1x07 The Andorian Incident

[7.3/10] I don’t know if one good reveal can make an episode worthwhile. For most of its runtime, “The Andorian Incident” is full of Archer and Trip acting like brash idiots, the titular Andorians hamming it up, and the Vulcans being cartoonishly unhelpful. A scenario where the Andorians are holding members of the Enterprise crew, along with a host of Vulcan monks undergoing the purge of emotions, in search of espionage equipment is a solid enough plot to power the episode. There’s also a thrill to seeing first contact between humans and Andorians, with the Vulcans as unlikely instigators, given the species coming together in The Original Series, but for the most part, the episode is slow-to-develop and staid.

But then you get that final moment that changes everything. After being tortured by the Andorians for information (or at least what qualifies as that on network television), Archer repeatedly denies that the Vulcans are spying on their blue-skinned galactic neighbors or violating their treaty with the Andorians. After all, Archer may have his beef with the Vulcans, and he may think they’re patronizing and snobby, but they’re also Earth’s allies, and certainly a more trustworthy alternative than the quartet of antennae-sporting paranoid pugilists who are beating you up.

Then, all of a sudden, Archer realizes that the Andorians aren’t mad men chasing a wild goose, and that the Vulcan monks aren’t simple aesthetics whose sanctuary is being disturbed. The Vulcans are concealing a secret spy base, and these admittedly hit-happy smurfs are just tired of being lied to by their supposed friendly neighbors, just like Archer is. The fact that a supposedly peaceful Vulcan monk is willing to use violence to protect that secret, after his elder chastises Archer & Co. for doing the same, is the icing on the cake. Archer gives the Andorians T’Pol’s scans of the secret Vulcan facility and sends them on their way.

It’s probably too much to call it a game-changer for the series. The humans haven’t exactly been that Vulcan-friendly so far. But it gives them more than just suspicion or instances of the pointy-eared guides slow-rolling humanity’s progress into the cosmos. It shows outright falsehood and manipulation, hidden behind supposedly sacred religious ground and more finger wags for the uncivilized souls the Vulcans otherwise look down upon. It is, give or take Sybok, the most underhand thing I can recall the Vulcans doing in all of Star Trek.

Through it all, T’Pol follows her Captain’s lead. Her handing over the data scans is the culmination of my favorite part and my biggest beef with “The Andorian Incident.” The notion of T’Pol as caught between two worlds here -- frustrated at her human allies’ rashness but also her Vulcan brethren’s prejudices is endlessly compelling but also undercooked and botched in places. Her and Archer’s blanket-side fight over the proper approach and use of violence in this sacred space is overwrought drama that isn’t good for anything but setting up that twist at the end.

But the idea itself is a strong one. It’s obvious that Vulcans look down on humans, and that T’Pol is more than a little embarrassed at her association with them as she’s about to approach a sacred place maintained by her countrymen. Her instructions to Archer and Trip about how to behave sound like a mom talking to her two unruly moppets before their trip to grandma’s house. And you have the moment between her and the Vulcan elder about “the smell” on a human ship, and a great scene between her and Dr. Phlox about how all this cultural exchange represents the peak of the Vulcans’ “infinite diversity in infinite combinations” creed. The episode rarely nails it down, but there’s a lot of interesting text and subtext about T”Pol’s views of her people, and the people she’s been reluctantly assigned to, evolving over the course of her mission and the course of the episode.

There’s frankly a fair amount of decent cultural exchange material in the episode, at least in concept. Sure, the Andorians are caricatures (and you can tell the makeup/costuming people went overboard now that it’s not 1966 and they can have the antennae stalks going crazy), and the Vulcans are ridiculously snooty about everything. But the idea of these three neighboring cultures figuring out where things stand with one another despite their very different perspectives and levels of trust is a solid theme for the episode.

Problem no. 1 is that, as usual, the show wants us to be on Archer and Trip’s side for most of this, and they’re some combination of dumb/disrespectful through it all. Why their reaction to some kind of intruder in a sacred place is to crash through some ancient Vulcan screen to get him rather than leaving and forming a plan or something is beyond me. At times, they seem to be going out of their way to embarrass T’Pol or be jerks (which, to be fair, so are the Vulcans). Enterprise seems to want to give us characters who act like their 1960s counterparts to some extent, which just doesn't work the same way in 2001, at least to put the audience on their side.

Nevermind some of the tactical decisions in the episode that made little sense. I don’t like to tweak science fiction shows for not being 100% believable -- willing suspension of disbelief is a part of the game. But why couldn’t they have beamed the Andorians up to the ship rather than trying to beam reinforcements down if it’s so risky? Why did we have to do this extended song and dance just to figure out that they could get behind the giant face in the Vulcan atrium? Why didn’t Reed and company just shoot the Andorians through the face rather than blowing it up and having to start a firefight in the smoke and rubble? And why in the world would the Andorian leader take Archer’s instruction to “hold his fire” after they discover the secret chamber, rather than taking it as proof that the humans are collaborating with the Vulcans? There’s so many dumb moves here that make little to no sense, and weaken what could otherwise be a solid build to a fairly shocking reversal.

Still, that reversal is a potent one. For decades, we’ve seen the Vulcans as occasionally misguided, but fundamentally decent. They have their suspicions of outsiders and exacting principles, but they’ve also been humanity’s allies in the Alpha Quadrant and the “good species” among Trek’s most prominent alien acquaintances. Now, they’ve let our heroes be tortured to protect their duplicitousness and masked a spate of espionage with the fig leaf of religious significance. It’s a big shift for how we see our pointy-eared friends, confirming Archer’s preexisting prejudices against them, and maybe, just maybe, changing the way that T’Pol views her own people.

Alien planet, Vulcan monestary… Enter the andorans.
Meanwhile, our two resident adventurers Archer and Trip are seeking a new adventure. They find Vulcan outpost on planet of P'Jem which T'Pol explains is sanctuary for Kolinahr, vulcan purging of emotion and is not realy convinced it's a good idea for a bunch of hyperactive humans to visit it. Archer is unmoved, he wants to play the tourist really bad. T'Pol reluctantly agrees. It seems she is not crazy about being seen with humans, but Phlox convinces her it is good for her as well.

T'Pol gives our tourists a crash course on manners in 3000 year old Vulcan monestary. They are greeted by a monk and T'Pol notices something is off. Archer takes the lead and catches a glimpse of a smurf man. They tackle him but are then surrounded by others.
We get to know Andorians and their paranoid and militaristic nature. Turns out they are vulcan neighbors and are at conflict with each other. They resent their superior technology and reasoning and are convinced vulcans are going to invade their home planet and that there is a long range sensor array hidden in the monestary. Preposterous, says vulcan monk, there's no technology allowed here. Humans having vulcan science officers doesn't rub them the right way either.

Vulcan elder reveals to humans they do have some technology, transmitter hidden in underground tunnels that Tucker uses to contact Enterprise. Reed is rethinking procedure for away missions and teleports to planet with 2 other crewmen to find escape in the tunnels. One wonders why they didn't just teleport them out of there, but that would rob us of a twist.
Explosion let loose both andorians and humans in the tunnels and after firefight in forbidden passage they reveal door that leads to a huge lab where apparently vulcans are working as if nothing is happening and vulcans dubious nature is once again revealed. After death threat to Archer from a peaceful monk and disarming him, Archer decides to give andorans scans of the facility and says that their people should know about this. Great diplomacy, vulcans will surely be ecstatic about it. They are now in his debt, Andorian replies, something that will come into play in just a few episodes.

Themes: diplomacy, human-vulcan relations, world building
Essential