The Andorian Incident

The Enterprise visits the Vulcan monastery at T'Jem.

This is the strongest episode of the series so far giving us a riveting hostage drama with a twist in its tail.

We learn about the relationship between the Vulcans and Andorians and witness the first humans entering the tense politics between the two neighbouring peoples.

It works well if you have prior knowledge of the original series, particularly from watching the episode 'Journey To Babel'. Although some die hard Trek fans hate Enterprise for its portrayal of the Vulcans, especially in this episode. I did struggle a little bit with this aspect of it, but that (for me) doesn't take away the fact that it is very well made episode. Another way of looking at it is that if all Enterprise did was tell us what we already knew from other series it would be quite boring.

Archer has a decent showing in this one along with Tucker and Reed in moments. T'Pol again is as ice cold a Vulcan as you will come across. I can't tell if it's just a lifeless performance or intended to be that way. Either way it works when you have a character who is not meant to show emotion, in the same way that Arnold Schwarzenegger works as the Terminator. Jeffrey Combs makes a great Andorian, both looking and acting the part.

The resolution of the story is not everyone's cup of tea but I'm glad they included it as it raised the story up a few levels of interest.