This was a mixed bag if ever one existed.  One one hand there is a strikingly well-written and well-executed plot regarding Archer’s abduction at the hands of a bounty hunter.  It is suspenseful, engaging, and ties into some threads established clear back at the beginning of the series.  Archer  pulls some Picard-style psychological tricks on his captor, busts out with some old-fashioned Kirk-style fisticuffs on some Klingons, and even helps a rather shady character redeem himself.  In short, it was the kind of plot that made Star Trek: TNG so likable in the 1990s.
On the other hand, though, was one of the lamest sub-plots I have seen this season. Â Doctor and T’Pol are stuck in the medical quarantine room after contracting some strange microbe on a planet they recently visited (I am weary of this story mechanic. Â would that it would change!) and, sure enough, they have to smear that goopy disinfectant gel all over themselves! Â Remember that awkward scene in the first episode? Â Remember how you nearly ran screaming from the TV? Â Yeah, it’s like that…only worse. Â As luck would have it, the microbe triggers (what else?) the pon farr. Â *sigh*
The rest of the Doctor/T’Pol subplot is a hamfisted attempt at what I can only assume is Berman and Braga’s idea of comedy, as Jolene Blalock makes an idiot out of herself and the Doctor (and all other crew members) try to knock some sense (and a cure) into her.
At its core, The Iron Giant is a story about a boy and his friend. Â This boy, named Hogarth, like the protagonists of so many of these kinds of films, is misunderstood by adults, has few companions at school, and spends too much time lost in his own imagination. Â He’s a bit 
The Brad Bird quirkiness comes from the sheer nature of the story: a kid befriends a 100-foot tall metal behemoth. Â It’s a bit different from typical Disney fare, you might say. Â But I had a hard time buying the friendship and the isolation from all adults. Â Early on in the film the giant causes a train to crash, and this should have been a pivotal turning point in the story. Â But for the most part people just continue in their daily lives afterwards while Hogarth and his pet giant continue to frolic about in the woods unnoticed, and no one in town (save for the savvy investigator) bothering to ask any questions. Â I can give animated films a lot of leeway and wiggle room, but I just wasn’t able to let go of some of these types of plot issues.
Things got started, as they so often do, with a mission that led to much more than the crew was ready to handle. Turns out the ship might be headed into a nebula full of dark matter, but they aren’t exactly sure just what is out there. Everyone is pretty stoked at the possibility of exploring this in a shuttlepod when Archer gets some bad news that someone named “A.G.” has died. Turns out that A.G. is a longtime friend of both Archer and Trip, and the news of his death immediatly sends the Cap’n into one of his emo moods, which left me holding my breath for another 
Lewis and Clark showcases Ken Burns’ talents as a masterful documentarian, and intricately details one of the most grand adventures in history. Â It continues the tradition he set forth years prior with The Civil War, and I am eager to see his other films about baseball and World War II. Â What I found most remarkable about Lewis and Clark was how intricately Mr. Burns detailed so many aspects of their historic journey into the wild unknown, mostly through the use of narrated selections from their letters and journals. Â The majesty of the great prairies, the intensity of the summer heat and bitter winter cold, the interactions with both friendly and adversarial Natives, the desperation the Corps faced as they stared at the Rockies with no forseeable way to cross before winter…it’s all captured in this film in a very real and personal way that is rare among documentaries.
For years we have been hearing about the great leader John Connor. Â Even before he was onscreen we heard about him in the original Terminator. Â In T2 he was a petulant upstart with a whole lot of potential for channeling his angst into world-saving charisma. Â T3 showed a JC who was more like the whiny Anakin Skywalker of Episode II, but ended with the seeds of humanity’s savior finally beginning to take root. Â In T4, our fabled hero is nowhere to be found for much of the movie. Â Instead we are treated to another petulant upstart, a survivalist woman who thinks she is in a Resident Evil movie, and a young girl who cannot talk (can anyone say 
