The Enterprise encounters the Seleya, a Vulcan science vessel that was mapping the outer barrier of the Expanse and was pulled in 9 months ago. The ship was also the last one T'Pol was stationed on, prior to her transfer to Earth.
The Vulcan ship is in the middle of an asteroid belt, and does not respond to hails. Archer, T'Pol, Reed, and a Random Marine dock with the ship in order to investigate and hopefully effect a rescue. But the Vulcans they find are not the cool, logical people they should be. Instead, they are rabid and vicious, practically walking corpses with no apparent thought save to attack their would-be rescuers. And it isn't long before whatever has affected them begins to affect T'Pol in the same way...
CHARACTERS
Capt. Archer: His loyalty to his crew shows itself in his protectiveness of T'Pol, even after the illness makes her turn on him. When he learns what has caused this effect, he refuses to abandon T'Pol, even though doing so would make logical sense in a "Needs of the many" sort of way. His past paranoia and resentment of Vulcans comes back to haunt him, as it is those very qualities that T'Pol recalls as she begins to lose her grip and spiral into paranoia and finally violence.
T'Pol: This episode confronts her with her old ship, with her old crewmates effectively reduced to rampaging zombies. Even before she realizes that what happened to them is now happening to her, she is affected by returning to what must in her memory have been a safe place. She reacts with fear at the thought of losing control, telling Random Marine about the Vulcans' past as a violent and paranoid people. She finally loses it altogether, becoming first paranoid, then violent, until the others are forced to stun her in order to get her off the Vulcan ship.
Trip: Though his insomnia continues, he is the one to notice the plunging morale in the ship. He approaches Archer with it, suggesting the return of "Movie Night" at the very least as a way to help boost crew morale. When Archer starts to blow him off ("There will be plenty of time for movies once we've dealt with the Xindi"), he presses until Archer relents. It's good that at least one member of the command crew is thinking about morale, though I question whether a few movies would really suffice to stop the fear and tension plaguing the crew.
Mayweather: Gets a decent support episode, for a change. When the transporter burns out while he and Trip are attempting to beam aboard Trellium D, Mayweather comes up with the idea of landing on one of the larger asteroids to mine it directly. He uses his piloting skills to make the maneuver a reality - though he only barely manages to get back out again.
THOUGHTS
It's funny that Trip should suggest the return of Movie Night at the start of this episode, because this is effectively an Enterprise zombie picture! Night of the Living Vulcans, or perhaps 28 Vulcans Later (Re-Vulcinator? Spock of the Dead? OK, I'll let it go now...)
This is purely a standalone episode, though I suspect the newly-discovered effect of a vital Expanse element on Vulcans will be important through the rest of the season. But even if this is mostly a break from the arc, it is still an effective episode, with a pacy script by Jonathan Fernandez and effective direction by David Livingston.
The scenes on the Seleya are the meat of the episode. The set design is terrific. The ruined corridors are so dimly-lit that you can't really see what's in the corners. They also curve so that the characters can't see very far ahead of them. The characters' progress is at least as much vertical as horizontal, which adds an extra layer to the proceedings as they need to clamber up levels to reach each new goal.
The set design is given even more impact by the flashes of light that keep strobing around the set, to showcase the ship's disintegrating condition. With all the stray noises, flashes, sparks, and bangs, the production does a good job of getting the viewer off balance even before the Zombie Vulcans show up.
In short: Highly watchable.
Rating: 7/10.
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