My Review- 'Vox Sola'

WARNING! HOW THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO MAKE A SPOILER WARNING FROM 'VOX SOLA'?! DAMN ENT WRITERS! HERE BE SPOILERS FOR 'VOX SOLA'!

First of all- an apology. I saw episode II yesterday and I have an important exam this afternoon, so please excuse me if my mind isnt one hundred percent on this review. Second of all, it's quite humorous to note how ENT seems to think it's a survival horror game lately, There's lots of creeping around in the dark looking for scary things. It was in 'Sleeping Dogs', 'Rogue Planet' and 'Oasis'. Sadly only one of these ('Oasis') actually managed to get anything near a decent rating. 'Vox Sola' presents much of the same. *sigh*

STORYLINE  

There has been a long tradition in Trek where an episode often starts of quite well and then ends up with a really sucky ending. Strangely 'Vox Sola' goes in the opposite direction, it started off terribly (so badly in fact I wrote down and underlined 'Rogue Planet 2?' on my notepad a few minutes into it.) About halfway through the episode quality suddenly shot up through the ceiling, making it a far more enjoyable episode and saving me from writing the words "Worst Ep since 'Unexpected'" again. This is mainly due to two scenes. The first is the scene with Phlox and Reed in sickbay, and the second is the Hoshi/T'Pol scene which came soon after that. The creature was never that scary, indeed I found it about as frightening as a tellytubby armed with a toothpick. Not to mention the thing doesnt even look SLIGHTLY real. That said the episode does have some great characterisation, but more on that later, that said everything up until the two before mentioned scenes screams 'Pedestrian', 'uninspired' and 'generic'. I enjoyed the Kreetassans, it's a great idea to have them offended by us eating, different cultures find different things strange after all, for example in Japan you are thrown in a mental hospital for laziness, due to the work ethic in the culture. It was something I probably wouldnt of thought off. Even after the two scenes which improved the storyline hugely, there are still problems. There's a few too many scenes of Archer, Trip, and Red-Shirt Crewmen of the week hanging around and the plot has the word 'Predictable' tattooed to itself. Shall we move on?

THE SHIP  

The docking function is coming into use a lot more lately. Used to be the day that if Enterprise was near another ship they'd Shuttle over.

THE CHARACTERS  

So lets get on those scenes shall we?

Well the first scene- Malcolm Vs. Phlox as I will refer to it. This scene is brilliant. Partly as we get to see probably the two best actors on the show go at each other in magnificent style. Secondly while I support Phlox, and I get the feeling the episode wants you to support Phlox it doesnt get you to support Phlox by making Reed look like an idiot. Reed's arguments are perfectly logical and well pointed out, it's just Phlox's arguments are the more Trek-ish and more liberal, and I am a Socialist :) .

The second scene is also beautifully done. It's one of those rare moments that have been coming through a lot lately where Im enjoying T'Pol being on screen. Im starting to think maybe the writers are starting to sort out 'The T'Pol Problem'. Certainly since 'Fusion' the only bit of T'Pol I've DETESTED has been in 'Oasis' and 'Acquisition' even had me enjoying her presence! And of course there's Hoshi. As I often say the junior officers hold a lot more interest for me than the senior ones and Hoshi yet again why here.

STAR TREK NOTES.  

So Archer likes water polo? Well, whatever floats your boat.

Did anyone else think the score this week was pretty well done?

Rating (out of 10): 4/10 for the first half. 8/10 for the second. 6/10 overall.