See Also: 'Countdown' Episode Guide

Only a few online reviews have appeared thus far for last Wednesday night's Star Trek: Enterprise episode, "Countdown", but they all indicated satisfaction with the state of the Xindi arc as the series heads to the season finale this week. André Bormanis & Chris Black's dialogue and Robert Duncan McNeill's directing of the action sequences both earned praise.

• T'Bonz at Lower Decks gave the episode an A, with a 9/10 score. "Lots of nods to both continuity and to past Trek and superb character interaction," he said. adding, "I’m finally feeling like this crew IS a crew and not just a group of people who happen to be on the same ship." He found Hayes' death scene contrived, but thought Sato's character development was superb and enjoyed getting to see more of Reed as well. For more, visit Lower Decks.

• The Great Link's Michael Marek rated the episode four out of five, saying it "builds energy, yet keeps from peaking too soon by injecting several doses of quality character development." He found the episode somewhat nostalgic of previous Treks and a bit of 2010 as well, citing the themes of "duty and loyalty, not just to Starfleet or to the cause, but to each other." Marek felt the episode had all of the elements one would expect from a penultimate arc story but added contemplative scenes to the action. The full review is at The Great Link.

• TrekWeb's O. Deus awarded an overall rating of 9/10 for the second consecutive week. "'Countdown' is appropriately suspenseful and ominious. But at the close of the season it also delivers a strong episode by harnessing the power of characters who have been all too often kept in the shadows this season in favor of exploitative Trip and T'Pol material," he wrote. He was pleased by the Reed material but protested Trip and T'Pol's "whining" which he labeled "cheap soap opera." The full review is at TrekWeb.

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