Shadows of P'Jem
Date: Unknown
Original Airdate: February 06, 2002
By Quinn
The Story
"Shadows of P'Jem" is the sequel to the episode "The
Andorian Incident," the episode that showed a major schism
from the traditional Vulcans we know. That episode also showed
T'Pol a side to her species she might have been unaware of. This
episode continues that storyline.
The episode starts with a great-looking shot of San Francisco.
I've always enjoyed seeing Earth on Trek, and I'm glad that Enterprise
is showing us our possible future outside the confines of the
ship. Meeting at Starfleet Headquarters are Vulcans and a Admiral
Forrest. The Vulcans are complaining about Archer's actions in "The
Andorian Incident" at the monastery, and the Admiral does
all that he can to defend the Captain. The Vulcans reveal that
Archer was not their choice for the Enterprise mission, and apparently,
the humans went against their wishes. Its good to see that humans
are showing a little backbone now after what appeared to be several
years of obeying Vulcan orders. The Vulcan informs the Admiral
that T'Pol is being taken off of Enterprise because the Vulcans
do not like what Starfleet is doing.
On Enterprise, Archer decides to visit a colony on the Vulcan
charts. After a great interaction with Trip, he is called to
speak with the Admiral. Apparently, the Andorians attacked the
monastery after Enterprise left and the Vulcans had to escape.
Forrest orders Archer to "be more careful" in the future
and then tells him of T'Pol's departure.
Archer then meets with T'Pol and tells her what is going to
happen to her. She does not act as disappointed as Archer thought
she would, so he decides that she should accompany him to the
colony.
On arrival to the planet, the shuttle with Archer and T'Pol
is attacked by a ship and driven to the ground. They are captured
and held captive on the planet.
Their captors are a radical group of aliens against the government
on the planet. The Vulcans keep the government in power, and
this group does not like that. Commander Tucker tries to get
the away team back, but the chancellor seems powerless to do
anything, so he has to try to find them on his own.
While confined, T'Pol tries to take the blame for the P'Jem
incident and their current captivity. Archer convinces her that
she shouldn't be the Vulcan's scapegoat, and he tries to convince
her to fight the transfer.
Just then, they are able to get out of their restraints and
fight one guard. However, their escape is quickly cut short,
and they are captured again. The captors then send a ransom message
to Enterprise asking for 40 phase pistols. Before they can do
anything, a Vulcan ship arrives and decides to take over the
investigation. Of course, Tucker decides to investigate for himself.
Tucker and Reed go down to the planet and are captured themselves,
just like the Vulcans warned. However, it turns out that the
two were captured by the Andorian Shran (Jeffrey Combs). He claims
to have saved their lives because the rescue mission was a trap.
He then reveals that the Vulcans might not be as peace-loving
as the humans believe. They are already involved in a "war" on
the colony, and Shran believes that they are preparing for a
Vulcan-Andorian War. He then offers to help save Archer, in order
to fully repay the debt he feels to Enterprise.
The rescue effort goes well and the Captain and T'Pol are saved.
Things are complicated, however, by an intrusive Vulcan force.
Everyone is saved, but T'Pol takes a gunshot wound to save the
Vulcan captain. Archer makes sure she goes to Enterprise for
treatment, and he then convinces the Vulcan that she should stay
on board.
Review
This episode showed a lot of characterization for both the Vulcans
and T'Pol. A lot I have read about T'Pol said that she was not
the typical Vulcan. Of course, since centuries separate Vulcans
like T'Pol from Vulcans like Tuvok, there should be differences.
While some do not like the changes, I think they are realistic.
First of all, the Vulcans seem to be a lot more treacherous
and deceitful that we have been originally shown. They originally "lied" to
the humans about P'Jem, and now they are shown to be involved
in political struggles for their own gain. Of course, all of
this makes the Vulcans more "human," and I think this
is necessary. Especially since the Vulcans have been creatively
shown as an "enemy" early in the show. If this continues,
it should be great.
T'Pol is also starting to show dramatic changes. She showed
a lot of emotion at periods of the episode, and she almost seemed
to be teary-eyed at some points. It appears that the first Vulcan
to serve with humans long-term is starting to show effects of
the bond. Since the Vulcan-Human relations doesn't seem to be
very good, I have a feeling that T'Pol will probably be the first
gateway for the positive relationship we have seen on the other
series.
The interaction in this episode is what makes it good. There
were great conversations between Archer and Tucker, Archer and
T'Pol, and T'Pol and Phlox. I thoroughly enjoyed all of them,
and they gave great insight into the characters every time. The
scenes between Archer and T'Pol really made me enjoy her character
much more than I previously have. If she keeps having episodes
like this, she will be a much better character.
While the show seems to be centering on the big three (Archer,
Trip, and T'Pol), I think the addition of Phlox to the "major
cast" is an excellent idea. He is quickly becoming my favorite
character, and I enjoy almost every minute he's on screen.
Of course, there were problems with this episode. For one thing,
it was rather cliché and predictable. Did anyone honestly
believe that T'Pol was leaving for good? Of course not. The "fun" of
the episode is in finding how she will overcome the transfer.
But there were far too many clues that showed what would happen
in the end.
Also, while I like the less perfect Vulcans, I'm not sure that
I like how far they are taking the conflict between Humans and
Vulcans. I just hope that they are not setting themselves up
for a sub-par solution in the future.
So, to wrap up, there was some great characterization and some
decent action sequences. While the story was predictable, the
characterization more than makes up for it. The episode was nicely
done, and I'm looking forward to what will happen next in this
storyline.
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:
Jeffrey Combs as Shran
Gregory Itzin as Sopek
Jeff Kober as Traeg
Barbara J. Tarbuck as Coridan Chancellor
Steven Dennis as Tholos
Vaughn Armstrong as Admiral Forrest
Gary Graham as Soval
Creative Staff:
Director: Mike Vejar
Teleplay By: Mike Sussman & Phyllis Strong
Story By: Rick Berman & Brannon Braga
Loading ...
