(1x08) Vanick, The Snowman: Breaking the Ice!

[entkayjay]

This is the discussion thread for S1E8, Breaking the Ice! All Delphic Expanse rules of engagement apply.

Written by: Andre and Maria Jacquemetton (wow, no B&B for the first time! Acquisition, Dear Doctor... package deal, two writers for the price of one)
Directed by: Terry Windell (single episode of Ent, although he directed several Voyager episodes)

There is a Rewatch Chat scheduled for 12:00 am GMT (WEDNESDAY March 16 in the US) in either the chat forum here if our local magicians manage to make it appear, or at Tinychat.com (instructions and live link will be posted in the Live Chat Information Thread). Or whenever anyone else wants to watch and chat!

[Aquarius]

I almost feel like there's an overlooked joke about yellow snow in here somewhere...

[Glory1863]

Porthos wants to make it clear that he did NOT have the opportunity to "go out", and believe me, he tried. If there was yellow snow, it must have been some

[Honeybee]

This is a strangely low key episode, when you think that it does end with Travis and Malcolm in big trouble. Mostly, we get a lot of small and interesting character moments.

There is, of course, the TnT subplot. As much as I like it, it's a little contrived that she goes and sees Trip to talk about the letter on the advice of Phlox. I might have liked it if the conversation had happened more organically. Of course, then he wouldn't have gone to her room and seen her quarters for the first time.

And we all noticed that she develops better taste in PJs by the third season.

I definitely think that this was one of many small set ups of walks-to-her-own-beat T'Pol, and it's not portrayed as having come directly from humans. Obviously, she chose to be far away from Koss prior to the wedding. Trip's probably right that she subconsciously did not want to marry him (or anyone else at this point). In the previous week, we saw her learn that her people weren't infallible and saw her try and do the right thing, even though many Vulcans might think it was wrong. Now, we see her do the right thing personally, though many Vulcans (including her mother) would think it was wrong. While it didn't come directly from humans, being around humans no doubt influenced her ability to make these decisions for themselves.

Archer is trying, but he's being a stubborn jackass at the end, no thanks to Douche Vulcan II. It's a good thing both Trip and T'Pol talk him into accepting help. I've always thought that one of the key things to Archer's success is his ability to pick good people and to listen to them - this is an example of that.

Malcolm gets to blow stuff up and have fun doing it. Phlox is his usual enthusiastic self.

[Hummingbird2]

Mind if I play too?

Lot's of great Archer and Trip moments in this episode, especially the 'poop question' , the Captain's Mess scene (did anyone else notice the dirty look Trip gave the Vulcan Captain at one point? I forgot what the guy said, but the look just screamed: 'don't you talk to him that way!'), as well as the ready room scene after Trip reads the letter.

And a rare (in season one, anyway) glimpse of Playful!Malcolm.

[Aquarius]

Well, as I said in chat last night, this episode got the 'shipper in me all twitterpated.

The "advice" scene between T'Pol and Trip--on thinking about it, I understand why they did it. Obviously they needed to establish that T'Pol is a little bit of a maverick by her people's standards, that she doesn't always do what she's "supposed" to - which, whether Archer is aware of it or not, is exactly why she's a good fit with his crew. And yes, I totally buy the idea that maybe she needed some time to get her head together after the P'Jem thing. A woman devoted to logic would be right to question events and her people.

The problem was, T'Pol didn't seem to offer up much of a case for staying. Ok, so Trip had to "expose" the fact that perhaps T'Pol has some secret desires she's not admitting to, that she's just making up excuses for not living life the way she wants to. Okay, fine.

But there's a missing link in there somewhere. It isn't a "problem" requiring advice if she is all prepared to go and do what's expected of her. If she had said to Trip, '"This is what they expect me to do, but I don't want to because..." - then the stakes are high. It's an actual choice she's faced with.

As presented, it was just a matter of, "well, i pissed off the future in-laws because I asked to stay here for a while, so now i have to go." It's a little too open and shut.

But they kind of wrote themselves into a bit of a corner here. Vulcans are so private that she can't reveal the true source of her conflict to Trip,

To put it another way...it's like if I tell you guys, "I have to take my final on Tuesday. I asked my professor for a reschedule because I wanted to go on a trip, and he said no. If I don't take the final, I fail the class."

What is there to say to me but, "Well I guess you better go take your final"? Education before fun, right?

Now...what if i said that the trip was about a possible once in a lifetime opportunity to do my dream job? That my life could change forever for the good if I go? It makes the case for not taking the final a little more compelling, yes?

But the dramatic tension comes from the fact that if the trip does not go well and I don't end up with the dream job, I've screwed myself on school, too. Choices fuel drama, and they have to be difficult ones.

As executed, though, it was awkward because the expository nature of the scene was obvious. T'Pol needed to take a bit bigger of a gamble and open more of herself to Trip for it to be as effective as it could've been. Not only does it give us the information a little more naturally, it also ups the ante for Trip because now he's carrying an even bigger secret of hers.

But what do i know, I'm just a student.

[Kelly]

I watched this episode myself earlier this morning, I'll have to try and make one of the chats. It's a good thing I didn't last night as I was spaced out on meds as I was not feeling good. I woke my husband up yelling "save me Scott Bakula" too much Quantum Leap...and he recorded it using his iPhone app...lord. Yet I digress...

Firstly watching an episode when you're feeling rough helps perk you up no matter what it is. I'd watched Carbon Creek before watching this episode, season two is airing on one of the channels every morning here and even though I have the dvds I cannae resist and that put me in an awesome mood.

I liked the mention of the people back home and how the school kids are all involved...the poop question *snigger* and the comment about relationships. It's encouraging for the crew to get such a positive response and the pictures were awesome, I could imagine Phlox having a few up in Sickbay. It's good to see that old school explorer enthusiasm in regards to the comet, reminds us of what the series is truly about x

Travis and Malcolm and a comet...all I can say is I feel sorry for Travis as the whole leg breaking/damaging thing becomes an alarming trend for him. I echo hummingbird02, playful Malcolm is fun hehe and they totally should have done a scene with the Vulcans observing the comet. A little Snow Vulcan comes on the screen and their faces are all WTF is this? But obviously it wouldn't be that clear, they'd look to one another and raise an eyebrow. I mean what possessed Malcolm to give it Vulcan ears?! HAHA!

On to the serious side...I like how the writers didn't forget that Archer still had major beef with the Vulcans despite warming to his science officer in some respects. His anger is understandable and he should have handled the situation better, especially when it came to the lives of Mayweather and Reed. I am glad that T'Pol, quoting Trip no doubt, was able to make him see sense.

Final note is Trip and T'Pol themselves, even though he accidentally wandered into it I think he gave her some damned good advice and it helped his character to bloom a little more. It should a whole new side to him as I don't know about anyone else but feel that up until this point he is a guy who is good fixing things and/or being the comic relief. He had more depth to him.

[Kathy Rose]

The scene where the bridge crew and Dr. Phlox are taking taping answers to the kids' questions reminds me so much of what they've done on the International Space Station sometimes. And isn't just like a kid to wonder about the more practical aspects of life in space, like what do you do with the poop! Not only did I find that funny, but very realistic.

Having seen the entire series, I have only one thing to say about Travis and his proclivity toward injuries -- despite looking so hot, the man must be a klutz. (I say that affectionately.) I mean, did he really fall that far when he lost his footing?

[Kelly]

Having seen the entire series, I have only one thing to say about Travis and his proclivity toward injuries -- despite looking so hot, the man must be a klutz. (I say that affectionately.) I mean, did he really fall that far when he lost his footing?

Come on...he had never seen snow how was he to know ice could be slippery? Perhaps he twisted it funny when he slipped or something, he looked like his knee got a pretty good bashing.

[Brandyjane]

One thing I didn't think about the first time I saw the episode but that has stuck out to me every other time I've seen it is the connection between what happened in "The Andorian Incident" and this episode. I think the writers did a great job of tying the two together. For example, we learn that after P'Jem, the Vulcans have been keeping tabs on Enterprise, and that the Ti'Mur isn't the first Vulcan ship they've caught lurking around. Vanik (or Douche II) says that if they'd actually been spying on him, Archer wouldn't have ever seen them. I wonder if that's true. Maybe they weren't so good at hiding as they'd thought and Archer caught the first ship by surprise. On the other hand, if that first Vulcan ship did intend for Archer to see them and then didn't respond, it really comes across as bullying and intimidation. Earth is supposed to be their ally, so why wouldn't they answer a hail?

I also think Trip and Archer (and maybe even Hoshi) are even more suspicious than they'd normally be about T'Pol receiving encrypted transmissions from the Vulcans because of the deceit and dishonorable behavior they'd recently learned the Vulcans were capable of. I wonder when Archer and T'Pol made that agreement about her not communicating with other Vulcans without notifying him. Was it at the beginning of their mission when they were ironing out the details of her dual-service, or was it a more recent development, after P'Jem?

Douche II was probably the most obnoxious Vulcan in all of Ent. Poor T'Pol! Just one episode before she'd been nervous about the humans embarrassing her in front of the monks at P'Jem, but in this episode the Vulcan is embarrassing her with his rudeness. I swear I saw her cringe a few times during that dinner scene! Does anyone know what Vanik said to her? Whatever it was, it seemed by her reaction that it was really horrible.

Trip impressed me with his behavior toward T'Pol throughout this episode. Archer was right: T'Pol never had to know that he'd read the letter, yet he chose to do the honorable thing. I think that's something we see with Trip time and time again. He's not all flashy about it, but he really is a gentleman and he consistently does the right thing. Archer's line about Trip needing to take a phase pistol when he tells T'Pol cracks me up. It may have just been a joke, but I think it indicates that the two men are very aware, even this early on, that T'Pol is capable of emotions like anger. My favorite part, though, is the scene in her quarters. When he tells her, "No, it's very relevant," regarding what she wants to do about the marriage, I just want to stand up and cheer! I don't think she'd ever had someone care about her wants before. (In "Home," we learn that even her own mother will steamroll over T'Pol's desires.) His obvious happiness at her decision to stay was so sweet, and I think that probably had a positive effect on T'Pol. Trip and Archer had both made it clear a few times that they found her annoying at times, and she'd already had some epic arguments with Trip, yet he made it pretty clear that he wanted her to stay aboard. I have the impression that T'Pol had never had many real friends before, and here's Trip, reaching out to her in friendship. Alelou wrote a missing scene for this episode where Trip brings T'Pol the piece of pie we see at the end of the episode that I just love, and I've decided that Trip probably is responsible for that pie!

Finally, I really think T'Pol's decision to stay on Enterprise instead of going home to marry Koss is directly related to P'Jem. While she may not have ever really wanted to marry him, I think she probably would have done the "right" thing if she hadn't just had her whole world rocked. I also suspect that Koss's high-ranking-minister father (or someone to whom he was answerable) was using the convenient pretext of marriage to get T'Pol away from those troublesome humans and back home where she belonged. If T'Pol and the humans hadn't just caused so much trouble for the High Command, I truly believe Koss's family would have granted her request to stay aboard Enterprise for the greater good of Vulcan. I also think Trip was absolutely right when he implied she'd accepted the appointment to Enterprise and requested a postponement because she subconsciously didn't want to marry Koss. I would like to know when exactly she made the decision to stay with the humans. I think she was torn in two directions right up until the very end. In fact, I would not be surprised to learn that when she made her transmission to the Ti'Mur that she was staying, that she had her bags all packed, ready to leave.