Affliction and Divergence - the bond in action

[Aquarius]

So I had a thought as I read Misplaced's latest playlist drabble down in the Challenges and Word Prompts section.

Trip transfers to Columbia because he can't take having unrequited feelings for T'Pol. When he gets there, we see him pushing his crew kind of hard, and later Hernandez reveals that there have been complaints and requests for transfers.

At first, I took this to be Trip throwing himself into his work in order to forget T'Pol. I also took it as his self-imposed "professional distance"--he'd been emotionally burned by both T'Pol and Jon ("Cogenitor"), so I saw him maybe vowing to not make the same mistake again by not allowing himself to get close to anyone on the new ship. I also see how this would be awkward for him to do, since his nature is to be so outgoing and congenial.

But I started to wonder, what if it was something else, either instead of that or in addition to it?

As with the "uh-huh" thing in "Bound," I'm wondering if Trip's attitude was somehow a little more directly (albeit unwittingly)influenced by T'Pol. Are we just seeing a man who's licking his wounds and protecting himself? Or are we seeing the influence of a Vulcan demeanor that is only interested in getting the job done and isn't accustomed to considering other people's feelings because that's 'illogical'"? When T'Pol came to the Enterprise, she was likewise there to work, not to be anybody's friend. She also rubbed more than a few people the wrong way.

So I was wondering if I was the only one who also saw this parallel between the two of them, and if others also thought this could be the result of the bond at work?

[Honeybee]

Well, I certainly think that there was meant to be something off with Trip - and I also think the episode Bound was planned, so I can definitely see that this might be the bond asserting itself and it somehow melding with Trip's own issues - and that the writers meant it that way. They might have left their options open, in case they wanted to go in a different direction, but I think it's definitely there in the text.

He's no longer the light-hearted guy from season 1. The Expanse changed him, Cogenitor changed him and he's had his heart shredded into bits. On top of that, he's not just in love with T'Pol, he's bonded with her. Her nature, her issues (and there are plenty) are woven into his psyche. We know he's daydreaming/dreaming about her. So, yes, I think it makes total sense.

[Kathy Rose]

I'd never thought of it that way, Aquarius, but it is definitely an intriguing idea.

I'd always thought he was just throwing himself into his work to keep his mind off what had happened, as well as trying to deal with what he thought were daydreams of T'Pol (which we, the viewers, actually knew were from his bond with her and he didn't understand why they were happening). I also thought that Trip, as an engineer, was doing his best to bring everything up to his exacting standards. The fact that he hadn't been with Columbia's crew since its beginning means he didn't have the rapport with its engineering crew that he had with his own, too.

[Aquarius]

Trip had high standards before, but the difference I'm seeing is in the execution. I think he would've been a little more friendly/casual/folksy about letting people know what he wanted on the Enterprise--not in a way to undermine his own authority, but in a way that coaxes the performance he wants out of other people because while they respect him, they don't feel threatened by him.

On Columbia, he's so...anal. Like T'Pol.

[panyasan]

I would be nice to see if the other side is also true. That we see in Afflication and Divergence that T'Pol is also acting more like Trip. Maybe her interaction with Hoshi could have some indications to that effect (and of course the joke in sickbay in Bound but that doesn't count here).
Maybe the bond or missing your bond mate is what makes Trip cranky as well. Like crawling out of your skin. The fact that he moved to Columbia because of T'Pol also didn't make things better.

[Aquarius]

It would certainly be fun to rewatch those episodes and see if T'Pol displays any telltale signs herself.

I wonder, though, given her Vulcan nature and lifetime at practiced repression, we'd be less likely to see anything like that from her any way, at least in most circumstances? I mean, in "Bound" we *do* see that he has an effect on her behavior--not just the jokes in sickbay, but also much earlier in engineering when Trip says "We didn't mate" and she says "Uh-huh". I think her ability for self-control is certainly lessened when he's around. Without rewatching, it seems like she did okay keeping it together while he was gone, and Trip was the one who got messed up. He comes back, he's okay but she starts acting like *him*.

Hmmmmm.....

[Misplaced]

I'd have to rewatch, but you've raised some interesting questions. I had always seen a "broken-hearted" Trip on the Columbia, but now that you mentioned it, I think that even with his heartache, he wouldn't have been as hard on his new crew. He didn't even get that brittle during the Expanse (despite the moments here and there...overall, he still had that gentleness and humor that defines him--even if it was more subdued). If I recall the episodes, he was pretty cold on the Columbia... and when he gets back to Enterprise, he warms up again.

Hmmmmm, indeed.

[bluetiger]

I love that concept. T'Pol was probably broadcasting her displeasure to him loud and clear. That he turned all that pissyness on the Columbia crew is something I had not thought of. All her anger had to go somewhere .

[Aquarius]

I don't know if I personally think it was so much anger as it was T'Pol's different way of thinking. Remember, a lot of people didn't know how to take her at first when she joined the crew. She doesn't spend a lot of time on pleasantries (even now, compared to humans, though she's softened a bit) or hand holding, she's just interested in results. And that's how Trip is striking me here, maybe--he's not there to make friends, he's there to get it done. You expect it from a Vulcan, but from a human it comes off unfriendly.