Soval appears before the Vulcan High Command because he mind melded with Askwith and behaved deceptively by hiding his ability to do so. He's eventually dismissed from service and made to return all confidential material, despite protesting that "deception is no stranger" to the Vulcan High Command.
On Vulcan, Archer and T'Pol's kidnappers are revealed to be Syrranites, and T'Pau is their leader. Archer confronts her for allegedly bombing the embassy and killing his friend (Admiral Forrest) but she denies being involved with the bombing and chastises him for spreading false info. Archer and T'Pol explain what happened, and it's then revealed that "Arev" was actually their leader and his "name" was just an alias; his real name was Syrran. T'Pol, noticing that Archer's posture is worse than usual, asks if he is okay, and he replies that ever since Syrran put his hand on his forehead before dying, he (Archer) has been feeling strange and like there's "something in [his] head". T'Pol asks her mother why she brought them across the desert, but she claims she just wanted her daughter to know she was safe. T'Pau gloomily (for a Vulcan) notes that if Syrran is dead, then "all [they] have worked for is lost".
In Archer's ready room, Trip and Soval discuss the latter's expulsion. Soval points out that he could file a protest, but V'Las doesn't tend to change his mind. He then thinks that Archer and T'Pol's wellbeing is more important and asks Trip if the Enterprise can communicate with them, but he replies that they can't. Soval then adds that they are in danger, since V'Las plans on bombing the sanctuary they're going to.
T'Pol and her mother, T'Les, try to talk about why the latter became a Syrranite, but T'Pol can't understand no matter what. Meanwhile, Archer hallucinates that Vulcan is at war, explosions are everywhere, and Surak is there, telling him that Syrran transferred Surak's katra into Archer's mind and to get rid of it, Archer needs to "return [Surak's] people to the right path".
V'Las finds the Syrranite camp and intends to bomb it, but another councilmember, Kuvak, protests, suggesting they simply arrest the Syrranites instead. V'Las, however, ends the meeting saying that the best way to maintain order is to destroy the building. Archer, meanwhile, tells the others about what he saw and believes Surak's katra really is inside his brain. T'Pol thinks katras aren't real, but T'Pau thinks it could have happened, and mind-melds with Archer to check, concluding that Surak really is there.
Trip and Soval start to work on a plan to save Archer and T'Pol, which involves disrupting one of the satellites near the Forge. Trip asks why Soval is helping humans despite his apparent disregard for them, but he admits that he's grown to like humans, but hidden it. Travis rigs up a shuttle, while V'Las hails Trip, insisting that the Enterprise go back to Earth since the investigation is complete.
T'Pol is still doubtful that katras are real, since there were some artifacts in the past that allegedly preserved katras but it turned out they didn't. She thinks that Archer is probably just seeing Syrran's memories. Nevertheless, Archer wants it removed, and T'Pau wants to do a ritual to remove it (despite T'Les's concerns that it could kill Archer).
In the cell, T'Pol continues to wonder why her mother joined the Syrranites, and Archer reveals that he no longer thinks they did the bombing. T'Pau decides to remove the katra, but T'Pol thinks it's too dangerous. V'Las finds out that the Enterprise is still in orbit, concludes that Trip is planning something, and decides to find out what the plan is. T'Pau tries to remove the katra, but it refuses to budge, and in another vision, Surak tells Archer that only he can save the day as Vulcans are "burdened" by their own history and that Archer must find the Kir'Shara.
Soval disables the satellite and Malcolm and a MACO named Woods try to go down to the surface, only to be forced to come back after being fired at by Vulcans. V'Las hails them and demands to know why they sent a shuttle and Trip explains that Archer is on the surface and threatens to fire on him if he doesn't leave.
Archer passes out for three hours and T'Pol keeps an eye on them. T'Les offers to help but T'Pol doesn't want her help, believing T'Les was hypocritical for forcing this upon Archer yet condemning the High Command. Archer wakes up and starts heading to where he thinks the Kir'Shara is, then the Syrranites, realising they're in for it, begin evacuating, except for T'Pau, who stays behind with Archer and T'Pol to look for the Kir'Shara.
V'Las sends three ships to fire at the Enterprise, so Trip retreats. V'Las orders the bombing of the sanctuary, while Archer leads the two Vulcan women down a corridor. He spots a mummy and identifies it as Surak's student T'Klaas despite there being no visible ID. The bombardment starts and they find the room where the Kir'Shara is, but the blasts force them to leave. With the sanctuary destroyed, V'Las wants to kill the survivors, much to Kuvak's disapproval.
T'Pol finds T'Les, severely injured because she stayed behind to look for T'Pol, and T'Les dies. As Trip moves the ship away, Soval reveals that the Vulcans are planning to attack Andoria, fearing that they're building a weapon based on the Xindi weapon. Trip decides to head to Andoria.
Tropes in this episode include:
- Call-Back: Trip brings up the peace treaty that Archer helped negotiate between Vulcan and Andoria in "Cease Fire."
- Character Death: T'Pol's mother dies.
- Cliffhanger: The Syrannite sanctuary is destroyed, claiming the life of T'Les and leaving Archer, T'Pol, and T'Pau stranded in the Forge with Surak's katra and the Kir'Shara. At the same time, Enterprise heads for Andoria to try and stop V'Las from starting a new war with the Andorians.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Enterprise is no match for the Vulcan ships, forcing Trip to withdraw. That said, looking closely at the largest Vulcan ship shows it venting plasma, showing that she did get a few good licks in before retreating.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?:
- Soval is dismissed from the High Command after his ability to mind meld is revealed, similar to someone getting fired after coming out.
- So, the High Command blames the attacks on Syrannites and wants to attack Andoria because they may have a Xindi weapon. Are you not thinking about The War on Terror yet?
- Also, Surak, functionally Vulcan's founding father as a united planet devoted to logic, tells Archer that the society he knows isn't the one he helped create.
- Don't Make Me Destroy You: V'Las says this to Trip when it's clear that Enterprise is outmatched by the Vulcan ships.
- The Easy Way or the Hard Way: When T'Pau tells Archer of the ritual to remove Surak's katra, which would be dangerous to a human.T'Pau: We'd prefer that you undertake the ritual willingly. It will stand a better chance of success. However, if force is required, we won't hesitate to use it.
- Fall Guy: Having been exposed by Soval as the one who planted the bomb, Stel is claimed to be a Syrannite.
- He Didn't Make It: Archer tells the Syrranites that Arev, aka Syrran, died in the Forge.
- I Choose to Stay: Surak's katra resists the ritual to remove him from Archer's head, staying right where he is.
- Insignia Rip-Off Ritual: The episode starts with Soval being cashiered. No actual insignia are involved, but the idea's the same.
- Missing Mom: As of this episode, T'Pol's mother is dead.
- My Species Doth Protest Too Much:
- Surak tells Archer that Vulcan civilization isn't what he helped it to become.
- Soval is tired of the deception that Vulcans prove themselves capable of, even saying as much to V'Las's face.
- Not Even Bothering with the Accent: T'Pau speaks with an American accent here whereas in the original series she had spoken with an Austrian accent (being played by an Austrian American actress). No in universe explanation was given. Interestingly, the actress who played T'Pau in this arc said she trained to do the accent and was perfectly ready to break it out on camera...if anyone had bothered to ask her to do it.
- Not So Stoic: T'Pol, a Vulcan, cries (albeit only a Single Tear) when her mother dies.
- Orbital Bombardment: V'Las orders a carpet bombing of the area where the Syrannites are.
- Single Tear: T'Pol sheds exactly one tear when her mother dies.
- Tranquil Fury: The fact that he's restrained by Vulcans with three times his strength is the only reason that Archer doesn't strangle T'Pau when he meets her."I'm looking for the woman who bombed our embassy. Her name is T'Pau, and she looks a helluva lot like you!"
- Wham Line: "The High Command is preparing to attack Andoria."
