“Home Soil” (1×18)
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This episode reminded me a lot of the movie Arrival, in that it involved two forms of life that are completely alien to one another trying to bridge the enormous gulf between them and come to an understanding. Once the Enterprise crew understood what they were dealing with, and what the stakes were, I was riveted. The context of their negotiations, with each side capable of exterminating the other, reminded me a lot of the Cold War doctrine of mutually assured destruction.
It also reminded me of something the first season did well: Not sending the captain on away missions. It’s naval command 101, that the captain stays with his ship. If the captain’s on the away mission and things go sideways, the ship didn’t just fail in its mission, it’s also lost its captain. He’s the least expendable person on the ship, and so he’s the last person who should be taking unnecessary risks. Over time, the series succumbed to the understandable dramatic desire of having its star drive the action. But I appreciate the effort early on to get right this aspect of what real starship standard operating procedures would require.
The only thing that didn’t work for me was the mystery over what’s going on down on the planet, and who killed the water engineer. By the end of the episode, the show wants us to think that the director of the terraforming operation wasn’t such a bad guy, just too focused on his project to see the bigger picture. But I don’t buy that; if he didn’t know that the flashing lights involved some form of life, then why be so worried about the Enterprise’s visit? It would have played better for me if he had known that they were a form of life, but wasn’t willing to compromise his vision for what this seemingly sterile rock could become.
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