Bounty

Oh dear the PC brigade don't like this episode do they so it can't be all bad. T'Pol's condition is a sub plot to Archer's kidnap at the hands of a rather ridiculous bounty Hunter but it's the different side of T'Pol that lingers most in the mind of red (or green) blooded males.

The Enterprise crew is in shore leave in an uninhabited planet, when a Tellarite ship hails and her Captain Skalaar asks for Captain Archer. He is kidnapped while welcoming Skalaar on board, and finds that the Tellarite is a bounty hunter working for the Klingons that intend to send him back to the penal colony. Meanwhile, T'Pol and Phlox return from the planet infected by a resistant bacteria and while in quarantine, the metabolism of T'Pol is affected and she unexpectedly enters in the Pon Far, asking Phlox to "help" her.

In "Bounty", Captain Archer is abducted again but succeeds to escape. However, this episode is dedicated to T'Pol, more precisely to the sexy Jolene Blalock, who has a very erotic performance. Surprisingly Dr. Phlox adheres to the human morality and does not use a non-orthodox treatment to heal T'Pol, what is an inconsistency with his principles. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Recompensa" ("Bounty")

This is not a particularly good episode of "Star Trek: Enterprise"-- mostly because the show seems highly sensationalistic and titillating instead of being intelligently written.

When the show begins, Trip and Archer are attacked and Archer is taken prisoner by a Tellarite. It seems that the Klingons put a bounty on him after he escaped from their custody ("Judgment", episode 2, 19). Much of the episode consists of their voyage across space to meet up with the Klingons.

The other plot is a doozy that will probably appeal to very horny teenagers but is frankly very embarrassing. When T'Pol and Phlox go on a mission, some strange infection necessitates keeping themselves in isolation--but the same infection has somehow induced Pon Farr-- the Vulcan mating urge. Through most of the show, T'Pol is an incredibly frisky lady and demands the Doctor service her! And, throughout all this, she's nearly naked. This plot is in many ways a low point for the show, as it bowed to prurient content instead of something a bit more high-minded and enlightening!

The first plot isn't bad--that's why the show manages to score a 4.

Archer is captured by a Tellarite bounty hunter.

Surely Captain Archer is the most captured character in Star Trek history. That point aside, the plot unfolds in a fairly interesting way and it's nice to see a Tellarite character to feel a bit of connection to the franchise universe. The plot line also has good continuity from the Enterprise episode 'Judgement'.

This one includes a rather ludicrous sub-plot that wouldn't be out of place as a device to move along the events of a porn film. Apparently T'Pol has contracted an infection that induces Pon Farr. In other words the writers have concocted an excuse to get Jolene Blalock semi-naked and make her behave like she's permanently sexually aroused for the duration of the episode.

If you'd enjoy the prospect of seeing Archer implement yet another daring escape and enjoy lingering shots of T'Pol in her underwear this is the perfect one for you.

With Archer, for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Now it's the Klingons who want to get him back after his escape from the penal colony. He is captured by a bounty hunter who is living with some bad judgment in the past. At first the guy is stone cold and indifferent to the pleadings of Archer (some might think he would put him someplace where he can't complain), then he begins to soften a bit. He feels the Klingons will play fair with him. The Enterprise has to work hard to locate their captain. Meanwhile, returning from an exploratory search, Phlox and T'Pol are in a decontamination chamber, getting cleaned up, but a virus of some sort has invaded their bodies. Obviously, this is an exploitative event because T'Pol goes into a premature mating cycle, but must remain, isolated with Phlox, who is having a hard time dealing with it. Still, the story is interesting and so is this event, even if it could be interpreted as eye-candy for the males.