Yet again, we see Archer throwing caution to the wind and diving into a situation that he is not prepared for.
Same with the Xindi. In the last episode, we learned that they've been told that humans from Earth will destroy them in 400 years, so they pre-emptively test a weapon against Earth. Why? If you had the element of surprise to annihilate an enemy, why would you attack them with a small prototype?!
In this episode, the Xindi are repeatedly concerned that Enterprise could be the first of a wave of ships. Why? Because the Xindi didn't send any teams to covertly watch Earth and learn what their current defenses are. No, they just sent a prototype weapon as a test. It initially appears successful but then fails and crashes. (Although the intro in the last episode didn't make the failure very clear. Looked purposeful.) No mention of how the weapon travelled all the way to Earth without detection or why Earth wasn't trying to shoot it out of the sky.
This Xindi test sends the humans running headlong into an expanse that they don't understand, in order to confront people that they have never met.
Unseen is Archer meeting a freighter captain who tells them where a Xindi is "working" at a mine. Apparently, Archer didn't learn anything else from that captain about the expanse because they don't even know what the mine is mining! (Let's ignore why that captain would know any of the mine's workers.)
We viewers accept a lot of unrealistic things because it's SciFi, but the basic plot should make sense. Why do they need to find a Xindi to tell them where his home world is? Wouldn't most warp-capable people in the expanse know who lives there? They're meeting the head of a mining operation who sells to many worlds and has "workers" from 31 species. Ask him about the expanse and the Xindi! They just need a map.
I assume that the writers don't want Enterprise to be shielded against the effects of the expanse because that would ruin later plots. But it would make more sense if Archer negotiated a deal to protect at least some the ship (the bridge, warp reactor, or a shuttle) but can't complete the job because during the retrofit of Enterprise, the miners start taking prisoners (because they never planned to complete the job), leading to a rescue, firefight and escape.
The very idea that Archer would need to pay a significant amount to just talk to a Xindi worker, and had to go down into the mine to level 22 to meet that worker is very strange, as is the miner's proof that a Xindi is there. Archer is impetuous but the risk he takes is unreasonable. (As well as cannibalizing the platinum from many components. Surely this would render them non-functional.)
There could have been a more reasonable, more natural, way for Archer to discover that a Xindi works at the mine, discovers that he's captive and negotiates an escape in exchange for information.
The direction is good but the path that they take could be more logical.
Even the Klingons in the last episode. They enter our solar system, attack our flagship, and then we ignore them? Earth is attacked and the Vulcans don't even join us to the edge of the expanse? (And Enterprise would deviate from a direct route just to drop off T'Pol? She would wait for the next Vulcan ship.)
Same with the Xindi. In the last episode, we learned that they've been told that humans from Earth will destroy them in 400 years, so they pre-emptively test a weapon against Earth. Why? If you had the element of surprise to annihilate an enemy, why would you attack them with a small prototype?!
In this episode, the Xindi are repeatedly concerned that Enterprise could be the first of a wave of ships. Why? Because the Xindi didn't send any teams to covertly watch Earth and learn what their current defenses are. No, they just sent a prototype weapon as a test. It initially appears successful but then fails and crashes. (Although the intro in the last episode didn't make the failure very clear. Looked purposeful.) No mention of how the weapon travelled all the way to Earth without detection or why Earth wasn't trying to shoot it out of the sky.
This Xindi test sends the humans running headlong into an expanse that they don't understand, in order to confront people that they have never met.
Unseen is Archer meeting a freighter captain who tells them where a Xindi is "working" at a mine. Apparently, Archer didn't learn anything else from that captain about the expanse because they don't even know what the mine is mining! (Let's ignore why that captain would know any of the mine's workers.)
We viewers accept a lot of unrealistic things because it's SciFi, but the basic plot should make sense. Why do they need to find a Xindi to tell them where his home world is? Wouldn't most warp-capable people in the expanse know who lives there? They're meeting the head of a mining operation who sells to many worlds and has "workers" from 31 species. Ask him about the expanse and the Xindi! They just need a map.
I assume that the writers don't want Enterprise to be shielded against the effects of the expanse because that would ruin later plots. But it would make more sense if Archer negotiated a deal to protect at least some the ship (the bridge, warp reactor, or a shuttle) but can't complete the job because during the retrofit of Enterprise, the miners start taking prisoners (because they never planned to complete the job), leading to a rescue, firefight and escape.
The very idea that Archer would need to pay a significant amount to just talk to a Xindi worker, and had to go down into the mine to level 22 to meet that worker is very strange, as is the miner's proof that a Xindi is there. Archer is impetuous but the risk he takes is unreasonable. (As well as cannibalizing the platinum from many components. Surely this would render them non-functional.)
There could have been a more reasonable, more natural, way for Archer to discover that a Xindi works at the mine, discovers that he's captive and negotiates an escape in exchange for information.
The direction is good but the path that they take could be more logical.
Even the Klingons in the last episode. They enter our solar system, attack our flagship, and then we ignore them? Earth is attacked and the Vulcans don't even join us to the edge of the expanse? (And Enterprise would deviate from a direct route just to drop off T'Pol? She would wait for the next Vulcan ship.)