Star Trek: Enterprise (TV Series) The Council (2004) User Reviews

Talking with the Reptilians and Insectoids is like trying to talk to your cat!

[planktonrules · 9/10 · 10 April 2015]

In this episode, Archer finally gets to meet with the Xindi Council- -somethings fans have been waiting to see for many episodes. However, Archer is having an awful time convincing them because the Insectoids and Reptilians seem extremely emotional and difficult to convince. In fact, they seem a bit irrational. So, in case things don't go well, a mission goes by shuttle to try to enter one of the spheres in order to determine how to disable them.

This episode is very exciting and offers lots of surprises and lots of action. Folks get killed, the council breaks apart into pieces and the episode ramps up towards a huge finale. As I mentioned before, this and the previous several episodes all seem like one very, very long movie and you'll need to watch a bit more to see how it all ends.

Convincing the Xindi Council

[claudio_carvalho · 9/10 · 4 March 2008]

The Enterprise arrives for the meeting with the Xindi Council ahead of the schedule and Archer with the support of Hoshi explains the true intention of the Sphere Builders, telling also that the humans and Xindi should be allied against the trans-dimensional beings. The Council split, with the Humanoids and Arboreals accepting the evidences, the Reptilians and Insectoids denying them and the other Xindi absolutely neutral and expecting conclusive evidences. Meanwhile T'Pol travels with Trip, Reed and Corporal Hawkins trying to get the memory core from a key sphere. The Reptilians have a secret meeting with the liaison of the Sphere Builders that promises a leadership position among the Xindi if they succeed to deploy the weapon on Earth.

"The Council" is one of the best episodes of the Fourth Season of Enterprise. Now Archer succeeds in his diplomatic task of convincing the Xindi that humans are not the menace to their races, and the attitude of the Reptilians gives the necessary support to his speech. The very last scene with Hoshi being abducted by the Reptilian is a promise of another excellent sequel to the saga of the Enterprise in the Expanse. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): "O Conselho" ("The Council")

Goodbye Degra

[Samuel-Shovel · 8/10 · 14 February 2018]

In "The Council", Archer approaches the Xindi Council with all the evidence he has gathered in the hopes of changing their minds about deploying the weapon against Earth. Meanwhile, the creators of the spheres sense something is off in their timeline and persuade the Reptilians to go against the Council's wishes and deploy the weapon. The head Reptilian kills Degra in an act of vengeance for Degra's ship destroying a Reptilian vessel. Reed, T'Pol, & Travis find access into a sphere and steal it's hard-drive? (still not sure what exactly they were looking for) in an attempt to better understand it. A MACO is killed by its security system in the process. At the end of the episode, the Reptilians and Insectoids have deployed the weapon and are approaching Earth. The Enterprise and the rest of the Xindi attempt to stop them to no avail. The Reptilian ship transports Hoshi onto their own before escaping into the Expanse.

This episode was a good build up to the upcoming finale. I'm sad to see Degra go. I'd really gotten attached to him as a character and enjoyed his story arc from weapons creator to human sympathizer. Maybe I missed something, but I never really picked up on why they needed T'Pol to head into the sphere. It kind of seemed like they needed some kind of other plot to be happening for other characters not involved with the Council so they threw this in. Although, I'm sure the information they get from it will be crucial in stopping the weapon.

Sometimes Negotiations Are as Exciting As Combat

[Hitchcoc · 10/10 · 27 March 2017]

Once again it comes to the five Xindi entities trying to agree on something. The Reptilians and the Insectoids are the more combative of the species. The Aquatics are the most interesting of all. They are the designers and the intellects (dolphins) and constructed the device. The biggest problem is that the sphere builders, who continually take credit for everything that the Xindi had accomplished, have their own agenda. They can manipulate time and react when things don't go as they wished. They are a bit like the gods on Mt. Olympus, who caused events to take place and then reacted. The two war factions are formidable and stupid and shortsighted. The next episode should show how the alliance can function with the sixth entity, Earth, in the middle.

Very strong episode with some particularly memorable Xindi moments

[snoozejonc · 8/10 · 18 November 2020]

Degra takes Archer before the Xindi council.

This is another very strong episode that raises the excitement levels as the series heads towards its conclusion.

The story follows two away missions: one a sort of tactical, reconnaissance job for Reed, T'Pol and Mayweather; whilst the other is diplomatic involving Archer and Hoshi. The final act focuses on the political fallout within the Xindi Council. It all flows excellently and I was pretty much gripped throughout.

Most performances were top drawer particularly the Xindi Council members, some of whom were conveying great emotion under heavy makeup. Randy Oglesby again was superb and his scenes with Scott MacDonald are electric, one of them in particular, although predictable, will remain a chillingly memorable franchise moment for me. All the best scenes involve the internal politics of Xindi.

It wasn't quite the perfect episode. There were some scenes with Malcolm Reed and also Trip Tucker that I found rather irritating, thankfully they were small enough not to bring the episode down.

I can't go into anymore detail without spoilers, so I'll just say I found it to be one of the standout episodes of series 3.

What could be better than cutting to a Reptillian under sun lamps?

[sogoodlooking · 9/10 · 23 September 2020]

The producers did well to make one of the Xindis, in this case Degra, a recurring character, but given the importance of the part and the frequency of his appearances, they needed an actor in the part comparable to Jeffrey Combs' Shran, and while Randy Oglesby has been good in many roles he's not quite up to the task here.

Still, the series does well to have built the season as it has and to the point it has, and by putting Archer in the Xindi Council Chamber, their version of The Presidium or The Capital to battle it out with the Reptillians in particular, it does not disappoint.

Who thought of splitting the Xindi into five distinct species (and a sixth, extinct)? It was a sensational idea, well thought through, and the dissension among the species is smartly played, but never overplayed--it never feels like a distraction, or padding.

CHANGELINGS

[awbusa · 10/10 · 12 May 2021]

The GUARDIANS SPHERE BUILDERS are the CHANGELINGS from the FUTURE --- the FEMALE SPHERE BUILDER was supposed to be played by SALOME JENS but they couldn't get her for the role.