Critics: 'Rajiin' Looks Great But Fails To Seduce

See Also: 'Rajiin' Episode Guide

Reviews for this Wednesday night's episode of Enterprise, "Rajiin", have been posted online. Nearly all critics praised the visual effects and performances, but the sex slave storyline received an uneven reception, as did Archer's response to Rajiin's treachery.

• The Great Link's Michael Marek gave "Rajiin" a mixed review, praising the title character and Nikita Ager's performance but finding the sexual suggestiveness of her scenes with Archer and T'Pol to be gratuitous. "Furthermore," he wrote, "this continual theme of having T’Pol 'explore her emotional side' is inappropriate to the character...as Spock did, she may come to understand the merits of emotions in some situations, but not in this heavy-handed way." Like many reviewers, he praised the continuity, the directing and the visuals, while he was troubled by Archer's bitter behavior and Rajiin's inexplicable post-captive clothing. For the full review, which gave the episode a three out of five rating, visit The Great Link.

• Mike Dunham of Section 31 warned in his introduction that he hated the episode and felt unhappy and frustrated as the only real positive he could come up with was "the old 'the special effects were good' line." He complained about Archer's perpetually angry characterization and listed a number of storylines, from conflict between Reed and the MACOs to the shifting burden of command, that the writers haven't bothered to explore. Ultimately he gave the episode a D+; to learn the rest of his objections, read the full review.

• At Trek5.com, Captain Mac found "Rajiin" a great improvement over "Extinction", giving the episode a four star out of five rating and praising the special effects in particular. "The water planet's artificial island was unique and the exquisitely detailed make-up and costumes of the aliens are a welcome departure from the 'bumps on their heads' look of episodes past," he wrote. However, he found the "hooker with a heart of gold" twist contrived. For the full review, visit Trek5.

• Keckler of Television Without Pity scoffed that Archer made an impulse buy of a sex slave after Trip got upset during "the Neural Node Nudging hour" because Reed suggested that something vaguely masturbatory was going on between him and T'Pol. The review continued to poke fun at the cheap sexual imagery, referring to the character of Rajiin by a name unprintable in a family publication. To read the complete recap, visit TWoP.

• "'Rajiin' becomes a struggle between the high road and the low road that only tangles the story and the motivations of the characters even more," wrote O. Deus at TrekWeb. He praised the sets, the acting and the directing of the episode, but found the beautiful mysterious seductive woman plot to be a place "where Star Trek has already gone so very many times before." Enterprise, he stated, "wants to do serious stories but it also wants to desperately appeal to the lowest common denominator with desperate tactics." The full review is at TrekWeb.

• "This episode reminded me of some of the TOS episodes, with lots of action, a beautiful alien seductress, and what happens when the crew finds out who she really is," said TrekPulse's Litsa Guevara. She thought Rajiin was well-acted and interestingly characterized, and enjoyed the scenes between Trip and T'Pol. Her major criticism had to do with the apparent incompetence of the ship's defense officers. To learn why the episode received a 3.5/5 rating, read her full review.

• Chris at Xenoclone's 'Enterprise' Power Rankings was certain that other reviewers would be too busy being offended by Rajiin's sexy outfit to pay attention to the entertainment value of the episode, which he called "fun," saying, "not every episode of Trek needs be a morality play." He felt that it captured the action feel of original series episodes. However, he complained about too many Tucker-T'Pol massage scenes. The full review is here.

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