Episode Report Card Keckler: A | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Crazy Like A Phlox
By Keckler | Season 2 | Episode 21 | Aired on 04.22.2003
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.Responding to a Denobulan request to evacuate a planet, Enterprise wings off with good deeds in her heart and a song on her lips. A wounded anti-Denobulan is brought aboard but refuses to be treated by Phlox because of some ancient grudge that breaks to new mutiny and stuff. Phlox scrubs in to wash away the civil blood that made civil hands unclean by healing his Mortal Enemy. Unfortunately, Mortal Enemy doesn't want to be cured and would rather wither in his shroud. Here entereth Phlox's moral dilemma, which Quantum tries to "Captain's order" out of him. Phlox won't be budged and seeks solace in T'Pol's dinner. Meanwhile, Trip, Reed, and May-Flint play Crystal Caves without a net or a joystick. Want more? The full recap starts right below!
Is that the first "A" I've given this season? Oh, right, "Dead Stop" -- one drop in twenty.
I don't know if it's my absurd love for John Billingsley or the fact that I got only one question out of seventy-five wrong on my Provincial French Cuisine Unit Exam today, but I enjoyed the heck out of this episode. It should surprise no one out there that Billingsley shone in every damn scene he had. In fact, there was even enough iridescence left over that even when he wasn't in a scene, you could still see some residual glimmer creeping in. Glimmer that was sorely needed, since some of Bakula's deliveries proved that he's still managing to suck the life out of every room he enters. I just want to know, where the Hellespont is Sam Beckett? The B-plot of the Treklunkers wasn't bad either. However, lest anyone think I'm going all melting Peeps-ish, there was still plenty to snark about.
It's feeding time in Sick Bay. Hoshi walks in just as Phlox pulls something fuzzy and quivering out of a bin. Looks like the set people have been shopping at the Star Trek Experience in Vegas. Phlox tells her it's a Tribble and allows her hold it, explaining, "It was extremely difficult to acquire, they're outlawed on most worlds." Hoshi wonders if it's dangerous, but Phlox says, "All it's capable of really is eating and breeding. The problem is they breed quite prodigiously." Phlox takes the Tribble out of Hoshi's hand and drops it into a cage. The cage shakes, there are a few squawks, and Phlox's trouble with Tribbles is truncated. Hoshi looks shocked as her jaw drops and she takes a few steps back, not taking her eyes from the cage where there comes a very audible smacking of lips. Phlox says, "The only thing that keeps their population in check is the abundance of reptiles on their home planet." Phlox wonders if Hoshi is feeling quite well, so Hoshi recalls herself and hands over an e-pad, explaining that the urgent communiqué is from the Denobulan Science Academy. Hoshi edges her way out. Don't go, Hoshi -- come back! Come back! But she doesn't. Phlox reads his message and looks grave.
Lost In Space and he don't know much
Was he thinking aloud
Fell out of touch
But he's back on his feet
Eager to be what Braga wanted
So gird your loins if you feel you can
Reach for a star and he'll show you a scan
He's figured it out
What he needed was T'Pol to show him
You know you can't fool me