ENT 3.22 "The Council"
I really enjoy that for the first half of this episode, it has a really fantastic 'into the lion's den' feeling. It's certainly not as well-done as the Farscape episodes Into the Lion's Den (that would be difficult to do), but it's enjoyable in a....dreaded and 'things are finally coming to a head' sort of way.
My biggest complaint is in how the Reptilian/Sphere Builder relationship is characterized throughout this episode. It's just so painfully flat and obvious in its writing that it takes away from the overall story being told--which is otherwise a great addition to the season.
It goes a bit off the rails toward the end too, what with the unnecessary murder of Degra by the Reptilian commander. But even in spite of that, it manages to make up for it with the exciting conclusion. The hijack of the weapon by the Reptilians and Insectoids is well done, and the space battle that follows looks and plays out fantastic.
ENT 3.23 "Countdown"
A lot of not a whole lot going on for about the first half of the episode, except for struggling to wrap up leftover plot threads from the cliffhanger conclusion of the previous episode and a lot of sitting around waiting for the Aquatics.
And there's a pretty sizable goof in timeline estimate here: Archer does a log entry dated Feb 13 and goes on to say that they've been in the Expanse for nearly 8 months. From the date given in The Expanse and the amount of time said to have passed in that episode alone, there's just no way that the ship has been in the Expanse for more than 4.5 months. But c'est la vie.
Fortunately it picked up a bit past the halfway point. There was a really terrific intimate moment between Archer, Trip and T'Pol around the dinner table for the first time in god knows how long, discussing their plans for the future. For me it was a nice 'made you smile' scene, as they begin to realize that they might just have a future beyond the mission at hand.
The confrontation and battle at the weapon was another terrific sequence, and a credit to the VFX team. It was well-paced, well-edited, and fantastically 'shot' too. The tension of it all was great and added to considerably by the rescue mission undertaken by Major Hayes and the MACOs.
I'm a bit miffed at Hayes' death though, despite the general goodness of how this episode is in its second half. I don't see why a well-trained soldier with an instant escape route thought it made any tactical sense to send away an injured and and able-bodied soldier at the same time and leave himself alone to wait for the next ride. Why not just have the injured one beamed back, then have the two of you defend until you're able to get out?
Good ending though. Great set-up for the season finale.
I really enjoy that for the first half of this episode, it has a really fantastic 'into the lion's den' feeling. It's certainly not as well-done as the Farscape episodes Into the Lion's Den (that would be difficult to do), but it's enjoyable in a....dreaded and 'things are finally coming to a head' sort of way.
My biggest complaint is in how the Reptilian/Sphere Builder relationship is characterized throughout this episode. It's just so painfully flat and obvious in its writing that it takes away from the overall story being told--which is otherwise a great addition to the season.
It goes a bit off the rails toward the end too, what with the unnecessary murder of Degra by the Reptilian commander. But even in spite of that, it manages to make up for it with the exciting conclusion. The hijack of the weapon by the Reptilians and Insectoids is well done, and the space battle that follows looks and plays out fantastic.
ENT 3.23 "Countdown"
A lot of not a whole lot going on for about the first half of the episode, except for struggling to wrap up leftover plot threads from the cliffhanger conclusion of the previous episode and a lot of sitting around waiting for the Aquatics.
And there's a pretty sizable goof in timeline estimate here: Archer does a log entry dated Feb 13 and goes on to say that they've been in the Expanse for nearly 8 months. From the date given in The Expanse and the amount of time said to have passed in that episode alone, there's just no way that the ship has been in the Expanse for more than 4.5 months. But c'est la vie.
Fortunately it picked up a bit past the halfway point. There was a really terrific intimate moment between Archer, Trip and T'Pol around the dinner table for the first time in god knows how long, discussing their plans for the future. For me it was a nice 'made you smile' scene, as they begin to realize that they might just have a future beyond the mission at hand.
The confrontation and battle at the weapon was another terrific sequence, and a credit to the VFX team. It was well-paced, well-edited, and fantastically 'shot' too. The tension of it all was great and added to considerably by the rescue mission undertaken by Major Hayes and the MACOs.
I'm a bit miffed at Hayes' death though, despite the general goodness of how this episode is in its second half. I don't see why a well-trained soldier with an instant escape route thought it made any tactical sense to send away an injured and and able-bodied soldier at the same time and leave himself alone to wait for the next ride. Why not just have the injured one beamed back, then have the two of you defend until you're able to get out?
Good ending though. Great set-up for the season finale.
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