Stratagem

Even though this episode certainly wouldn't win any creativity awards, it is still one of the ENT episodes that is certainly entertaining and exciting. As other commentators have already noted, the basic cinematic pattern has been seen several times in other films in this or similar ways. Among other things, Mission Impossible used a similar trick - creating a fake reality in order to ultimately trick the unwitting victim into revealing secrets.

The chamber play with Archer and Degra in the cramped stage of a shuttle and the underlying choreography of the events on board the Enterprise form an exciting arc of suspense that constantly oscillates between mistrust and trust in which you never know exactly whether Degra has completely taken the bait or not.

But of course everything that can go wrong goes wrong. Although the crew flies through the vastness of space at warp speed in a marvel of technology and has so far escaped any space anomaly or attacks from nasty aliens, the technology fails in such a simple construction as a shuttle simulator with hydraulic movement. But somehow the turning point in the story arc has to occur in the climax phase in order for the story to then resolve the cinematic conflicts and tie up the loose ends.

Both Scott Bakula and Randy Oglesby deliver good acting performances in this episode. The interaction in the small space appears thoroughly authentic. In complete contrast to the episode "Shuttlepod One", in which Reed and Tucker delivered a similarly cramped chamber drama, with the tension between the two constantly jumping from one high to the next low and back again. The slow build up to the climax was missing there.

This is a great episode. Not only does it employ deception and creativity, it sets up the next step in destroying the Xindi weapon. One of the chief Xindi engineers is on board a strange shuttle with Archer. Archer tells him that they have been on a prison planet for three years. They form a bond. As it turns out, the entire thing has been orchestrated by the Enterprise crew to get information form the guy. This would be one thing, but the story gets a series of other twists which I won't reveal here. Archer and the gang do some real countermoves. Excellent.

Ok I am not understanding why hasn't anyone from earth or even enterprise asked who told the xindi, earth was going to destroy them? No one ever ask that question and it is upsetting me!!!!!! That would be on the top of my list of questions. I believe that could have helped earth understand their actions. Then earth can reassure the xindi they would not attack them. Something along those lines. It just doesn't seem believable whom ever wrote this story line for season 3. It's just very frustrating, every episode I wait to see if they ask that question, but no one ever does!!!!!

Another reviewer is right--this episode of "Star Trek: Enterprise" is very similar to the James Garner film "36 Hours". In "36 Hours" an Allied officer has been captured by the Nazis and they try to convince him that the war has been over for some time and that he's not a prisoner but living in an Allied camp. But he IS a prisoner and the plan is to get him to relax his guard and betray what he knows about the pending invasion of the continent. Well, this is pretty much the set-up for this Trek show--as the crew of Enterprise is trying to convince someone that reality ISN'T what they think.

When the show begins, Archer and Degra (the guy who created the Xindi super-weapon) are on a shuttle. Degra has no idea who Archer is nor how they got there. So, Archer gives him a fake back story about how they both were prisoners in a Xindi Insectoid prison and that they both just escaped and Degra's amnesia will soon pass. So why are they doing all this? Because they want to know where the place is where they're constructing the super-weapons so they can destroy them.

Despite this being a recycled idea, it was very well made and exciting throughout--and is well worth seeing. Very detail-oriented and well thought out and one of the better episodes of the series.

The episode start is a bit confusing but few explanations come later. Some pretty good artefacts are inserted from time to time (bloodworms, Xindi insectoids ships,

Archer plays a good role but there are details which are a bit odd and I can give an example: why after losing the Enterprise and all the crew (as told in the story), Archer is keeping safe the bloodworm after removing it from the Xindy's enemy arm.

Another example: why going back to the debris field, knowing that an overload can occur with the simulator

Finally, why trying to verify that the destination is the correct one when the Xindi has encrypted the coordinates and also when there is no other course of action for the Enterprise. They frequently say we may lose three weeks but do they have any other alternative, any other direction to go so that to find the Xindi weapon?

Outside of those scenario glitches, the playtime is quite pleasant to look at but I have the feeling that the scenes filmed inside the simulator are a bit too lengthy and that some other characters shall have been more developed with a collateral story, i.e. how they have built the simulator and what did they do with the space shuttle...?

For all the above reasons, I will give a mitigated 7/10 as I was expecting more suspense, more thrilling moments and a stronger consistency for the whole episode. I was also expecting more anger, for instance coming from Trip when detaining the creator of the mass-destruction weapon in their custody, or at least an explanation from the Xindi for why exactly he agreed to create a weapon to kill humans, including children...