Synopsis: When Enterprise reaches Azati Prime the Xindi weapon is found, and a plan is put into operation to destroy it.
This episode can be seen as an example of Carl (C. G.) Jung’s concept of inflation; when the Logos-driven rational conscious ego identifies too closely with the god-like power of an archetype from the Eros-driven irrational unconscious.
In “Azati Prime,” Enterprise reaches Azati Prime only to find an extremely sensitive sensor grid protecting it. Captain Jonathan Archer orders Commander Charles (Trip) Tucker and Ensign Travis Mayweather to take the Xindi Insectoid shuttle, collected when the hatchery was discovered in the episode “Hatchery,” to go through the grid and locate the Xindi weapon. They are successful and a plan is formed to take the shuttle, armed with torpedoes, back through the grid to destroy the weapon. It is a suicide mission, and since Archer does not want to be the cause of anyone else’s death, he informs his officers that he will be piloting the shuttle. Temporal Agent Daniels then appears to Archer and tells him not to sacrifice himself, because he will be vital in the creation of the United Federation of Planets. Archer disregards Daniels warnings and takes the shuttle to complete the suicide mission. However, the shuttle is fired upon by Xindi forces and Archer is captured. He is first interrogated by a Reptilian Xindi officer, but when Archer tells him he will only speak to Degra, Degra is summoned. Archer tells Degra what Daniels told him: that the real enemy of both humans and the Xindi alike are the Sphere-Builders, who using the spheres are in the midst of changing the Expanse to accommodate their needs and destroy the Xindis in the process.
In this episode, when Archer ignores Daniels warning, as well as the opinions of his senior staff, and goes on the suicide mission, this can be compared to when the conscious ego identifies too closely with the god-like energy of an archetype, here arguably, the hero or savior archetype. Inflation, as well as the resulting deflation, can be seen as part of the ongoing individuation process. Archer is not able to complete the mission, but instead is captured by the Xindi, and is able to speak to Degra and try to resolve the conflict between humans and the Xindi. Archer feeling he has to go on the mission himself and then being captured, can be analogized to how some inflation is necessary to provide momentum for the conscious ego to change, but when inflation is thwarted and deflation occurs, this is when conscious change truly happens.
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