Date: Unknown
Archer is less than pleased when, after Enterprise discovers the biggest comet known to man, a Vulcan vessel arrives to "observe" the Starfleet ship's actions. As Reed and Mayweather land on the comet to collect core samples, T'Pol receives an encoded transmission from the Vulcan vessel which Tucker and Hoshi are assigned to decrypt.
Summary
While perusing a package of drawings and messages sent from Tucker's nephew's primary school class depicting such varied topics as first contact (between humanity and a squid) and a rather unflattering picture of T'Pol, the crew are instructed by Archer to look out of the window at "something pretty amazing": the largest comet ever discovered by humans or Vulcans. Although T'Pol points out that comets generally turn out merely to be big balls of rock and ice, Archer says that he intends to follow it for a few days and try to obtain a core sample.
The core contains some icyllium deposits, a rare mineral which the Vulcans have only ever been able to obtain small amounts of. The deposits are too deep for the transporter to reach, so Archer sends Reed and Mayweather with a portable drilling rig to mine some manually. As they depart, a Vulcan ship approaches: the starship Ti'Mur, commanded by Captain Vanik. Archer asks why they are present, given T'Pol's assertion that Vulcans aren't especially interested in comets. Vanik replies that it is Enterprise's interest that he is observing. Although Archer allows him to remain nearby, he expresses his frustration to T'Pol that everywhere Enterprise goes, there is a Vulcan ship looking over her shoulder. Shortly thereafter, T'Pol receives an encrypted transmission from the Ti'Mur which Tucker discovers. He takes the news to Archer, who notes with disappointment that T'Pol had promised him she wouldn't speak to the Vulcans without his knowledge. He instructs Tucker to have Hoshi decrypt the message.
On the comet, Reed and Mayweather set the charges to blow a chasm in which they can mine the icyllium, but not before building a "snowman" - complete with Vulcan ears. They blow the charges and begin mining. On Enterprise, Archer reasons that, maybe if Vanik sees how the crew operate, he'll be satisfied, so he invites him to dinner. Despite his best efforts, however - including carefully prepared Vulcan cuisine - Vanik is rude and completely disinterested, passing on a tour of the ship, batting aside personal questions and eating before he even turns up for the meal. The meeting ends dischordantly, with Archer bluntly asking when the Vulcans are going to stop spying on Enterprise. Vanik claims that "arrogance and inexperience" are the humans' enemies rather than the Vulcans. Furious, Archer has Vanik leave the ship.
Hoshi has more bad news for the captain: when Reed and Mayweather detonated their charges, it shifted the comet's rotational axis. In a little under two hours, the landing party's position will be facing direct sunlight and the temperature will soar. Further, T'Pol's mysterious message is nothing more than a request for her to return to Vulcan immediately to fulfil the terms of her arranged marriage. When Tucker attempts to apologise for invading her privacy, T'Pol responds icily. The issue is, however, playing on her mind and she is losing sleep. Phlox suggests that she speak to someone about her problems if she won't speak to him. T'Pol selects Tucker, if only for the fact that she wants no-one else to know of her predicament. She explains to him that when she postponed her wedding arrangements to remain on Enterprise after the Klaang incident, her mate's parents were insulted that she would choose to delay the union to serve on a human vessel. She feels that her obligation to her culture should come first, but Tucker argues that she has a greater obligation to herself, suggesting that the reason she postponed the wedding in the first place was because she didn't want to go through with it. T'Pol angrily denies that her subconscious dictates her actions, but Tucker maintains that she is free to make her own choices.
On the comet, Mayweather slips as he tries to climb out of the chasm, injuring his knee and slowing the trip back to the shuttlepod. The firing of the thrusters accelerates the melting of the ice beneath the pod and it drops through a layer, into the comet itself. Archer and Tucker attempt to retrieve it using the grappler, but only succeed in worsening the shuttle's predicament. Vanik offers his ship's tractor beam, which Archer initially refuses, but T'Pol argues that accepting will prove him wrong in his opinion that humans are proud and arrogant. Acceding, Archer lets Vanik retrieve the shuttle. He offers to share the data collected from the comet with Vanik, but the Vulcan declines and his ship prepares to depart. Tucker asks T'Pol if she is "all packed" and ready to return to Vulcan, but instead she transmits a message to the Ti'Mur to be carried to Vulcan in her place. Later, in her quarters, she sits in front of a piece of pecan pie - Tucker's favourite meal.
Review
After the politicising of "The Andorian Incident", we return this episode to some more character-based storytelling and also to more overt conflict between humans and Vulcans, both culturally and personally. By and large, this instalment is a success: there's excellent character work for Tucker, T'Pol and Archer - the series' increasingly emergent "big three" - but, just like the climactic action scenes last episode, there's also a group scene (in this case, the excellent recording to the transmission to the primary school in Ireland) which is seamless, proving that, much like the first season of Voyager, this group of thesps has slotted together with relative ease, even if the writers haven't quite got a handle on some of the characters yet. More on that in a moment.
Traditionally, an episode such as this would marry an overriding "A" plot with a subsidiary "B" story; it's a trick employed time and again with nauseating familiarity. "Breaking the Ice" is a little different: what should be the "B" story - T'Pol's transmission and Tucker's intervention - is clearly more important than the "A" story, which is the comet. Possibly, this is due to the fact that two of the "big three" are involved in the "B" plot, while poor old Reed and Mayweather are, bizarrely, "relegated" to the "A" plot. The two storylines are inextricably linked by the presence of the Vulcans, who act as the deus ex machina in a way which is less inevitable and more grudging: they're only allowed to form the resolution to the story at Archer's behest. The result is that the viewer actually feels as if a proper conclusion, rather than a formulaic one, has been achieved.
Last week, I commented that I didn't have too much of a problem with the "new Vulcan" society depicted on Enterprise, but Vanik has upset the apple cart somewhat. He's rude, condescending and seems to take a curious pleasure in being as insolent as possible. Tucker's expressions mirror those of the audience in the dinner scene: his mouth virtually hangs open when Vanik remarks that humans have never held any interest for him and that he ate before he arrived for the meal. Some justification for Tucker's earlier remarks about Vulcans, then; but in the wider frame, Vanik is an extreme example of the sort of dismissive Vulcan Archer is infuriated by, more Soval than T'Pol. It's difficult to know what to make of Vanik and his ilk; indeed, one wonders if the writers have thought it through yet. The only possible shaft of light one could shed onto his attitude is Archer's comment that everywhere Enterprise goes, there's a Vulcan ship nearby, looking over their shoulder. That, coupled with the violation of the Andorian treaty in last week's episode, leads one to speculate that the Vulcans have some sort of ulterior motive or are pursuing some wider agenda as regards not just humanity, but the galaxy in general. Perhaps they were already aware of the Temporal Cold War and are spying on the Andorians because they're looking for evidence of temporal incursion. Maybe that's why they feel the need to spy on humans too. Only time, you imagine, will tell, but the potential is certainly there for the main storylines which Enterprise has thrown up to be woven together.
Another issue I raised last week was that of Tucker. I felt that he occasionally crossed the line in his remarks about Vulcans - and lo and behold, he does it again this week. His comment that "Where I come from, arranged marriages went out with slavery" is astonishingly insensitive and tactless, not to mention inaccurate and America-centric. As has become painfully obvious in the past few months, arranged marriages still occur in the western world at the behest of Islam and it betrays a shocking ignorance on Tucker's part (and on the part of the writers post-September 11) to make such a remark. In the light of it, his following comment, "I respect your customs", rings more than a little hollow, especially seeing as he encourages T'Pol to do away with her adherence to those customs. Paradoxically, his honourable behaviour towards T'Pol and his honest attempt to befriend her and offer advice are much more in keeping with the way I'd like to view the character. I wonder if Connor Trineer is having any problems with the contradictions his character seems to be throwing up.
Archer is another sore point. His initial refusal to accept Vanik's offer of help is going to get Reed and Mayweather killed - everyone can see it, and it's only the combination of T'Pol and Tucker's opinions that gets his attention. I can well understand his frustration with Vanik - I shared it - and it's obviously going to be an extreme effort for him to get past his grudge that they held his father back from developing the warp five engine, combining it with his duty as a Starfleet captain to be diplomatic. Scott Bakula was excellent during the dinner scene, his body language clearly conveying Archer's emotional state. Jolene Blalock played off him excellently, trying to build verbal bridges but running up against Vanik's stubbornness. You get the sense that Vanik's behaviour was one of the factors that convinced her to stay aboard Enterprise, pushing her further into the human camp. Have the writers got a handle on where they want Archer's character to go? He's not as contradictory a character as Tucker currently is, but he has issues which need clarifying. Of course, a morally centred captain would be boring. Janeway was always at her most interesting when she was blatantly wrong ("Night", "Equinox") - Archer's working through his psychological problems could be one of the series' strongest points. His disappointment on finding out that T'Pol had violated their agreement is also well conveyed, lending weight to the suggestion that Bakula's casting in this role was a good choice.
All in all, this is a strong episode, albeit curiously structured. I don't really have any complaints as such, other than the fact that Phlox comes over all Neelix during the recording of the transmission to Earth. Optimistic he is; Talaxian he thankfully isn't. The overriding question is, what is the Denobulan compensating for? Does he have some deep psychological problem which his relentlessly happy demeanour masks? Or was this simply a blip, when the writers let him slip back into unwanted Delta Quadrant mode? Don't turn him into a Voyager extra. He's far more interesting as a Cardassian. Thank you. |
