Shadows of P'Jem

DVD, Enterprise S1 (Shadows of P'Jem)

Tau Ceti accords, Starfleet Command (the Golden Gate bridge!), Shran, Coridan... A long list of good stuff for an episode that successfully continues an earlier plot, the first to do so directly. The guest casting is good, with Combs great as ever, Soval making another (if overly emotive!) appearance, Admiral Forrest too, and a slightly more restrained Vulcan Captain called Sopek, played by Gregory Itzin, who played a couple of roles on DS9, and I believe, went on to play another role in Season Four of this series.

T'Pol's position on Enterprise is finally called into question and when it comes down to it, after initially accepting the blame for P'Jem (from 'The Andorian Incident'), and the order to transfer, she comes to realise she is suited to the human ship, and agrees to stay. We also learn she's not the first Vulcan to work on a human ship, though they only lasted a few weeks (probably the smell!). A nice little rapport has developed between the two aliens on Enterprise; her and Phlox, who makes it clear she's considered part of the crew (I wanted to see the 'going away party'!).

There's a bit of humour with Archer and T'Pol ending up in a compromising and uncomfortable position when they try to escape the Coridan prison. I have to say though, I didn't recall the famous aliens (one of the founders of the Federation I think) being in the series this early - I had a vague recollection one turned up in one of the series' last episodes, but looked a whole lot more alien than these guys. No wonder I forgot as they look so boring here!

The action was well-handled with a chance to see Andorians working with Starfleet, and Vulcans with grenade launchers! One odd thing though is that Shran and his mate capture Trip and Reed, but have a load of help to do that, but then they say it's up to them to rescue the hostages. Assuming the others aren't Andorian (in which case where's Shran's ship and crew), they must be the Coridanite rebels he's friendly with, so why didn't they help with the rescue? The story furthers the ongoing dissatisfaction the Vulcans have with Starfleet and specifically Enterprise, as well as seemingly ending the arc with Shran (I love the fact he has to pay back Archer because he's losing sleep over it) - we see another facet of the blue-skins in their intense loyalty and belief in paying back favours. But I'm sure this isn't the last we've seen of them...

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