Kir'Shara

DVD, Enterprise S4 (Kir'Shara)

Oh dear, my reservations can't help but be exposed once again. You just have to grit your teeth and let… the Vulcans'… behaviour… pass! If I wrote as much as I feel on the subject I could easily fill up my reviews with angry remonstrances on the subject, but I console myself with the notion that with this episode the venerable race were at last set on the correct path to their future. I suppose there's always the argument to be made that 'Enterprise' is part of a different continuity, the Abramsverse, perhaps, as the Vulcans in those films display the same levels of annoying expression, and they have no excuse since that's the 23rd Century! But officially it's not, and I don't like to excise 'Enterprise' from the Prime timeline canon (ugh, that sounds terrible, doesn't it - why did they have to turn Trek into a comic book by splitting it into multiple universes?), as it's great to see how so many integral events well before the Trek I most enjoy intermeshed to create the future, and I'm genuinely grateful the series was made, even if it ended prematurely and mistaken choices were made. They were willing to address their mistakes, however, and the Vulcans' are altered, or repaired, back to the teachings they'd begun to forget. It makes me wonder what the series could have been like if the makers had been even more daring with the portrayal of one of the founding races, perhaps having them completely unrestrained, intergalactic warlords that Earth had to subdue. Only that would have been too much of a stretch as we saw in 'First Contact' that they were the ones that initiated Earth's emergence into the outside universe.

I don't like to go on about it (really, I don't), but there was much necessary repair work to do. Robert Foxworth was not the man to play a Vulcan, but how much was down to his interpretation of the role and how much was the writing or direction, I don't know. His almost insanely emotive, grimacing, ranting, displaying every negative mood under the sun; his laughably evil version of a villain the low point of this trilogy, and I was very disappointed in his performance across the board, which is a shame as he was so good as the similarly evil or misguided Admiral Leighton in 'DS9.' But we never really understood V'Las' motivations or saw him as a three-dimensional character. He was no Dukat, that's for sure, even given the revelation at the end that he was indeed working with the Romulans, even though he wasn't one of them as I'd hoped, as this would have been an answer to my criticism of his portrayal. It was fantastic that the Romulans were involved, true to form and the established history, and readying their grasp in line with their growing interest in galactic affairs. It's one of those fabulous setup scenes that explains in small part, but tantalises in greater, giving viewers real food for thought and behind the scenes access that the main characters aren't yet privileged to be a party to. But whether the Romulan's talk of reunification between them and the Vulcans was merely talk to manipulate V'Las or a genuine desire, we'll never know.

If V'Las failed as a character, there were others that worked out just fine. Kara Zediker's T'Pau was at her best in this episode, proving a more Vulcan-like Vulcan than all the others, bar Soval; a hope and comfort to T'Pol, a good person to have in a fight (she should be rechristened T'POW!), and a leader for her people. It wasn't as simple as taking the reins of power, but it appears she's part of the ruling system with Minister Kuvak at the end. I wish she could have become an ongoing part of the series, but add that to the many on the list of 'if only there'd been a Season 5…' She wasn't the only character that improves - Soval continues to inveigle himself into the affections of humanity, assisting Trip in the best interests of his people, as he sees it, the stakes no less than war between Vulcan and Andor, with Earth sure to be dragged in. He's the sort of person whose efforts for the greater good the Federation would be founded upon. He's hard put to it here, finding himself on the wrong end of a torture chamber, though I'd question whether there is a right end, as Shran might attest - like Garak in 'The Die is Cast' not wanting to torture Odo, Shran's discomfort is evident. Soval's release of emotional containment under the Andorian device is a classic arena for a spine-tingling scene, but as in the previous episode, sadly, the series' baseline Vulcan persona is such that this grand unveiling of a Vulcan's core isn't as shocking and incredible as it should be, but even saying that, Gary Graham does a good job, assisted by the everyday greatness of Jeffrey Combs.

Shran makes even the off-the-wall V'Las look like a true Vulcan, but his reactiveness suits the race and character, which makes all the difference. It was always a plus point if an episode featured Shran, and extra points go to the writing for bringing him in in a sensible way, using his connection to the Xindi weapon, the prototype of which he tried to steal last season. It's good to see the ramifications of the Xindi on the Vulcans, we even see recorded footage of the destructive power of this armed and fully operational Xindi weapon, which the Vulcans erroneously believe the Andorians have readied, perhaps the last effect of the Xindi on the series - and such power would have had an effect on even allied races as they fear the attack on Earth could happen to them, or give another race the arms advantage. Two other characters I was especially pleased to see again, for different reasons were the Vulcan Priest, and Koss, T'Pol's husband by betrothal. The Priest, played by Jack Donner, was previously in the same role in 'Home' to marry T'Pol and Koss, but I forgot to mention him in my review - why so important? Because, amazingly, he'd played a Romulan in 'Balance of Terror' way back in Trek's very first season, and now he was back playing (kind of), a member of the same race in the final (to date), season of Trek on TV! A fantastic achievement, how many can say the same? It was very special to see, and fitting that he should be the one to relieve Archer of Surak's katra.

Koss I never really liked, but even he gets an endearing scene at the end - it was his transport codes that helped Archer and T'Pol reach the government building, but most importantly he frees her from her duty of marriage, a moment of great self-sacrifice that enlarges him greatly and closes out his contribution to the series nicely. T'Pol may have gone through a terrible loss with the death of her Mother, T'Les, but this episode is also an important turning point for her - not only is she freed from the unwanted marriage (though considering her age of seventy or so, I begin to question why she hadn't gone through it many years before, or doesn't the blood fever occur until the mental bonding has been consummated?), a big enough change for her character in itself, but she's also freed from the effects of a dodgy mind meld, Pa'nar Syndrome, from Season 1's 'Fusion,' something else that had held her back from accepting such 'mystical' things, and another reason she'd found not to trust the Syrrannites. T'Pau is the great healer who fixes the neural imbalance, bringing together a Vulcan of the divergent modern ways with the original teachings of Surak. If T'Pol doesn't immediately jump on the bandwagon with T'Pau that's not to say it didn't affect her deeply - just as in Christianity, ministering to the needs of people without payment in loyalty or commitment to the cause, is the most effective way of getting them to see what it's all about, and gives T'Pol reason to see the transformative power of the teachings her race had almost abandoned in favour of hard science.

It would be interesting to see her beliefs change as a result of her interactions with T'Pau, just as they have with her interactions with Archer, for example regarding time travel. Her and Archer's friendship has come a long way since that frosty start in which both saw the other as a necessary evil or obstacle to be overcome. She shows great concern for him, even though she finds it hard to believe the strange circumstances they find themselves in, or the evidence in front of her eyes, her deep-rooted position of disbelief in the soul, or katra, being so strong. But that doesn't stop her from doing everything she can to help Archer, and he in his turn puts the future of Vulcan at risk for her: after finding the Ark of the Covenant, or its equivalent, in the fabled Kir'Shara which contains the original writings of Surak, against T'Pau's wishes to get it to the capital immediately, he chooses to first rescue T'Pol from the security team that had been sent by V'Las to track down these 'terrorists.' I can't see Sisko or Picard putting the possible fate of a nation in jeopardy for one person, though Kirk would have done, and probably Janeway, but I couldn't help feeling it was a little foolhardy. But that's the way Archer is, people are more important than great destinies to him, and T'Pol was something more than that.

I did have some problems with the whole sequence of the Vulcans giving chase. For one thing it made them look terribly stupid - they're easily fooled by those they pursue, for example taking metallic weapons with them (slightly scaled down versions of the Lirpas we saw in 'TOS'!), so they attract the lightning of The Forge. It's also incredibly difficult to reconcile Archer having the ability to fight off even one uninjured Vulcan, let alone a posse of them, even with the fighting skills of his two female companions - these are supposed to be not just Vulcans, but high level security, and yet they blunder around, get knocked about, and yes, Archer and his small team do have to retreat at first, they can't take on that much strength, but even with the element of surprise, and even considering the possibility that Surak's katra could influence Archer's fighting ability, to be able to defeat a Vulcan who's three times his power should be all but impossible! Look at Kirk, one of the best fighters ever, and he could only hold off Spock for a short time ('This Side of Paradise'), and Spock was only half-Vulcan! Surak was a peacemaker anyway, so I don't know what combat skill he could impart to make Archer so skilful, as was Syrran, whom the Captain received memories from.

Not to say there weren't some good visuals in the fight scenes, with Vulcans flipping back up onto their feet and high-kicking quality from T'Pau and T'Pol (able to show off some of her martial arts ability that we first saw in 'Marauders'). But still, I can't get past that these are supposedly the best trained of all Vulcans in security matters, and there are a lot of them, and they're on home territory - maybe that's it and, like Superman, they aren't super strong on their home planet? But I'm reaching, here. Why would they even be carrying ceremonial weapons? It was still an exciting sequence, even if it didn't do justice to the Vulcans, and we had an interesting little titbit from the leader who didn't kill T'Pol because he served under her at Tomed - though this couldn't have been the famed Tomed Incident which came much later, and caused the Romulans' isolationism until 'TNG,' it's fascinating to hear that T'Pol was at that place, and indeed, fascinating to hear anything of her time as a soldier. We don't often get to hear of her backstory ('The Seventh' being the most revealing), perhaps they were keeping it vague so future stories could reveal more, but that was not to be.

One thing I can accept, with reservations, is Archer performing nerve pinches (and on Vulcans, too!). Precedent, however regrettably, had been set on 'TNG' when Picard appeared to take out, I think it was Tim Russ, before he became a Vulcan, so you can't really argue with it, and have to assume that it's not so much strength as knowledge and accuracy that play their part in a good nerve pinch (Picard had melded with Sarek, so once again there's a mental explanation to be had). In that, I most certainly can buy Surak's influence, giving Archer the exact knowledge to be able to perform it (Data was able to do it as well, but he was also able to perfectly mimic people, as with Dr. Crusher's dance steps, so nothing there to discount my theory). It may be that nerve pinches, lirpas and mind melds were being thrown around too much, and perhaps the series was straying too far into mimicry and over-reliance on canon, but you have to remember that this was the big Vulcan story, the last Vulcan-specific story, I believe, so they were all in. And I think, for the most part, leaving aside the infuriating lack of control displayed by Vulcans, or their calm, measured tones being abandoned for exasperation, surprise or outrage, this trilogy worked. It might even be better than the Augments trilogy as that had higher ups and lower downs than this did. I would also rank this episode the best of the trilogy, in large part for bringing Shran back ("That's two he owes me!" - still keeping score!), and making the stakes believably high without being ridiculous.

It's also safe to say that the Enterprise was better used in this part, and the story was more balanced, with Trip allowed to develop his skills as a leader - uneasy lies the head, as he finds when he has to make the big decisions. Archer would have been proud (though sadly, we didn't get to hear what he thought of Trip's actions, or what Starfleet thought of his disregarding their instructions, though I'm sure the Vulcans helped smooth things over). Malcolm and Trip's friendship was another little character piece to be addressed, Reed comfortable in questioning his friend's plan, which he would have been unlikely to do if it had been Archer's, or at least, he'd have been more deferential. Regardless, he still does what he's told, with no loss of peace between the two. Reed would have made a good First Officer serving under Trip, and their debate makes me think of Picard and Riker if those two had been a lot less experienced. It's hard for Trip to make the tough calls and come out smelling of roses, but if it wasn't for what happened on Vulcan with Archer and T'Pol successfully changing the High Commands view of the situation (which reminded me of Dax and Kira in 'The Siege' - avoiding the patrols of an ally-turned-enemy to bring new information to their leaders, and infiltrating the political centre of the planet disguised in robes!), his efforts might not have paid off.

Still, Trip showed promise as a Captain, the Kir'Shara is revealed (at first I thought it odd that Surak's time would have holo-technology, but then you realise that they had interstellar capability since some left to become Romulans, so holograms aren't a stretch), and the High Command, a thorn in Earth's side for so many years, is dissolved (a shame the series ended as this new Vulcan attitude would have released the floodgates for Starfleet exploration). With it may go some of the power of the Vulcans on the galactic stage, as their smothering tendencies, couched in policing the quadrant, would likely have diminished, setting in motion a new era that would see the gradual rise of the Federation. I'm not sure if this all equates to the United Nations after World War II, or the situation with China becoming dominant in today's world, but what it does demonstrate is a shift in the situation, both physically and politically. And that's a fascinating thing that 'TNG' and 'DS9' did a lot of, and something that could have been totally absorbing had we been able to see it play out over several seasons of the until the day when the Federation formed. It's so sad that, though we had the chance to see aspects of this formation play out across other major races in the course of Season 4, we never got to see the birth of perhaps the most important turning point in Trek history. I wonder if 'Enterprise' had stayed within the seven year boundary, whether they would have continued in real time and so not arrived at the Federation until a film, or skipped ahead, as the finale did, to get us there sooner?

Other questions I couldn't help but ask: if Surak's true teachings have been sequestered away in the Kir'Shara for so long, are they known at all, or had they been watered down and manipulated over centuries until the Vulcans had reached the point at which we find them in the series? And, just as with T'Les not transferring her katra into T'Pol, why wasn't Syrran's katra ported to Archer with Surak's, since he retains some of the man's memories? Maybe a mind can only hold one katra at a time? I felt the meld of T'Pol and T'Pau another missed opportunity - I wanted to hear them speak the same words and give a stronger sense of the power of this event, especially as T'Pol's last experience was such a negative one, but they quickly cut away and we don't see the effect it has on her. They leave us with a question as pertinent as the Klingon forehead debate: why does the first Romulan we see on the series have the 'V' forehead, which is missing in 'TOS'? Is it the same genetic tinkering explanation we'd learn of the Klingons this season? I'm not sure this is a compliment, but there things that reminded me of 'Star Trek Nemesis,' the good parts of that film: lavish robes, plush governmental surroundings and political machinations. I loved seeing the inside of the Vulcan architecture, as much as the outside, and we were fortunate to get a sense of the circular structure of the city for the first time, something originally conceived in 'The Animated Series,' which, while not itself canon, I'm glad to see become canon. And this episode has the distinction of being one of only three to begin with a 'K.' Okay, fact gun off.

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