the delphic expanse

Watching my way through Season 1 again, and I noticed this little beat in Desert Crossing that I missed before.
After Archer and Trip are picked up on the surface, Archer and T’Pol are saying farewell to Zobral they have this conversation:

[Launch bay]
ZOBRAL: My launch window opens in nine minutes. I should be going. I hope Commander Tucker is going to be all right.
ARCHER: I doubt I'll ever convince him to set foot on another desert, but he'll be fine. Zobral, even if I were the warrior you thought I was, that's not why we're out here.

What’s interesting to me is that T’Pol maintains her perfect Vulcan composure until Archer says “I doubt I'll ever convince him to set foot on another desert,” at which point she reacts by blinking once then turning her head and eyes to look at Archer for a second or two before regaining her composure.

So, what do people think is so distressing to T’Pol about that statement that she loses her composure?

I suspect it has something to do with the fact that Vulcan is a desert planet, that causes her to react that way.

Gotta love the subtext! A foreshadowing of what was to come?

I noticed that, too! I don't have much to add. I'm a TnT 'shipper, so you can guess what I think the look means. It's amazing how many of those little looks exist in the first two seasons.

Well, I do know that there was some talk of paring TnT off in the first season - with Archer chasing the babe of the week - but there was disagreement. I think there was definitely residual moments and chem testing between them - and I think that moment is definitely there. I think T'Pol was fascinated by Trip's emotions - and not just his emotions - his emotional intelligence.

Maybe being from desert planet, for a fleeting second she's worried he won't come home to meet her mama.

Or then again, maybe she's wondering why Archer would even consider asking Trip, his supposed best friend, to go to a desert world again just for laughs (as opposed to there's a broken shuttlepod down there - go fix it) when he is so obviously not cut out for that kind of climate. If she knew that this wasn't the first time Trip had had this problem in the desert with Archer, although I'm not sure that she does, then she'd really have to wonder what the bleep Archer is thinking.