Enterprise 0113 – Dear Doctor

Originally posted to ScoopMe! on January 23, 2002

LEAD-IN

Dear Doctor : ARCHER’S FIRST KOBAYASHI MARU

What to do when you don’t have the Prime Directive to lean on?

SYNOPSIS

(Note that a common thread to this episode is Phlox dictating a letter of his experiences in this episode to a colleague. These asides won’t be noted in the following text.)

Phlox starts a typical day in sickbay, feeding his menagerie of medicinal beasties.

Hoshi delivers new mail to Phlox, who gets more than anyone else on board. It seems that he has a pen pal — a human doctor who is the other part of the Earth/Denobulan cultural exchange that Phlox is part of. Though Phlox feels that maybe he’s been on the ship too long, there is still some fascination to be found among humans. One human in particular, a female exo-biologist named Cutler (last seen on Strange New Worlds), starts flirting with the doctor during a showing of an Ingrid Bergman film. After the doctor walks crewman Cutler to her quarters, she gives him a kiss on the cheek.

The Enterprise happens upon a spacecraft with two weak bio-signs on board. The aliens on board, Valakians, tell Archer that there is an epidemic on their planet, and they were sent out to find warp-capable species who might be able to help as advanced species tend to have advanced medicine. Owing that the Valakians have already had contact with two other warp-capable species (our first mention of the Ferengi), T’Pol tells Archer that the risk of contamination seems acceptable.

Phlox and Hoshi have a Denobulan language lesson — a major topic is Phlox’s confusion about crewman Cutler’s intentions.

The Enterprise arrives at the Valakian’s planet to find it technologically sound — they have spaceships and satellites in orbit and clean art-deco cities.

In the hospital, an away team that includes Archer, Phlox, and Hoshi learn about the effects of the disease: one in three Valakians have it; it mutates quickly, thwarting medical treatments; and once established in the respiratory system, is fatal in days.

Hoshi tries to talk to an orderly, but her translator won’t translate. He doesn’t speak the same language as the Valakians as he’s not Valakian — he’s Menk. The Menk are a less-advanced but symbiotic humanoid species (which is rare). The Menk don’t contract the disease.

Phlox enlist crewman Cutler to help with his research. Still perplexed by Cutler’s affection, Phlox discusses the situation with T’Pol while he fixes a small cavity she has in a tooth. T’Pol’s experience is that humans lack the emotional maturity for interspecies relationships. Phlox muses that perhaps Vulcans are a little too pragmatic.

In Archer’s quarters, Phlox reports that he’s discovered that the disease is genetic. It has been occurring for thousands of years, but recently the mutations have accelerated. If left unchecked, the Valakians will be extinct in less than two centuries.

Phlox, Hoshi, and Cutler find themselves in the midst of a Menk encampment. The Menk are very cooperative and agree to let the away team examine them and collect samples. The Menk are hospitable, curious, and very intelligent. The Valakians don’t allow them on fertile land, but compensate by giving them food, clothing, and medicine. Phlox is amazed at how his view of the situation is different from his human crewmates. He sees a culture of symbiosis, while the humans see an exploited species that needs a defender.

Cutler and Phlox butt heads on the Menk/Valakian culture. Phlox brings up the budding relationship with Cutler. He then mentions that he has three wives and that each wife has two other husbands. Cutler says that the cultural difference doesn’t matter, she doesn’t want to be wife number four — she just wants to let whatever happens, happens. Another object lesson derailed.

The Valakians request warp technology from Archer so that they can find other advanced species faster — before it’s too late. Archer consults with T’Pol about the request. She says that the Valakians aren’t technologically advanced enough to build a warp engine even if they were furnished with full schematics. Archer offers that they could stay and help. T’Pol counters that some ninety years before the Vulcans stayed to help the humans — and they are still there. It pains Archer to admit that he’s now starting to understand how the Vulcans felt.

Phlox meets with Archer and says that he doesn’t think that it would be ethical to give the Valakians a cure because it would interfere with an evolutionary process that has been going on for thousands of years. Based on his genome studies, Phlox sees increasing skills and intelligence in the Menk that quite possibly would leave them the dominant species — provided the Valakians died off. He suggests that Archer simply let nature take its course.

Archer isn’t happy with his doctor’s dilemma. Doctors are supposed to heal. Phlox also says he’s a scientist, and must be concerned with the larger issues. He then uses an analogy of early H. sapiens and H. neanderthalensis and what would have happened if some well-meaning aliens had interfered.

When pushed for an answer, Phlox discloses that he has indeed found a cure.

Though he isn’t happy about it, Phlox decides to place his trust in the Captain to make the right choice. When he meets with Archer, he asks the Captain to reconsider. Archer says that he spent the night reconsidering, and that his decision went against his principles. He had to remind himself everyday that until a directive was written that outlined what could and couldn’t be done, he was in no position to play God.

Archer gives the Valakians a medicine that will give them more time to find a cure on their own, but he won’t give them warp drive.

Feeling a little down over his near-miss in not trusting the Captain, Phlox takes Hoshi’s advice to get out of sickbay — he makes a snack date with crewman Cutler.

FADE OUT

ANALYSIS

Though it came in quieter than you’d expect, this is one of the defining episodes of the series, and over all the best to date. Not because it had a flashy space battle, or because of some gee-whiz CGI effect, or because we saw the beginning of a plot device that would be both a friend/albatross in Starfleet’s future.

This episode hit a theme for a triple that another series about a vamp-killing twenty-something has been trying to do for about a dozen episodes this season and has managed to mostly hit singles (don’t get me wrong, I love the show). What theme is that?

“Oh, grow up.”

Such a small sentence for such a profound event. It’s that stage ninety-perenct of us hit sometime after adolescence when we realized that our parents weren’t the dictatorial idiots were thought (my sympathies to the other ten percent of you). More importantly, it’s that time when we realize that being an adult doesn’t mean that you have complete freedom. Yes, you have more choices than you did as a kid, but many of those choices are at best inconvenient, and at worst run contrary to your nature. It’s that time when you realize that the universe doesn’t revolve around you.

Today, Jonathan Archer became an adult. More importantly, at least for Star Trek fans, today Jonathan Archer became a CAPTAIN.

One step to that stage that was with Archer’s consultations with T’Pol. It’s easy to point to his moment of having insight to the dilemma the Vulcans had when they made first contact, but that wasn’t the adult moment. The consulting with T’Pol was the moment. He asked for advice and it was given. Neither party doing any politicking or bristling or acting superior. For the first time, Human captain and Vulcan sub-commander were a team.

In fact, the episode is filled with examples of this sort of pairing up. (I’ll refrain from making a big deal of how the virtual absence of Trip and Reed didn’t hurt.)

Hoshi and Phlox were great together. While Hoshi learning a new language is like Scotty with his technical manuals, it’s a hoot to see how she turns it to her own advantage to get information from the good doctor.

Throughout this episode, the communications officer is in her element. She’s used to great effect in her away missions to act as UT intermediary as well as wetware interpreter when the UT isn’t quite up to snuff. She’s also an enabler, making sure that Cutler and Phlox get some time together in the Menk camp.

The co-plot of Phlox’s confusion about crewman Cutler served as a cunning balance of shading to the main plot as well as letting us learn about the doctor without bashing our heads with the information. It also fleshed out a guest crewman who (surprisingly) wasn’t red-shirted by the end of the episode.

The Phlox/Cutler friendship started with and continued with the theme of cultures clashing, and it demonstrated how child-like the crew still is. Cutler doesn’t quite see how her acceptance of Phlox’s matrimonial cultural difference is philosophically at odds with her refusal to accept that the Menk aren’t simply being exploited.

While Cutler didn’t impress me in her first outing on the show, she made a better second impression. Her flirtations were respectful, and fully in line with what you could expect from a single exo-biologist.

Wow, I’ve made it this far without even mentioning the Prime Directive. Yes, clearly this was the obligatory Prime-Directive precursor episode. This was clearly stated as Archer stumbled on how someday there would be a directive… yada yada. And it clunked. Some shows can get by with being self-conscious. This one can’t. The audience knows its future history too well. Just letting events happen as they may will be more than sufficient, as all of the rest of this episode demonstrated.

TIDBITS, IRKS, AND QUIRKS

When Phlox was eating the meal the Menk had provided, and it was revealed that the Menk weren’t allowed to live on fertile land… a show of hands of who thought it was going to be revealed that Phlox was munching on Valakian?

Jon, lactose intolerance doesn’t just go away. Stop feeding Prothos cheese (the rest of the crew, and the air filtration system, will thank you).

OK, Phlox has three wives, and each wife has two other husbands. If those husbands also have three wives and those wives also… I guess the Denobulan word for “orgy” is “matrimony”.

I wonder how much the Ferengi wanted in order to try to cure the Valakians?

Menk — the first humanoid species in as long as I can remember than wasn’t named for their planet.

The planet is a little more advanced than early 21st century earth but, “Where are the flying cars? I don’t see any flying cars. I was promised flying cars!” (I love that commercial.)

Are the Vulcans in the 90% or the 10%?

There’s an interesting interview with John Billingsley at http://www.treknation.com/interviews/john_billingsley.shtml where he says that the ending we got wasn’t exactly the ending he originally read.

Is this the defining episode I think it is? Let me know. Post your opinion on the message board.