the series proves to be a real blow out. Something desperately needs to save this story arc, because the first part just plain blew it.
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