Malcolm and Trip are in a shuttlepod when they discover wreckage from Enterprise and believe the vessel has been destroyed. With only a few days of air left to them, they set course for the nearest planet and hope for help.

It's a bit difficult to be nasty about this episode, as it does pretty much what it sets out to do, ie bring us more insight into Reed and Tucker's characters and their relationship by making them interact for 45 minutes and the most trying of conditions. Now, to a degree this works. We now know a bit about Malcolm's history on Earth and his loneliness, but we don't really learn a lot more about Trip except that he likes a drink and meatloaf and comes from the South, most of which we could probably have got without help.

On top of this, too much time is spent with Malcolm being pessimistic and writing all his letters to former friends and family members and Trip being optimistic and expecting to be rescued. By the time they've finished debating the relative merits of these approaches, a good third of the episode has passed and we haven't really learnt anything. Okay, so we do find out that T'Pol apparently has a nice bum later on, but that's hardly the most exciting thing in the world, is it? Or is it?

I'm still not totally clear on exactly what they see, either. Presumably it's the missing bulkhead that Archer mentions early on, but surely this isn't enough debris to assume the Enterprise has been destroyed? One door and some metal and they give up on the crew? For a while I thought it was simply going to be one of those enjoyable time paradoxes, but thankfully something that cheesy is avoided.

Sadly, the fact remains that this episode simply doesn't quite come off, but it's a valiant try that does at least make we viewers care a little more about our explorer friends.

***

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