Well, there was definitely a lot of action in this episode!  And it was all well paced out, too. It kept one thinking, what's going to happen next? This is certainly a significant change in direction for the series. Now that Archer has a more serious and focused mission, this will surly bring a significant change in his character as this story is played out over next season.

How about Tripp? The attack and loss of his sister certainly has brought out the pure essence of humanity in him. as Spock would say. If Archer thought that he was a bad boy in 'Cogenitor', wait till you see him take out pure human revenge on the Xindi when and if they find them.

T'Pol certainly has made a radical change in her path. By resigning from the Vulcan high command, she has doomed herself to serving aboard a ship full of smelly humans. I hope that was what she really wanted. I though that there should have been a bit more logic played out in her decision making process. Certainly some elements of Spock's wild and wacky yet logical decision making process could have been used here. I expected Soval to give more logic at the illogic of the humans taking a revenge type mission to the expanse.  I guess that there wasn't enough screen time for his lectures.

Having military characters on board the ship next season should bring some interesting developments for all the main cast of characters. Starfleet characters are more of a good-guy exploration type, where as, military are more kick-ass, shoot first, and butt heads type of personality. It should result in some good character conflicts on the ship which, when written well, always makes for good story telling.

I was a bit confused at how much time had lapsed from one major scene to the next. I know that it was implied that days or even weeks had passed between each major development, but it seemed that everything , from the attack on earth to Enterprise reaching earth to traveling to the expanse, seemed to happen within a hours rather than weeks.  Compressing time on a TV episodes can be confusing at times

Wasn't it fun watching Duras antagonize Archer?   Duras did seemed quite obsessed with capturing Archer.  It's amazing how motivating getting back your Klingon honor can be. All of the Klingon/ Enterprise battle scenes were great! I enjoyed Duras getting frustrated with each confrontation as he STILL could not get Archer.   I guess Archer finally got tired of being harassed by Duras and just decided to kick his butt at the end. I wonder how many crewmembers got a bit sick from that last Enterprise maneuver?

Now who would have thought that  future guy who would be helping Archer?.  Or is this all of his plot?  Or is this all of someone else's plot?  Or is this a plot within a plot within a plot type plot?  I guess X-files type stories still continue with Enterprise.  John Shiban must be putting his 2-cents into this story plot.

The Vulcan's video from the Expanse was reminiscent from the  movie scenes of  'Event Horizon'.  If nothing else, it would make a great short horror film: Vulcan's gone wild.

There were definitely some 9/11 elements in this story. Not so much that it seemed liked a lame 22nd version of the same events, but just enough to make it a worthwhile story. I think all could relate to the anger and revenge feelings experienced by the characters from the attach on earth. A lot of deep, strong, human emotions define this episode.  A very human issue to deal with.  I would expect that these strong feelings will be the theme for the first few episodes at the start of next season.  It's definitely a daring direction for the producers to go. Fans will just have to wait and see how well it plays out next season.  In the mean time, spend the summer at Tahiti.