Ah, here we go... This is one of my favorite episodes of the entire series. I absolutely love Shran and the Andorians. For old-school Trek fans, the Andorians made an appearance in the original series episode "Journey to Babel," as a founding member of the Federation. However, they almost never appeared afterwards, except for the occasional Andorian makeup as a background character. Now, they'll finally get their due.
The episode starts in a Vulcan monastery. The monks are doing Vulcan monk things, which looks like it involves standing around in contemplative poses. Then the door bursts open, and four blue-skinned aliens with wriggling antennae barge in. Cut to the opening theme (which I still like).
On the Enterprise, Captain Archer suggests to T'Pol that the ship could visit an ancient Vulcan monastery on the planet P'Jem. T'Pol agrees, but explains that there are plenty of protocols to follow, including a respectful silence, and the monks might not be welcoming visitors at all depending on the time of month. No, not that time of month; the Vulcans are all male.
The Enterprise arrives, and Archer beams down along with T'Pol and Trip as they continue to establish the Starfleet protocol of sending the most valuable and senior officers down into unknown terrain. Sure, they know it's a Vulcan monastery, which should be as safe as a nest of kittens, but still. It's the principle of the thing. Anyway, the Vulcan elder seems agitated, according to T'Pol, and tells her that the Enterprise crew can't stay. Archer and Trip spot an armed intruder reflected in a vase, and the fight is on. They overpower the blue-skinned antagonist, but the other three show up and disarm them.
It turns out that these Andorians, as identified by T'Pol, are long-standing antagonists of the Vulcans, on a par technologically but with a much more aggressive and suspicious nature. This particular group has been here before, believing the monastery is hiding a deep-space lookout post that is spying on the Andorians. Of course, the monks and T'Pol say that it's nonsense; it's a monastery, not a spy center.
The lead Andorian, Commander Shran, interrogates Archer, suspecting that the Enterprise was delivering supplies and/or weapons to the outpost. When Reed calls down from the ship, Shran informs him that Archer and the others are prisoners and warns him not to interfere in the Andorians' mission. Reed, being a good tactical officer, isn't going to take that from a comm voice, and starts prepping for a rescue operation. Meanwhile, the monks bring Trip to an ancient communicator in the catacombs, which he is able to repair. He gets in touch with Reed, telling him to hold off with the rescue to give Archer a chance to come up with a plan.
Archer does so, and the plan involves allowing the Andorians to beat the snot out of him so he can learn that the catacombs do in fact climb up to the main floor, behind a carved stone face. Since the Andorians don't have transporter technology yet, they aren't aware that the Enterprise can send a rescue team down without a shuttlepod. They do, however, detect the unusual energy signatures, charging in to find out what's going on. Fortunately, Reed's team is already in the catacombs, undetected by the Andorians. Reed gets to blow something up, and the fight is on.
The fight goes into the catacombs as Shran and his first lieutenant descend to avoid the now-greater numbers. In the confusion, an old curtain is torn away, revealing a very modern door with a computer-controlled lock. Archer is able to open the door, and reveals that the Andorians were right; there is a listening post that is spying on the Andorian homeworld. He orders T'Pol to scan the outpost and give the scans to Shran. He then calls the Enterprise and tells them to let the Andorians leave. Before leaving, Shran tells Archer that he is in the captain's debt.
Okay, so there's a lot in this episode. It's got some good action, great characterization, and one hell of a plot twist that probably pissed off a lot of old-school Trek fans. After all, the Vulcans are noble, logical, honorable and honest. Spying on another world? Using a monastery to cover it up? That's about as un-Vulcan as you can imagine. But here, it works. Of course, it makes sense that the Vulcans would indeed be spying on an antagonistic race whom they have been in conflict with before. There are disputed worlds between the two star nations, and long-standing grudges on both sides. Naturally, the Vulcans are keeping an eye on the Andorians. And what better to use as a cover than an ancient, non-technological monastery?
Now, the characterizations. T'Pol is in great form; her calm assertion that the Vulcan elder is 'agitated' draws a wide-eyed response from Trip, who still hasn't learned how to read Vulcan emotional states. She and Archer have a bit of a tiff when he quietly confronts her about her possibly divided loyalties if and when the fighting starts. Her response is the most human thing she's done in the show so far: She almost glowers at him and reminds him that she has never failed to obey his orders, then steals the blanket they were sharing. I really think the showrunners were planning for a potential Archer-T'Pol romance, or at least hinting at the possibility. Of course, it didn't work out that way. But that's for later.
Archer, on the other hand, does some pretty dumb things. He didn't need to get the crap beat out of him to find out about the secret tunnel behind the stone face; he could have sent Trip to look through the stone face's eyes to confirm it. But he does get some funny lines when he's giving the Andorians some 'intelligence.' And his own suspicions of the Vulcans and their intentions are fully validated by the end, when he discovers the outpost. He never trusted them in the first place, which of course would make him and Shran natural allies. But not yet...
Overall, this is easily the best episode so far, just as good as the pilot episode. And it qualifies as the first tiny step in the direction of the Federation. I'm giving it a 10 out of 10.
