My Trek Through Enterprise

[teacake]

Oh Sub Rosa! no one understands you like I do!

[laika]

teacock wrote:

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I think it was, "Bitch, please."

definitely.

[Spock/Uhura Fan]

teacock wrote:

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NICE AVATAR S/UF!

Thank you.

Cthulurok wrote:

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It's shocking, some of the episodes I like.

As long as you enjoyed them then that's all that matters.

[Spock/Uhura Fan]

Stigma


Penar (sp?) Syndrome. Poor T'Pol. As soon as those Vulcans requested to come aboard the ship, I suspected that they knew what Doctor Phlox was trying to do. It just seemed a little mean to make her explain the illness when 3 Vulcan doctors were sitting right there. So, her "attacker" gave it to her. Even with Vulcans, who are supposed to be so enlightened, the victim gets victimized. Sad. No wonder why she didn't want to go to one of them. And of course, Archer unwittingly rubs it in at the dinner table. It's like she got an STD, and they're calling her a "dirty girl" when treatment is needed. Dr. Phlox underestimated their ability to put 2 and 2 together, and unfortunately he wasn't discreet enough. I'm not sure if being "discreet enough" was possible.

And then, I didn't like the fact that Archer throws a fit because Phlox didn't tell him what data he requested and why. There really wasn't a reason to at the time, but of course all Archer can think about is what he didn't get. I really didn't like the way he handled T'Pol when he called her and Phlox into his office. He didn't even seem to care about her or how she was doing, and it seemed kind of slow of him to not gather that the reason why the Doctor and T'Pol hadn't said anything was because it was a sensitive issue among Vulcans.

I can't believe that T'Pol had to spell it out for him that the guy that pretty much mind-raped her (remember that, Archer?) was responsible for her contracting the syndrome. I just can't help thinking that Sisko or Picard would have been a little more caring and understanding and not so slow and emotional. Even what I've seen of Kirk would suggest this. They probably would have said something near the end of the episode along the lines of "In the future..." but they wouldn't have behaved like Archer, that's for sure. What a shame. And it just says something about him when he finally remembers, "Oh, right, you were raped a while back. Forgot about that. Okay, well, I think the Vulcans will understand." I love how people often have to walk on eggshells for him and he has all the sensitivity and delicacy of a sledgehammer.

End rant. On to the Denobulan wife. Poor Trip was trying his best to fend her off, only to find that Phlox didn't care in the first place, lol. The awkwardness this caused was a nice touch to show a difference between cultures.

Back to T'Pol. I'm glad that one of the Vulcan doctors knew how to handle her situation with the discretion and care that it deserved. It was nice that she had someone she could actually talk to that understood her situation. At least Archer partly redeemed himself when he got the hearing and didn't divulge anything when asked. I think the best part was when T'Pol decided she wouldn't stay silent in her support for the doctor that helped her. Challenging the bias of the VHC is a good thing.

Grade: B minus

[R. Star]

More Evil Vulcan Syndrome! Really this series does their best to make the whole Vulcan race unlikable to the point it's hard to believe Spock came from them. Classic victim blaming here, and Archer seems to have caught EVS for this one episode the way he treats T'Pol.

The subplot with Trip and Phlox's wife was hilarious. I also enjoyed the difference in the cultures and how Trip was trying to do the "right" thing. Good bit of character development there.

[teacake]

Boy S/UF you're making me dislike Archer even more I'm having to remind myself that he improves greatly.

[Gaith]

I like "Stigma", though it's probably best viewed as non-canon, especially since T'Pol willingly consented to the mind-meld in "Fusion" before she was attacked, so it's not as though she was quite blameless there.

Still, I'll take a good bad canon ep over a dull canon-neutral one any day... I think.

[lurok]

Archer seems to have some serious mood swings. I'm sure there's medication for it.

Three words: Mrs Phlox's tongue.

I've never minded the Evil Vulcans. I always thought Sarek was a bit haughty in the way he treated his son. And the ones who appeared on DS9 were a bit up themselves. Wasn't one a psycho sniper?

[teacake]

Yeah, he was a killer. Something bad happened to him iirc and he acted it out.

As to Mrs. Phlox's tongue.. I hear they are prehensile.

[R. Star]

Even the serial killer Vulcan wasn't a rude jerk about it though.

[teacake]

So you prefer to be abused/killed by polite people?

[R. Star]

teacock wrote:

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So you prefer to be abused/killed by polite people?

If I'm going to be murdered, yes I would choose a polite murderer over a vulgar one. A dubious distinction perhaps, but I believe in civility!

[teacake]

It's nicer to die silently, never seeing it coming from a Vulcan sniper rather than be hacked to death by an enraged batleth wielding Klingon.

[Spock/Uhura Fan]

teacock wrote:

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Boy S/UF you're making me dislike Archer even more I'm having to remind myself that he improves greatly.

Sorry about that. I type my responses to these episodes as I watch them or right after. I may not get around to posting at that time, much of the time yes, but this was typed when I just couldn't believe how she was being treated.

Gaith wrote:

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I like "Stigma", though it's probably best viewed as non-canon, especially since T'Pol willingly consented to the mind-meld in "Fusion" before she was attacked, so it's not as though she was quite blameless there.

Still, I'll take a good bad canon ep over a dull canon-neutral one any day... I think.

Here's where I have an issue with this part of your statement. She did agree to the meld, but she agreed as someone who'd never tried it before and was a bit apprehensive about it to begin with, and her soon-to-be-attacker knew that. She was placing her trust in him, and he knew that too. Things were fine up until he wanted to push farther than she was willing to go and he went there anyway, and that was the violation. She never consented to that.

What he did was the equivalent of sleeping with a virgin who's not all that sure about sex in the first place (you basically had to talk them into "trying" it), and then a few minutes in deciding to have rough, hard-core porn-star sex with them after they've already said they're not comfortable with that and they shout out "Stop!" and that you are hurting them. And yes, it's going to hurt them. He should have known better and to stop as soon as she said she was uncomfortable. And I think he did know better. He just didn't care. Poor T'Pol had to find that out the hard way. He damaged her mind, but at least it wasn't permanent. Had she not been strong enough to fight him off and he had his way, she would have been permanently damaged. She didn't consent to that.

Cthulurok wrote:

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Archer seems to have some serious mood swings. I'm sure there's medication for it.

He really does. I think he's the only moody captain out of the bunch. Sisko could get emotional at times, but he wasn't moody. Moodiness implies an emotional instability that I would think could bar someone from the captain's chair, but it was the first mission, so...

Zombie Redshirt wrote:

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Even the serial killer Vulcan wasn't a rude jerk about it though.

True. Although, they didn't really speak to or interact with him.

[BruntFCA]

Spook/Hoorah! Admirer wrote:

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I think he's the only moody captain out of the bunch

Have you seen Voyager?