The Andorian Incident raised the stakes for this series so you might think we’d have an exciting follow up. But this next episode, Star Trek Enterprise: Breaking the Ice gives us a much quieter story. We learn more about how life on Enterprise is lived, get a glimpse into T’Pol’s personal life, and Captain Archer has to prove himself to the Vulcans. I’ll be reviewing the eighth episode of the series here today.
If you want to know the chronology of the episodes I’ll be watching, I’ll be going down this list. If you notice I’ve missed an episode, let me know and I’ll correct it. And if you missed my first post about Star Trek, you can check that out right here.
Talented kids
In the mess hall, Commander Tucker is eating with Dr. Phlox. They are looking at some artwork kids from an elementary school have sent them. Phlox calls T’Pol over to show her the pictures. The drawings come from Trip’s nephew’s fourth grade class. And even T’Pol is impressed with the creativity. Although if a Vulcan can look insulted, she does look a bit insulted when Trip asks her if she wants the one that seems to be a drawing of her as a green Vulcan.
The ship drops out of warp and Captain Archer announces that everyone on board should look out the window. Off the starboard side is a massive ice comet. On the bridge it’s confirmed Vulcans have not charted this, which means Enterprise has discovered it. Mayweather immediately names it Archer’s comet. I’m not star ship captain but that must have felt amazing. Enterprise goes in to take a closer look.
Messages and late night snacks
Not only is this an undiscovered comet, it’s the biggest one humans have ever seen.T’Pol is not impressed.
Speaking of T’Pol she goes back to her quarters and receives a message. It’s hard to read the expression on a Vulcan’s face but it looks like something concerning is in the message.
Back at the mess hall, Trip grabs a slice of pecan pie. He then goes to a replicator and orders milk. At the beginning of the series, it didn’t seem like they had one of these but it seems they do. However, it’s more limited than in future series, and Enterprise, at this point, does have a chef on board.
T’Pol grabs a tea for herself and joins Trip. He goes on about how delicious the pie is. T’Pol doesn’t want to try it because it’s mostly sugar. Trip asks if Vulcans have a sweet tooth and T’Pol just looks on in silence. She also keeps reading something on a tablet and Trip asks if she’s okay. She says she’s fine and leaves.
Enter Captain Vanik
Captain Archer decides they should get a sample from the comet. There’s a mineral on it that not much is known about. They can’t just transport a sample so Lieutenant Malcolm Reed and Ensign Mayweather prepare a rig to go down there. They have mining equipment on board that can drill into the ice.
Hoshi detects a Vulcan ship nearby. Archer hails them and he speaks with a Captain Vanik. Vanik is perplexed by Archer’s interest in the comet. Vanik asks to stay and observe Enterprise’s activities. Archer calls T’Pol to his quarters so he can speak to her privately.
Archer asks T’Pol what the Vulcans are really doing there. She says they might just be curious. Archer says that doesn’t sound very Vulcan to him. But, I have to say, hang on a minute. Vulcans may suppress their emotions but they are a space faring race who encounter new species all the time. If that is not a signal of curiosity I don’t know what is. I think Archer is way off base to think they can’t be curious.
Archer does bring up a few times in the recent past where Vulcans have also showed up out of nowhere. So to be fair to Archer, he does have some right to be suspicious. He thinks they are basically checking up on the humans.
Exploring the comet and decoding messages
Reed and Mayweather land their shuttle on the comet. Mayweather is extra excited because he’s only seen snow a couple of times. And Reed thinks they should do something to commemorate the occasion. Mayweather tosses a couple ideas out like having a snowball fight but nothing seems quite right. Reed says they’ll figure it out once they get there.
Meanwhile on Enterprise, Trip runs diagnostics and finds an encrypted message was sent to T’Pol. Presumably this is the message she was reading earlier. This came from the Vulcan ship and Trip tells Archer about it. Archer says T’Pol promised to tell him if she spoke to the Vulcans. Trip asks if he should have Hoshi decrypt it and Archer says it’s top priority.
Archer looks really concerned here and I have to say this is like the third episode in a row where Archer is not sure if he should trust T’Pol. But she has proven her loyalty to her captain and her duty to Enterprise over and over in this series. I think in this episode, she is especially unfairly under suspicion. In fact, in the last episode alone, T’Pol proved her loyalty to Archer over the Vulcans in what could have started a war. She’s owed the benefit of the doubt here.
The class has questions
In what I can only call a cute and charming scene, Captain Archer makes the bridge crew on Enterprise answer questions from Miss Malvin’s fourth grade class at the Whorley Elementary school. We get to see a bit of everyone’s personality come out here. Archer tells the kids what they eat. He says it’s mostly what anyone on Earth eats at home. But he does mention a hydroponic greenhouse and says they can replicate certain foods with a protein resequencer. This is the early version of the famous replicator. Then he awkwardly answers a question about dating basically saying it’s allowed but complicated.
Another kid asks how they talk to aliens. Hoshi gets to answer this one and she talks about the universal translator but says she also has to step in sometimes. And in the funniest exchange, Archer makes Trip answer the question, “When you flush the toilet where does it go?”
It’s a hilariously awkward answer and Trip is mad he has to answer a “poop question.” But as Archer points out, it’s a perfectly valid question. If you want to know the answer, it’s basically that bio-matter is resequenced into materials they need.
Another kid asks about germs and Archer makes the mistake of letting Dr. Phlox answer this one. He answers right away but goes on and on and on as he’s wont to do.
Finally, Archer says they are sending pictures of the comet they discovered.
To some this might feel like a filler scene but for me, I love this scene. Astronauts currently answer questions from schools all the time. It’s an extremely human activity and would forward interest in space exploration. And we learn a lot in just a few minutes about the operations on Enterprise through the scene.
Do you want to build a snowman?
Did you guess Mayweather would build a snowman on the comet? Yeah, so did I. Reed and Mayweather are out there having fun when Archer asks them how they’re doing. And he reminds them they’re being observed. Mayweather and Reed both look a little guilty here. But I’ve got something to say about this.
We’ve had humans golf on the moon. If we really were out there in deep space exploring, we would obviously do stuff like build a snowman. It’s in human nature to do this. The Vulcans, having been around humans for quite some time now, would know, without a doubt, that humans give in to creative expression and fun all the time. Reed and Mayweather have nothing to be ashamed of. Build that snowman guys!
T’Pol’s message
Hoshi gives Trip the message. She left it in Vulcan but did not read it herself. She didn’t think it would be right. At least someone has T’Pol’s back here. But Trip, yeah he totally reads it. And finds out it’s of a very personal nature. To Trip’s credit he doesn’t tell Archer what it says, just that it’s personal. Archer wonders why it was encrypted though.
Trip also says if it was sent through regular channels and marked personal no one would have read it other than T’Pol. And now, Trip feels guilty even though it was an honest mistake. He tells Archer he’s going to tell T’Pol. Archer asks how that’s going to help.
And here’s why Trip is one of my favorites. Without hesitation he says, “It’s the right thing to do.” That’s enough for him. He wants to be able to look T’Pol in the eye without feeling guilty. One small thing to mention here though is Trip wouldn’t have read it at all if Archer had enough trust in T’Pol not to decrypt the message in the first place.
Trip’s apology and Vanik’s disapproval
Trip explains what happened to T’Pol but it does not go over well. T’Pol is clearly upset and for a Vulcan that’s saying something. T’Pol says the matter was urgent and they didn’t have time to go through regular channels. Trip says this looked really suspicious. But again, T’Pol is proving herself constantly. Trip also assures her he’s the only person on board who has read the letter.
T’Pol sees Dr. Phlox and he catches onto the fact something is bothering her. He advises her to talk to someone about it.
Archer tries to smooth things over with Vanik by inviting him to dinner.
On the comet they add Vulcan ears to the snowman and then they set off the charges so they can get their sample.
The dinner with Vanik goes as poorly as can be imagined. Let’s just say small talk doesn’t seem to be Vanik’s thing. Vanik is in fact, so rude, he had dinner before he even arrived on Enterprise. Archer tries everything but in the end he gets Vanik back to his ship as soon as possible. But he does let on he thinks the Vulcans are just watching over their shoulders all the time. Vanik is a hard dude to impress, that’s for sure.
Archer asks how long the Vulcans have been spying on them. Vanik says if they were spying, the humans wouldn’t know. Good point. Then Vanik says humans’ arrogance and inexperience are their true enemies. Then he says something in Vulcan to T’Pol. She doesn’t tell Trip what it meant.
Star Trek Enterprise: Breaking the actual Ice
The charges on the comet threw off the rotation of the comet. It’s going to be too hot for Reed and Mayweather in short order.
Meanwhile, T’Pol asks Trip to come to her quarters and talks to him about what was in her letter. Basically, she has an arranged marriage. Unless he leaves Enterprise immediately, her wedding plans will be canceled. She’s torn between her duty on Enterprise and her duty to her culture. Koss is the Vulcan she is supposed to marry but she’s only met him a handful of times.
Trip gets kind of high an mighty and says arranged marriages went out with slavery on Earth. To which I say, no that’s not correct, there are still arranged marriages in tons of places on Earth right now. Trip tells her she should consider what she wants. Finally, Trip asks if it occurred to her she might have already postponed this wedding a couple of times because that’s what she really wants. And he says it happens to humans all the time and maybe she is picking up some of our bad habits.
Climbing back up to the shuttle, Travis Mayweather hurts his knee but they make it to the pod. When they ignite the thrusters, the shuttle breaks through the ice and falls. The shuttle is stuck. Trip tries to pull them out but it doesn’t work and Reed and Mayweather are in a bit of danger.
Star Trek Enterprise: Breaking the Ice conclusion
In the end, there is an easy way to get Reed and Mayweather back. Captain Archer can ask for Vanik’s help. Archer does everything he can to avoid this until T’Pol points out Vanik is expecting Archer not to ask for help. Basically, if Archer doesn’t ask for help when he needs it, the Vulcans are going to know humans can’t hack it in space. Naturally, Archer does ask Vanik. Vanik uses a tractor beam and Reed and Mayweather are saved. Vanik leaves and human and Vulcan relations progress.
As for T’Pol’s little problem, she sends a message back to Vulcan, breaking off her engagement. And, she eats some pecan pie. Human and Vulcan relations progress.
While not a lot happens this episode, I enjoyed this one a lot. It’s got a certain charm to it and we get to see some character development. I just wish the crew would accept T’Pol already, like what does the woman have to do? But anyway, we’ve been introduced in this episode to a couple characters who will return in the series and become much more important in the long run.
The next episode is titled Civilization and that one gets pretty complicated. Watch for my review next week!
