All work and no play makes for a dull crew, so Enterprise finally arrives at Risa for shore leave. T'Pol remains onboard to manage the needs of NX-01 but the crew choose lots and the overwhelming majority of the bridge crew fortunately draw lucky. I looked all over for a horgon (the statue introduced in The Next Generation's "Captain's Holiday") but didn't spot one. Somebody let me know if I missed it.

Director Michael Dorn does a fine job pacing this detailed episode, aptly tying all their adventures into an enjoyable trip to multi-mooned Risa, ninety light-years from Earth ("... never heard of it," again!). It rehashes alot of the recent series history (leading up to the season finale) but makes up for the lack of new material with gentle character background touches like T'Pol's gift of the "Teachings of Surak" book.

Archer and Porthos meet up with a too-quiet beauty in their vacation villa but as soon as he figures out she's a spy she tacks him unconscious on the hand, leaving behind more questions than answers. He sure got suckered easy - whose idea was it to come here? T'Pol said they were supposed to "ease their tensions" and not compound them! Mention of Grat means he must be coming back; good.

Trip and Reed endure a horrific crime-filled vacation spent largely in their underwear. (Vacation resorts don't last long with that sort of reputation. Something must clean up the place between now and TNG. Or the not so credible shapeshifters "piggybacked" onto the effort cast by whomever was tracking Archer.) Anyway, despite their initial success with the "ladies," their eventual discomfort must return to the ship with them. Another story for these two to share.

Mayweather falls down while rockclimbing and injures himself (though this we don't see onscreen). The accident was believable seeing that he's spent all his life largely on one spaceship or another. Also goes to his concern to be treated by "his doctor." In fact the entire sequence with Phlox going into hibernation was hilarious; it's nice that the character has such bizarre new layers of complexity. It's also nice to toss off a mention of the Regulan blood worm - those would be found over in that "soft and shapeless" container.

Amongst her Risan language studies, Hoshi finds a romantic interest (what's his word for "forehead?"). Come to think of it, she has the only experience even resembling a vacation. The one who didn't like space travel in the first place! Go figure.