Some shows are good and laughable, others laughably bad. I can't quite put my tentacle on why all present and appropriate elements did not slime as they should have yet they just didn't. Everybody got good screen time, even Porthos, so it can't be that. A quick glance at the production roster shows a veteran and capable crew, so it can't be that either. Weird dreadlocked aliens with a shapely ship (the Kreetassans), food scenes, Archer and Trip not choking on beer and pretzels - what happened?
T'Pol and Hoshi began catfighting on the bridge, but were all cozy and warm once they got the personal confusion out of the way. And not only does T'Pol get good marks for her performance, noteworthy mention goes to Jolene Blalock as well. Her control of the character has settled into a nice WWSD and I hope it lasts.
It was nice to see the square plastic data thingie, suggestive of the TOS "floppy disc." Good to (not) see another movie, and good to see Malcolm invent the forcefield. Trip mentions a game of nine-ball which indicates a billiard table on Enterprise somewhere. (And who remembers to feed or walk the dog when the captain's tied up for days?) The "game from home" camaraderie sequence was fun, though I could certainly survive if this were the last we ever hear of water polo onboard NX-01.
The roomy dark caves available planetside have now been brought on board and called "Cargo Bay 2." Now dimly lit dimwit actions can be taken without ever leaving the ship. As soon as he was caught I thought Rostov had a toe-tag to go with that red collar but no dice. But how depressing must it feel in such a situation when your not-so-niscient captain can only address you as "Crewman"?
It's not so bad that the airloctopus got on board - as in "Obsession," such hideously improbable things happen. But for this captain and crew to act so inanely week after week makes you wonder if the Vulcans weren't right after all. And Mayweather's strange apology alone on the bridge was just plain bizarre.
And what happened to Malcolm's spine? The airloctopus traps Trip and Archer; Reed bugs out. Malcolm invents this cool forcefield, wants to test it, Phlox - Phlox! - says "No" and; Reed bugs out!
"This thing's gotten inside our heads!" No kidding. And it hurts too. This one is my new least favorite episode by far of the series. Sola 'Vox Sola' bona est 'Vox Sola' mortua.