Zero Hour

Episode Summary & Review

Summary

Archer tries to coax a traumatized Hoshi into using her decryption skills to disable the Xindi doomsday weapon before the Reptilians can use it to destroy Earth. Archer risks his life in a dangerous gambit to intercept the superweapon, sneak by the Xindi Reptilians aboard, and disarm it from inside. Meanwhile, the Enterprise embarks on its own desperate mission to cripple the rest of the spheres.

Our Take

A tense, satisfying payoff to the season-long Xindi arc, with Archer’s infiltration of the weapon delivering real momentum and Hoshi getting a rare chance to carry weighty material. The space battles look better than the show’s budget usually allows. The bizarre final-act cliffhanger is a gamble that may lose some viewers, but the hour itself mostly earns its big swings.