When the Andorian government takes action against the sanctuary on P'Jem, destroying the monastery, the Vulcans order T'Pol transferred back home, to take the blame for her part in the Andorian discovery of the listening post. Archer is told that a Vulcan ship will rendezvous with Enterprise in two days, after which he will no longer have a Vulcan science officer.
Archer decides to take T'Pol on one last mission, to make contact with an alien race who have advanced starship capabilities. However, his shuttle is intercepted by a ship belonging to rebels fighting against the government, claiming that this government is a corrupt, unrepresentative puppet of the Vulcans. Archer and T'Pol are taken hostage, with the rebels demanding weapons.
Now Reed and Tucker must launch a desperate rescue attempt. An attempt that may just be complicated by the arrival of a Vulcan starship...
CHARACTERS
Capt. Archer: Though unrepentent about his actions at P'Jem, he does regret the destruction of the sanctuary. He also has clearly come to value T'Pol, and reacts against the ordered transfer. From the outset, he urges T'Pol to fight against the effort to scapegoat her, Despite his distaste for the Vulcans, he does find it in himself to negotiate reasonably with the captain of the Vulcan ship.
T'Pol: Spends the first half of the episode, after receiving her transfer orders, going into a near-shutdown. She adopts a ultra-logical, ultra-unemotional facade... which demonstrates to both Archer and the viewers just how upset she is.
Trip: With Archer and T'Pol off the ship, Trip gets to take command. He works with Reed to try to plot out a rescue operation... though it's a rather rushed and reckless plan, saved from disaster only by very good luck.
THOUGHTS
Finally, some consequences from The Andorian Incident! I was starting to wonder whether those rather significant events would ever have ramifications for the crew. In my Breaking the Ice review, I noted the disapproval with which other Vulcans seemed to view T'Pol and her current assignment. Here, we see that expanded on.
The events of P'Jem have the Vulcans eager to make T'Pol a scapegoat. As Archer observes, since they can't punish him, they're going to take it out on her... and, of course, accept no culpability whatsoever for their own treaty violations. We also get more hints of a darker side to the Vulcan government at this point in their history, with them being accused (we never do find out exactly how justly) of setting up "puppet governments" - a government that, in this case, appears to be highly repressive against a large portion of its own population. At this point, I'm thinking that all of this material painting the Vulcans in an unflattering light has to be building to something, though I'm not sure exactly what.
Jeffrey Combs returns as Shran. This time, he's actually allowed to show some of his facility with humor, particularly when he complains about feeling indebted to Archer. One does wonder just how closely the Andorians might be tied to these rebels, however. We already have a Temporal Cold War in this series... Is there another Cold War going on, with Vulcans and Andorians backing repressive regimes and violent rebellions against those regimes? There's the potential to explore some very interesting avenues here.
Character work and performances are generally strong throughout. All of the non-Mayweather regulars have settled into their roles nicely, and all of the non-Mayweather characters are shaping up to form an interesting and dynamic crew.
Rating: 7/10.
Previous Episode: Sleeping Dogs
Next Episode: Shuttlepod One
Search Amazon.com for Star Trek: Enterprise
Review Index
No comments:
Post a Comment