Archer decides to visit P'Jem, home to a Vulcan temple devoted the practice of Kolinahr, the ritual purging of emotion. Archer, T'Pol, and Trip take a shuttle down to the planet's surface. However, no sooner have they arrived, than they discover that the temple has been taken over by Andorians, whose paranoia has them convinced that the Vulcans are hiding a sensor array on the site. The Andorians have searched the temple multiple times before - always leaving within a day when they find nothing. The arrival of the Enterprise, however, has the Andorians convinced that there is something of value here. As one Vulcan monk sourly tells Archer, "Your arrival has endangered us all."
Now Archer, Trip, and T'Pol must figure out a way to contact Enterprise and defuse the situation, before the Andorian leader, Commander Shran (Jeffrey Combs), decides to start killing the monks, one by one!
CHARACTERS
Capt. Archer: Despite his deep-seated distrust of Vulcans, he still feels outrage that the monks let the Andorians regularly trash their monastery with no real protest. He acknowledges the desirability of a peaceful solution to their dilemma. However, when it becomes clear that Shran's paranoia is becoming violent, he pragmatically accepts the reality that a peaceful solution probably isn't going to happen, and helps coordinate a rescue. Scott Bakula has a strong episode, and is particularly effective at conveying anger.
T'Pol: She is still clearly uncomfortable with her assignment on a human ship, and far from thrilled at the prospect of introducing other Vulcans to her human crew. However, she is quick to notice that things are amiss at the temple, and trusts Archer and Trip sufficiently to allow them to intervene. Despite her discomfort with Archer, she affirms her loyalty to him, which she proves with her actions at the episode's end. She finds human body odor offensive, and uses a numbing agent to control her sensitivity to the smell in order to make her assignment on Enterprise tolerable. Jolene Blalock, while still far from my favorite performer, shows tremendous improvement from the first couple of episodes here, and is quite adequate. If her improvement continues, I may rethink my regret at her casting.
Reed: Despite less screen time than Trip, his character actually ends up having a stronger episode. When the Away Team is out of contact for a bit too long, he makes several on-target observations about safety precautions that should be standard protocol. He's right about every one of them. When the Andorians attempt to intimidate Reed, he snaps that he doesn't follow orders from a voice on a communicator, "unless that voice is the captain's." And of course, Reed finally gets to do his favorite thing here: He gets to blow stuff up and shoot at people! All told, a pretty good day for the ship's tactical officer.
Villain of the Week: Jeffrey Combs is typically strong as Commander Shran. He doesn't get much chance to show his ability with humor here, but he plays Shran's paranoia and outrage to the hilt. One senses immediately the capacity for violence in this character, which reinforces the sense of an incident spinning out of control. His henchmen are also a fairly scary lot, particularly the one who spends most of his time leering at T'Pol, making thinly-veiled rape threats almost from the outset.
THOUGHTS
Finally, a genuinely good episode! Not a promising one, not one that entertains despite missed opportunities, not one that offers hope for the future... but a truly good, well-written, nicely-structured piece! After Terra Nova (and, to a lesser extent, Unexpected), the series desperately needed to deliver something to re-establish my waning interest. This did the job quite nicely.
All the regulars are on good form. Admittedly, Mayweather and Hoshi still get nothing to do, but I suppose one can't ask for miracles. Bakula, Blalock, and Dominic Keating (Reed) all give their strongest performances to date. The situation feels genuinely dangerous, a sense that is heightened when Archer receives two separate, and rather severe, beatings from the Andorians.
The ending is particularly strong. I will avoid spoilers, save to note that I will be severely disappointed if there is no follow-up to Archer's actions in future episodes.
Rating: 8/10. By far the best episode of Enterprise to date.
Previous Episode: Terra Nova
Next Episode: Breaking the Ice
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