Synopsis: Captain Archer is tried before a Klingon Tribunal for conspiracy against the Klingon Empire.
This episode can be seen as an illustration of what can happen when the Logos-driven rational conscious ego acknowledges and integrates a bit of material from the Eros-driven irrational unconscious into itself.
In “Judgment” Captain Jonathan Archer is put on trial before a Klingon Tribunal for conspiring against the Klingon Empire. The charges arose from an encounter Enterprise had with the Klingon battle cruiser Bortas. Bortas engaged Enterprise after Enterprise took aboard survivors of a colony that was annexed by the Klingons but then abandoned. The captain of the Bortas, Duras, son of Toral, hailed Enterprise and demanded that the survivors, which he called rebels, be returned to him. Archer refused and Bortas fires on Enterprise. Archer then orders that Enterprise be taken into an asteroid belt and fires a charge into the field that disabled Bortas and allowed Enterprise to escape. The prosecutor describes this as an act of war. Initially, Archer’s advocate, Kolos, tells him that he doesn’t want to hear Archer’s defense and the Archer should not speak before the tribunal. But after Kolos tells Archer of his dissatisfaction with how the Klingon legal system has been usurped by the warrior class, Archer tells him that it only takes a few individuals with courage to make change happen. Kolos then decides to allow Archer to speak on his behalf and he mounts a defense for him at the tribunal. He is successful in convincing the magistrate not to give Archer the death penalty, but Archer is still sentenced to a life term in a labor camp. When Kolos objects, he is sentenced to one year. Meanwhile, Sub-Commander T’Pol has been calling in some favors with her Klingon contacts and arranges for Archer to be liberated from the labor camp. Archer invites Kolos to come with him, but Kolos, now passionate about trying to change the system, says he will complete his sentence and work for change.
In this episode, when Archer tells Kolos that a few people with courage can make change happen, this can be compared to when the conscious ego acknowledges a bit of material from the unconscious, and then integrates that bit into itself in order to shift its perspective. This ability to adjust can also lead to the ego becoming stronger and the psyche more whole.
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