It looks like the other thread is the not-so-serious one, while this is where the intense discussion is taking place, but tracer had some good comments there, so… I’ll come here! I know, I know.
In the other thread, tracer says it would have been more interesting if the cogenitor had actually had diminished capacity, i.e. sort of recognized what Trip was trying to get it to do but couldn’t really pull it off. Instead, with the “just as good as the others” thing, it becomes a slavery/dominance problem, which is a human issue, rather than a truly alien dilemma.
I agree with this. The fact that the cogenitor had all the intelligence of the males and females of its species was totally predictable, and somewhat disappointing. I would have been much more impressed if Trip had handed over the pad, and the cogenitor had pressed the words in order: “The… river… flows… between…” or whatever. Eventually, it looks like the cogenitor gets it, and Trip changes to another writing sample. Without pressing words, the cogenitor says brightly, “The river flows between…” and Trip has to say, “No, these words say somethin’ else,” to the cogenitor’s confusion. Unfortunately, the way they did it was just too bleedin’ obvious.
That being said, I find it difficult to complain when the ending of the episode is so dead-on right. This is what I’ve been asking for: mistakes, consequences, repercussions. Trip hasn’t just killed somebody — he’s rather badly screwed up relations between humanity and this new species. You just know this little escapade is going to be headline news back on the alien homeworld. “First contact! They’re called humans! They meddled in our culture, killed a cogenitor, and robbed a couple of an unborn child! Next on v’Fox!”
Trip made a huge mistake, and unlike astro, I don’t see it as being any more stupid or reckless than trying to sneak into that automated repair station without approval or exploring the extradimensional corridor in the future ship without telling anyone what he was doing. Galloping into action with brain on idle is exactly what Trip does (and to a lesser extent Archer, which makes his “not setting a good example” speech kind of an eye-roller). It’s just that this is the first time he actually has to pay for it, and it’s a doozy of a payment.
Even so, I’m not sure the episode is entirely successful. Aside from echoing tracer’s complaint about the cogenitor’s equal cognition, above, I thought the first two-thirds were rather obviously padded. The writers knew they had a good ending, something that helps enlarge the show’s moral landscape and deepen the characters, but they didn’t really have enough material to get there. Sure, they needed to have Archer and the alien captain develop a relationship in order to make the ending work, but all the 5-dimensional piloting and plasma-plume measurements threatened to turn into “Rock climbing, Joel.” That needed more work, certainly. And while it was also fun to see Malcolm get some nooky (Skillet38’s accurate observation about his cluelessness notwithstanding), it wasn’t really very well integrated into the story.
But all of that aside, I think the last five minutes are a big, big step in the right direction. More of this, please.
P.S. The preview for next week’s show made me very sad.
