Like many fans of this show, I considered the final episode so poorly written and produced that I was completely baffled as to the possible motive of the studio in releasing it. Fortunately Andy Mangels and Michael Martin do a far better job at creativity with "The Good That Men Do...", not only cleaning up the mess left by the series' ending (not an easy job in itself) but providing a worthwhile read for those who appreciate the ST genre.
Encompassing the merits and faults of the book's entire plot line in the space of an Amazon review has been done to great effect elsewhere in this forum, so I won't attempt to add any paltry contributions to those. Instead I'd like to address a few of the details of the series' repair job accomplished so well by the authors.
****** POSSIBLE SPOILER WARNING ********************
I've been careful with the wording of what follows, but any interested fans of the series who haven't seen the last episode and who somehow haven't heard about the fallout may want to exercise a little caution before continuing.
First and foremost, there is the issue of the controversial death of a major character in the closing scenes. It was done in schlock TV fashion: rushed, out of context, seemingly pointless - that is, unless the writers thought they were invoking some sort of "drama" without having any better idea of exactly how to be creative for a change. Furthermore, what the character does just as he is being wheeled into a "cellular regeneration chamber" (apologies to the purists on the wording) is puzzling. The mortally wounded man raises his head, nods, smiles, and winks. Huh? Was that an add-on in the holographic replay of those events? Was it supposed to be assurance to the other characters? Whatever it was, it translated to a badly-timed game of Charades.
Mangels and Martin took this sequence and ran with it, providing a believable workaround using an existing element of ST lore ("Section 31"). Furthermore, his addendum was free of the silliness that plagued many of the ST movies and TV series. He invoked no ridiculous reincarnations, nor did he call upon seldom-used Vulcan "miracle talents" to keep the character's identity (soul, personality, whatever) in cold storage in another brain somewhere. Section 31 did not pull a rabbit out of a hat. It was a refreshing change, one that Enterprise badly needed.
"The Good That Men Do..." handily resolves other conundrums. Much controversy surrounds the emotional characterizations of Vulcans in the Enterprise series. The suggestion is that the Vulcans hadn't quite perfected the art of self control in the early days of the Federation. Of course this is yet more of the silliness and inconsistency endemic to TV and movies. The culture of logic was just too old to justify such indiscipline at that point. T'Pol was a special case because she often demonstrated even less control than others of the species. The series' explanation for her behavior was of course unsatisfactory. A Vulcan neurological disorder was invented - T'Pol was infected during a mind-meld-rape of some sort. Later, the condition was exacerbated by an addiction to another invention, "Trellium-D", which she had been self-administering to control the emotional symptoms of the disorder. Too many contrived inventions of this sort only added to the overall ST silliness. Once again the authors created a succinct repair using a well-established ST element: a Romulan was figured in as the missing father of T'Pol. This change went a long way towards explaining T'Pol's character throughout the series.
Lastly, there are some suggestions that the transitions between the show's finale and this book were already in place for a fifth season of the series. This may or may not be so; thus far, no one in connection with the production of the show has come forward to verify any part of this conjecture. In my opinion (and mine alone of course), such a thematic changeover would be wholly inconsistent with the pretentious events in past ST movies and TV. I may have to eat crow on this one in the event that future Enterprise movies or episodes do not repeat the mistakes of the past. I doubt it.
Once the foregoing repairs were made along with many others, the authors turned their talents to expanding on the "Section 31" concept and adding a level of detail and adventure that provided an excellent standalone ST novel. See the other reviews for appreciations of that portion of the book.
The bottom line: "The Good That Men Do (Star Trek Enterprise)" does the series justice, provides excellent closure, and presents a great read.
Thanks to anyone who took the time to read this!
UpRight Ape
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Customer reviews
The way Season 5 of Star Trek: Enterprise should have been.
Reviewed in the United States on August 27, 2020
I really loved this novel. It is progressing forward with the timeline should have if there has been a Season 5 for Star Trek: Enterprise (retconning Episode 22). It is wonderful to be back with this crew. Read beautifully.
Reviewed in the United States on August 27, 2020
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