The Enterprise is heading toward a nebula that Archer has personal reasons for wishing to chart in detail, when it encounters a Vulcan transport ship. Archer braces himself... but these are not typical Vulcans. This ship consists of several disenfranchised Vulcans who have abandoned mainstream society in an attempt to integrate emotions with logic. T'Pol finds this disturbing, but Archer finds this group almost surprisingly easy to relate to. As Trip assists the Vulcan engineer with repairs to their ship's engines, the Vulcans repay them by helping to chart the nebula. But when one of the Vulcans develops a fascination with T'Pol, and becomes obsessed with drawing out her buried emotions, the consequences may be more than any of the Enterprise crew are prepared for.
CHARACTERS
Capt. Archer: Archer's flaws are still decidedly in evidence. He decides early on that it would be good for T'Pol to interact with these Vulcans, and all but orders her to work closely with them - which directly leads to the episode's crisis. However, he is also showing signs of some progress. He admits early on that he "could be wrong" in sensing no danger from the Vulcans, which is more than he's typically admitted when brushing aside T'Pol's cautions. When Admiral Forrest contacts him with a favor for a member of the Vulcan High Command, Archer actually listens and attempts to complete that favor, which shows recognition that building a few bridges (as opposed to burning them) might be a good thing. Finally, when things get out-of-hand with T'Pol's Vulcan admirer, he deals with it extremely well, if unnecessarily melodramatically.
T'Pol: This episode is largely centered around her. Refreshingly, instead of reinforcing that she's a Vulcan woman from Vulcan (the way Mayweather's character-centric episode simply reinforced the two things we already knew about him), the writers actually fill in some new background. We learn that she has toyed with minor bits of rebellion in the past, and that one night in San Francisco, she allowed herself to experience emotion through jazz music. Her initial repulsion at these emotional Vulcans quickly turns to fascination and attraction, and she is almost eager to flirt with the very danger of which she warns Archer. Jolene Blalock does a generally good job with the material she's given here, creating a far more sympathetic version of T'Pol than Broken Bow would have had me believing possible.
Trip: Forms a fast bond with the Vulcan engineer. When he learns of that Vulcan's issues with his father, his compassionate side shows itself, and he deals very well with his new friend, earning a very positive result all-around.
THOUGHTS
As with Breaking the Ice, this is an episode that's quite light on actual incident. It is almost entirely a character episode, with only a third-act crisis creating any sense of external conflict. Mostly, the episode is content to explore our three main characters, and muse about emotion versus reason, and the balance between the two.
I find it interesting that Trip ends up coming out with a purely positive interaction, while Archer and T'Pol have more negative experiences. Obviously, this is not narratively to Archer's or T'Pol's discredit - T'Pol is assaulted (with the script none-too-subtly equating the incident with attempted rape), and Archer is responding in his capacity as ship's captain to an attack on one of his crew. Still, it should be noted that of the three leads, it is Trip who probably has the best balance between reason and emotion. Unlike T'Pol, Trip is open to his emotions. Unlike Archer, he rarely allows those emotions to override his reason and judgment. Whether it's an accident of the script or not, it therefore feels appropriate that Trip ends up with the most positive experience here. Admittedly, it doesn't hurt that Trip ends up partnered with the most emotionally balanced of the renegade Vulcans.
The episode is well-directed, as has been the case with most Enterprise episodes. Here, we see particularly strong flourishes in T'Pol's memories/dreams/flashbacks to her night out in San Francisco. These scenes are shot in such a way, with attention to color and lighting, that a dreamlike haze is evoked with every cut. It's effective, and visually very well-accomplished.
In the end, this is a quiet episode, almost certainly not a critical one, but reasonably effective. The "attempted rape" metaphor is perhaps a touch too blatant, and the "bad apple" among the Vulcans is far too easy to spot. But I genuinely enjoyed the piece. I doubt it will linger in my mind, but it was decent viewing, if expendable.
Rating: 6/10
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