'Fusion' Divides Critics

See Also: 'Fusion' Episode Guide

After most critics agreed on the quality of 'Shuttlepod One,' last week's 'Fusion' divided reviewers - while some felt it was an excellent episode, others labelled it one of the season's worst.

A roundup of the latest online analyses can be found below:

• "Fusion is the first perfect episode of Enterprise I've seen," wrote Matt D. at Trek5.com. "The blend of story, direction, characters, action, pacing and performances gelled like futuristic David Mamet play." In the complete analysis, the episode was awarded a perfect score of 5 out of 5.

• Reviewer monkee also enjoyed 'Fusion,' calling it "the best Vulcan episode since Voyager's 'Meld.'" She particularly liked the performance of guest star Enrique Murciano (Tolaris). "Enrique Murciano did an excellent job. Watch Tolaris' face when T'Pol gets to the part of her memory where she admits she felt something. He reminded me of the creepy dark thought addicts in Voyager's 'Random Thoughts.' Great job." Go here for the full review, in which the episode scored 9 out of 10.

• 'Hercules' from Ain't It Cool News was also in the positive camp. "Jolene Blalock does typically spectacular work as T’Pol, and the three actors playing the main guest Vulcans do a first-rate job of keeping up with her," he said. "The Vulcan engineer’s new friendship with Trip is the most fun, particularly the two engineers’ keen interest in swapping non-technical info." In the complete analysis, Fusion was awarded 3.5 out of 5.

• Over at About.com, Julia Houston found 'Fusion' a solid, if predictable hour of entertainment. "I liked it, though personally I would have preferred it if T'Pol had befriended a fellow female Vulcan on the ship," she wrote. "The conversations would have been much more interesting, and the betrayal that much worse. But, of course, that wouldn't let Berman and Braga play with that whole man/woman thing they love so much." Read the complete review here.

• Jacqueline Bundy at the Trekker Newsletter had mixed feelings about the episode. On the one hand she didn't like the flippant attitude towards continuity, but on the other found the performances very appealing. Here's an extract from the review:

  The scenes between Trip and Kov were the highlight for me. The character of Kov, played by John Harrington Bland was delightful. Enrique Murciano's portrayal of the predatory Tolaris was outstanding. It had just the right note of creepiness and danger to keep the entire episode from being a really bad joke.

  'Fusion' was awarded a score of 7 out of 10 in the full review.

• Over at TrekWeb, O. Deus described 'Fusion' as "a rather mediocre reworking of TNG Troi episodes such as 'The Price' right down to the haunting visions, the mysterious evil man and some gratuitous bed scenes. The result is dreary and predictable at best, especially when run at Enterprise's molasses pace." To read more, head over to TrekWeb.

• First TV Drama's Richard Whettestone thought 'Fusion' was full of lost opportunities. "So many times Berman & Braga have insisted they were pushing the show beyond expectations (yadda, yadda, yadda). Yet once again we're surrounded with so many chances to push it that were just plain dropped." Find out what they were here.

• "During this episode I finally discovered what other channels had to offer during this time slot," wrote 'Q' at Section 31. "In my opinion, this is the worst episode of the series to date." She found Jolene Blalock's (T'Pol) performance particularly poor:

  I was much happier when T’Pol was not taking center stage. Blalock’s acting is horrible, and for the life of me, I can’t understand why she has to walk around with that sneer on her face all the time. Spock never had it. Tuvok never had it. Why must T’Pol?

  The episode scored 3 out of 10 in the full review.

• Also disappointed was Tim Lynch at Psi Phi. "'Fusion,' along with some other episodes this season, may be deliberately making these Vulcans very different in order to effect some sort of grand change in Vulcan society down the road," he wrote. "[...] As it is, however, 'Fusion' spent most of its time showing me the adventures of characters I didn't accept as real, and as such fell increasingly flat as it came to a close." Lynch awarded the episode 4.5 out of 10 in the complete analysis.

More information can be found in the Trek Nation episode guide.

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