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