Finally, fans get to see some real developments on Vulcan society not seen since Star Trek IV or Amok Time! If the follow-up episodes are as good as this one, then viewers should be in for a really exciting trilogy in the inner-workings of the Vulcan culture. Surak's teachings seemed to have been obscured and misrepresented over the centuries. However, a small group of Vulcans called the Syrrannites still follow his original teachings and are determined to correct the mistakes over the centuries in a peaceful way. Coto seems to have been very creative with the writing staff in dramatizing why Vulcans behave so differently in the Enterprise series time-frame compared to what has been accustomed to in the 23rd and 24th century Star Trek universe. This is much better than just blowing off what has already been seen and calling it a mistake. Overall, this was a good tie in with all Star Trek series that have touched on the Vulcan way and it showed that someone on the creative staff really understands the Star Trek universe.

There was also some good and interesting character development with Soval. In the previous three seasons, he has come across as very antagonistic with Archer and humans. Now, he has come out of the closet and become a champion of what is right for Vulcan society and no longer puts down so lamely Archer and his fellow smelly humans. He's actually become a likeable character.

The Vulcan planet seems to maintain is traditional representation has a hot, dry, and thin-aired environment. The dessert was cool to watch. That was a bit reminiscent of some arid and hostile environments in the southwestern U.S..

Parallels can be drawn from the dramatic internal conflict unfolding with the Vulcans and what was also seen with the Klingons in TNG and DS9. However, there was no rehash of story ideas or  just substituting Vulcan for Klingon with this episode.

1) Mayweather finds a bomb.

2) Apparently in season 4, there's no problem bringing up the T'Pau character from TOS, but during the initial development of Enterprise, there were serious issues over residual payments and copyrights. I guess early 21st century lawyers are still alive and well.

3) Nice CGI of a sehlat!

4) Sad to see Admiral Forrest get killed off. He was a great supporting character for Archer. 

5) In the 22nd century, it's ok in the cargo hold to photograph the caskets of the dead with the flag draped over.

6) Looks like Archer gets to carry someone's katra. Wonder if he has a head-ache?