https://archive.org/details/CharacterInsightEp215
In the season 1 episode Shuttlepod One, Reed and Trip are stranded in a shuttlecraft adrift with limited time left to breath and live. We learn a lot about the background of both characters, and the usually prickly Reed explains how he was just beginning to find a family on Enterprise.
Lt. Reed: I lost nearly everyone I cared about on that ship...Never got very close to my family either, for that matter. Not that it's any business of yours. But with the crew of the Enterprise it was different. I was really starting to feel... comfortable with them. And now the only one that's left thinks I'm the bloody Angel of Death.
Trip becomes close with Reed, but Reed also has an interesting relationship with Dr. Phlox. These two don't always see eye to eye, but they are always there for good quips and jabs as shown in these clips from the season 2 episode Dead Stop.
Lieutenant Malcolm Reed: It can't be ethical to cause a patient this much pain.
Dr. Phlox: It's unethical to harm a patient; I can inflict as much pain as I like.
Dr. Phlox: The wound might heal faster if you'd allow me to apply a few more Regulan bloodworms.
Lieutenant Malcolm Reed: You're not putting any more of those things inside my leg. You still haven't found the last one.
Later on, in the season 3 episode Proving Ground, Reed must work alongside Andorians who save Enterprise from an anomaly when trying to track down the Xindi Weapon. He shows off his character and charm with sayings like this.
Lieutenant Talas: You don't trust me.
Lieutenant Malcolm Reed: No offense, but when it comes to our weapons frequencies, I wouldn't trust my own mother.
Lieutenant Talas: Is your mother considered a security risk?
Lieutenant Malcolm Reed: It's... just an expression.
Lieutenant Talas: An odd one. My mother's security clearance is higher than mine.
In the season 4 episode Divergence, Reed finds himself in the brig along with a Klingon saboteur of Enterprise during a dangerous mission. He can't help but investigate the Klingon way of life to try and understand another being who is deemed prickly.
Lieutenant Malcolm Reed: Do you ever... question why you fight?
Marab: Soldiers don't question, they obey.
Lieutenant Malcolm Reed: What if your superiors are wrong?
Marab: They're imprisoned - or killed.
Lieutenant Malcolm Reed: That's not how we do things in Starfleet.
Marab: Which is why the Klingon Empire will defeat you.
Lieutenant Malcolm Reed: Then how come... you're in the same brig that I'm in?
Reed provides a unique character who is an interesting mix of a throwback by-the-book solider type who is also soft spoken and shy in certain circumstances. He develops a lot thanks to integrating close relationships on the Enterprise crew, and actor Dominic Keating helps pull off one of the better character arcs in this show's run.
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