Liked both. And the Vulcan ambassador reminded me of Dame Judi Dench also. I liked her a lot - better than T’Pol, who has returned to her original stiff, snotty, robotic persona. The only thing that bugged me about the second one was Archer’s continuing naivete – “I could be wrong but they don’t look like terrorists to me.” Oh tell us Archer, what does your everyday terrorist look like? I liked last week’s (the slime creature) in part because Archer didn’t have much screen time.
Two episodes in a row where Archer doesn’t get the crap beat out of himself. But I liked them both. Too bad Archer didn’t get to take home his little Suliban sculpture.
Clancy Brown rocked as “Sgt. Zim” in “Starship Troopers”, the guy who trained the recruits AND captured the Brain Bug at the end for Doogie Houser. I think he was also a sadistic guard in “Shawshank Redemption” (sorry for being redundant). I kind of thought he was doing an Anthony Quinn, Zorba-type character here.
Is it just me, or was there something very Freudian about the design of those Vulcan starships?
Gotta run. Time for my 24-finger massage…TRM
I don’t think T’Pol was reverting to her old character, I think she was showing a little more of who she is. She had to be Uber-Vulcan for her Hero Lady.
When the Ambassador asked who’s cabin she had, T’Pol jumped the gun and said “Yeah, the smell is hard to get out…” (when she just wanted to thank Hoshi for the inconvenience) but she (T’Pol) did look a little worried. Like she didn’t perform up to expectations, like she let her hero down.
-Rue. (wondering about the “logic” of catsuits and spike heels, but not really worrying much)
No one’s a bigger Judi Dench fan than I am, but I’m also a fan of Fionnula Flanagan, a very recognizable talent in her own right. She has previous appearances on both TNG and DS9, and is wonderful in the movie Waking Ned Devine. I thought that her performance, along with that of T’Pol, made “Fallen Heroes” work.
I also liked “Desert Crossing” (two decent eps in a row! I think that’s a first for Enterprise). Scott Bakula seems to have stepped away from I…am…James…T…Kirk mode a bit. For some reason the Archer/Trip bonding didn’t work very well – I kept trying to figure out why these scenes would have worked better with Kirk/Bones or Kirk/Spock. I can’t come up with a reason, except that Archer’s side of the friendship seems really forced ("come on, pweeese come out and play with me, pweese"). I was shocked when he went for the food discussion to keep Trip awake – I was sure he was going to start talking water polo instead.
But it’s great to see some continuity in the storylines (I even liked that they threw in the “Why did the Vulcans land in Montana” bit). At least I’m getting a sense that Enterprise inhabits a coherent universe. I may stick around for the second season after all.
I checked the IMDb and, yeah, he played the head screw that was about to help Andy off the roof.
Isn’t Flanagan also in The Others ? I thought I spotted her in the tv trailers for it last year. She be cool.
I think you’re on to something about Archer and Trip. They spend an awful lot of time together already, usually eating, and then in “Desert Crossing” A. wants T. to spend more time with him. Doesn’t A. have any other little friends to play with…like, I don’t know, maybe someone else on the ship?
Fantasizing about meals when you’re hungry and dehydrated never made sense. I remember being similarly puzzled when Paris and Kim did it on Voyager, in “The Chute.” I’d be trying to get my mind on just about anything else.