The Communicator

Episode Summary & Review

Summary

Returning from covertly observing a preatomic era alien world on the verge of war, Lieutenant Reed realizes he lost his communicator somewhere on the planet. Archer and Reed return to recover the lost technology, only to find the natives found it first. Captured and interrogated as spies, Archer and Reed find themselves doing even more damage to the culture when they are scanned and found to belong to another race. They face execution and autopsy. Meanwhile, Tucker and Mayweather try to figure out how to activate the cloak on the Suliban cell ship so they can mount a discreet rescue.

Our Take

A solid Prime Directive episode that finally gives Reed something to do, and the interrogation scenes have real tension once the aliens start drawing the wrong conclusions. The Tucker and Mayweather subplot is mostly filler, though the payoff is fun. It drags a bit in the middle cell scenes, but the ending lands on a nicely uncomfortable note. Worth watching if you like your Trek moral dilemmas messy.