In the seventh episode of the second season of Enterprise, T’Pol has difficulty with an assignment due to a disturbing past. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Star Trek.
Trigger Warning: For discussion of trauma/PTSD, police brutality.
For the most part, this is a strong and impactful episode of the show, and it was a risk to take a character like T’Pol and give her such an emotional story. It’s pulled off well, but I have a point of contention to make. I need to build to it, however, since this script relies on building to one single moment as well.
Here’s what I mean. Jolene Blalock is incredible here, and I have no doubt that this is one of her finest performances on Enterprise. There’s a mystery at the heart of “The Seventh,” but it’s one born out of the loss of memory. Tasked with capturing Menos, who escaped T’Pol on Risa many years back, T’Pol has memories triggered in her of something she hasn’t consciously thought of in a long time. The mystery, then, becomes centered on what happened when T’Pol tracked down Menos. Is her memory an accurate representation of events? Why did she forget it in the first place?
For what it’s worth, this aspect of “The Seventh” felt effective, creepy, and urgent. It helps that Blalock plays T’Pol with a ferocity and a deliberateness that’s incredible to watch unfold. We’ve seen her struggle with emotions before, but it has never felt like this. That scene where she confronts Menos alone and then rushes to his ship (ACROSS A LANDING PLATFORM OF LITERAL ACID) is so challenging to watch because we can tell just how traumatizing this was for her. It’s not just guilt, either. T’Pol is dealing with the horrors of recalling a trauma, and as someone who struggles with PTSD, I felt this was represented well. (Obviously, not all manifestations of trauma are the same, but I related to the visual depiction of “flashes” of past events affecting a person mentally and physically.)
But what is that trauma centered around? We discover that T’Pol’s pronoun slip was a clue to the fact that she chased down more than just Menos on Risa. Jossen, another one of the Vulcan operatives who refused to return from Agaron, was with Menos, and T’Pol shot and killed him during that chase. From there, it’s easy to see why T’Pol was so upset. Taking another life – especially a Vulcan one – is more or less a taboo in their culture. Even worse, this entire trauma is exacerbated by guilt and uncertainty. Did T’Pol shoot someone? Initially, she doubts that, but once the memory comes back in full, she remembers why it was purged (intentionally) in the first place: she wasn’t sure she was justified in shooting Jossen.
The show wants me to believe that this is a genuine thing to be conflicted over, but it doesn’t quite work for me. See, I appreciate the build-up to that reveal, and I loved how most of it was handled. But I’ve grown up in a world of extrajudicial killings, where state agents are allowed to justify the taking of a life for the smallest of reasons. We saw that flashback, and we saw Jossen reach for his gun. What astounds me is that somehow, T’Pol couldn’t have stunned Jossen like she does with Menos at the end of “The Seventh.” Why was her shot fatal? Why couldn’t she have fired at a part of his body that would have stopped him from shooting? See, that is what I think the episode should have focused on because it’s a more important question. Instead, the mere act of shooting him is the only thing addressed, and in the end, we’re never really given the closure we should have been given. Archer exists to tell T’Pol to finish her job and not judge the person she’s about to shoot, and THAT IS REALLY ALARMING. Like, the big climactic scene ends with T’Pol shooting an unarmed man in the back as he’s running away. My mind went immediately to all the people who have been killed in my country in the exact same way. Am I supposed to feel good that T’Pol did this? Does it justify her actions that Menos was smuggling illegal items? At what point do we draw a line and say that killing someone is now a moral act?
This episode answers that question too rapidly for my tastes.
The video for “The Seventh” can be downloaded here for $0.99.
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