Breaking the Ice
In a character-by-character run through:
* Archer - we see two sides of Archer in this ep. First, he is genuinely interested
in the Fourth Grade class - he takes time to answer questions carefully and in a
warm tone. Nicely done. However, that irrational dislike of Vulcans - boy, he
really doesn't like them, which begs to ask the question, why would he ask
T'Pol to stay on Enterprise anyway? I think it goes with the territory that
captains can be headstrong, but the climax of this ep - ie saving Reed &
Mayweather - well, that was a little too headstrong and prideful, so there is a
flaw in our captain's armour.
* T'Pol - this is the first time we get a sense of T'Pol as something *other*
than Vulcan. She is genuinely hurt when Tucker reads her private email. It's a
given that T'Pol would value her privacy, but she transcends that by reaching
out when she truly does need advice. It gives credance to the fact that T'Pol
isn't really a cold fish, but someone who is out of water - she needs to feel
comfortable and Trip's apology is probably the first time someone has made
any kind of overture to her. Think of Trip's comments that he had never seen
her quarters before - you get the feeling that T'Pol stays to herself because
she knows that the crew, Archer included, doesn't like her. So a good way to
soften out T'Pol's edges.
* Trip> - Ah, Trip. He's so adorable, no matter what he does. He feels genuinely
upset when he discovers that T'Pol's mail was actually of a personal nature.
He's also shy in some ways - he'd rather talk about warp coils than 'poop
questions.' He's definitely not a natural in front of the camera, so to speak, as
evidenced by his comments to the Fourth Grade class. But his scenes with T'Pol
were genuine - he did care and he wanted to help. Nice element to his
character. Though I *still* can barely hear that southern accent (though I have
a theory on why I can't hear it).
* Reed and Mayweather - look for these two to be the buddies on ENT. On
DS9, we had O'Brien and Bashir, VOY it was Tom and Harry and on TNG it was
Geordi and Data. So voila, Reed and Mayweather. These two exemplify
exploration - they want to be out there, they want to be doing stuff, they are
not afraid, unlike others on ENT. They also have a sense of fun - they are not
by any means straight-laced boring officers. (I sense much slash fic in our
future with these two). We still don't know much about their histories, but we
did learn a little more about their personalities in this ep.
* Sato - once again, not much there for this ensign. However, she did have a
nice moment in front of the camera with the fourth grade class. Her teaching
background seemed to come out, as she explained her job very seriously, but
not condescendingly. She also had the job to unencrypt (is that word?) T'Pol's
message, but refused to read it, given us the idea that Sato has a level of
consideration for T'Pol that other crewmembers may not necessarily have.
* Dr. Phlox - He is overly... over the top. It's almost like the galaxy is a brand
new petrie dish for him. So nothing new here for this mysterious doctor, other
then the fact that it's been re-enforced that he's from Denoblian (?) galaxy.
So in terms of character, pretty strong.
'Shipper Watch:
Trip/T'Pol - woohoo! Now there is some serious 'shippyiness there. These two
seem to relate on some level, and Trip in some ways reminds me of Tom
Paris, except more genuine (I'm talking first season Tom, not later reformed
Tom
given her development this ep, I bet we get less of an ice princess attitude as
time goes on. And don't you think Trip is the perfect one to melt that icy
exterior?
My questions:
What did Vanick have to do with anything? What did he say at the end of the
episode to T'Pol?
Why did T'Pol change her mind about the engagement, even after she had
argued with Trip about it?
Why *are* the Vulcans following the humans around?
Why is Archer so irrational to the point that he almost sacrificed two lives? Is
there something we need to know?
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