4.08: Awakening

[Dave]

Archer and T'Pol locate the Syrrannites and are imprisoned by T'Pau, whom they suspect is responsible for the bombing of the Vulcan embassy.

[McHorde-Trooper]

T'Pol
T'Pau

Wouldn't those two names sound almost the same?
I wonder if identity confusion will be part of the story?

[Dave]

Most (if not all) Vulcan females have been called T'Something. Spock's betrothed was called T'Pring. So among Vulcans I would think they would get confused. It does limit the number of names you can give your daughter though!

I'm assuming this T'Pau is the same T'Pau that performed Spock's marriage ceremony (and the one that the rock group is named after.) She was meant to be very old and a high ranking Vulcan then ('Amok Time'.) I'm not sure how that would fit in with her bombing a Vulcan embassy in her youth.

The Syrrannites sound like a Biblical sect, or another rock group.

[Eway]

I thought this T'Pau was the same from Spock's marriage as well. Regarding the bombing, I thought T'Pau denied it and Archer believed....

[Dave]

Obviously, T'Pau was framed by the High Council.

I thought this episode was even better than last week (I think I'm becoming an Enterprise fan.) Really, this is what I want to see, I could watch episodes like this one forever. Why couldn't the first three Seasons be like this, and why did they have to go an cancel it now???

Plot Synopsis:

from The Trek Nation

The High Command convenes and Soval is asked to resign because of his illegal activities as one who performed mind melds. V'Las tells him that the embassy bomber was a Syrannite so plans to attack the group are proceeding. Soval warns Tucker that Archer and T'Pol may be in grave danger and works with him in a plan to sneak a shuttlepod past the Vulcan sensor grid for a rescue mission while V'Las attempts to persuade the other High Command members that exterminating the Syrannites in the desert is the only course of action open to them.

Archer and T'Pau introduce themselves and are immediately distrustful. When Archer reveals that Arev guided them to the compound and died during the journey, T'Pau reacts with shock and says that Arev's real name was Syran, the leader of their movement. Alone with T'Pol, Archer says that since Arev put his hand on his forehead, he has felt as if something is inside him that is not himself. T'Pol also speaks to her mother, telling T'Les that she does not understand how a scientist could join the Syrannites; she is unconvinced when her mother explains her that the High Command actions at P'Jem and more recently in suppressing dissent convinced her that the Vulcans have strayed from the teachings of Surak. T'Les had hoped that her daughter would follow her into the movement.

Archer has a vision of Surak at the time of the Awakening 1800 years ago. Surak tells him that Syran chose him to be the vessel because he is not a Vulcan and as an outsider he can help restore the people to their true path. When he tells T'Pau about the vision, she asks him to allow her to touch his mind, which he reluctantly permits. Though T'Pol is skeptical, claiming that scientists have never been able to prove the presence of the Katra even via mind meld, T'Pau discovers Surak's living spirit inside Archer's mind and tells T'Les that it must be removed, even if Archer is unwilling to take the risks the extraction might pose to a human brain.

Admitting to his fellow Vulcans that he wants no witnesses of the planned massacre of the Syrannites, V'Las hails Enterprise and orders Tucker to leave orbit, having a Starfleet admiral contact him as well. Tucker refuses to leave, and launches a shuttlepod with Mayweather and Reed aboard in an attempt to retrieve the crewmembers on the surface, but the Vulcans fire upon it until it is forced to turn back. After a battle with several Vulcan spaceships, Tucker accepts Soval's advice that he break orbit before Enterprise is destroyed. Meanwhile, T'Pau again touches Archer's mind, but Surak himself chooses to remain with Archer and instructs him to find the Kir'Shara - a legendary artifact for which T'Pau has been searching for years. Though the High Command begins its assault on the Syrannite compound as soon as Enterprise is out of scanning range, T'Pau elects to stay behind with Archer to hunt for the Kir'Shara within the caves, and T'Pol remains as well.

Deep within the sanctuary, Archer opens a door with a series of gestures and discovers the chamber where the Kir'Shara is hidden. He and the others flee with the object, only to come across T'Les dying in the wreckage of the compound. T'Pol's mother says that she went to the Syrannites to help T'Pol, who had always struggled with her emotions. She tells her daughter she is proud of her and dies as T'Pol weeps. She and Archer are stranded on Vulcan, for Enterprise has left the region at maximum warp after Tucker learns from Soval that the High Command plans to attack Andoria and launch an interstellar war, despite the peace treaty Archer negotiated.

I only have two problems with the episode (I won't call them nits because they could have explanations:

I really like Gary Graham's Soval character now, but how could he have kept his true character hidden for so long? He does mind melds, he doesn't like the High Council, he has an affinity with Earth, he believes in the Syrranite cause. All a little hard to believe, even if Trip can accept it.

Why did Surak's katra wait until it was installed into Archer before revealling the Kir'Shara? It could have shown it to Syrran anytime it wanted. Did it deliberately wait until a human came along? Did it want to prevent this Vulcan-Andorian interstellar war and ultimately form the UFP?

[ray gower]

Why did Surak's katra wait until it was installed into Archer before revealling the Kir'Shara? It could have shown it to Syrran anytime it wanted. Did it deliberately wait until a human came along? Did it want to prevent this Vulcan-Andorian interstellar war and ultimately form the UFP?

Judging by the way his Katra objected to T'Pau's attempt to dig it out, I'd have thought it was because he didn't trust her, she seems to be a hot head?

Now I want to know what the blasted thing is supposed to do?

The last few Coto episodes have been far better than anything we've seen to date on Enterprise- The stories are similar, but they are being presented much better, there is more urgency and effort being put in to what is happening. Which perhaps shows how stale B+B are?

Can't say I am entirely unhappy it has been cancelled yet, I think I will wait for the final Braga episode to make judgement. But it strikes me that without cancellation, the B+B squad would still be in charge. It has made me more hopeful for Star Trek 6?