Episode Report Card Keckler: B- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT The Pirates of the Implants
By Keckler | Season 3 | Episode 2 | Aired on 09.16.2003
Enterprise glides with darkened nacelles.
Quantum's Quarters. Quantum tries to find out what T'Pol knows about the Osaarians. Apparently, very little. "The High Command hasn't had much contact with the Osaarians. They have a large merchant fleet but there's no record of piracy," T'Pol reports. She's also had no luck tracing the pirate ship, since they've managed to cloak their trail. T'Pol feels the need to point out that the Osaarians have obviously found a way around piloting a possessed ship in the Expanse: "Pursuing them will be dangerous. We should consider other alternatives." Quantum reeeeally doesn't like that idea. T'Pol says she was just suggesting they replenish their supplies elsewhere. Quantum orders her to keep looking. T'Pol leaves.
Quantum visits his POP ("Prisoner of Piracy") in the brig. Quantum stares at Pop for a bit before hitting the comm button and saying, "Dr. Phlox said your injuries were minor." Pop doesn't say anything. "Please get up," Quantum says, almost gently. Pop doesn't move. "I have a dead crewman," Quantum tells him. "I didn't kill him," Pop answers. "No, one of your friends did, but I don't have one of your friends, I have you, so get up and look at me!" Quantum shouts. See, there's a problem when Quantum gets angry and I get the giggles. I think it's because all he does is act angry so it's not like there's much of an impact anymore, and when he tries to get all tough, it's like he's parodying himself and playing it way too broad and I feel like I'm seeing a Quantum Impersonator. Pop thinks for a moment before getting suddenly up. Quantum ironically thanks him and tells him he's going to help him find his ship. Pop chuckles derisively. "And after I've taken back what they stole from me, you and your colleagues...are free to go," Quantum says, as though he were making a huge concession. Pop tells Quantum he must be willing to let more of his crewmembers die if he wants to go find the pirate ship. "I can't help you. Even if I could, my captain wouldn't be very interested in having me back. Not after I told you where to find him," Pop says. Good point. "That's a risk you'll have to take because the alternative is going to be a lot less pleasant," Quantum tries to threaten. Pop points a finger at him and laughs (I like Pop), saying he doesn't think he's got the profiteroles for torture. "You and your crewmen are far too civilized for that. Too moral," Pop taunts him. Quantum wants what is rightfully his, and says there's too much at stake to let his morality get in the way. Pop goes on a tear about how Quantum and Qrew are new to the Expanse, how their hull isn't reinforced with the magical Trellium D. "Do you know what a spatial distortion can do to a ship that is not insulated with Trellium D?" Pop asks. "What it can do [here he indicates the area on his face that looks melted and very much like F. Murray Abraham in Insurrection, pre-stretching] to the people inside that ship?"
Quantum doesn't really care about his dermatological hang-ups, and asks how his ship masked its ion trail. Instead of answering, Pop writes a sidebar about how clever and resourceful his captain has to be in order to survive in the Expanse. "So you were forced into piracy," Quantum states. Pop takes a really long time and a lot of speechifying to agree with that. Apparently, the Osaarians were just plain old merchants until they hit the Expanse and couldn't get out again. They lost a ship, they got bitter and didn't have therapists, so they became predators and hunted other ships that got tangled in this space-age Bermuda Triangle. "It takes time to learn to kill without remorse. You're not prepared to kill or torture. Not yet," Pop scoffs at Quantum. Yes, yes, we all read The Things They Carried -- get on with it. Quantum says he's prepared to do what it takes to find his ship, "and if that ends up causing me remorse, then it's something I'm willing to live with." With the predictable scene that comes up later, it's hard not to think Quantum was giving in to his ego in order to prove to Pop that he's just as scrappy as anyone else in the Expanse. I say the scene is predictable because UPN and Bermaga never gave me the chance to wonder about it -- not with all those promos. Quantum tells Pop to think about it, and leaves.