The Seventh (episode)

Real world article

(written from a production point of view)

T'Pol asks Archer to accompany her on a top secret mission to capture a fugitive that has eluded the Vulcan High Command for two decades.

Summary[]

Teaser[]

A Vulcan security administrator, informing T'Pol of the whereabouts of Menos

T'Pol is reading a book in the middle of the night when she receives transmission from the Vulcan High Command. The only thing her interlocutor tells her is that they have located a man named Menos, three days from Enterprise's location.

Act One[]

The next morning, T'Pol informs Captain Jonathan Archer that he will receive a transmission from Admiral Maxwell Forrest which will give him orders to assist T'Pol in a classified mission. Archer is immediately annoyed that he is being used by the Vulcans again, and talking to his first officer without his knowledge, but he has an amused look and doesn't argue too much, even when she presents no detail about what the "security threat" really is. At a senior staff briefing, the crew has the same attitude as Archer earlier, with Trip Tucker openly frustrated at not knowing what's going on and just asked to sit around for awhile. Malcolm Reed, however, does state he could use the time for re-calibrating the torpedo launchers, so Tucker says he'll find something to do. T'Pol will need a shuttlepod, a pilot (Travis Mayweather), cold weather gear, restraints, and phase-pistols.

Later that night, T'Pol visits Archer as he's watching a game of water polo. Even if she was unwilling to tell the details of her mission earlier, she now asks Archer to be part of the mission because she needs someone she can trust, and relates the details of the mission. Menos, a Vulcan fugitive, is a surgically-altered Vulcan ex-agent that wouldn't return when his mission was over. A couple of years prior, T'Pol, then under the Ministry of Security, had been in charge of apprehending six of these fugitives, and Menos was the only one that she hadn't been able to catch. The Vulcan High Command, considering that a matter of honor, assigned the mission to her again. The captain initially shot annoyed comments of his situation at her when she walked in, but the fact that she told him the full story and that she trusts him gives him pause, and he accepts.

On his way out, Tucker repeatedly entreats Archer to tell him what the situation is about, but Archer refuses, saying simply that T'Pol has "unfinished business" she wants help with and hands over command of the ship to him. Tucker gives up as he boards the shuttle. On the way to the planet, T'Pol explains that Menos is reported to have been a smuggler and amassed a large fortune with biotoxins used for transgenic weapons.

Archer, Mayweather, and T'Pol arrive at a bar situated on the Pernaia Prime moon where Menos is supposed to be hiding. T'Pol confirms he's present.

Act Two[]

With Mayweather guarding the door in case he tries to escape, Archer and T'Pol advance through the crowded bar. They draw several glances, but T'Pol is able to glance his face before an angry alien barges between them. He disappears under a table and she loses him. She reports to Archer that he saw her, so he jumps on a table and whistles, drawing him to shoot at him and blowing his cover. They try to get to him, and Mayweather tackles him. He's handcuffed and led away.

Meanwhile, Tucker tries to enjoy being captain, watching polo and inviting Phlox and Reed to join him for lunch in the captain's dining room. However, he soon finds out in regular intervals that being captain has its drawbacks. Phlox asks to inoculate the crew for a virus he found (but with rather annoying side effects) and Reed needs to take the warp core down for his re-calibrations. Tucker postpones the answers to later, preferring to enjoy the meal. Then, Hoshi Sato calls in to say the Vulcan ship is arriving and its captain, Tavek, wants to speak with Archer. He postpones that, too (this time out of necessity).

On the planet, their warrant has been validated, but the landing area is undergoing repair (coating the area with xylathoric acid) that prevents them from leaving for four hours. Without any access to a jail, they shackle Menos to the bar. Now, they are forced to interact with him in the presence of other bar patrons. He recognizes Archer and Mayweather as Human and starts to recount his situation: that the people who trained him to live a different life wanted to reverse it simply, but it would've taken three years. He refutes the idea that he became and remained corrupt, becoming a thief. Then he confronts them, saying he only cooperated with smugglers as part of his cover, and is sustaining his family now with an honest job (hauling spent warp injector casings). At the same moment, T'Pol has a strong flashback. She remembers chasing him on Risa, as she previously explained to Archer, but someone else was there, someone named Jossen. With Menos' manipulative attitude and all the strange memories, she begins to doubt herself. Archer says he should get a fair trial on Vulcan, and that no one will hurt him, but Menos' point is that they will find him guilty of simply not coming back, which is true, and he disagrees with the enforcement.

T'Pol has had enough. She lunges at him, not to hurt him, but to strip off a few straps holding him so she can protect her feet outside in the acid. She goes into his ship to prove him wrong, but only finds what he said she would, adding to her confusion.

Act Three[]

Tucker finally faces the Vulcan captain. Instead of coming up with an excuse for the captain's absence, he pretends to be Archer himself, since he thinks it's unlikely that this Vulcan ever met Archer. The captain remarks that he seems young to be a captain, but takes Tucker at his word. The "important message" from Admiral Forest relayed by Tavek is the score of a water polo game, Cal beat Stanford 7 to 3.

Back on Pernaia Prime, T'Pol returns and admits she confirmed Menos' story and asks to speak with him alone, to which Archer agrees. She calmly sits down and asks him who Jossen is, holding her phase pistol up. He's not sure why she's asking, but says he didn't want to be rehabilitated either, revealing he was another operative. She only remembers hunting for Menos, but she figures out she killed Jossen on Risa. Menos emphasizes he was innocent like him, and didn't deserve to die. T'Pol is agitated, previously believing he was lying but now feeling like he is telling the truth about everything. She gets more of the memory of the incident and Menos realizes she really doesn't remember the incident, which confuses him, as Vulcan operatives suppress the emotion of killing, not the memory. He appeals to her, implying it's turned her into a different person and asking her not to "conveniently forget" what she's about to do to him, since it will be similar to Jossen.

Tpol with a weapon — T'Pol shooting Jossen

T'Pol leaves him and goes back to Archer, explaining to him outside more of the story she now remembers. She actually went after seven fugitives, not six. While she was chasing after Menos on Risa, she killed another man named Jossen. At the time, it appeared as if Jossen was about to draw his weapon, so she shot him. Now she remembers her guilt about this, since she was never entirely sure that he was a threat. Because she was unable to handle her guilt, she went through fullara, a ritual meant to suppress that memory and even the memory of performing the ritual itself. Their discussion is cut short by a disturbance in the bar. Menos caused a fire by turning over a table and claims that he would rather die on that frozen moon than be brought back to Vulcan for crimes he didn't commit. T'Pol decides to free him from the restraints and he quickly vanishes.

Saying their mission isn't to determine Menos' guilt, Archer orders T'Pol to show him his ship, and they brave the way there.

Act Four[]

When the three of them go to his ship, they don't find him aboard. Mayweather goes to get life support started while they wait. T'Pol is convinced he left on a different ship, but Archer isn't convinced, yet. He sees Menos got to her, getting her to question herself and encourages her to stay focused and wait until later to sort it out. After a while, Mayweather finds a system still running on the otherwise powered-down ship. When Archer turns it off, it reveals a secret area behind a holographic wall where Menos was hiding, weapon in hand. He takes T'Pol hostage, forcing Archer in a locker. As he forces T'Pol to lock it, Archer knocks her down and, after a short fight, he drops his weapon. It's a trick, though, and he tries to escape through a hatch on the ground.

T'Pol goes after him and points her phase-pistol at him, threatening to shoot. He continues to play on T'Pol's insecurities, telling her that she won't shoot him, and telling Archer it's not his fight. Archer interferes at this moment and asks T'Pol to trust him. She does and finally stuns Menos as he is about to disappear again. Back on his ship, they tie him up for good. Mayweather discovers that Menos was indeed smuggling biotoxins.

Back on Enterprise, T'Pol and Archer meet to discuss the mission's outcome. The captain gently tells her that she will need to come to terms with these events in an indirect way. He mentions that Humans do not have the ability to repress emotions and as such have found ways to live with questionable choices and says she must do the same. He offers her leave if she wants it. She declines the offer and thanks Archer for what he did on the moon and tells him that if he ever needs someone he can trust, she will be glad to return the favor.

Log entries[]

"Captain's log, supplemental. As anticipated, I was contacted by Admiral Forrest, who has ordered us to accommodate the Vulcans' request."

"Captain's starlog, supplemental. The Vulcan ship Nyran was waiting at the prearranged coordinates. After transferring Menos to their custody, we've returned to Enterprise."

Memorable quotes[]

"Are we supposed to play some kind of guessing game?"

- Tucker on the subject of T'Pol's classified mission from the Vulcans

"Is there anything specific you and Travis are going to need?"
"Cold weather gear, restraints, and phase-pistols."

- Archer and T'Pol

"Before I joined the Science Directorate, I was assigned to the Ministry of Security. I was trained in reconnaissance retrieval."
"Move over, Porthos. Let the lady sit down. Sounds like this is gonna be good!"

- T'Pol, in Archer's quarters

"How am I supposed to be a good temporary captain if I don't know where my people are?"

- Tucker, when Archer refuses to tell him where he's going

"Any one of these people could be working with him."
"The Ministry of Security was very clear about that. He works alone."

- Archer and T'Pol, while watching Menos in the crowded bar

"Ironic, isn't it?! Burning to death on a frozen moon!"

- Menos

"Why did you want me here?"
"Because I trust you."
"Then trust me, you were sent to apprehend him… not to judge him."

- Archer and T'Pol

"I killed him."
"Yes… and he didn't deserve to be killed."

- T'Pol, remembering killing Jossen, and Menos

"Come on, Travis. Let's see if we can find something to eat."

- Archer, when T'Pol asks to speak to Menos alone

"Captain Archer?"
"Yes? Is there a problem?"
"You seem very young for a Starfleet captain."
"Healthy living."

- Captain Tavek and Tucker

"I don't trust this guy, Travis. Find something to tie him up with."

- Archer, regarding Menos

Background information[]

Title[]

"The Seventh" refers to the seventh rogue operative, Menos, whom T'Pol pursued in this episode. He was believed to be the sixth, until T'Pol remembered Jossen, whom she killed. Coincidentally, it is also the seventh episode of the season.

Sets and props[]

Several costumes and props from this episode were sold off on the It's A Wrap! sale and auction on eBay, including the boots of Bruce Davison. [1]^(X)
The cockpit of the cargo ship piloted by Menos appears to be a set redress of the cockpit of Zefram Cochrane's warp ship the Phoenix from Star Trek: First Contact.

Continuity[]

When Tucker impersonates Captain Archer, he wears a fourth rank pip to signify the rank of captain, but does not change into a gold-trimmed command division uniform, instead staying in his red-trimmed operations division uniform.
Menos may have been working for the Axanar, as most of his cargo containers have the Axanar written language on them.
Among the aliens at the bar on Pernaia's moon was a Kreetassan, several Klingons, several members of the shapeshifting species from "Two Days and Two Nights", and a member of Kago's species.

Apocrypha[]

T'Pol's experiences of pursuing Menos and Jossen on Risa and subsequently undergoing fullara at P'Jem are referred to in the ENT novel Surak's Soul.

Links and references[]

Starring[]

Scott Bakula as Jonathan Archer
John Billingsley as Phlox
Jolene Blalock as T'Pol
Dominic Keating as Malcolm Reed
Anthony Montgomery as Travis Mayweather
Linda Park as Hoshi Sato
Connor Trinneer as Charles "Trip" Tucker III

Guest star[]

Stephen Mendillo as Tavek

And

Special guest star[]

Bruce Davison as Menos

Co-stars[]

Previous episode:

"Marauders"

Star Trek: Enterprise

Season 2

Next episode:

"The Communicator"