ENT - The Shipment

[Mabus]

The idea they wanted to explore was interesting, and it was nice of the writers to give different points of view to other Xindi characters than the eternal "Council" (reminds me of that bad joke from Fear Her).
Unfortunately the story feels uneven and isn't as impactful as it could have been. The B plot with the worm gun goes nowhere, since despite learning how to disable Xindi guns, it's not brought up later when they face the Xindi-Reptilians again. Pity, if the writers could remember Gralik's sabotage of the kemocite a few episodes later, surely they could remember this important piece of tactical information later on, right?
Speaking of, John Cothran Jr.'s portrayal as Gralik was really good and he overshadows his costars. Also, I think this is the first time kemocite appears chronologically in the series.

[Sir Will]

Nah, who needs follow up when we have... cowboys!

[TGLS]

Given I work for the government, I'd be entirely unsurprised if it turned out what I was doing led to the deaths of a bunch of extraterrestrials. Well, the extraterrestrials would still be surprising, but the rest, dull surprise.

[McAvoy]

Given I work for the government, I'd be entirely unsurprised if it turned out what I was doing led to the deaths of a bunch of extraterrestrials. Well, the extraterrestrials would still be surprising, but the rest, dull surprise.

Depends on what you do. Do you make giant freaking space lasers that fire randomly into space? You might be killing some poor aliens.

Seriously, it would depend on what you do for the government that would lead to the deaths of innocents.

Like when I worked in the government (as in the Navy) my job was to make sure the ejection seats worked, kept the pilot warm or cool, kept the electrical equipment cool and gave oxygen to the pilot in high altitudes. None of that directly contributed to killing anyone unless I fucked up and the planes crashed. I guess it's about how you look at it.

[Deledrius]

Like when I worked in the government (as in the Navy) my job was to make sure the ejection seats worked, kept the pilot warm or cool, kept the electrical equipment cool and gave oxygen to the pilot in high altitudes. None of that directly contributed to killing anyone unless I fucked up and the planes crashed. I guess it's about how you look at it.

Everything's complicated. You're saving lives. Lives who, presumably, are taking lives. It's always a question of how many levels away you are in that sort of job.

The guy that makes the screws and bolts contributes too. There are a lot of ways to break that down, and none of the answers are ever easy. Gralik acquitted himself well, I think.

[clearspira]

Its like the discussion that Chuck was having on the Cube movie review about how one person makes a screw here another makes a part there; none of the people ever meeting and no one knowing what those bits go towards. Then you have people like David Hewlett's character who built the outer shell of the Cube but didn't do it out of maliciousness. He did it because that's what his company does: make things for money. He didn't know that his government was going to use it as a torture chamber.

Its actually rather easy when you think about it to be involved in the creation of a death machine. Even if it really is just the fact that you built the screws.

[Deledrius]

The more interesting question, which is raised here and sometimes in other fiction: what is your responsibility (if any) to act once you know, when you have an opportunity to do so? How far does that go?

[Nealithi]

Given I work for the government, I'd be entirely unsurprised if it turned out what I was doing led to the deaths of a bunch of extraterrestrials. Well, the extraterrestrials would still be surprising, but the rest, dull surprise.

Depends on what you do. Do you make giant freaking space lasers that fire randomly into space? You might be killing some poor aliens.

Seriously, it would depend on what you do for the government that would lead to the deaths of innocents.

Like when I worked in the government (as in the Navy) my job was to make sure the ejection seats worked, kept the pilot warm or cool, kept the electrical equipment cool and gave oxygen to the pilot in high altitudes. None of that directly contributed to killing anyone unless I fucked up and the planes crashed. I guess it's about how you look at it.

You worked aircrew lifesupport?

But I think the degrees of separation question is a good one. The people that built the housing site for the Manhattan Project. They did indirectly help work on the atomic bomb. I can ask this to increasingly further degrees. To someone like an aunt of mine. The guy that collected trash on the White House lawn in WW2 is just as guilty of building the atomic bomb as any person actually working with the materials.

To me the episode brings up another point. Archer is there because the Xindi killed millions of people. And no one on Earth had heard of the Xindi before that. So why would they even be interested in harming them?

[clearspira]

Given I work for the government, I'd be entirely unsurprised if it turned out what I was doing led to the deaths of a bunch of extraterrestrials. Well, the extraterrestrials would still be surprising, but the rest, dull surprise.

Depends on what you do. Do you make giant freaking space lasers that fire randomly into space? You might be killing some poor aliens.

Seriously, it would depend on what you do for the government that would lead to the deaths of innocents.

Like when I worked in the government (as in the Navy) my job was to make sure the ejection seats worked, kept the pilot warm or cool, kept the electrical equipment cool and gave oxygen to the pilot in high altitudes. None of that directly contributed to killing anyone unless I fucked up and the planes crashed. I guess it's about how you look at it.

To me the episode brings up another point. Archer is there because the Xindi killed millions of people. And no one on Earth had heard of the Xindi before that. So why would they even be interested in harming them?

In fairness, it is revealed later on that they are being manipulated by the sphere builders claiming to have future knowledge.

[TGLS]

Given I work for the government, I'd be entirely unsurprised if it turned out what I was doing led to the deaths of a bunch of extraterrestrials. Well, the extraterrestrials would still be surprising, but the rest, dull surprise.

Depends on what you do. Do you make giant freaking space lasers that fire randomly into space? You might be killing some poor aliens.

Seriously, it would depend on what you do for the government that would lead to the deaths of innocents.

I suppose. But I think it's a pretty hard sell for anyone to go: "You are singularly responsible for all these deaths!" Unless you're like the president who ordered an attack or something.