Yet another great episode from Roxanne Dawson.

The Vulcan High Command building had definite shades of Corescant... but now we're off to Andoria!

Well that sucked. I'd be more specific, but honestly that hour of crap isn't worth my time.

Well I liked it

Although I don't get why Trip didn't just lie to El Presidente de Vulcan and say our tecno what ever isn't working right we'll be out of here as soon as its re-aligned.

Modified because I wrote "her" for "here"

I simply don't know what to think about this one. I wish that Coto and friends would encourage all the people playing Vulcans to be more Vulcan-like. (Maybe they should be forced to watch a few episodes of TOS?) Right now, the Vulcans are basically just humans with pointy ears. They don't seem alien at all. I had hopes that the Syrannites would be more like "real" Vulcans. Then if they emerged victorious (and we know that T'Pau, at least survives to Kirk's time) we would have some explanation of why Enterprise-era Vulcans are different.

Another thing that bugged me was that the "kashira" was just sitting in a room. It wasn't really lost at all. Are we to believe that the Syrannites forgot the room was there? Or that they didn't figure out how to open the door? Surak's katra knew how to open the door, therefore Syrann must have known. Also, why the torch? Why not a light stick like in the first episode?

For some reason, I kept expecting to learn that T'Pau was an evil Vulcan who was double-crossing the Syrannites. I kept forget that she is supposedly *the* T'Pau.

And yet, with all its flaws, I sort of liked this episode. I just don't know.

Merge Threads And Propser.

It's like a continuity Orc has been hard at work.

T'pol regains her cool points and T'Ma loses hers. El Presidente must be from Mirror Vulcan; he can barely restrain himself from twirling his mustache. Keckler gets to say it again -- They're digging in the wrong place -- and Indiana Archer holds onto the torch and the idol because it's apparently all about him.

Best part? Gary Graham and Connor Trineer's exchange.

"Comb the desert!"

Hint, guys - if you don't want the geeks to snicker, don't use a line from Spaceballs.

All in all, it wasn't as good as last week - why COULDN'T Syyran have found the Pointy Triangle? - but I'm looking forward to recriminations (and Andorians!) next week.

And, yes, Quantum's being insufferable. The poll hit it on the head. -sigh-

Delurking to add a few things. If i ever decide to try and become an actor i want scott bakula's agent. Here is how i think some of his recent negotiations must have gone:

1. Archer must meet the equivalent of Vulcan Jesus and soon thereafter obtain his mind.

2. Archer, after obtaining the Vulcan Jesus' Mind, must be contacted by said Vulcan Jesus and have the Vulcan equivalent of a 'Burning Bush' experience(when he had his vision and was told 'i'm stuck with you' or w/e)

3. Archer must have the Vulcan equivalent of a 'You have not been corrupted by her politics' moment(The scene with marcus and maximus in gladiator), and thus become the savior of all Vulcan-kind.

4. Archer must have an indiana jones moment and remember where, and soon thereafter obtain, the Vulcan equivalent of the Holy Grail lies.
4a. Kashira must not be booby-trapped, rather it must be set up in such a way as to look like a toy sitting in the window of a toy store.

5. All four events must occur within a single episode. Perhaps at most one event at the end of one to set up the second.

So that's my input on this extremely ambitious episode, and story arc. I agree with the previously stated opinion that these vulcans are not vulcans. Remember the days when the most emotion you could find was Spock's little eyebrow-lift? These vulcans are pock-marked with negative connotations and preposterous body-language.

Two Final Notes:

1Jeers to the political overtones. Stick with Star Trek politics and leave the real world mess to us.
2.Cheers to Keckler and her great recaps. I'm crossing my fingers for a 'best of both worlds' recap one day. Give me 'Way of the Warrior' as well and i'd be set for life. :-)

That was mostly a big snore for me. It doesn't seem like they had enough material for a whole episode here, and the padding and stretching went nowhere. The shuttle subplot in particular was a total dead end.

T'Pau should have an accent. Where's her accent?

El Presidente: "We have no choice."
Me: "Actually, your sidekick there has listed several choices, butthead."

I spent the whole episode trying to place that sidekick: I'm pretty sure he was Linwood on Angel.

Yes, very much agreed! Also a conversation in my head:

Archer: I felt like I just pulled my head out of....
Me: A horse's ass?
Archer:...a plasma relay.
Me: Damn.

I'm verging on the okay side of meh for this episode. I kind of liked T'Pau, she reminded me of Sikozu - for those of you that watch Farscape - and that was okay.

I liked T'pol, and even the T'Pol/Scully-Quantum/Mulder moment they had when he was asking her if she believed he had the katra. But Jolene, darling, eat a fucking cookie. She seemed to have ditched the ridiculous cloak and 10 pounds at the same time.

And I couldn't "Jackass" Quantum too much because he put his hand on T'Pol's shoulder and said something nice and relevant. Its the little things.

But that little triangular thingy was only down a couple of corridors - how could T'Pau (and or Syrrian) not have found it already?

I thought it was pretty neat to have the ex-ambassador on the bridge. In the past couple of episodes he's grown on me. And Trip taking off without Quantum? You could hear the "YES!!!!" next door, I swear. I'll sacrifice T'Pol for getting rid of Quantum!!

Missed it. Fiddlesticks. Gladly, doesn't sound like I missed much. I was looking forward to seeing more YoungT'Pau and more T'Polian emotional outbursts. (Sandfire!!!)

Eh, not so hot. Hopefully its the boring second act that ties together really good first and third acts. Andorians are always good. Trip in command of Enterprise is always good too.

Surak wants to stay in Archer's skull instead of his leading Vulcan acolyte? Riiight. Maybe he's in great pain that he wants numbed. It is, after all, a numb skull.

Did kind of like T'Pau though (thought she was pretty, ignored the hair), though I wonder where she picked up the funny accent later in life. It's a fairly deep message that while T'Pau and T'Pol both hold logic as the greatest virtue, both are appalled by each other's actions (T'Pau risking Archer's life and T'Pol in Starfleet). Meaning that basic beliefs, experiences and assumptions can send perfectly valid logic in two opposite directions, and they didn't really drop an anvil to make that point.

This episode was very enjoyabe if one could just get past the fact no Vulcan acted like a Vulcan in any way (I mean, even Surak was no Spock) and just sit back and relax.

I'm looking forward to next week with all it's Andorian-Vulcan war goodness.

Again, (Action!)Furrows leads the way(see what I did there?) for two young smooth-skinned pouty Vulcan women through rough terrain, with both his hands occupied with the precioussss yet they're the ones struggling along while his hew-mon lungs and muscles are born for this hardcore shit. Ech.

I hate myself because aside for some similar moments along the way? Furrows looked kind of studly and...gulp, even likeable at times. I think he didn't have many opportunities to rasp and bark angrily. Even furrow? Please kill me. No, wait it won't last-I still want him dead!

CRACK WHORE tears. Dude! Ugh. And so long, T'Ma. You were boring and you blinked too much for any actress, much less one trying to be Vulcan.

Ah, yes. A crap-ass Starfleet pod out-maneuvers and disables two Vulcan-pursuers who happen to be cut out for this kind of work. Two. Where one of them is meant to counter that move even before it's attempted. But y'know, whatever. Of course Vulcans are more cra-zay than humans. No one's more cool-headed and self-sufficient than these people every week. Shyeah.

Good-looking episode, and how logical for Vulcans to have a council-chamber more lively-looking than any of the Starfleet-rooms we've seen in this show. Thank you, Roxann Dawson, for the mostly pretty lighting and filtering this evening. Too bad about the shit writing, eh?

Hmmm, Soval/Trip Hoyay. I need help. If nothing else ShutUpTrip is an improvement over Furrows when using the viewscreen. Still too stupid to anticipate his opponents' gambits but he's better at covering up.

I expect poor Soval to join his dead lover shortly after arriving at Andoria. I'm surprised he's been allowed to out-shine the regulars for this long. Better than dying on Enterprise, though. There is no good explanation for why a Vulcan combat-cruiser couldn't be called in on that bucket.

I thought that, too, but then I remembered the second act was my favorite part of the Brent Spiner trilogy. I dunno. Anyway, now they'll drag Shran into this, and Shran makes everything a little bit better.

They missed a chance to make a meta joke. When the show was being concocted, T'Pol was going to be T'Pau. They changed their minds, but it would have been nice for Archer to at least bring up the dizzying similarity of their names while they were running through the caves.

I liked it. It has been better than that three hour crapfest that they put Spiner though last month.

I had to delurk to say.

Naturally, I was starting to like T'Ma, so the brain dead writers decided that she had to die. Just like Degra, Silik, and The Evil Forrest. Of course now that I have started to like Soval he is soooo dead.

Anyway, was anyone else annoyed when T'Ma told T'Pol how she was always "proud" of her. Last time I checked Pride was an pretty big emotion. Then T'Pol cried like Kristie Alley in WOK. Of course, losing a parent is painful, but Vulcans would express the loss differently...At least the Vulcans I know and love. Perhaps some quiet meditation?

If a Vulcan can have a Stroke; it could explain T'Pau's accent later in life.

I think the idea is that Surak didn't want Syrann to find the kashira. He pointed out to Archer while playing Harvey in Quantum's head that maybe a human would be more ideal for the task at hand not being bogged down by Vulcan tradition. It's a BS explanation, but there ya go.

So Quantum is the Sisko now? Ugh.

I thought it was a decent episode. Kind of boring, but it had some good moments (most of them involving Soval). The warning shot line got a laugh from me.



I couldn't agree more.

Amen Cleo! I can't figure out if this was the leftover turkey or the plot that made me snore. hard. T'Ma's death came too quick (and I hate it as another goddamned sign Trip and T'pol won't get together)



Dude! don't even say that! its Sacrilegious to compare Quantum to The Sisko. No way! Grave sin right there.

Snoozer of an episode. Well directed, but still not up to snuff. My faith in Manny is being tested.

It's kir'shara by the way. Though I am tempted to agree with your logic, I still can't shake this off my mind

How was Surak supposed to know that someday a human was going to hold his katra? Unless he's a prophet or a time traveler (which we know the Vulcan Science Directorate does not believe in, but then again they're corrupt, from what we know) there's actually no way he could have anticipated a human brain for his mind.

Syrran was determined to find the true teachings of Surak. Why didn't he get the "revelation" instead?



Actually, Spock was sort of ashamed (if I may use that word) to be half human, and tried to compensate that fact by being overly Vulcan.

Just my two cents. I kinda liked this episode actually. Except why not let Archer give the kir'shara to one of the T'somethings and not scramble around with both his hands occupied

I really enjoyed it. Great action, some great screwball villainy, some good comedy from Trip & Soval and a pitch-perfect cliffhanger. Keep on keeping on, Manny Coto...

Is it? I heard "kashira", although I wasn't paying a great deal of attention.

Whatever, the k-artifact looked a bit like an Echo Award (see the tiny picture?) which are given by the Direct Marketing Association each year for various kinds of junk mail. (How do I know? Shut up.) I'm just sayin'. And you'll notice that once Quantum got his mitts on any kind of award, he wasn't letting go.

(I shouldn't snark. My love for SB in Quantum Leap is such that I can't bring myself to hate him in this show. He really is a good actor, if he's given any kind of good writing to work with.)

Ambassador Sorval ticked me off by being too little too late with his information. Oh, by the way, the High Command is planning to start a war with Andoria. Might that little tidbit have come in useful eariler?

Also, have we lost track of a pretty important thread? Who bombed the Earthen embassy and why? Homeland Security Vulcan tried to frame the Syrannites and failed. Then the High Command claims that he *was* a Syrannite, although we are clearly supposed to doubt that. However, the Syrannites are suspicious of Earth (because Earth is allied with the High Command), but they are pacificts who would never throw bombs, except for T'Pau who is willing to use force when necessary. So who bombed and why? And what, if anything, does that have to do with the pending attack on Andoria?

Like Cleo, I felt like it was a padded second act. Really "Cold Station 12" was a padded second act as well, but they padded it with something dynamic. This episode wasn't really dynamic. Too much of Pa Chenowith saying "Leave, Enterprise!" and Trip saying, "Umm. No?" And Ma Chenowith whining to T'Pau. Who should have had an accent.

Still, the promo for next week electrified me far more than this episode did. Because Andorians kick ass.

ITA. This was such an obvious setup for "To Be Continued." The timing made no sense.

I don't get why Surak's katra didn't want to go into T'Pau. He wanted to stay in Archer? Archer?!! Jonathan Archer? WHY?!
Wasn't there even a line about walking "the path?"

I'll have to watch the rerun on Sunday, but one thing stood out for me in this ep: Trip in the captain's chair (EEE!). I swear, he does more justice to that chair in one ep than Quantum's done in FOUR FUCKING SEASONS. The interaction between him and Soval was freakin' sweet. God, if they could just kill off Quantum (but not before they put SURAK'S FUCKING KATRA in a more worthy receptacle) and the CRACK WHORE, keep Soval on Enterprise and make Trip captain, I'd be a very, very happy Trekkie.

I didn't think it was that bad. It does seem like they had two episodes worth of material but are stretching it out over three.

Young T'Pau doesn't have Old T'Pau's accent, but she does have the voice down pretty well. Good casting, because she also looks like she could grow into Old T'Pau's face, there's enough similarity there.

Well, first T'Mom quit the job T'Pol got her back at such a dear cost, now she's dead. I don't see the marriage to Koss lasting much longer.

Homeland Security Vulcan planted the bomb his smarmy self. Muck'ty Muck claimed he was a Syrannite to boost the flimsy argument for wiping them off the map. I swear, Robert Foxworth is an even worse soap opera actor now than when he was on Falcon Crest back in the day.

...for which I am truly thankful. I can still hear Celia Lovsky saying, "Spoook...are our ceremonies for outvorlders?" All kidding aside, I liked the episode, although the conversations between Trip & the High Command did slow things down a bit too much. Pencil me in for next week!

My fanwank is that Surak didn't reveal the existence of the kir'shara to Syrann because the Vulcans are not ready for whatever mojo the object has, but he planned to do it at a later time.

And Surak chose Archer over T'Pau for his katra because Archer, being not of Vulcan, is more likely to give up the katra when a more suitable Vulcan host was found. T'Pau is not as far along the path to enlightenment as Syrann was and she might be unwilling to give up the katra once she had it.

Then when the caves were bombed, Surak chose to reveal the kir'shara's location to Archer rather than risk it getting destroyed in the blasts.

I was squeeing Hey It's That B5 Guy to Robert Foxworth (General Hague) and Bruce Grey (Earthforce inquisitor who tortured Sheridan).



He seemed a lot more restrained in last week's ep. Here... if he has a mustache, it would be twirled into knots. Maybe he seemed more restrained last ep because he was around humans in many of the scenes and acting like the stereotypical Vulcan for them. This ep, since he was mostly around his Vulcan buddies, he didn't bother to hide his lack of emotional control.

Yes, but why? What has the bombing got to do with anything? Right now, it seems like it was just a plot device to make Quantum et. al. aware of a growing rift within Vulcan society. We 're pretty sure Homeland Security Vulcan wasn't actually working for the Syrannites. Who was he working for? The High Command? What would they gain by bombing the embassy? The Andorians? What would they gain?

It looks like the writers are dropping this topic completely, without any real explanation. That's just plain sloppy, poor writing.

The bombing of the Earth embassy is a pretext for the High Command to wipe out the Syrannites. I assume the High Command is responsible for the bombing, but I guess we'll have to wait until next week to find out (assuming they bring it up again).

I don't undersand why, whoever is responsible for the bombing, bombed the Earth embassy. Why didn't they just bomb a Vulcan target? Maybe they (the bombers) wanted to minimize Vulcan casualties, but some Vulcans died in the bombing anyway and the High Command seems hellbent on doing whatever it takes to wipe out the Syrannites regardless of who dies.

Yeesh. I didn't catch it then but now...heh. I chuckle because I hate.



He was also Admiral Leyton during the Founder-infiltration scare...opposite the Sisko.

I didn't notice Pa and Ma Chenowith were in the same episodes till someone mentioned them. If they hadn't blown so much in their roles here(which were the writers' fault anyway) they might've been a fun distraction for me. Plus I was used to thinking of Ma as the one who looks like crap.

That's what I thought as soon as Quantum went into that flashback, complete with The Prophets patented lighting/filter/overexposure effects.

And the Syrannites reminded me of The Maquis.

I have mixed thoughts about this ep.

The Good: The Enterprise scenes. Captain Trip once again upstages Quantum in the center seat. But I don't get why he didn't explain to ADM Gardner what's going on so that Earth's diplomats can get involved.

Soval was ousted and is now cool, therefore, the only place left for him to go is Sha Ka Ree.

T'Pol was less CRACKWHORE-Y. I enjoyed her and Quantum's exchange about the validity of katras.

The effects were quality. The nuclear explosion in the flashback was frightening.

The Bad: THE EMOTIONAL VULCANS! I hated, hated, HATED H'lena B'nham C'rter as T'Pau. She brought more CRACKWHORING to the role than T'Pol. T'Ma was overly emotional too. The Syrannites were no different than the Syrannots. Is it too much to ask that they watch a few TOS episodes, followed by Star Treks II, III and IV?

Quantum has his own Personal Vulcan Jesus and acts like a jackass to him.

Muck'ty Muck is so evil he's got to be Romulan.

Best line of the episode that had me cheer in Trekkie delight:

TRIP: Set a course for Andorria.
REED: Andorria?

I said, "MORE SHRAN!"

I keep thinking of tiny things about the show that I either liked or disliked. I liked the City of Chrysler Buildings where the High Command met. However, like much of sci-fi architecture, the building had a porch/deck on the umpteenth floor, with nary the trace of a handrail.

Some of the comments are causing some head-scratching: I thought the whole point was that the Vulcans were *not* following Surak's path. They had strayed. They were, in fact, letting emotions back and letting them control their behavior. Yes, they aren't behaving the way we expect Vulcans to behave, but we are used to seeing them a hundred years in the future. Obviously, T'Pau and the Syrannites came out on top--and turned the Vulcans back to the path that Surak had laid out.

I don't have a problem with their not only being interested in "ST politics" but in more realistic issues. Adds complexity to the universe. Either a universe, be it fictional or real, grows, or it stagnates. You know, everyone was complaining a few years ago when they announced Enterprise that we don't want it to be the same thing. But, when they do something that isn't the same, everyone complains that it isn't what we've seen before. Catch-22.

And I guess I also don't have nearly as much trouble with Archer as most of you seem to.

It would be fine if that's how they were playing it. But it looks to me as if the Syrannites are emoting all over the place. Even Surak wasn't as tranquil as I thought he should be. Quite frankly, I'm not see any difference between the Syrannitess and the "strayed" Vulcans. They are all just humans with pointy ears.

I didn't have a problem with Surak. He didn't come across as emotional. Determined, yes, but not emotional. I thought he was dealing with the imminent potential destruction of his people with notable calmness. Being logical and being tranquil are not the same thing. I never saw the Vulcans as some Tibetan monks, immersed in their mnatras and divorced from the world. I think there are some pretty strong emotions there, beneath the control of logic. Which they wouldn't need, if they didn't *have* the emotions in the first place. In part one, Soval pretty much indicated that there were a lot of similiarities between humans and Vulcans. (And I don't remember the same criticism of the Vulcan in "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." Aren't arrogance and overweening pride emotions, too.) Remember also that Surak was the first, and it wasn't something he was born to. It's something he decided his people needed to do as a result of the destruction they visited on themselves. He's finding the path.

With the Syrannites, perhaps they, too, come to a realization that they haven't kept to the path that well themselves. My feeling is that the events that are unfolding now will bring home that they've all lost the way and need to re-assess.

That, and probably because that's the most room he's had in a millenia.:/

Loved Trip trying to outlast the attack. Kept waiting for him to say "bite me!"

It may be that they are trying to minimize the Earth presence on Vulcan at a time when they are planning an attack on Andorria (or they may end up claiming they "found" proof that the Syrannites had sought Andorran aid in rebelling against the High Command--thereby obtaining at least Earth's neutrality in the coming conflict.)

Okay fan wanking:

Problem = Why would High Command bomb the Earth Embasy if they didn't want people looking into what they were about to do when they wiped out the Syrannites.

Solution = What if that Government Guy who planted the bomb at the Earth Embassy really was a Syrannite. And he planted the bomb to get those pesky humans looking into things. I know that this doesn't fit because the Syrinites are supposed to be pacifists but Christians are suposed to be pasifists too and we're alwasy bombing people.

As for why the Vulcans...all the Vulcans we see don't seem to be acting the way we expect them too: a friend of mine who is really into Star Trek lore told me about a ritual that the Vulcans do that rids them of all of their emotions leaving only pure logic. I can't remember the name of it. Anyway my theory is that the Vulcans we see on Enterprise don't have that ritual as a result emotions keep creeping up on them. Based on what I've watched so far I think that little triangle they rescued is a teaching aid for learning that ritual.

Luduspragma, that's an interesting theory. (BTW, theories don't need to be spoiler-tagged if they're not actually spoilers, so I think you're safe without them). I think I actually heard T'Pau mention the kolinahr last night when they were Indiana-Jonesing it around the caves, so maybe it is something they'll introduce to the population at large when they achieve their coup d'etat.

I don't think this needs to be spoiler tagged.



I believe the ritual is called the Kohlinar. Spock attempted to take it in TMP and failed. It was also mentioned somewhere before but I can't remember where.

Boadiccea, I think you put it well that these Vulcans are *not* following Surak's path, but the essential and complex question of WHY this has happened has been bypassed for three seasons.

Is it contact with humans that has brought emotionalism back to Vulcans? Is it economic strains of being involved with the Federation -- allocation of resources is contentious even when some partners are in strong economic shape, and the Xindi forced restructuring of those resources. Or is it some other grand shift?

Likewise, Archer appears to be going banner-ad over the death of his mentor, rather than remarking on the larger implications of a rift between Vulcan and Earth. In Broken Bow, he was extremely suspicious of the Vulcan High Command, and three years later, he's still suspicious of them, but there's little evidence that he understands the forces that shape the Vulcan High Command. They are E-e-e-v-i-l-l and that's all that we know.

I can accept a story where the hero doesn't see the big picture, and I can accept a story where the audience doesn't see the big picture, but not a story where the audience and the hero are both in the dark. That doesn't work for me.


Edited to be a little less preachy

Re: the kohlinar

I agree with the speculation this arc is leading toward the kohilnar being introduced to the general public and will result in the Vulcans we know today like Sarek and Tuvok (who himself tended to be a little emotional once in a while when listening to Neelix).

This may also have to do with what T'Mum said to T'Pol before she died and went to Sean Connery:

"I don't understand."

"You will."

I think something major is going to happen to T'Pol so that she will once again embrace both logic AND carbs.

Also, best line of the night belongs to Captain Trip:

"Sonuvabitch hung up on me!"

I liked the episode, all in all, because I like my Trek extra Vulcany. Even if these ones are an odd bunch.

Next week: Shran!

Hey, if they cancel Enterprise, can we get The Shran Show instead?

"It's The Shran Show! With me! I'm Shran!""

Oh, that reminds me. When they put T'Pol and Archer in the holding cell, am I the only one who looked at the very wide grid in the window, and thought "T'Pol can soooo squeeze through there."?

That is the best television idea I have ever heard. I would be watching every week!

I always thought that the kolinahr was a quite advanced ritual which most Vulcans didn't get to complete; that very few of them actually managed to rid themselves of all emotion.

I was pretty much full of "meh" for this episode as well as the last one. I appreciate what they're trying to do, and I'm a complete continuity whore, but it seems kind of forced. And, again, the Vulcans are not very unemotional at all. Humans with pointy ears is exactly it.

But that T'Pau is rather attractive, isn't she?

That just sounds right. Can next week's be the one in which it is revealed that Quantum and T'Pol were killed by an unexploded Vulcan photorp which was activated by the artifact or something?

I liked it -- mainly because of all the Trip/Soval scenes. Made me realize how little I'd mind if they decided Archer should really kick the bucket one of these days (not that they're going to let that happen. Who would found the Federation without our precious Archer? Goddamned Daniels!)

I understand why T'Pol acts all CRACKWHOREish. Trellium-D and all. But what's with the rest of them?

I didn't mind so much that Surak let Archer know where the kir'shara was at that point in time when it would probably be destroyed if nobody did anything, but I was a little perplexed as to why Archer was carrying both it and the torch, and T'Pol and T'Pau carried nothing.

I think it might have been amusing had T'Pau had the accent, but it also might have been realllllly annoying (as I found it to be in Amok Time), so I won't complain too much. But did T'Pau remind anyone else of Ally Sheedy in "Maid to Order?" Just me? Anyway...

Shran!!!!! Squeeeeee!