Weekend Trek “The Aenar”

So, unless there’s something I don’t know about, this episode is the last time Jeffrey Combs popped up on any Star Trek.  At the very least, I suspect that this is certainly the last appearance of Commander Shran, and that’s a shame.  Enterprise is a better show than I thought it would be, but it is a hell of a lot better whenever that grouchy, tempermental Andorian shows up.

As it is, this episode actually asks Combs to do something different with Shran: show compassion for someone he has pretty much just met.  Between the second and third parts of this storyarc, the Tellarites went home, but it’s basically discovered that the remote pilot of the Romulan drone is an Aenar, an off-shoot of the Andorians, a highly telepathic, blind race of beings who live in seclusion, and Shran says most Andorians until relatively recently believed they were basically an urban legend.  They’re also committed pacifists, so what the hell is going on there?

Basically, it means Archer and Shran need to go down to the frozen moon where the Aenar live, and this place is cold even by Andorian standards.  Plus. Shran’s balance is off while his severed antenna grows back.  That’s a nice touch.

What follows feels almost like it came from a different storyarc even as the same Romulans are plotting against everybody to prevent an alliance that their meddling may end up causing.  That’s not a bad thing.  On the contrary, it allows Combs to show a different side to Shran even as the Romulans up the ante by having their captured Aenar pilot two drone ships simultaneously, with a Romulan doctor actually showing concern for the captive since, you know, doping a prisoner up and forcing a pacifist to pilot war ships remotely against other sentients does a number on the man’s health.

Instead, Shran gets to show a softer side.  The Aenar are willing to listen to Archer and Shran, they feel for them, they even give Shran medical care.  But they won’t help because that would require leaving and maybe committing an act of violence, even if it is to save lives.  Fortunately, the captive’s sister Jhamel volunteers to leave anyway.  And Shran…he’s really kind to this young woman.  If it weren’t for the fact that Shran’s fiancee died only one episode earlier, a fact that both Shran and Jhamel talk about, with Shran using softer tones than I think the character has for this entire series.  I got the impression that, had the show run longer, there’s a good chance Shran might have developed a romance with Jhamel, and I am somewhat fine with that idea.

Granted, unless something pops up in the next eight or nine episodes, I won’t be seeing that for a second, but I have to say, seeing other sides to Shran is nice.

It also somewhat works with the Trip/T’Pol subplot.  As part of the means to combat the drones, Phlox and Trip are building a machine to allow a telepath to send their minds across the void and contact the drone pilot.  Jhamel will, eventually, use this to get through to her brother, convincing him to turn the two drones on each other and leading to his own execution by his Romulan captor.  But to test it, T’Pol has to volunteer, and that means Trip has to stand by and watch her suffer possible permanent brain damage.  So sure, the episode ends with the Romulan drones defeated, but it also ends with Trip requesting a transfer without telling longtime pal Archer exactly why.

That, I am guessing, will be the subject of the next episode.  Somehow, I suspect Trip will return to Enterprise before too long.