T'Pol is having her checkup, but it turns out that she has a disease and it's getting worse. Phlox, fearing that T'Pol will die if not treated, decides to talk to some Vulcan doctors at the Interspecies Medical Exchange, despite T'Pol's wanting to keep the illness a secret lest she lose her job. The Enterprise then arrives at a planet called Dekendi III, where one of Phlox's three wives, Feezal, comes aboard to set up a microscope. She begins to flirt with Trip, skeeving him out.
At the conference, Phlox tells the Vulcan doctors that he wants information on Pa'nar Syndrome, claiming that it's for a coworker at home. They're dubious, as Pa'nar Syndrome is stigmatised, but they leave to consider his request for information.
Archer and T'Pol dine together, but are interrupted by a hail, saying that a Vulcan ship wants to dock and speak to Phlox and T'Pol. As it turned out, once the Vulcan doctors found out T'Pol existed, they started to doubt Phlox's claim. During a meeting, they hand her a PADD with a list of names of Vulcans who can mind meld, and when they leave, they use a DNA test from her fingerprints to determine that she has the disease.
Trip and Feezal work on the microscope again, and Trip, while still disturbed by Feezal's feelings for him, is interested in the microscope. Phlox is called to the ready room, where Archer reveals that the Vulcans have found out that T'Pol has Pa'nar Syndrome (which he previously didn't know about) and want to have her recalled. T'Pol explains that it's from the mind meld she had with Tolaris. This makes Archer very angry, both because Phlox and T'Pol kept a dangerous ailment a secret, and because the Vulcans discriminate because of a disease.He begs the Vulcan doctors for assistance, pointing out that the reason for the stigma is because they're against Vulcans who can mind-meld when T'Pol herself can't, but they refuse.
The youngest doctor, Dr. Yuris, however, contacts T'Pol in secret and asks her to meet him on the surface, which she does. There, he gives her the information Phlox asked for, revealing that he can also do mind-melds. Yuris goes on, saying that he himself doesn't have Pa'nar Syndrome; only a small percentage of mind-melders do. She tells him that she got the disease as the result of a "violation", and he encourages her to share this, as they'd sympathise with her if she got it through no fault of her own.
Back on the Enterprise, Feezal keeps flirting with Trip, who tries his best to avoid her. He talks to Hoshi in the mess hall, when Feezal enters and starts flirting with him again. Hoshi leaves, and when Feezal doesn't seem to care when Trip notes that she's married, he leaves too. He asks Malcolm for advice, and Malcolm suggests continuing to avoid Feezal and not telling Phlox lest Phlox get angry.
Phlox looks at Yuris's data, which doesn't include a cure, but is at least helpful. Archer enters and reveals that the senior doctor in the Vulcan delegation is a member of the Vulcan Medical Council and wants to recall T'Pol and take her back to Vulcan. Archer and Phlox try to convince T'Pol to tell the Vulcan doctors that she was forced into the mind meld, but she doesn't want to, feeling like that'd enable prejudice. Archer goes to the planet and convinces Dr. Orratt to hold a hearing for T'Pol.
In sickbay, Phlox is treating an injured Travis, when Trip enters. He asks to speak to Phlox privately, then shares that Feezal is attracted to him. However, Phlox doesn't see a problem with it, in fact he's glad; his species doesn't have a problem with adultery. Trip, however, still isn't willing to "play around" with another man's wife.
Archer tells T'Pol about the hearing, and she's reluctant to attend but agrees when he says she can defend the minority. At the hearing, she points out that the minority can't help it; they were simply born with an ability. Archer points out that the Vulcans are being hypocritical since they've called humans prejudiced in the past. T'Pol calls the laws oppressive, then Yuris reveals that he's in the minority. The officials decide to end the hearing, but Yuris reveals that T'Pol was assaulted.
In sickbay, the Phloxes examine the microscope, while Trip looks on awkwardly. Then, Archer tells T'Pol in his ready room that Yuris was suspended, but T'Pol was not. She then decides to contact the High Command and speak on Yuris's behalf, hoping that other Vulcans will be encouraged to speak out.
Tropes in this episode include:
- Bittersweet Ending: Yuris is suspended, the stigma still exists, and T'Pol still has the disease. However, Phlox is working on a cure and T'Pol gets to keep her job and plans to further help Yuris and others.
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: Denobulans don't seem to have the same standards of "marital fidelity" as humans do. As a result, infidelity isn't really a problem for them.Phlox: Don't you find her attractive?
Trip: Sure...I mean, no, she's your wife.
Phlox: What does that have to do with it?
Trip: She's your wife?
Phlox: Oh, nonsense. Nonsense! You're too concerned with human morality. I thought you wanted to learn about new cultures. Isn't that why you joined Starfleet?
Trip: Why, of course it is. But I was brought up believing you don't play around with another man's wife. I don't think I'm ever going to change my mind about that.
Phlox: As you wish. Your loss. - Call-Back: The events of this episode are a direct consequence of "Fusion."
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: A "minority" of Vulcans who have a "deadly disease carrying a huge stigma," believed to be isolated only to them, that the High Command is uninterested in treating because this minority is "undesirable." It's purportedly transmitted by individuals being "intimate" in an undesirable manner. You should only need one guess on what they're referring to. Not to mention someone losing his job after coming out.
- Double Entendre: "Insert the thick end into this opening." You are still talking about the microscope, right, Feezal?
- Double-Meaning Title: It's obviously meant for the stigma associated with Pa'nar Syndrome (Phlox even makes a Title Drop on the subject), but it can also refer to the stigma concerning marital infidelity, which is what Trip is worried about.
- Footsie Under the Table: Feezal does this with Trip in one scene. He can barely keep a straight face.
- Honor Before Reason: T'Pol refuses to expand upon the circumstances of her mind meld. She believes that if she tries to "excuse" her disease by revealing it's the result of a Mind Rape, she'd be voicing tacit approval of the discrimination against consensual mind-melders.
- I Have This Friend: Phlox's strategy for asking about Pa'nar Syndrome without revealing T'Pol's condition boils down to claiming that he has a colleague on Denobula who's working to treat a similar illness and anything the Vulcans can provide would be extremely helpful. The Vulcans see right through his story, especially after finding out that T'Pol is aboard Enterprise.
- I Have to Go Iron My Dog: Trip ducks an encounter with Feezal by claiming that he has to write a synopsis of The Black Cat.
- Interspecies Romance: Feezal, a Denobulan, has the hots for Trip, a human.
- Mandatory Line: Travis gets his one scene in the episode in Sickbay after a run-in with an alien cow.
- Mood Whiplash: The serious plot of T'Pol and her stigma...with Trip trying to avoid getting hit on by Phlox's wife. You can almost see the discomfort on Connor Trinneer's face during his scenes.
- Polyamory: Phlox's wife spends the episode trying to hit on Trip, much to his discomfort. However, given his people's normal polygamous relationships, Phlox is totally okay with this, even encouraging Trip to bang his wife.
- Prejudice Aesop: The episode talks about how discrimination is wrong.
- Screw You, Elves!: Archer gives one at T'Pol's hearing, touting human tolerance over Vulcan bigotry.
- Sick Episode: Played for Drama— T'Pol has a disease that's affecting her brain and could either kill her or make her an outcast.
- Teasing from Behind the Language Barrier: Trip worries about this when Hoshi and Feezal talk in Denobulan in front of him.Trip: I'm getting a little paranoid here. You aren't talking about me, are you?
Hoshi: As a matter of fact, we were.note
Feezal: (giving Trip a Footsie Under the Table) Ensign Sato barely has an accent. She was just telling me how attractive she thinks you are.
Hoshi: She's pulling your leg, sir. I was merely talking about grammar. - This Is Gonna Suck: Phlox has this look when the Vulcan delegation grills T'Pol, realizing that they will likely find out about her illness.
- Unstoppable Rage: What Trip fears should he tell Phlox about Feezal's attempts to seduce him, especially after Malcolm mentions Phlox getting angry when one of his creatures bit him. Utterly Subverted. (See above.)
- Very Special Episode: Aired as part of UPN's HIV/AIDS Awareness Week.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Archer is miffed at Phlox and T'Pol for not telling him about her Vulcan AIDS, as well as for Phlox lying to the Vulcans about why he needed information about the disease. T'Pol then gets miffed at Yuris for breaking his word to not tell anyone about her Mind Rape.
