After the last three episodes of the third season were basically one long episode in three parts and brought the Xindi plot and the threat to Earth from the weapon of mass destruction to a happy ending, the authors shouldn't have jumped into the next double adventure straight away. Both the crew and the viewers needed some time to breathe deeply and reflect on the events.
Instead, in the final episode of season three, Archer and the crew of the Enterprise were catapulted back in time to World War II, where a strange alien species changed historical events in Nazi Germany's favor. So the fourth and final season begins with a double episode: Changes in history, the Temporal Cold War that has gotten out of control and the Enterprise crew that wants to return to their time.
It's never a good sign when evil Nazis form the core of the plot in time travel stories. But when it is also about Nazi aliens, it usually becomes ridiculous. Unfortunately, that also applies to this double episode. Thanks to the aliens, Germany even managed to invade the USA. With these two episodes, the story about the Temporal Cold War finally and rather abruptly ends. This theme was built up over four seasons and is then presented with a rather sobering resolution to the conflict. All timelines are straight again and the villain has been eliminated. The fact that this whole story made pretty little sense and that we saw this new faction for the first time in the Temporal Cold War, although they seem to be THE central faction that ultimately messes everything up, didn't help the story at all. I'm still wondering how the timeline in which Nazis invaded America was corrected at the end. In the scene with Daniels and Archer, this timeline apparently corrects itself automatically, but that doesn't make any sense.
The whole story seems like a hasty attempt to wrap up the "Temporal Cold War" theme - with no regard for leaving plot holes so big that Enterprise could fit in them five times over. Silik is dead, Vosk is dead, Daniel is alive again, the timeline has been restored and everyone can now devote themselves to new adventures.
Instead, in the final episode of season three, Archer and the crew of the Enterprise were catapulted back in time to World War II, where a strange alien species changed historical events in Nazi Germany's favor. So the fourth and final season begins with a double episode: Changes in history, the Temporal Cold War that has gotten out of control and the Enterprise crew that wants to return to their time.
It's never a good sign when evil Nazis form the core of the plot in time travel stories. But when it is also about Nazi aliens, it usually becomes ridiculous. Unfortunately, that also applies to this double episode. Thanks to the aliens, Germany even managed to invade the USA. With these two episodes, the story about the Temporal Cold War finally and rather abruptly ends. This theme was built up over four seasons and is then presented with a rather sobering resolution to the conflict. All timelines are straight again and the villain has been eliminated. The fact that this whole story made pretty little sense and that we saw this new faction for the first time in the Temporal Cold War, although they seem to be THE central faction that ultimately messes everything up, didn't help the story at all. I'm still wondering how the timeline in which Nazis invaded America was corrected at the end. In the scene with Daniels and Archer, this timeline apparently corrects itself automatically, but that doesn't make any sense.
The whole story seems like a hasty attempt to wrap up the "Temporal Cold War" theme - with no regard for leaving plot holes so big that Enterprise could fit in them five times over. Silik is dead, Vosk is dead, Daniel is alive again, the timeline has been restored and everyone can now devote themselves to new adventures.