the delphic expanse

Discuss Judgment here

Well, what do you know, another favorite of mine!

Best thing about the episode: J.G. Hertzler as Kolos (obviously Martok's ancestor ).

My only complaints: too short, not enough Trip, and no Archer and Trip or Trip and Malcolm scenes.

I'm the worst Trekkie in the world, but I have no emotional connection to Klingons. Andorians, Bajorans, Terrans...especially Vulcans. This was a pretty good episode, too. As you say, Kolos is a great character.

But I still think the most interesting story is the one that's only hinted at, the rescue at the end. Someone needs to write that as fic.

This episode both intrigued me and disappointed me.

I loved Kolos - he instantly became a favorite character of mine and a stand out among the ENT area Klingons. (I wished we'd had a fifth season to see more of the virus-affected TOS-style Klingons.) But since he was such a well drawn character, and there was so much to cover in this story about grudges against Archer, we see so little of the rest of the crew. And I've never been fond of long-drawn out courtroom scenes of any kind, even in popular procedurals. But that's just me.

Archer was great, and very much the Kirk-style captain and hero here. I loved every interaction he and Kolos had.

But I really wished this episode had been a two-parter. I that would have given the writers a little more wiggle room to include a larger story going on on Enterprise while the events in the Klingon jail and the courtroom played out. A THREE parter would have given some more room for the Rura Pente scenes - i.e. the two ending up there in the first place and Archer trying not to get killed in the process - as well as the prison break. But as a 45 minute episode ... well, there's only so much they can cover. And somehow ... it felt like there was a bit missing. Possibly because so much of the rest of the cast was missing too.

It does do a Roddenberry-esque morality play style of episode pretty nicely, but it keeps ending up being one of the less memorable episodes to me, with the exception of the introduction of Kolos and the rescue at the end. (Which was just freakin' awesome.) I keep forgetting what exactly it is the Klingons have against Archer and I'm always surprused that, hey!, there's aliens that Enterprise rescued. It's really a shame since there was a great deal of stuff here that I like and that I use in fic and that could have been expanded on. I think this one's ripe for missing scenes types of fics.

Some things I noticed in this rewatch: I loved Phlox scaring the Klingon guard with the "contagious disease" stuff. Also loved T'Pol's soft response to Travis's question, "What's Rura Pente like?"

Naturally, I wonder what ever happened to the aliens Enterprise helped (and thus got Archer in so much hot water). And did Kolos get out after five years? That'd be just before the Romulan war.

But I really wished this episode had been a two-parter. I that would have given the writers a little more wiggle room to include a larger story going on on Enterprise while the events in the Klingon jail and the courtroom played out. A THREE parter would have given some more room for the Rura Pente scenes - i.e. the two ending up there in the first place and Archer trying not to get killed in the process - as well as the prison break. But as a 45 minute episode ... well, there's only so much they can cover. And somehow ... it felt like there was a bit missing. Possibly because so much of the rest of the cast was missing too.

I'm with you there, EntAllat. It's like trying to squeeze a size ten story into a size four time allotment.

By the way (spoiler alert!),we see Kolos again in the novel Kobayashi Maru.

I have to confess that I didn't re-watch this one. It has so much potential, and Kolos is a great character. I've watched it twice before, though, and I just never much cared for it. I never thought too hard about why I just don't enjoy it that much, but I think you nailed it, EntAllat. I think I would have really liked it if it had been a two or even three-part story. Has anyone ever tackled this in fanfiction?

Not that I know of, but I scribbled a note to myself for future reference.

Another thing that occurred to me: This is not first, and not even the second, but the third time in two years that Malcolm successfully breaks Archer+One out of a prison-like situation. The first was in "Detained" when he donned a Suliban disguise and broke Archer and Travis out of the prison camp. Then in "Canamar" he leads a whole team via a disguised ship to rescue Archer and Trip from the prison transport. Now here, in "Judgment", he dons a simple disguise again and breaks Archer (and would have broken Kolos out too) of a Klingon prison world. It makes you wonder what Malcolm's specialty might have been for Section 31.

^ That's another reason why "Judgment" just wasn't one of my favorites. Three prison-breaks in two seasons, all involving Jon, is just a little much. One thing that I wish they had expanded on more, though, was T'Pol's role in making contact with the Klingons who allowed Jon to go. I'd also liked to have seen more with T'Pol and Malcolm using their spy background skills here.