Under attack T'Pol wigs out but an inexplicable cease-fire spares the crew. Recalled by the counxil, the furious Reptilians hand a pulped Archer to the Aquatics for transport back to an equally battered NX-01, largely depressurized and with dozens of dead or wounded. Their warp drive is out of the question, and their best hope is to limp and hide nearby. What a fantastic time for an unidentified alien vessel to run into them! New to the Expanse, with minor damage from spatial anomalies, the Captain of these Red Giant Studiers listens to Archer's "I need your warp drive" sob story but declines as he won't jeopardize his crew.

Meanwhile the counxil meets with a flickering Suliborg Queen, omniscient except for the "limits to what we can do in your realm." She admits helping the Reps' fanciful 8 Mile adventure. Concerned, Degra surreptitiously requests a rendezvous with Enterprise. (Doesn't four light years away in three days make warp 3 approximately 500c?!) Archer asks Phlox about behaving unethically, which the doctor admits twice ("Dear Doctor" and "Similitude"), and tells him to expect more casualties. He ignores T'Pol's sole logical suggestion that they're no different from earlier marauders, and with sharks and Reed attacks the RGS ship. An unreasonable lucky shot disables the forcefield around the oil they've come to steal, Trip does his magic, and Archer mercilessly strands his new enemy.

Then there's T'Pol's not-so-surprising months-long addiction to trellium. Her hands have started to tremble, bad enough for others to notice, and she's having mutant nightmares about showers with Trip. She dons an EVA suit to access an air-emptied cargo hold, and after some artificial tension gets her rock. She's built and concealed a handy hypospray-trellium magic box, but the pain's gonna make everything alright. Seems she wanted to access certain emotions and ended up wanted more. Phlox agrees to keep her idiotic ship-threatening behavior just between them.

That and other nitpicks nag me, like profligate use of the transporter without warp power. And aren't warp coils really big? But I did like Morale Officer Mayweather's confidence with Hoshi, and greatly enjoyed T'Pol feeding Archer his "lose his humanity" quote. She's right to expose his uninspired resolution as rationalization. And that's a bummer to watch, since enough examples of waylaid morals and brutal behavior are already available outside Trek. This too-busy episode sets up contrived circumstances to demonstrate the worst of humanity, who apparently owe little to the Great Pirate. In the "Enterprise" realm, it owes a lot more to Degra.