Help! Someone hijacked the potential out of this episode!

A ship full of painted-faces monitors Trip and Travis as their shpod returns through a sphere's cloaking barrier. Back in Command Center T'Pol crunches their data when Reed pipes in with a distress signal. Twenty-three pilgrims are brought aboard - nice modicum of security here - though for "religious reasons" they won't allow Phlox to scan them. Archer invites the leader, Prenom D'Jamat, to an expository dinner scene. Over table talk Archer and T'Pol learn PD calls the Expanse "the Chosen Realm" and that he's completely Xindignorant. He venerates the spheres as handiwork of "the makers," yet dismisses T'Pol's estimate of fifty-nine since he believes thousands exist. (How supposedly intelligent people make such a nonsensical blunder really never becomes clear.) An opportunity to explore the science-faith intersection fizzles away.

Anyway, PD thinks that after a thousand years the sphere makers are returning, and while he's waiting he'd like to kill all the heretics back home. Archer refuses this "Glorious Mission" invitation so PD commandeers the ship, having one of his soldiers detonate a powerful organic explosive by stabbing his arm. Archer surrenders right away (ah, memories of Picard). PD seemingly erases T'Pol's computations out of existence - though I know she backups regularly - and an opportunity to explore the nature of "one truth" and its enemies fizzles away.

PD discloses his merciless past of child-killing and cites airlock torture to point out their situations involving difficult decisions aren't all that different. PD says NX-01 has desecrated the spheres and insists Archer select a solitary crew scapegoat; he selects himself. Misrepresenting the transporter as a hazmat disposal handy for merciful executions, T'Pol "executes" Archer to the secret control panel deep inside the ship since intraship beaming is no problem. From there he kidnaps a Triannonite and IM's a bioscan to Phlox, who hypos his guard and aerosols blue goo throughout the ship to neutralize the Arm-Bombs.

Archer confronts PD's Apprentice about following the futile path of perpetual war, condemning his wife and child they want dead to death. (The abortion B-Plot comes out of nowhere and that's also exactly where it goes.) Four ships arrive full of heretics, their faces painted on the other side to hammer the message of "Last Battlefield" home. Archer and Malcolm the Pugilist retake the ship as Enterprise suffers a few free shots. Archer informs them of PD's downfall and they move off (somewhere); Archer shares noise about sacred truth and returns them to their recent destroyed homeworld. So there.


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