In the mess hall, she and Phlox dine together, and talk about how she'd feel awkward in front of the other Vulcans with a human crew. Phlox can relate to an extent, since he sometimes feels out of place being the only one of his kind on the ship too, but tells her that diversity is a good thing. T'Pol tells Trip in the launch bay not to speak unless spoken to, talk to anyone who seems to be meditating, or touch any relics.
They go to P'Jem with Archer, but are kicked out since the monks are doing a long ritual, and T'Pol notes that a statue is knocked over and there are too few monks in the atrium. They investigate, then find a hiding Andorian, but when they try to confront him, he and three others take the trio hostage and bring them into a room, where the rest of the monks are also being held. They introduce themselves as Shran, Tholos, Keval, and Thon, and reveal that they're from the Andorian Imperial Guard. Archer tries to explain that they were just curious, but because T'Pol is Vulcan, the Andorians don't believe him.
The Andorians leave, with the away team and the monks still locked up, and T'Pol and the oldest monk explain that Andorians are known for being suspicious and volatile and have been in conflict with Vulcans for years, with some Andorians being suspicious of them even after a treaty was signed. The Vulcan elder also explains that the Andorians are suspicious of P'Jem because they believe it hides a long-range sensor array.
Meanwhile, on Enterprise, Malcolm notices an alien ship and is antsy that Archer hasn't contacted him, but Hoshi and Travis think he's probably just preoccupied and that Malcolm is overreacting. Shran interrogates Archer and asks where the sensor array is, but when Archer (truthfully) claims not to know, Shran doesn't believe him and beats him. Enterprise tries to contact him, but Shran takes the communicator and threatens to kill any of the hostages if they try anything. Archer is returned to confinement and the Vulcans admit that there is a transmitter in the catacombs and allow Archer and Trip to use it.
The Vulcan initiate leads Trip down the catacombs, where he finds several things of interest, including dried bodies and a stairwell. He finds that the transceiver is broken, but believes he can fix it. While the prisoners discuss what to do, it becomes cold, so Archer shares his blanket with a reluctant T'Pol. Trip and Archer talk to Malcolm with the transceiver and Trip explains the situation, but Archer orders Malcolm to wait.
The next morning, the prisoners map the catacombs, and then Archer is tortured again, deliberately giving unhelpful answers. He throws a statuette through a hole in the atrium wall for Trip, then is taken back to confinement. Meanwhile, Malcolm and several others beam down with phase-pistols, nervous but determined.
As the landing party go into the catacombs, the Andorians enter and ask about an energy surge, but T'Pol suggests that the Andorians have faulty equipment. Tholos is asked to keep an eye on the prisoners, while Malcolm and his party place charges around the atrium walls, and Tholos hits on T'Pol and threatens Archer with death. Malcolm sets off the charges, which knocks Shran over. The landing party stuns Thon, then Shran shoots one crewman but he survives, and Keval and Shran escape down the stairway.
Meanwhile, Trip has tried to subdue Tholos, but failed and thus been beaten up. Malcolm, T'Pol, and Archer plan to hunt down the two escaped Andorians and they give Trip a phase-pistol with which to stun Tholos, then the initiate says to the Elder that they must "protect what is [theirs]". T'Pol finds the fugitives, leading to a firefight, during which a big listening post is found. The initiate tries to take Archer hostage to keep it secret, but Archer knocks him out while T'Pol scans the station. She then shows the scans to the Andorians, who allow the humans to leave.
Tropes in this episode include:
- Brick Joke: "I am in your debt, pinkskin!" Later? "I can't get a good night's sleep being in your debt!" Good thing Archer's a Captain and not an accountant.
- The Bus Came Back: The Andorians had been referenced, but not properly seen since the Original Series, outside of a brief holodeck appearance in TNG's third season.
- Butt-Monkey: Paranoid Andorians rough up Archer even worse than what becomes usual for him, so much so that Archer uses their ferocity to his advantage.
- Cassandra Truth:
- The Andorians don't believe Archer when he says they came to P'Jem out of curiosity because T'Pol is a Vulcan.
- Archer is telling the truth when he says he doesn't know where the sensor array is, but Shran thinks he's lying and beats him.
- Chekhov's Army: The Andorian commandos will be seen again...
- Chekhov's Gunman: ...but Shran in particular will return in future episodes as a recurring character.
- Continuity Nod: Malcolm comments that the spy station could see what any Andorian has for breakfast. Something similar was said about the Obsidian Order, that no Cardassian could sit down for breakfast without the contents of the meal being logged by the Order.
- Cut Phone Lines: Star Trek version. As soon as Shran learns the crew has communicators, he threatens Reed back on the ship, then smashes every single communicator they have.
- Description Cut: When Malcolm gets antsy about Archer not checking in, Hoshi suggests that he and the others are probably watching some meditation technique. Cut to Archer getting the crap beaten out of him.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: One member of Malcolm's team is shot twice by an Andorian rifle and because this is Season 1, he survives. It would later be established that Andorian weapons don't have a stun setting.
- The Extremist Was Right: The Andorians were thugs, no doubt about it - hell, one of them threatened to have his way with T'Pol - but even they seemed taken aback that they were proven right.
- Hilarious Outtakes: A good way to have fun during Archer's first beating of the show.
- Hostage Situation: The Andorians start by holding the monks captive, and then Archer's team when they show up.
- Humans Are Smelly: It's mentioned a few times that Vulcans think so. T'Pol has apparently been taking a nasal numbing agent so she can deal with being on board a ship full of them, and her last dose is wearing off, much to her displeasure.
- Interspecies Romance: Tholos, an Andorian, is attracted to T'Pol, a Vulcan (though it's not so much romance on his part as thinly-veiled rape threats).
- Mathematician's Answer: When the Andorians demand facts about Earth from Archer, he gives them trivia about bacteria, Ohio history, and Tycho Brahe.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Said word-for-word by Trip.
- Notice This:
- The giant Vulcan face in P'Jem Monastery is huge and is important as it leads to the Catacombs...
- Also, the door to the Vulcan spy array inside of the Reliquary. In the Vulcans' defense, they hid it behind a curtain.
- Obfuscating Insanity: Archer pretends that he's going mad from being locked up with the Vulcan monks, as part of The Plan.
- Pacing a Trench: Jokingly referred to when Malcolm spends most of his time pacing on The Bridge during the Hostage Situation.Travis: Sir, you're wearing a hole in the deck plating.
- Properly Paranoid:
- Shran is convinced that the monastery is hiding a surveillance array that's being used to spy on Andoria. He's right.
- Malcolm is the only member of the crew that bothers to scan the planet's surface (detecting the Andorian's ship in the process), and senses something is wrong when the away team fails to check in.
- Protagonist-Centered Morality: Archer's decision to give away the secrets of the listening post to Shran is often ranked against Janeway's decision to destroy the Caretaker array. Sure, it was an idiotic move on the Vulcans to use the monastery as a sort of Human Shield for this post, but still, Archer is willingly giving away state secrets of Earth's only ally to one of their enemies. And from the Humans perspective, the Andorians had done nothing to suggest that they weren't the aggressors in this conflict. They spent much of the episode beating the crap out of Archer and one threatened to rape T'Pol. This is mitigated somewhat as it's specifically stated the listening post violates the Vulcan's treaty with Andoria, and one of the priests was willing to kill Archer to keep it a secret.
- Rewatch Bonus: The secrecy the Vulcans show about the monastery is perfectly understandable, in the context of their cherished relics and their Actual Pacifist nature, even if they seem awfully prickly. Then we see what's behind the curtain. It changes not only the Vulcans' whole demeanor in hindsight, but it winds up coloring the characterization of the Vulcans in the events after this episode.
- Twist Ending/The Ending Changes Everything: Never once did T'Pol, Archer or any of the crew ever consider that the Andorians had reason behind their paranoia, so when the door is found and the spy array is uncovered it leaves T'Pol in utter disbelief, and Archer feeling betrayed and angry.Archer: All this time...they've been calling these monks liars, and all this time, they've been right.
- Wham Shot: The spy array being uncovered. It makes this a Wham Episode as well, as this discovery would have ramifications that would gradually play out over the rest of the series.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Archer calls this on the Vulcans, and the events of the episode later provide supporting evidence that something has gone badly wrong with Vulcan culture, that they would use a holy site for a spying operation.
- Would Rather Suffer: T'Pol apparently finds Archer's BO without her nasal numbing agent so unpleasant that she'd rather get hypothermia than share a blanket with him.
