The Council

Once again it comes to the five Xindi entities trying to agree on something. The Reptilians and the Insectoids are the more combative of the species. The Aquatics are the most interesting of all. They are the designers and the intellects (dolphins) and constructed the device. The biggest problem is that the sphere builders, who continually take credit for everything that the Xindi had accomplished, have their own agenda. They can manipulate time and react when things don't go as they wished. They are a bit like the gods on Mt. Olympus, who caused events to take place and then reacted. The two war factions are formidable and stupid and shortsighted. The next episode should show how the alliance can function with the sixth entity, Earth, in the middle.

Degra takes Archer before the Xindi council.

This is another very strong episode that raises the excitement levels as the series heads towards its conclusion.

The story follows two away missions: one a sort of tactical, reconnaissance job for Reed, T'Pol and Mayweather; whilst the other is diplomatic involving Archer and Hoshi. The final act focuses on the political fallout within the Xindi Council. It all flows excellently and I was pretty much gripped throughout.

Most performances were top drawer particularly the Xindi Council members, some of whom were conveying great emotion under heavy makeup. Randy Oglesby again was superb and his scenes with Scott MacDonald are electric, one of them in particular, although predictable, will remain a chillingly memorable franchise moment for me. All the best scenes involve the internal politics of Xindi.

It wasn't quite the perfect episode. There were some scenes with Malcolm Reed and also Trip Tucker that I found rather irritating, thankfully they were small enough not to bring the episode down.

I can't go into anymore detail without spoilers, so I'll just say I found it to be one of the standout episodes of series 3.