My Random Journey Through Trek #19

Enterprise

S4 Observer Effect

As Reed and Mayweather play chess they discuss the ease of the game and the human race as represented by the crew, something is not quite right and we learn that these bodies are currently being occupied by advanced non-corporeal entities. One the planet below a deadly disease is awaiting the unwary and these beings observe the reactions of the "lower" races and judge them for their potential with first contact as a long term objective. Hoshi and Trip are returning to the ship via shuttle when Trip falls ill, they are moved to isolation but soon Hoshi shows symptoms and the pressure is on Phlox to find a solution. It turns out that the Klingons who had visited this world earlier had sacrificed the infected crew by destroying their shuttle, the Cardassians and many more races having failed to find a cure had abandon crew or killed them to protect their ships.
The ongoing efforts to save the infected crew by the Enterprise and her Captains determination sows a seed of doubt over the actions of the observers with the younger one expressing serious doubts until the breaking point after the deaths of the crew.

Trip has certainly looked better but then again he is dead.

Observer Effect is one of the my favourite episodes not because of the story as such or the acting but the episode serves my requirement for Enterprise as a prequel to the original series actually taking an element of TOS and weaving into this story. For me this is the only reason Enterprise should exist but we really didn't see it come close to fulfilling that potential until the final season. The revelation of who these observers were was a genuine pleasure and while it didn't quite fit into what we know from TOS the core aspect allowed this episode to work. A criticism would be that this episode could have been so much more but then again I thought Archer seeing the dead come back to life was a highlight of the episode and it was also a decent episode for Anthony Montgomery and Linda Park.

IMDB

Rating 8