ENT: “Unexpected”

Date: August 26, 2021

Season 1, Episode 5

Music Video of the Day:

Interstellar News: Work was, well, nonstop today. I don’t expect it to slow down tomorrow either. Sigh. I am still feeling good and I’ve gotten a few more swag pieces made for Dragon Con… go me! Also, Happy National Dog Day to my pupper, Professor Zoom, and all the other pupperinos out there. Woof woof, bark bark.

TL;DR: The Enterprise is experiencing system failures when they find a ship of Xyrillians is riding their exhaust is the cause of their problems. Tucker heads over to the ship to help them fix their engines and flirts a bit with Ah’len, their engineer. After they part ways, Tucker notices a bump on his arm and it turns out he’s pregnant. They go after the Xyrillian ship only to find their repairs didn’t take and they’re in the wake of a Klingon ship. T’Pol reminds Vorok of Archer’s service to the Empire, and they bugger off after getting holodeck technology from the Xyrillians. Ah’len didn’t think procreation with humans was possible and transfers the embryo to another host.

Favorite Quote:

Vorok: What you need is to turn your puny ship around and leave. These aliens violated our security and disrupted our systems. Both are considered acts of war against the Empire.

Archer: I assure you that any damage they’ve done was unintentional. They’re simply trying to get home.

Vorok: They won’t get home, but I’m more than willing to hasten their journey to Sto-Vo-Kor.

I love that Hoshi Sato knows that that is the Klingon afterlife… which happens right after this exchange.

“Whoa, whoa, that’s too fast. I’m not a computer.”: This episode is HILARIOUS and I love how Archer tries his damnedest to not laugh the entire time at Tucker. From top to bottom it’s a laugh-fest. Archer in the shower when artificial gravity fails, Phlox encouraging T’Pol to eat Earth food, and Tucker in the decompression chamber are just “teeheehee” moments. Then there’s a lot of flirting, and I’m glad it’s Tucker because that helps fight against the bias some might have against him being a white male with a Southern accent. It’s fun to see the holodeck through his eyes, not only because he’s an engineering, but because of all the “holodeck as a plot device” episodes we’ve watched over the years.

Tucker being pregnant is absolutely absurd but I love it as a plot piece. I don’t like that it’s an unwanted pregnancy, and that they sort of skirt around any kind of discussion about termination, but it’s ultimately played up for the camp and the fact that it could be removed and replanted made for a quick resolve to the whole thing. The Klingon bits are added in there for drama, but it’s also still to point out how little Starfleet knows about them, aside from what the Vulcans know. All in all, I was quite amused by this episode – but upset that Porthos wasn’t the star of the show, bonding with the fetus or protecting Tucker while he walked around the ship. Still, 7 ear scritches for Porthos!

TA Out!