OK, just got done watching the episode. I decided to take notes so I wouldn't forget anything.
The good stuff:
Visuals in opening credits: Still fantastic.
Faith of the Heart: Shoulda been sung by Scott.
I thought it was neat the way they introduced Archer and Trip checking out their "baby." Archer should have taken the wheel while Trip took notes on what Archer wanted done.
I love Cochrane's speech.
Enterprise NX-01 is gorgeous coming out of the barn.
I love Phlox. It's was fun watching him unpack his critters. And that great BIG Denobulan smile. Ha!
Travis and Trip hanging upside down in a low gravity well. Sweet spot was an odd name for it.
I loved Archer's dinner with TnT.
Forrest: Good admiral. Backs up his people.
Autopsy of the Suliban was cool. I love Phlox’s enthusiasm.
Shuttlepods: Still awesome.
Trip meets a bug. You’d think he’d never seen one before. Love how he freaks out on the station.
Sarin: Transformation cool.
Archer: That’s never happened before. Hee.
Archer tells Trip to give Klang a hand. Love the look on Trip's face.
Loved the helix. Loved watching it come apart.
Archer's beam-out: Reaction hysterical.
Trip flying the cellship. Hee. Seriously, Archer should have just taken Travis with him.
I'm throwing this in under the good just because...
Travis and Malcolm are beaming up supplies.
TRAVIS: I heard this platform's been approved for bio-transport.
REED: I presume you mean fruits and vegetables.
TRAVIS: I mean Armoury Officers and Helmsmen.
REED: I don't think I'm quite ready to have my molecules compressed into a data stream.
TRAVIS: They claim it's safe.
REED: Do they indeed. Well, I certainly hope the Captain doesn't plan on making us use it.
TRAVIS: Don't worry, from what I'm told, he wouldn't even put his dog through this thing.I wonder if JJ Abrams was inspired by this exchange.
Now the bad:
I think the opening scene is flawed. It didn't do enough to justify Archer's contempt for the Vulcans. It might have worked for me if I had never seen a Vulcan. But I'm fond of Spock and Sarek. That's not to say that Soval and Co. were not arrogant and condescending. I just found Archer's hostility to be unjustified by the little exposition we got in the first two minutes. What might have sold it for me is if instead of the bland father/son moment we had been "present" at one of Henry's deaths.
Klang: Frankly, I was sick of the overuse of Klingons in TNG and DS9. It's a big Federation and a bigger galaxy. We were even subjected to having the Voyager crew come across a boatload 70,000 LY from Kronos! So for a sequel I foolishly hoped that we'd be turning our attention to species that went grossly underdeveloped in TOS. Oh well.
In BB, Malcolm and Travis are headed to engineering. Along the way,
Lt. Reed mimics
Commander Tucker ("Keep yer shirt on lootenant") in the presence of a
junior officer. Yet, in "Minefield" Navy brat Malcolm tells Archer that he feels the captain is too chummy with subordinates.
Hoshi in Brazil: Confident. Curious.
Hoshi on NX-01: Fraidy cat.
Ready Room: T’Pol -- who purports to be rational and unemotional cops an attitude with Archer. Snubs Trip.
Hoshi: Panic attack when the ship vibrates. T'Pol suggests she might want to go lie down. I'd give money to know what Hoshi's response was.
HOSHI (enters engineering): Is it safe to stand this close to that (the warp engine)? (ME: No, it isn't. The entire engineering team has given up all hope of ever having kids).
HOSHI: There were only four words I couldn't translate. Probably just proper nouns.
ARCHER: Jelik, Sarin, Rigel, Tholia. Anything sound familiar? T'Pol?
ME (interrupting): Well, I'm no space pilot like you, but I'm pretty sure
Rigel is the name of a
star! You know, those shiny things in the sky that pilots use to navigate?
ARCHER: Archer to helm.
TRAVIS [OC]: Mayweather.
ARCHER: Go into the Vulcan star charts and find a system called Rigel, then set a course for the tenth planet.
TRAVIS [OC}: I don't need star charts, sir. I've known how to get to Rigel since I was 12. (OK, that isn't what he really said...)
Oh God. We're up to the decon scene.
Shirtless Trip = Good stuff.
OK, back to reality.
This scene makes no sense to me. Here's why.
1. TnT returned to the ship in the shuttlepod with four other people. If the spores TnT had been exposed to were a hazard to the entire crew, how did Archer, Hoshi, Travis and Malcolm escape exposure in such close quarters?
2: TnT's only exposed skin was from the neck up and their hands. If they had been exposed to spores (however problematical they might be), why did they have to strip and gel themselves up completely?
3. TnT appeared to be in pretty good shape, yet Trip couldn't reach the back of his legs, and neither one of them could reach their own ears. And by the way, why didn't they gel the soles of their feet?
After getting the good news that the mission is on, Archer asks T’Pol to stick around.
I've said this elsewhere and I'm going to repeat it here. I think that was not the way to go. If they wanted to generate distrust and friction (aka drama) between the humans and T'Pol, the writers should have had Soval prevail upon SFC to assign her to the NX-01 as an adviser (who would also be reporting to the VHC). Over time the crew adjusts to having her on board and her reports to the VHC become less and less frequent and eventually stop. When Soval tries to get the NX-01 recalled in "Shockwave II" she would rise to the crew's defense, setting up friction with her own people which would have been better than the forced friction of having Archer get crabby with her when she tells him something he doesn't want to hear.