Captain Archer and Ensign Mayweather are captured and thrown in a Tandaran detention facility. All the other detainees in the facility are Suliban. Archer and Mayweather are suspicious of the Suliban but soon learn that they are ordinary citizens and not members of the Suliban Cabal. Colonel Grat, commander of the detention facility, tries to get information out of Captain Archer. He is aware that Archer has had interactions with the Suliban in the past.
The detention facility is just one of many that hold Suliban citizens. Part of the inspiration for this episode is the internment camps in which Japanese-Americans (including George Takei) were forced to live during World War II. The concept of viewing citizens of foreign origin as potential threats still resonates today.
The Enterprise is contacted by Colonel Grat and informed of the situation. They are directed to head for Tandar Prime and given directions. They are not told where Archer and Mayweather are being held. They figure out where the transmission is coming from and trace it back to the planet where the detention facility is found. They beam down a communicator to Captain Archer and start to makes plans to get him out of there.
Colonel Grat finds out about the communicator and has his men rough up both Archer and Mayweather. Lieutenant Reed beams down, disguised as a Suliban, and well armed. Archer, Mayweather, Reed, and the Suliban prisoners overwhelm the guards and escape. The Suliban take off in spare ships that are conveniently found nearby.
Colonel Grat is played by Dean Stockwell, Scott Bakula's costar on Quantum Leap. He carries around a small device that resembles Ziggy, the device that his character on Quantum Leap carried around. I didn't detect any other nods to Quantum Leap.
I like the mysterious manner in which the episode opens. The story slowly unfolds. Grat tries to play like he is on the side of the good guys. I like how this episode opens up the possibilities. The Suliban have been the bad guys up to this point. Everything is a little more gray now that it is revealed that not all Suliban are part of the Cabal or fighting against it.
This episode is not perfect but it like it. I think I would have liked it more if it had been a little more nuanced. The Tandarans aren't very sympathetic. The Suliban (in this episode) are victims who learn to overcome oppression. The painting here was in broad brush strokes. By itself this isn't much of an episode but as a part of a bigger picture I think it works well enough.
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