Star Trek Enterprise Season 1 Episode 9: Civilization

Let's jump back into the Star Trek of it all with episode 9 of Enterprise, written by Mike Sussman & Phyllis Strong and directed by Mike Vejar. If you haven't seen it yet you can check it out with the link below. Otherwise let's get on with the review!

The episode starts off with Captain Archer walking in on his crew as they were going over nearby things to explore. It was one boring thing after another, nothing getting his attention until Trip tells him about an M class planet nearby. Archer finally get excited about something.

​They soon find out that the planet is far behind us when it comes to technological advancement. T'Pol tells them the Vulcan believe that you should not interfere with a species until they are ready. Archer ignores her and decides that they should just make themselves look like the people down there.

​At first Hoshi was to be the only one sent down to the planet but once they discovered tech that shouldn't be on the planet, Archer, Trip and T'Pol decided to join her. They had to figure out what was going on down there after all.

​The away team quickly closes in on the source of the readings but they can't get into the building, well at least until Trip finds a work around. He hacks into the building. After all you always need a lock smith on the team. As they are breaking in someone in the shadows is watching them. The stranger turns out to be a woman who confronts them and tells them that the nightly deliveries are making people sick. Before she can say anymore T'Pol stuns her.

​Archer sends the others back to the shuttle while he stays behind and tries to get information from her. He tells her just enough information to keep her talking all the while learning a bit more about the shop keep and what might be causing the sickness. Archer and Trip go and pay him a visit the next day. It doesn't take long for both the crew and the shop keep to figure out that neither one of them are from this planet.

​He tells Archer that he came to this world to explore, much like Archer and co but he was so taken with the world he decided to stay. He assures Archer that he isn't making people sick, that the sickness is natural to the planet and that he is only being blamed because he is new here. He won't allow Archer to look at his replicator. T'Pol goes over Archer's new friends information about the sickness and takes it back to Phlox who seems taken by how intelligent she is despite being from such a back water world.  It doesn't take Phlox long to figure out what is making them sick, a contaminate being leaked into the water.

​Archer and the woman start to hit it off when the universal translator gives out. So he does what any man would do, well what Kirk would do, he went in for a kiss until it could fix itself. He then went on to blame it on some fictional person walking past. Got to give the man credit for being quick on his feet, maybe one day he will be as big a player as James T. Kirk.

​Archer finds out the ship keep and during a struggle his new friend learns that the shop keep is an alien. Archer ends up telling her everything. The two of them try to figure out how to turn off the field blocking the Enterprise from beaming the reactor up from the planet but they hit the wrong button, trapping themselves inside. The shop keep than calls the Enterprise and threatens to destroy them if they don't leave.

​The shop keep tells Archer that he will let them go if they agree to never return. Instead Archer arms the woman, telling the shop keep what his answer is. Meanwhile in space Trip and T'Pol argue over what to do. Trip believes that T'Pol is trying to leave the captain but she insists that isn't the case. Archer lowers the force field on the planet and orders T'Pol to beam the reactor up. The battle is helping matters.

​The Enterprise defeats the aliens as Archer beats the shop keep, saving the day. Archer gives his friend the cure to help her people and tells her that the Vulcans will look in on her people from time to time. He then asks her not to tell anyone, she agrees. After all, who will believe her. Archer kisses her goodbye, he has fallen for her. Poor guy, but great episode!