Give him an episode, and Phlox rox!

Beginning and ending in Sickbay, the plot advances with an interchange between Phlox and his friend Dr. Jeremy Lucas, a human participant in the Interspecies Medical Exchange visiting Denobula. We get a brief glimpse of Phlox's daily rounds, diagnosing a beagle with a cheese-induced stomachache and attending an odd menagerie of squawks, sandy claws, and piranha-like bubbling.

Surrounded by humans and eager to understand them, Phlox considers how often their compassion dumps casework into his sickbay. His routine duties quickly turn otherwise as Enterprise encounters the Menks and Velakians, two humanoid species sharing one planet staging an evolutionary dilemma. As the Velakians perish by the millions, the Menks spark unexpectedly with promising brilliance. Which is better suited to survive? Should anyone interfere?

Archer perceives a need for some sort of "Directive" drafted to keep starships from playing God in these situations. Deep in his mind, ninety years of Vulcan assistance begin to silently mock any original "good intentions." And I worry T'Pol's warnings about the temptations of technology foreshadow another troubling situation yet to come, though she gives Archer all the rope he needs this time.

The writing team proves they can effectively carry characters through a subtle arc. Kellie Waymire's Ensign Cutler grows interesting in a seriously weird way. Hoshi was helpful as counselor and translator and her errors in the galley conversations were amusing. Reed was barely to be seen, as was a teary Tucker watching "For Whom The Bell Tolls." That left plenty of room for Travis, sadly put here to little use besides dodging space junk.

I got a sense of the frontier here as quick mention of the Ferengi passed unrecognized by T'Pol. And we learn a lot more about Denobulans without specifically focusing on it. One should not casually touch them. They experience a six-day hibernation every year. And their mating system is complicated by an interlocking system of polygamy.

John Billingsley deserves applause for a superior performance. His somber expression in front of the microscope discovering an unwanted genetic solution was moving - as was his consuming a finger-sized green worm out of curiosity (something about the difficult obligation to consider larger issues involved as a scientist!).

What makes "Dear Doctor" excel so well is that while the show is told from Phlox's perspective, the story just by itself would have made an interesting tale. The really good episodes from Trek all raise troubling questions while presenting no easy answers. This was a really good episode.