4. Detained (Enterprise)
Plot In Two Lines: Archer and Mayweather get stuck in a detention camp filled with Suliban and must escape.
Why Your Trek Friend Says It's Good: It's one of those classic reunions that fans die for. Here Quantum Leapers Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell come face to face again on screen when Al becomes Sam's jailer as Tandarian Colonel Grat. He even gets to hold one of those little handheld computers that Al used to talk to him through! Cool as! Also it's Enterprise's answer to I, Borg, Hippocratic Oath and In The Flesh - the humanising of the Big Bad of the series which always brings out more about them in one way or another.
Why It's Not Actually That Good: Another wonderful gimmick that didn't help to strengthen the quality of the first season of Enterprise. Pairing these two actors back up for an episode might have drawn a little bit more audience to the show but the short term gain didn't help the long term and it was a lost moment. It's the reunion episode that's not a reunion (see also Smallville's Tom Wopat episode or the A-Team episode where David McCallum turned up). Looking back over this list, it suddenly becomes very apparent that when the fanboy moment took to the screen the quality of the surrounding material takes something of a dive off a very steep cliff. Detained is a case in point. Archer and Mayweather must escape and at the same time address their prejudices against the Suliban. These episodes are a dangerous addition to the show and can do some serious damage to the reputations of the major villains. Move along; nothing to see here.