Captain’s log: 14 August, 2152

Singularity was written by Chris Black, and first debuted on 20 November, 2002. As the Enterprise approaches a black hole, the crew appears to descend into a form of madness as each of them becomes obsessed with seemingly trivial matters.

T’Pol (Jolene Blalock) who remains largely unaffected, must find a way to save the crew. Archer (Scott Bakula) becomes obsessed with writing the preface of a book about his father, Tripp (Connor Trinneer) is fixated on repairing the Captain’s Chair, Reed (Dominic Keating) is focused on an alert system to ready the crew, everyone has their task or idea that consumes them.

The episode ties in the continuity of the series, making references to past experiences and behaviours, all of which seem to come to bear on the obsessions that grow for each and every crew member. Reed references Archer’s actions over the past season and a half, and we see things called up from other crew as well.

T’Pol sees the increasing erratic behaviour, and realises that she, alone, is going to have to save the crew. It seems the radiation emanating from the black hole, which is in a trinary star system, is affecting the crew. simply turning around won’t do the job, but T’Pol has a plan, but she’ll have to get help from Archer, even if he can’t seem to get a handle on his own obsession.

Of course, they all survive, and it’s hinted at, by episode’s end, that despite the fact that Trip fixed Archer’s chair, he’s still not a fan or comfortable in it.

Captain’s log: date unknown

Hoshi (Linda Park) is given another chance to shine in this episode written by Rick Berman and Brannon Braga that originally debuted on 27 November, 2002.

When Hoshi makes use of the still new, and barely used to move sentient life, transporter to avoid a storm, she begins to think that there is something wrong with her, that she is becoming invisible to the rest of the crew.

Her fear of the transporter pays off, as she slowly vanishes and makes a discovery that needs her to protect her crew mates, and her ship. This is a bit of a callback to the Hoshi of the first season, still scared of things, nervous about being in space, and not exactly trusting of new technologies. This episode is good, and enjoyable, but it may have worked better in the first season.

Still, I like when Hoshi gets a chance to shine, as she is one of my favourite characters and Park’s portrayal of her is solid, and easy to relate and empathise with.

The Human Adventure continues Thursday with another pair of episodes as I delve deeper into the second season of Star Trek: Enterprise – The Complete Series on blu-ray, now available from Paramount Canada.

Boldly go…