ENT: “Fortunate Son”

Date: September 13, 2021

Season 1, Episode 10

Music Video of the Day:

Interstellar News: Today I had a case of the Mondays. It was also my dad’s birthday, as well as a few other good friends. Dinner was yummy, though, as we experimented marinating chicken in pickle juice.

TL;DR: The Fortunate, a cargo freighter, is attacked by Nausicaans and the Enterprise is routed to check on their distress signal. Ryan, the first officer, tries to get Enterprise to leave because they’ve captured a Nausicaan (seen as bullies in “Tapestry“) and want their revenge. Eventually Archer is able to negotiate a trade while Mayweather talks the first officer down. Ryan is demoted by the captain when he wakes up and he muses about how times are a-changing.

Favorite Quote:

Reed: Get down.

Phlox: Under the circumstances, I defer to your experience.

Dr. Phlox is cool as a cucumber under fire.

“Just because someone isn’t born on Earth doesn’t make him any less human.”: This was a quaint episode that had both good and not so good parts. The not so good parts are the story that I saw the moment the first officer didn’t want Enterprise‘s help and the flimsy reason why Enterprise was even called to check on them in the first place. I get that they’re the fastest ship out there, but really? What was its cargo that Starfleet was all abuzz and wanted to pull Enterprise off of its mission of exploration? Also, Ryan was trying to pull this off as a stand for mankind and all of the cargo ships, but he was really just in it for revenge and retribution.

The good, however, was the use of Mayweather – even if it was super contrived. He hasn’t had much to do and this is an excellent way to use his skill set. The conversation between him and Archer is an important conversation and it was approached in the correct way. Mayweather is clearly new to this life but he approached his captain with respect and a genuine curiosity. Archer, knowing all this, uses this as a learning experience and it’s wonderful. I’m super torn on this episode, but they got the message right so it’s 6 tennis balls to throw for Porthos.

TA Out!