Star Trek Best Trek

Storm Front, Part II

In case you skip it...

So you probably noticed that despite wrapping up a storyline that had lasted an entire season, “Zero Hour” didn’t have an actual ending. It was about to, but then the last couple minutes instead set up a new and totally unrelated story, robbing you of closure.

This is the single rudest thing Enterprise does. Right before completing the year-long Xindi arc, it just shoves in this other two-parter that easily could have been completely disconnected. The real ending to “Zero Hour” is found at the end of this episode - you could cut out the “Storm Front” episodes completely and just stitch the last scene of “Part II” on to replace the ending of “Zero Hour” and it would work better.

Unfortunately I can’t just give you a version of the episode that’s been altered this way. So, go ahead and watch the last minute or two of “Storm Front, Part II” if you want the satisfaction of seeing Enterprise return to Earth and get welcomed home. Otherwise, just pretend that’s what happened at the end of “Zero Hour”.

Enterprise welcomed back to Earth

What this two-parter does accomplish is an end to the Temporal Cold War. (Or maybe it’s now been prevented entirely. Time paradoxes, amirite?) The (previously never-heard-of) big bad guy behind the whole thing is hiding out in Earth’s past before launching his offensive on the future. Daniels, in an act of desperation, sends Enterprise back in time to stop him. They manage to do so, with Silik dying in the process. Daniels returns Enterprise to its present and agrees to leave Archer alone from now on.

It’s a shame the rewritten history doesn’t remove the Temporal Cold War from the already-aired episodes, but at least it’s finally over.