Detained
Date: Unknown
Original Airdate: April 24, 2002
By Shadowfyre

The Story

Archer and Mayweather find themselves being held in an internment camp by the Tandarans, after unknowingly venturing too close to restricted Tandaran territory. The other inhabitants of the camp are all Suliban, which the two humans quickly learn are not members of the Cabal, and thus have not been genetically altered. The Tandaran officer who runs the camp, Colonel Grat, informs them that they are being held there for their own protection after the Cabal rose to power and begun attacking Tandaran targets and thus incurring the anger of the populace. He assures Archer that he and Mayweather will only be there for a day or two until a hearing can be convened and the misunderstanding the led to their capture cleared up.

Archer and Mayweather befriend a Suliban named Danik, who tells them of the sad plight of he and other Suliban who are not part of the Cabal. Archer comes to see that these people are innocent and cannot be lumped together with the Suliban he has encountered in the past. He makes up his mind to help these people escape.

The Enterprise soon arrives, having had their own dealings with Grat, but Archer wishes to stay until he can help the captive Suliban. Grat discovers the communicator that had been beamed to Archer's location and has him brought to his office. Grat presses him for information concerning the Cabal, the Temporal Cold War and other specifics, having his intelligence sources turning up a few useful facts on Archer's previous dealings with Suliban, but Archer refuses to divulge anything.

Reed appears planetside shortly thereafter, disguised as a Suliban and in conjunction with the Enterprise in orbit, and Trip piloting a shuttlepod, helps to engineer the freedom of both the Humans and the Suliban, who promptly disperse into space.

Review

This episode seemed to be one long conversation until the final act, when the prison break provided some action, yet still managed to be engaging throughout. At the core of the story is a topic which Trek has dealt with before, but in this day and age cannot yet be dismissed out of hand – preconceptions.

The first instance of this is when Archer and Mayweather discover who they are imprisoned with in the camp. While no overt comments are made by either, we the audience are aware of their unease and suspicion due to their previous dealings with the Suliban. While at this point, no one can really blame them for their feelings, it is soon apparent to them that those preconceptions cannot be applied to the Suliban in residence at the camp. Mayweather, it what may be his biggest speaking role since "Fortunate Son" confesses to this in an exchange with Sajen, where the second instance of misguided preconceptions is brought forth, only this time it is on the part of Sajen himself.

Having been persecuted by the Tandarans solely for being Suliban, Sajen is distrustful of the Humans because they seem so much like the Tandarans, even in their appearance. He, too manages to see past his initial feelings and in the end works with the Humans in order to help free his people.

All of that aside, I can't help but feel that Archer has made a major blunder here. Sure, he shows some fortitude in his desire to help the innocent Suliban, but I do not understand why he didn't cooperate more with Grat. His reason that he didn't like being strong-armed seemed a poor rationalization for his attitude. It was apparent that the Tandarans were working against the Cabal, and sharing any information he had with them might have gone a long way in procuring an ally in the Tandarans. Sure, he's helped a few dozen Suliban escape, but will they be any better off? Even he cannot seem to answer that question at the end, which seems to cloud the entire affair. To top it off, he's potentially isolated a possible ally. Sure, the Tandarans were not exactly treating their Suliban detainees with any semblance of decency, but did Archer's moral conviction and subsequent actions really improve things to any extent? Time will tell.

The Good

Dean Stockwell! Reunited with his former Quantum Leap co-star, Bakula seems particularly energized (pardon the pun) in his scenes with Grat. The adversarial nature of Archer and Grat's relationship was a welcomed change from the friendly banter enjoyed by Sam and Al on Quantum Leap. I have high hopes that the Tandarans and Grat in particular will show up again down the line at some point, too remind Archer of his actions in this episode and the possible consequences.

Once again familiar faces show up, with both Sajen and Danik being played by Christopher Shea and Dennis Christopher, respectively – two actors who have both appeared as Vorta on Deep Space Nine.

The Bad

Once again, Phlox has minimal screen time, this time showing up in a single shot!

T'Pol's dinner invitation. Was it me, or did she seem just a little too playful when delivering that whole speech to Grat?

Overall

A good episode with an engaging story, that tries to examine deeper inter-species relationships and viewpoints, setting up a possible follow up at some point in the future.

Grade: 8.5/10

Cast:
Scott Bakula as Jonathan Archer
John Billingsley as Dr. Phlox
Jolene Blalock as T'Pol
Dominic Keating as Malcolm Reed
Anthony Montgomery as Travis Mayweather
Linda Park as Hoshi Sato
Connor Trinneer as Charles Tucker

Guest Cast:
Dean Stockwell as Colonel Grat
Dennis Christopher as Danik
David Kagen as Major Klev
Christopher Shea as Sajen
Jessica D. Stone as Narra

Creative Staff:
Director: David Livingston
Teleplay By: Mike Sussman & Phyllis Strong
Story By: Rick Berman & Brannon Braga