On Vulcan seventeen years ago a spelunking light-wand wielder dusts an idol-bearing canopic jar, breathlessly whispering the name, "Surak." Flash forward to the Terran embassy on Vulcan where Admiral Forrest discusses joint missions and Ambassador Soval discussing human qualities such as arrogance, stubborn pride, and logic. This makes the Vulcans afraid of humans, since they remind them of how they used to be. Earthers took a century to accomplish while Vulcans took fifteen times as long. Then a real bomb goes off, and in a budget cut we lose the Admiral. A crew basketball game reminds Phlox of an Arcturan fertility contest, except for all the clothes.

Soval and the Administrator of the Vulcan High Command and his creepy Flunky come aboard. In a cargo bay full of caskets Archer mourns how he "lost my friend" to Soval who suspects the Andorians. The Adminstrator and Flunky believe the "Syrrannites" did it, a group perverting the teachings of Surak according to pervert expert T'Pol. Malcolm and Travis search for clues and find another bomb; Reed scans it and finds Vulcan DNA ("So much for Andorians"). Phlox identifies the DNA as belonging to the Syrrannite "T'Pau" but not recently, proving she was framed. (At this point I knew Flunky was the culprit.) Phlox is reluctant to stimulate an injured embassy witness so Soval performs a mind meld and recognizes Flunky.

Koss shows up with a cryptic message from T'Zhora; an heirloom IDIC that T'Pol has never seen. In it she finds a map of "The Forge" which she shares with Archer. This is the desert country Surak walked with convenient sensor gaps. Archer finds T'Pol's description of Surak's problems "familiar." A sehlat stalks them as she humorously compares her pet to Porthos. A mystic Vulcan named Arev ("Desert Wind") breaks in and calls the beast away. Caught in a sandfire storm they take refuge in a cave, where Arev recognizes T'Pol as T'Zhora's daughter and Archer as the human that exposed the defiled P'Jem temple ("Is that going to be a problem?").

The storm violently kicks up and zaps T'Pol and Arev; before he croaks he "Remembers" an unknown katra (wanna guess?) into Archer who leads T'Pol to the illusion stone guarding yet another cave. They get caught by Vulcan Fremen but Archer says "Don't resist" and we get another week to savor the improved writing, overdue continuity winks, rich characters, excellent visual effects, and deep Vulcan themes all integrated spectacularly (the new music's good too). Can't wait for the next part!