Similitude

Episode Summary & Review

Summary

Trip suffers a catastrophic injury in an accident that disables Enterprise inside a hazardous space cloud. His only hope for survival is a transplant from a clone or “mimetic symbiont” which Phlox grows from one of his exotic creatures. Phlox and the crew named the clone Sim. But his rapid growth and replication of Trip’s behavior alarm the crew. Archer faces an ethical dilemma as the clone gains sentience and does not want to die from harvesting his organs for Trip’s survival.

Our Take

A heavy ethics hour that mostly works because Connor Trinneer gets to play both versions of himself, and the clone’s mounting awareness of his fate lands harder than expected. The debate gets a bit repetitive in the middle and the resolution is telegraphed early, but the final scene between Trip and Sim is genuinely affecting. Worth watching even if it doesn’t fully earn its big questions.