Damage

Just as Enterprise had taken all the beating it could, the Xindi council broke off the attack -- leaving the ship severely crippled. Fortunately the council members who had been interrogating Archer were to some degree convinced that Archer was telling them the truth. Again, Archer proves that one man can make a difference. At the very least, Archer planted the seed of doubt, which caused Degra to question whether or not the council had been given accurate information regarding Humanity's future "attack" on the Xindi. I liked that Degra and the other members of the council actually demonstrated some backbone when dealing with the Reptilian warriors. The three of them stood unified when they demanded that Archer be returned to them.

As the Enterprise crew assess the damage to the ship, and take a head-count of the people they lost, we switch to Archer as he is just coming to. It is unclear whether he has been sedated for the trip or if he was beaten into unconsciousness. Either way, Archer finds himself on board a ship piloted by Xindi Aquatics. Archer gets to his feet and goes to a window and begins banging on the glass to get someone's attention. I enjoyed the first "meeting" of the Aquatic and Archer. Archer was a bit taken aback by their appearance, but he quickly regained his composure. I liked the expression on Archer's face when he was looking at the Aquatic. It was a look of someone processing new information. I've said it before, and I'll keep saying it: Scott does a wonderful job demonstrating true emotional feelings. He is a great actor who, for the time that he is in a scene, gives it his full attention, and he always reacts to situations in a way that is believable and draws you into his character. I liked the fact that Archer demonstrates to his captors that, even though he has been beaten, they have by no means broken him. He is still defiant and has full use of all his faculties. He demands to know where they are taking him, but through some sort of a stun mechanism operated from the outside of his holding cell, he is quickly rendered unconscious again by one of the Xindi.

In the next scene we see T'Pol ordering Malcolm to begin repairs to E-deck -- specifically Cargo Bay Two. Even though this will pull people from other areas, the reason T'Pol gives that is there are critical engineering components that Trip will need for repairs. Satisfied with her reasoning, Malcolm obeys her order. At the time it sounded feasible, at least until we learn the truth of what T'Pol has been doing for the past three months.

The "bad news" that we saw during the trailers for this episode turns out to be good news. Archer is alive, but has suffered blunt-force trauma to various parts of his anatomy. All I can say is that Archer much have muscles of steel in order to protect vital organs that are normally targeted when someone receives a beating like this. Archer's face was pretty banged up and he probably had some bruised ribs, but when Dr. Phlox examined him, he found no serious injuries.

As Archer sits in sick bay looking around at all the injured crewmen, his concern is for them. He tells Phlox not to waste time on treating him and he springs up from the examining chair. Archer reaches out for a towel while talking to T'Pol, but apparently moves too quickly, which causes him some pain. Seeing his discomfort, T'Pol hands him the towel he had been reaching for, but this action revels that her hand is shaking. Archer's eyes focus on her and you see the concern he has for her. Archer has gone from being very upset and angry about what has happened to his crew and ship, to being gentle and supportive of T'Pol. He immediately puts his hands on her arm to show sympathy and support. He asks her if she is okay. I like the fact that one moment Archer can demonstrate that he is a soldier ready to do battle, but it is balanced out with a compassion for the people who he has accepted responsibility for.

T'Pol assures Archer that she is okay and she quickly leaves to go check on Malcolm's progress. Now we take a walk with her down a corridor where we see that she is quickly coming unglued. The scene reminds me of the dream sequence she had while she was recovering from her exposure to Trellium-D. My thoughts at this time were that perhaps having the substance onboard -- even though it had been placed in protective containers -- wasn't enough to keep the substance from seeping out into the air vents somehow. I believed (and hoped) that was what was affecting her.

I thought it was very clever that Degra left a decoded message for Archer by using the names of his children -- even the one that had died. Since Degra had never revealed the death of his third child to anyone except Archer, we know that it was a deliberately planted message for him. The message included co-ordinates where Archer should meet with the council in three days. I liked this scene for its cleverness as well as character development for Degra. It demonstrates that Degra is a resourceful man who is as determined to get to the truth as Archer is. I also like the fact that even though Archer and Degra were initially on two different sides of this issue, they are coming together for the good of both people to seek the truth and to find a solution to their common problem.

In the scene where Archer and Trip are attempting to repair a section of the ship, I liked the line (in reference to Degra) "He may not be on our side but I get the feeling he's starting to question his."

I liked the determination on Archer's face when he got word that Enterprise had received a distress call from another ship. Without hesitation, you see the wheels in his brain spinning with the thought that he could benefit from answering this distress call. This is the first time that Archer has thought of the needs of his ship first. In the past it has been how he could assist others. But for the here and now, he is thinking how this distressed ship could benefit his mission. I believe Scott portrayed this transition of his character very well.

I strongly disliked the shower scene. There were better and more imaginative ways to get across to the viewer that T'Pol was having an emotional breakdown. Come on guys! This is why you get the big bucks. Use your imaginations and stop playing the sex card.

When T'Pol woke from her nightmare and reached for the space suit, I knew it spelled trouble. I was extremely disappointed in the writers' decision to do this to her character. I was hoping that it was more of an emotional trial -- Her Captain had gone on what everyone believed at the time to be a suicide mission. Archer was a man who she had grown to trust and respect. She admired him and perhaps she had never suffered a loss like this one before and it just short-circuited her logic. At least something along those lines is what I was hoping for. But instead we get the tired old card of drug addiction played. This is so out of character for T'Pol. I can't believe that she would put the mission in jeopardy by picking this time to experiment with this substance. It's neither logical nor wise.

In this scene, Archer sits in his cabin alone and in the dark. He is struggling with his own convictions of what is right and wrong and what is necessary in order to have a successful outcome to his mission. He and his crew have been sent to deal with the Xindi and make sure that they don't destroy the Earth. With the damage to Enterprise and the loss of warp drive, that is now impossible to fulfil. Earth is doomed unless he employs some unorthodox behaviors. Archer tells Phlox to prepare for more casualties. Then he tells Malcolm to get a boarding party ready. Malcolm starts to voice an objection to Archer's decision, but Archer cuts him off quickly. He will not tolerate any arguments at this point.

I found the scene where the council summons and questions the "she" from the future very well done, but very frustrating as well. The alien from the future who had, up to this point been "helping" the Xindi, is beginning to show her true colors. She is elusive and cunning and she is a master at twisting the "truth" to suit her needs. I liked Degra's line, when one of the other council members asked him why they should believe Archer over the alien. Degra answers, "because Archer offered something she hasn't ...proof!"

Archer gathers his officers to plan the attack on the ship that they had docked with before.

T'Pol, still under the influence of her substance abuse, challenges Archer on his decision to board the ship and take the warp coil by force. She reminds him that what he is doing is just like what the marauders did to Enterprise when they first entered the Expanse. I disagreed with this analogy on a couple of points because it WAS different to the degree that Archer had no intention of seeing anyone on either side get hurt. He was leaving supplies to help the ship get back to its home world and he was concerned about how it would affect them. But weighing the severity of what would happen to the crew of the other ship against what would happen to the people of Earth -- there was no contest. The action had to be taken. T'Pol also used the line that Archer had said to her when she was recovering from her exposure with the Trellium-D: "I can't save humanity without holding on to what makes me human." Archer had already taken all of this into consideration before making his decision. He told T'Pol that it wasn't like he was going to make a habit out of it. She warned him that once you justify this type of action, it makes it easier for a pattern to set in. She should be taking her own advice! This is like the pot calling the kettle black (as the old saying goes). T'Pol was angry with Archer, but she was the one who had settled into a pattern of abusive behavior -- not Archer. Then T'Pol really loses it and she screams out that she would not let him do this! She slams a device she had been holding down on his desk. Archer, in a calm voice says, "we've had our share of disagreements, but you've never taken it out on my desk before. What's happening to you?" You see the look of concern, once again, in his eyes. But it's fleeting because of the task of hand. T'Pol explains that she has not had time to meditate. Archer suggests that she take the time. Then she tells Archer that she didn't mean what she had just said. You can tell by the look on Archer's face that her words had hurt him. Archer shakes it off and places his hands on her shoulders and looks her squarely in the eyes. He tells her that there is no room for error and that if they don't do this right, people are going to die. Archer needs her to snap out of whatever it is that is bothering her, and do her duty. He is depending on her to do her part so that the mission will succeed. This confrontation causes her to see she has some serious issues to deal with and she seeks out medical assistance from Phlox so that she will be ready to do her part in the mission at hand.

When Phlox questions her as to why she did this, her explanation to Phlox is that the Trellium-D enabled her to access some of her emotions, and that intrigued her. She thought that in small amounts she could control its effects on her. Famous last words. You'd think a Vulcan would know better. After the doctor has injected her with something that would stabilize her semantic pathways, T'Pol reports to the bridge ready to serve at her post. Archer stares at her briefly, studying her, then he turns the bridge over to her. He knows something still isn't right with T'Pol, but he has to trust her.

I liked that Archer took such great pains to keep damage to both ships minimal. He didn't want anyone killed, and he had made sure that supplies were beamed over to help compensate for the fact that he was taking their warp coil. He did not want to share the same behavior with the marauders that they had run up against when they first entered the Expanse. I don't think Archer has anything to worry about. The marauders were pirates, through and through. They were no longer stealing to survive -- it had become a game to them, and they had it down to a fine art. Archer has proven that he has the cunning to survive and the capability to take what he needs in order to maintain his ship and crew, but what separates Archer from the marauders is his unflagging conscience.

Now that the warp coil has been successfully installed on Enterprise they have the capacity of warp 3.2. Archer can now make the rendezvous point in the three-day grace period that Degra had told them about. Archer's conscience is still bothering him, however, and Trip is quick to encourage Archer that what he has done is for the best. Archer turns to Trip and says that it seemed that the longer they were in the Expanse, the more he had to keep making allowances to himself for his decisions. I liked this scene because you could see the sadness in Archer's eyes. In a sense the decision to steal the warp coil also stole something from Archer -- his innocence.

I truly enjoyed the vast array of emotions Scott portrayed. He was a man on a mission and he was not going to allow anyone to stand in his way. Yet there were a few scenes where you see that he is still a gentleman at heart. He's still tender and caring towards people in need, but his overall duty pushes him to do things he would not normally do. We have to keep in mind that Enterprise is at war. Wartime calls for drastic measures. Wartime has a way of stealing a certain innocence from everyone. Based on the circumstances which Archer found himself in, I support his decision to go after the other ship and forcibly take the warp coil.

I really like the Aquatic Xindi. The special-effects people really know their stuff. The visual effects and the sounds that they create for the Aquatics and Insectoids are really quit impressive. The special-effects personnel really add a lot to this series, and they should be commended.

Sarah's Two Cents