The Great Chronological Run-Through

[Deranged Nasat]

"Singularity"

"Carrots!!"

Okay, I like this one. It makes this stretch of the season a lot more bearable. I think it's genuinely funny throughout, and there's a good balance between the peril of the situation and simply having fun with the characters.

Reed came up with his protocol to make up for the communicator incident, didn't he? I could so easily see him fretting about that and trying to come up with some ultra-efficient above-and-beyond means of compensation. He wouldn't be able to relax until he'd redeemed himself.

The crew's obsessions are all pretty funny, and all the better for actually stemming from their existing character traits. Hoshi is insecure about her capabilities, Reed is annoyed with the lack of military preparedness and the captain's casual command style (his comment about "inviting people to breakfast or to watch water polo" is particularly amusing), Archer is trying to honour his father. Phlox shows a casual detachment on the outside and an intensity underneath, as always, here making him rather effectively sinister (mad scientist Phlox is fantastic).

It's a very enjoyable episode, overall.

First Appearances of Things That Are Important

Red Alert, for all intents and purposes. I'm glad we got an "origin story" for the alert system, and this is another welcome example of the crew learning from their past experiences. It continues the plot thread from the first season regarding the crew's original naïve assumptions and their realization that they were unprepared for the dangers of deep space.

Continuity

The galley stocks spices acquired at Risa. Evidently it wasn't all fun and games during their visit - official business took place as well. Kreetassan spice is also mentioned, so apparently the crew indeed make a habit of this, picking up supplies at any friendly planet.

Phlox mentions Mayweather's experience at... The Repair Station *scare chord*. These little references are always welcome, and it's good to see that Phlox is keeping an eye on Mayweather to see if there's any residual effects or damage. Once again, I have to say that obsessive mad scientist Phlox is brilliant.

Reed references several hostile encounters, including the Suliban boarding parties in "Shockwave" and the Mazarite attack in "Fallen Hero".

Next Time: The wind drops out of the sails again with "Vanishing Point".

 

[Christopher]

Wow, different tastes. I hated this one. It was annoying watching the crew get so driven by such petty obsessions. I didn't feel they revealed anything about the characters in the way that, say, "The Naked Time" did, except maybe for Archer's thing with his father' biography. Mostly it was just a bunch of monomaniacs sniping at each other over things that didn't matter, and that was very uninteresting.

And the whole "Reed Alert" thing was silly. Even if they didn't expect to go into combat, it's implausible that they wouldn't have had an emergency alert protocol already in place in the event of accidents, malfunctions, or dangerous space phenomena. Spacegoers can't survive if they're careless, because space is a far less forgiving environment than Earth. These protocols should've been worked out well before they left.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

I didn't feel they revealed anything about the characters in the way that, say, "The Naked Time" did, except maybe for Archer's thing with his father' biography. Mostly it was just a bunch of monomaniacs sniping at each other over things that didn't matter.

There wasn't anything new revealed about any of the characters, no, and it was definitely a pointless episode, but personally I found it so much fun that I'm inclined to forgive all that. Watching "a bunch of monomaniacs sniping at each other over things that didn't matter" really worked for me, particularly since the germ of their obsession already existed in each of them.

"Vanishing Point"

This is definitely the most frustrating episode so far. They wasted one of our rare Hoshi episodes on "it was all a dream". Why? If you ignore the last five minutes, though, this is a pretty great episode. It's atmospheric, it's creepy and moody and it has a very different tone to what we've seen so far. Very eerie and uneasy. It's just completely undone by the ending.

The episode also deals with something that was crying out for exploration at some point: attitudes toward the transporter. The show has been good about using the transporter only sparingly, and showing the crew to have a lot of apprehension about it. It's new, untrusted technology and the show hasn't succumbed to the urge to cheapen it with frequent use, which is to the writers' credit. An episode dedicated to exploring the spectre of the transporter is a fine idea and doesn't detract from that. Why not make the most of the opportunity to have something that will later be taken for granted treated with fear and apprehension? Rather than an amusing trait of grouchy down-to-earth doctors or one of the neurotic crewman's quirks, here transporter-aversion is the norm. Here we have our first in-depth look at the personal and cultural unease about transporter technology, and it's done in such a way that it meshes with Hoshi's ongoing confidence issues. It's such a shame that it all ends up in service of It Was All A Dream.

I do appreciate another "Hoshi faces her fears of inadequacy and her unease with space travel" episode, but it would have worked a lot better had Hoshi actually saved the ship.

You'd have to remove the more obvious "product of Hoshi's fearful mind" parts - e.g. being replaced at communications - but you could keep almost all of this as it was and just give us a better ending in which there really were out-of-phase alien fanatics protecting their relics, and Hoshi stops them. I wouldn't usually suggest that throwing in "hostile aliens try to destroy the ship" makes a better episode but in this particular case it does.

Although I suppose we can now pretend that any episode we really hated was just a transporter dream.

Next Time: "Precious Cargo". Oh boy. Trip's caught in the transporter, right? Right?

 

[Christopher]

Again, we disagree -- I didn't think any of this episode worked. Maybe it's because I figured out it was a hallucination pretty early on, so I knew the whole thing was pointless. Also, I thought it served Hoshi poorly; by this point she's grown a lot and become more confident, so it was a lousy idea to revert her to her early first season "Oh, I'm so scared of everything to the point that I have no business being on a starship" characterization. Just a totally useless episode.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

Again, we disagree -- I didn't think any of this episode worked. Maybe it's because I figured out it was a hallucination pretty early on, so I knew the whole thing was pointless.

Once Hoshi is replaced as communications officer by a faceless crewman it's obvious it isn't real, yes. I think that's a shame because I genuinely like the uneasy, slightly surreal feel to the episode, and I think that having Hoshi's fears completely confirmed and then having her succeed in saving herself and the ship would have been very satisfying. It would finally confirm to her satisfaction that she's on top of things, and we could have a fully confident Hoshi from this point on. The episode tries to have something like that, with Archer pointing out that she thought it was real, but that just doesn't work.

Also, I thought it served Hoshi poorly; by this point she's grown a lot and become more confident, so it was a lousy idea to revert her to her early first season "Oh, I'm so scared of everything to the point that I have no business being on a starship" characterization. Just a totally useless episode.

After Archer and T'Pol regressed (though at least in T'Pol's case it was in service of a legitimate story), I'm not surprised Hoshi did too. Although this does show that this season is struggling, if it has to revert to earlier characterization rather than moving anyone forward.

Still, if it had been a case of Hoshi actually saving the ship, they could have used that to show her definitively putting her fears aside for good. If her concerns about the transporter had been confirmed, I think this would work. But since her fear was all in her head, it's less "Hoshi is braver than she likes to think" and more "Hoshi is a scaredy-cat", yes. Which I agree doesn't serve her well at all.

I'm sure you'll agree with me fully on "Precious Cargo", though, since it is not physically possible to like that episode. The nature of our universe expressly forbids it; to like it is in violation of all natural law.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

"Precious Cargo"

Sadly, this one is just really dull. It's completely forgettable and one of the very few Star Trek episodes that I might contemplate skipping entirely.

Let's see, something positive. Well, I can appreciate seeing the Vulcans used as the "heavies", so to speak. It's a dumb scene in a dumb episode, but having the Vulcans' reputation as the severe, overbearing superpower be used to their allies' advantage is interesting, for a given value of interesting. T'Pol wears her Vulcan robes for the first time since the pilot.

Firek Goff shoots Melon Lord. I know Christopher will know what I'm talking about, I assume at least a few others will.

There's a swamp, which is new, I suppose. We've had jungle and we've had desert and scrubland, I don't think we've had swamp.

The Retellian goons are pretty dumb, aren't they? They think they're going to get their ransom and then, what, limp off at warp two with holds full of latinum and not be hunted down and destroyed by the Kriosian armada? When you're a couple of mangy criminals operating alone and you abduct a monarch you're pretty much screwed from that point on. An entire nation will be out to get you, and I think Krios Prime can afford some pretty successful bounty hunters and detectives. You'll not be free or safe for very long, you know. There's no evidence that our Retellians have powerful backers (or any backers at all); they seem to be opportunists, though I suppose there's room to suggest otherwise if you were inclined. Who would hire them? The Valtese? The Suliban Cabal? Melon Lord?

Continuity

This episode introduces the Kriosians, who we'll be seeing again. In fact, we'll be given a sense of how their society develops over time, if "development" is the right word for it. Although not at Coridan levels of misfortune, they're one of the less successful nations going forward, one of the current powers who decline considerably over the next century. In To Brave the Storm, we learn that Kaitaama's government is overthrown a few years after she ascends. (This is a means of crossing Krios off the list of potential allies Earth can turn to as the Romulan War starts to look hopeless). Not too long after this, the Kriosian empire will be annexed by the Klingons, the Kriosians made jeghpu'wI'. A Kriosian resistance will feature heavily in Cast No Shadow, returning Krios to some manner of interstellar prominence by complicating Klingon politics in a time of difficult cultural transition. By the 2360s, Krios will still be a province of the Klingon Empire, and while things seem to quiet down somewhat there are still rebels operating out of nearby systems. In a more positive development, the Klingon-Federation alliance allows the Federation to mediate an end to a long feud between the Kriosian worlds and their Valtese counterparts; the Kriosians being of Valtese descent to begin with, the two nations resulting from a dispute many centuries prior. Since I've mentioned before that I'd prefer established races used wherever possible, I must applaud the use of Kriosians here, and it's nice, I suppose, to get a look at them back when their empire was still reasonably impressive. I don't know why the Retellians needed to be invented though. Did the writers really not have an existing race they could have used? These two are private criminals, they could have been anyone. Make them Kreetassan, Axanar, Tandaran, Borothan, anything!

On a lesser note, the Ardanans are mentioned. Ardana has had spaceflight for a fair while, it seems, given the age of the relevant shuttle component.

 

[Enterprise1701]

Huh. I missed that part in To Brave the Storm about Kaitaama. What a pity. I kind of liked "Precious Cargo".

I suppose I can accept James Swallow's flesh-out of Kriosians in Cast No Shadow, but it still bothers me that Krios Prime is under Klingon military control in A Burning House and A Singular Destiny and yet Articles of the Federation has a Kriosian as a presenter on llluminating the City of Light. I mean, the same book had the Klingons wanting all Remans to be kept under control on Klorgat IV. Heck, how could the Kriosian-Valtese War in "The Mind's Eye" still be going on if the Klingons conquered Krios Prime? Wouldn't the Valtese cheer and turn their attention to other things?

 

[Deranged Nasat]

I suppose I can accept James Swallow's flesh-out of Kriosians in Cast No Shadow, but it still bothers me that Krios Prime is under Klingon military control in A Burning House and A Singular Destiny and yet Articles of the Federation has a Kriosian as a presenter on llluminating the City of Light. I mean, the same book had the Klingons wanting all Remans to be kept under control on Klorgat IV. Heck, how could the Kriosian-Valtese War in "The Mind's Eye" still be going on if the Klingons conquered Krios Prime? Wouldn't the Valtese cheer and turn their attention to other things?

Maybe the Valtese were conquered too? Perhaps the Federation leans in and says "look, we know you're having trouble with Krios Sector. That Romulan plot to frame us last year has made us interested in that region, you can't blame us given the circumstances, right? Well one of the problems there is this Krios-Valt thing that still isn't fully healed. We both know you're not very interested in dealing with matters like this; we'll let you handle the glorious battles and we'll deal with the endless talking. How about you let us mediate a final peace and help stabilize that region of your empire? Consider it a gift from your friends. You don't need to blaze in and bomb Krios again to make an example of them - really, you don't".

 

[Christopher]

"Precious Cargo"

Sadly, this one is just really dull. It's completely forgettable and one of the very few Star Trek episodes that I might contemplate skipping entirely.

Hard to believe David A. Goodman went from writing "Where No Fan Has Gone Before" on Futurama to writing this. According to Memory Alpha, it was his first hourlong dramatic script and he didn't know the rules, though Brannon Braga also accepts blame for not doing a good rewrite. But the upshot is, this is one of those episodes whose own writers apologize for it.

Firek Goff shoots Melon Lord. I know Christopher will know what I'm talking about, I assume at least a few others will.

Actually I had no clue what you were talking about. I looked up "melon lord" and was reminded it was an Avatar: The Last Airbender reference (which I kinda suspected, since it sounded like something they'd do), but I don't remember the scene in "Precious Cargo" that you're referencing. I assume there was some kind of scarecrow-like decoy that Goff shot at?

 

[Deranged Nasat]

"The Catwalk"

We're introduced to a natural hazard, a warp phenomenon that somehow travels not only faster than light but at speeds approaching warp seven! These neutronic storms will be seen again in Voyager. The idea of them is quite alarming. Six light-years across, moving at relatively high warp and deadly to organic life. That planet they were charting is dead, then. It won't be "teeming with plant and animal life" the next time anyone charts it. These storms are total extinction events! It's a good thing they're rare, then. I know space is big, but Star Trek space is also crowded. A phenomenon like this could devastate whole sectors; planetary governments would be issuing class-one emergencies, the panicking would be terrible.

Takret are immune to the effects, though. Because they evolved in a region where this sort of thing happens a lot? Maybe the planet at the beginning is okay then.

As for the catwalk itself, the idea in this episode is a nice one, but nothing gets done with it. Everyone gets cranky for a bit, but that's it. The snappiness and stress is understandable (there should be more of it, probably) but it still comes out of nowhere. Malcolm just comes across as a jerk all of a sudden. He doesn't have radiation as an excuse this time! Of course, since starships are crowded and confined anyway (previous postings surely even more so, since this is the pride of the fleet), the crew must be rather used to it. It's a lot more extreme here, of course, but these are people no doubt accustomed to being in close proximity with little personal space. Yes, the storm is applying psychological pressure too, but it still feels a little contrived for me. I suppose I'm being a bit contradictory here, in that I think the snappiness comes out of nowhere and isn't particularly justified but I also think the episode didn't go far enough in exploring the psychological effects and there should be more of this sort of thing, taking it further than a bad mood. Hmmm. I guess that just shows why these things can't be done in half-measures. Explore the psychological pressure or don't.

The Takret Militia are just generic hostile aliens, though I suppose it's a nice enough twist that the three original Takret weren't up to no good, that there was no sinister motive behind their deceit. They're still pointless though.

Continuity

T'Pol has taken the kahs-wan, surviving for ten days in the Vulcan desert. On the subject of T'Pol, this is the first time she's attended movie night, mostly because she doesn't have a choice. It's possibly my favourite moment in the episode, though, when she points out the "obvious" plot twist - and then seems to contemplate accepting Trip's offer to join them next time. Presumably because she's interested in contrasting the obvious twists with her crewmates' apparent inability to see them coming...

Denobula features twelve billion people on a single continent - it's not certain, but this could well mean that Denobula has only a single continent and twelve billion is the global population. On the subject of Denobulans, that interesting form of Denobulan empathy comes into play again when Phlox asks T'Pol to help him keep all of his animals alive, and not to "make (him) choose". It's indeed a different form of empathy to Archer's bond with Porthos, but it's definitely real. I've said it before, but I think Phlox turned out pretty well; there is a consistency in how he, as a Denobulan, approaches things. To put it most concisely, Denobulan affection and empathy spread wider, more freely and shallower than Human empathy, while Human empathy is more exclusive, more selectively targeted, and deeper.

Chef appears! His face is hidden, we see him only from the stomach down, but this is the only time he'll have a physical presence (not counting Riker-as-hologram).

Next Time: "Dawn". After rolling around in a swamp with a Kriosian, Trip rolls around in the desert with an Arkonian. They don't sleep together though (so far as we know).

 

[Deranged Nasat]

Actually I had no clue what you were talking about. I looked up "melon lord" and was reminded it was an Avatar: The Last Airbender reference (which I kinda suspected, since it sounded like something they'd do), but I don't remember the scene in "Precious Cargo" that you're referencing. I assume there was some kind of scarecrow-like decoy that Goff shot at?

Bother, I thought at least one person would get it .

Yeah, Trip builds a decoy by draping his uniform over a hastily assembled scarecrow and there's a melon-like vegetable used as the head. Goff shoots it, ending the tyrannical reign of Melon Lord but leaving him open to tackle by the real Trip.

It shows just how bored I was that my mind started wandering into silly joke references to other shows. When they first arrived at the swamp planet, I actually said aloud "You will go to the Dagobah System..."

It's very rare that I'm this bored while watching Star Trek.

 

[Christopher]

"The Catwalk"

We're introduced to a natural hazard, a warp phenomenon that somehow travels not only faster than light but at speeds approaching warp seven! These neutronic storms will be seen again in Voyager. The idea of them is quite alarming. Six light-years across, moving at relatively high warp and deadly to organic life.

This made no damn sense. I hated this part. First off, storms traveling faster than light makes, well, no damn sense. Second, TOS made a big deal once or twice about how no previously known natural phenomenon could travel FTL, so this was a continuity error. Third, it was internally contradictory: If the storm was approaching faster than light, how the hell could they see it approaching out the window?????!!!!!!!!! Fourth, it was totally unnecessary, since it was never even mentioned after the teaser and was just a lame excuse for the ship to be unable to outrun it.

And it could've been fixed so easily with a minor tweak to the script. Just establish in the teaser that the engines are under maintenance and it won't be possible to get them up and running again before the storm (approaching at a more reasonable sublight velocity) hits. That would also justify the nacelles being cool enough for the catwalks to be habitable; they'd probably have to be offline for several hours at least, maybe days, before they were cool enough, since -- contrary to popular belief about space -- vacuum is a damn good insulator.

So I choose to believe that's what really happened -- that this is one of those adventures that got misreported by the makers of the show.

A phenomenon like this could devastate whole sectors; planetary governments would be issuing class-one emergencies, the panicking would be terrible.

Yet another reason why it's a completely stupid idea.

I suppose I'm being a bit contradictory here, in that I think the snappiness comes out of nowhere and isn't particularly justified but I also think the episode didn't go far enough in exploring the psychological effects and there should be more of this sort of thing, taking it further than a bad mood. Hmmm. I guess that just shows why these things can't be done in half-measures. Explore the psychological pressure or don't.

I agree, and this showcases one of the key differences between seasons 1 and 2. In the first season, this would've been embraced as an opportunity for a character-driven, slice-of-shipboard-life episode, the kind of M*A*S*H-style character study that ENT occasionally undertook that year -- and attempted earlier in this season with "A Night in Sickbay." But by this point I figure they must've been under more network pressure to play up the action, so instead of a claustrophobic character study we get yet another "Die Hard on a spaceship" episode.

That's why I revisited the hide-in-the-catwalk idea in A Choice of Futures -- because I felt this episode squandered the potential of the premise as a way of creating stress and conflict among the crew, and I wanted to try to do it right.

Continuity

T'Pol has taken the kahs-wan, surviving for ten days in the Vulcan desert.

That's one of two "Yesteryear" allusions in the episode, the other being a mention of Lunaport. There's also a Search for Spock allusion where Solkar, Sarek's grandfather, is established as Vulcan's first ambassador to Earth (and identified in various tie-ins as the Vulcan who greeted Cochrane in First Contact).

 

[Deranged Nasat]

"Dawn"

This one's okay.

The Arkonians, apparently, are a failed Vulcan protectorate. The Vulcans don't have much luck with the more aggressive cultures; they don't seem particularly flexible in their approach. The paternalistic "soft imperialism" doesn't impress some cultures at all, and once these species and the Vulcans are locked into their roles the situation simply deteriorates, each no doubt reinforcing the other's perspective at every step. The more surly and resentful the younger culture becomes the more the Vulcans see them as dangerous infant races in need of firm guidance, provoking more resentment in turn. Arkonians, like Andorians, proved less than willing to accept Vulcan oversight and essentially rebelled, now glowering suspiciously at the overbearing Vulcans from outside their hegemony, though Arkonians don't seem interested in actively undermining Vulcan the way Andor does. Then again, Arkonian Homeworld isn't next door to Vulcan and presumably isn't quite so paranoid about invasion. While Vulcan/Klingon relations seem mutually guarded and respectful, when it comes to more aggressive peoples of lesser power than their own the Vulcans just seem to make things worse for themselves.

I like that the diplomatic approach is emphasised here, that the Arkonians are viewed in terms of a diplomatic obstacle and not a military threat. Enterprise was in their territory, of course. T'Pol emphasises at the end of the episode that this was a major diplomatic breakthrough, no matter what Archer initially thinks. That's a welcome touch. A positive outcome from a situation that initially didn't seem promising, without being unrealistically optimistic. A foundation has been successfully laid for a future relationship. A good day's work, in all. It's also great that Trip and Zho'kaan can't communicate, that we've returned to the translation issues that were used so effectively in season one.

Arkonians are quite interesting; I wouldn't mind learning more about them, and what happens to them in the centuries to come. They're territorial and very suspicious but clearly honourable enough, and they've a good balance of physiological strengths and weaknesses when compared to Humans.

Continuity:

We'll see the Arkonian vessel design used again, first for the ships of the Xindi-Arboreals and later, modified slightly, by Tellarites. The Rise of the Federation books confirm that the Tellarites are indeed using ships of Arkonian manufacture, suggesting that Tellar has made diplomatic inroads far more successfully than Vulcan. The Tellarites are frequently referenced in Enterprise as miners, merchants and freight-haulers, and seem generally concerned with practical economic matters. Their expansion into space appears to take a blue-collar approach, so to speak. Presumably they approached the Arkonians as equals and business partners rather than as high-handed overseers, and earned their acceptance. Also, Arkonians do seem a rather aggressive and surly people, so it's likely the Tellarites' trademark argumentative belligerence was more of a fit for them.

Trip mentions several of his previous adventures, including travel in a Suliban cell ship ("Broken Bow" and/or "The Communicator"), the time he got pregnant ("Unexpected") the Great Plume of Agosoria ("Cold Front") and his recent night with Kaitaama. He also mentions several incidents we haven't seen, among them a visit to Matalas Prime, a planet previously mentioned as a world visited by Phlox. He was overwhelmed with patients at a refugee camp on Matalas, which presumably is indeed the same world as Matalas Prime.

Next Time: Soon enough Jeffery Combs and Suzie Plakson will be here to save us, but first it's a look at Vulcan prejudice in "Stigma".

 

[Deranged Nasat]

TOS made a big deal once or twice about how no previously known natural phenomenon could travel FTL, so this was a continuity error.

Now that, I didn't remember.

And it could've been fixed so easily with a minor tweak to the script. Just establish in the teaser that the engines are under maintenance and it won't be possible to get them up and running again before the storm (approaching at a more reasonable sublight velocity) hits. That would also justify the nacelles being cool enough for the catwalks to be habitable; they'd probably have to be offline for several hours at least, maybe days, before they were cool enough, since -- contrary to popular belief about space -- vacuum is a damn good insulator.

Very good points. I might well join you in pretending that it actually happened as you outline it here.

 

[Christopher]

"Dawn" was basically Enemy Mine redux, but it wasn't bad. Decent story, good Trip focus, and it's nice to see the occasional planetary environment that isn't cozy and Earthlike. Although the idea that the aliens don't drink water was silly. Water is the basis of all carbon-based life!

 

[Enterpriserules]

Huh. I missed that part in To Brave the Storm about Kaitaama. What a pity. I kind of liked "Precious Cargo".

I liked this one as well. Personally though it was funny and had the feel of TOS to me.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

"Stigma"

This is the show's contribution to a HIV awareness campaign, and I think it's quite interesting. The choice to portray telepathic intimacy as the stand-in for homosexual activity is quite intriguing for several reasons. First, the existence of the stigma does make a fair amount of sense, in that the intolerance of Vulcan mainstream society can be quite easily contextualized in-universe. Melders are sharing emotions directly, exchanging with other people something which Vulcan culture considers it highly taboo to express or even acknowledge, yet alone offer to others in its raw intensity. It isn't hard for me to accept, then, that under the interpretations of Surakian teachings currently in favour the melder subculture is seen as a perversion, as distastefully deviant and a threat to Vulcan cultural values. The private behaviours of those who choose to meld are attacked and judged by the moral authorities in an extension of the Vulcan leadership's overbearing attitude toward younger worlds and protectorates. So, in that sense, using melding as the stigmatized social behaviour is quite a valid idea, one I quite like.

Secondly, T'Pol's previous experience with melding also allows for the episode to show something more complex than "prejudice exists against these people"; it lets us explore the issue of how other people live with, navigate, work around or struggle with the attendant social dilemmas, where their sense of responsibility lies when they wind up brushing against the persecuted group. This adds another wrinkle to the episode's portrayal and raises it above a simple take on phobic prejudice. T'Pol is left with the choice of either seeing her career taken from her - because she's being included as part of the persecuted group - or seeming to condone the High Command's prejudice by embracing the truth, in which case rather than being one of those people, she's actually a victim of one of those people. She's committed to the former, because she believes that the message she would likely be sending by permitting the latter - not the message she would intend, but the message she has reason to suspect her society would receive - is unacceptable. This is very compelling, and T'Pol's silence is the best part of the episode.

The episode is very heavy-handed at times, certainly, but I think it makes up for it with this angle on what a person chooses to do when placed in the ugly position of fearing they'll inadvertently reinforce a cultural attitude they're discomforted by. T'Pol refusing to accept the door held open for her to leave, out of a sense that it'll mean slamming it behind her on those still in there, is surprisingly subtle for an often quite heavy-handed episode and so raises its quality for me. And that surprise subtlety is built around the interesting fit of intimate telepathy for non-sanctioned sexual intimacies and partnerships. Does the analogy completely work? No, and I'm sure we could point out the holes and the contrasts, but I do think it's an intriguing idea that makes for a flawed but worthwhile episode.

Continuity

I must note that T'Pol has apparently known that she has Pa'Nar Syndrome for longer than I thought.

The Interspecies Medical Exchange has one of its rare but welcome moments of relevance. The Exchange is a great and entirely logical idea that I wish had been explored more often. I'd love to see novels fleshing it out.

Since we never actually see a Dekendi, I don't know why another new planet had to be invented. A later episode will mention a IME conference on Tiburon, so why not have this world be Tiburon (a pre-existing name)? That would have been neater.

On that note, confirmed participants in the IME:

Vulcans
Humans
Denobulans
Mazarites (confirmed in a later episode)
Dekendi
Coridanites (judging by mention of a Coridan genome conference here)
Tiburonians

Since we've been told that the IME was initiated by the Vulcans, this seems a sensible list.

As for the subplot with Phlox's wife, besides a welcome first look at a second Denobulan, we also have another example of that more casual, more dispersive intimacy that Denobulans demonstrate in comparison to Humans.

*****

"Cease Fire"

An important episode, in that it returns us to the political situation among races that truly matter. No Takret Militias or Retellians, but species important to the setting and to the unfolding story. "Cease Fire" introduces in full the theme of Archer, specifically, and Humans in general, playing an important role in local interstellar politics as "neutral brokers". Seeing Humanity's status as a new arrival turned to the established powers' advantage is interesting, as well as offering a reasonable explanation for how Humans will become so important despite being relative latecomers. Archer himself notes that his mission might be just as much about showing Humans as ready to become part of the wider community as it is about exploration. It's not all adventure for the sake of adventure, of revelling in freedom and "going boldly". There are responsibilities and weightier concerns that become apparent when you're establishing a presence in deep space, and the mark that Enterprise has been leaving on the region isn't something Archer and the crew can ignore any longer. Humans are players now, and even Soval has to acknowledge it with his final compliment (of a sort) to Archer.

First Appearances of Things That Are Important

Andorian starships, specifically the Kumari-class.

Continuity

V'Lar is mentioned as the author of a definitive text on negotiation strategy (one that T'Pol happens to appreciate, no doubt because of who wrote it).

Tactical Alert makes its second appearance.

Given that the episode builds on a situation established previously, there are many references to past events, most notably those at P'Jem and Coridan, and also to the Paraagan incident.

Next Time: "Future Tense".

 

[Christopher]

"Stigma" is a nice try, but it is pretty heavy-handed, and as I mentioned before, it has some troublesome continuity issues with respect to "Fusion." Then, mind-melding was an obscure practice T'Pol had never heard of; here, it's suddenly a well-known stigma. Also, it seems to oversimplify the events of "Fusion," saying simply that T'Pol was forced to meld, when she was initially willing to try it before Tolaris pushed her too far and ignored her when she told him to stop. Not that that makes a difference to the issue of consent, of course -- no still means no even if it comes after an initial yes -- but it seems contradictory for her, on the one hand, to stand up for the rights of the melders, and on the other hand to rewrite history to deny that she was willing to try it herself.

As for "Cease Fire," I always have trouble keeping it and "Shadows of P'Jem" straight in my mind.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

Also, it seems to oversimplify the events of "Fusion," saying simply that T'Pol was forced to meld, when she was initially willing to try it before Tolaris pushed her too far and ignored her when she told him to stop.

I did notice that, yes.

 

[Sci]

The Klingons - more accurately, a Klingon and his crew - are the antagonist bullies. Now, this is reasonably interesting in that the Klingons of this era do seem to be a raiding culture more than a race of conquerors. It's true that we're only seeing the very outer edge of their society, and clearly distant from any major campaigns, but it still seems that the Klingons have a way to go before they'll be the truly overpowering empire we'll know in the 23rd Century (overextended and half-starved as it always will be, nonetheless).

Interesting side-note:

According to Star Trek Into Darkness, between 2151 and 2259, the Klingon Empire has only conquered two planets that the Federation knows of. Now, granted, this is set in the Alternate Timeline -- but, the Alternate Timeline is identical with the Prime Timeline until 2233. So from 2151 to 2233 in the Prime Timeline, the Klingons can have conquered only a maximum of two planets of which the UFP can be aware.