1x15 Shadows of P'Jem

[7.1/10] I tend to prefer the personal stories to the political ones in Star Trek. One of the best things about the franchise is how it uses the alien races as stand-ins for different nations and cultures, but I always appreciated how those cross-cultural conflicts were grounded in personal reflections and impacts on the characters.

Imagine my surprise, then, when I come to an episode like “Shadows of P’Jem” where I am wholeheartedly invested in the various complicated political snarls going on, but fairly indifferent to the personal stakes of the whole thing. The episode is basically made up of two interrelated parts: a diplomatic snarl between the humans and the Vulcans (which eventually expands to include the Coridians and the Andorians), and the possibility that T’Pol will be recalled and punished by her superiors for her part in “The Andorian Incident”, which Archer is against on both counts.

The former is thrilling and intriguing, both from the diplomatic angle and tapestry of tensions between peoples, but also from the alliances and countermeasures several groups enact to rescue Archer and T’Pol, who’ve been kidnapped by some rogue (and/or freedom-fighting) Cordians. The latter is predictable and full of corny lines and more cringeworthy shipping-fuel with T’Pol.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve come to really appreciate T’Pol as a character and Jolene Blalock as a performer. While I initially had some reservations about the character (admittedly, in part because Blalock’s Hollywood look seemed like another attempt at a Seven of Nine type-presence to lure in male viewers than to match up with Vulcan sensibilities), but Blalock has settled into the Spock role nicely. She has the mannerisms and the presence down, and walks the fine line of remaining outwardly stoic while communicating bits of affection or pleasure in subtle but palpable ways. The writing for the character has generally been good, with her mild disdain but also appreciation for her colleagues, and gradual shift toward adopting some of their habits, working nicely as a slow burn.

But “Shadows of P’Jem” founds the personal stakes of whether or not T’Pol will be forced to leave Enterprise and be reprimanded by the Vulcan High Command on her relationship with Archer, which I’ve never really been invested in. There continues to be the sense of Archer as “loose cannon, but he gets results” type that makes me roll my eyes. And it doesn't feel like the show has necessarily earned his willingness to fight so hard for her. At a minimum, the dynamic between the pair doesn't have enough energy to really justify an episode that spends so much time with the two of them together.

That’s before we get to the vaguely romantic hints that the show tries to drop. Archer and T’Pol having to wiggle their way through the restrains, replete with the pair taking a tumble until Archer is face-first in T’Pol’s chest, is downright embarrassing, if not quite as bad as the decontamination scene from the pilot. The conversations the two have before, during, and after this don’t really sell the reasons for Archer’s self-righteousness about the unfairness of it all, or T’Pol’s reasons for wanting to stick around, and the kidnapping conceit feels like an excuse to save money on sets by sticking them in a dark room for most of the episode. A major throughline in “Shadows of P’Jem”, or at least its first half, is Archer trying to convince T”Pol to fight for her rights on a person-to-person level, and I just don’t buy it.

But I am 100% bought into the complex political struggles the show highlights here. I’m especially glad that Enterprise doesn't just sweep the events of P’Jem under the rug, but rather that it leads to tensions and finger-pointing between the Vulcans and Starfleet that result in the severing of certain diplomatic ties and scapegoats. The fact that the Vulcans justify their deceit and blame the humans for screwing things up, along with the revelation that the Andorians bombed P’Jem, likely destroying both the spy station and the priceless artifacts, raises the stakes in the ongoing rivalry between these two cultures that have a certain parent/rebellious child relationship.

I also like, however, how much that relationship is complicated by other players. The introduction of the Corbidians if brief, but potent. At first, we’re apt to see the rebels who bring down Archer and T’Pol as villains, with their rough interrogation and shoot first ask questions later mentality. But we later learn (or at least hear it suggested), that the Corbidian government is corrupt, that there’s a vast inequality gap between certain Corbidian citizens in the capital city and the those in the shanty town surrounding it, and that the current Corbidian leaders are in league with (if not out-and-out puppets for) the Vulcans, who tacitly approve of this arrangement. On the other hand, it’s also suggested that the rebels are harsh, and prepared to kill our (mostly) innocent bystanders if they don’t get the weapons they want as ransom, and might do it anyway even if they do. There’s a complicated sense of justice and alignment that goes beyond good and evil here, which makes for a compelling conflict.

That’s doubled when the Andorians are reintroduced. It’s interesting as hell that the Vulcans and the Andorians have sort of a proxy war going on in Corbidan, with the blue-skinned aliens allying themselves with the “downtrodden” on the planet. It also adds to the intrigue when the Andorian fighters we met in “The Andorian Incident” return. On the one hand, it’s a great strange bedfellows situation where that relationship makes them interesting brokers and allies for Trip and Malcolm on Corbidan after firing on members of Starfleet the last time they met. On the other, it deepens our sense of the Andorians as a people and the depths of their cultural attitudes when their leader will not admit to being grateful for Captain Archer’s assistance, but will cop to “having trouble sleeping at night” and hating being in another person’s debt. There’s a lot of nuance to this clash of cultures, and it makes up for a lot of the episode’s shortcomings.

It’s also just nice to see the rest of the crew operating smartly and successfully without Archer and T”Pol. It’s fun seeing Trip command the ship and interact with the Vulcans, playing things close to the vest or playing dumb because he doesn't want the disapproving Vulcan parents to either pass judgment or, worse yet, thwart the Enterprise’s own rescue plans. And it’s just as fun seeing Hoshi stonewall and cut off the Vulcan captain, giving the pointy-eared allies a taste of their own medicine.

But in the end, the rival rescue efforts come to a firefight, where our heroes are saved, and T’Pol makes a desperate move to take a bullet for her Vulcan superior. That heroic act, a medical ruse from Dr. Phlox that suggests she needs to stay on Enterprise to heal, and Archer’s cajoling, seemingly convince the Vulcan captain to stick up for T’Pol and let her sacrifice balance out her perceived betrayal at P’Jem. It’s a little convenient to prevent T’Pol leaving the ship, but I actually like the choice from her as something which both justiifies the Vulcan High Command giving her some leeway, and signifies that she’s picking up the norms of her crewmates on the Enterprise. There’s the sense, through supposedly “logical” reasons for her actions that seem to reflect personal preferences, that she wants to stay and is appreciating the experience more than she let’s on.

That’s an interesting tack, and amid the bigger machinations of different polities clashing with one another, it’s a nice way to bring the differences between them home. The problem is that Archer is the mouthpiece for that, and his and T’Pol’s interactions are meant as a stand-in for those larger tensions. It’s the rare Star Trek episode where the small, personal material flags and the broader political stuff soars, but here we are, in an episode where it’s better if you forget about the relationship between the captain and his first officer, and focus on the shifting alliances and political friction that eventually take over.