REVIEW of “Vox Sola” by Archer4Trip
Season One, Episode 22, aired
May 1st, 2002
* “I’m not sure
you appreciate how alien this life form is.”*
Intro: First contact with the
Kreetassans has gone very badly, but it isn’t clear why. Hoshi can’t translate their
language. The Kreetassans storm
off the ship and as they disengage the docking port, a strange amoeba-like life
form oozes across and into the Enterprise’s airlock. (They don’t notice it.) Trip: “Well, this is one for the
books – briefest first contact!
Part One: Back on the bridge,
Hoshi notices interference on the com frequencies. She has a tense interaction with T’Pol, partly because
she is blaming herself and partly because T’Pol is being unhelpfully
blunt. T’Pol attempts to
placate Hoshi by saying “For
all we know it was Mr. Tucker’s table manners that offended
them.”
Trip arrives on the bridge
and heads for the captain’s ready room, but is sidetracked by Hoshi. He asks if the interference is a
problem, but she says it’s mostly irritating. “I’ll
track it down first thing in the morning,” he says, much as he
tells Phlox and Reed that he’ll “get back to them” in The
Communicator. Trip then goes to
T’Pol’s station and asks “’s he in there?” (looks
at captain’s door) T’Pol: “Yes.” Trip: “How’s his
mood?” T’Pol:
“Now might not be the best time.” Trip: “Well, I’ll take my chances.” Clearly, Trip has arrived to cheer up
his Cap’n, and nothing is going to stop him. That he cares this much is a sign of their close friendship.
Archer is pissy. “It better be important!”
he yells when the com beeps.
Trip’s first tactic to cheer him up is (not surprisingly) food. Trip:
“Prime rib tonight! With
reallll horseradish!” Archer
gives him a look. Archer is still
pissy. He says he wants to visit some
brown dwarf cluster. Trip:
(cheery) “I can’t wait!” Not much reaction.
Trip shifts to Plan B, games.
“In the meantime, why
don’t we shoot a little nineball?
You can break.”
Archer is still pissy, but he’s melting. “Maybe
later,” he mumbles. Trip
drops his head, but looks up at Archer.
Time for Plan C, pulling out the big gun. “I was gonna save this for a rainy day,” as he
unzips jumpsuit.. uh, let me clarify that. As he unzips a pocket on his jumpsuit and pulls out
<ahem> a data disk, keeping his eyes on Archer. “Stanford vs. Texas, he says in his best coaxing
voice. Archer is interested. Very! It’s a water polo finals match, just downloaded from
subspace mail. Trip:
“You’ve been threatening
to teach me the finer points of the game. <dramatic pause> unless
you’re too busy with yer brown dwarves...”
Cut to Porthos, in the
Captain’s quarters, growling as the alien creature slithers along the
passage overhead. Reed and
Mayweather discuss the K’s. Reed: “They didn’t really lose
their tempah until they arrived here in the mess hall.” Mayweather is trying to interest Reed
in seeing a movie: “ ‘Wages of Fear’ is playing. Classic French film. You’ll like it. Things blow up.” Reed is interested. Nice mirror of the A/T
conversation.
Rostov! His first
appearance. He gets sent to fix a
power problem on D deck, cargo bay two.
Reed and Travis try to watch the movie but it’s all glitchy.
Archer and Trip are in
Archer’s quarters, in off-duty clothes. Archer favors a simple brown tunic over a gray t-shirt,
while Trip goes boldly with the two-tone rose/burgundy top, which is quite
snug. They are watching the water
polo game, drinking beer and eating pretzels. Trip asks charmingly naive questions about the game, as one
might do when out on a first date, and Archer obligingly answers, as he loves
to talk water polo. Trip:
“And I thought it was just a
bunch of guys screwin’ around in a pool.”
Cut to Rostov, who finds
something unpleasant in cargo bay two, but only has time to open his communicator...
Trip gets into the game. Archer is already in a much better
mood. He’s watching water polo, his team is winning, and Trip likes the
game now too. Archer turns to
Trip, raising his glass. He looks
Trip directly in the eyes and says “Thanks for thinking of
me.” <clink of
glasses> Trip: “My pleasure.” Emboldened, Trip suggests that Texas will “trounce your sorry California butts.”
Archer asks if Trip has watched the end of the game already. Trip:
“Course not.” <evil grin>
[Is Trip lying? Did he mean to say “butts”
and “screwin’” in
the same evening? Was this
a date? Many think it was. Even ‘Five-Minute
Enterprise’ included a date reference. Many men said that isn’t how guys watch sports, so
perhaps it was director Roxann Dawson’s oversight / blind spot /clever
decision. It’s clear that
Trip was determined to cheer up the Captain, and was the only who one who
would, or could. His interest in
the game seemed genuine and even grew, not coincidentally, as his
Cap’n’s mood lifted.]
Rostov’s colleague
Kelly goes looking for him. Cut to
Polo. Trip gets really into the
game, questioning the ref’s
calls. Archer dreams of putting a
pool on the ship. Trip seems
surprised and says he wouldn’t want to be swimming when the gravity
plating went off line. Crewman
Kelly calls, saying a life form in cargo bay two has Rostov and he can’t gurgle
goop glop.... Archer and Trip rush to investigate.
Part Two: Reed enters CB2 first, with Archer,
Trip and another crewman. Lots of
slithery noises, and a shot of the two crewmen in the slimy white clutches of
the Goo Monster’s web.
Rostov warns them to leave, but a tendril grabs Archer. Trip dives for Archer’s hand,
grabbing it firmly as both of them are pulled along the floor. As Archer is pulled upward, Trip looks
on in desperation, not seeing the tendrils around him. He struggles mightily, and orders Reed
out of the bay, before being yanked up into the web along with the third
crewman.
The others decide to find the Kreetassans, Phlox examines a severed tendril;
T’Pol argues that it isn’t violent or aggressive for sure, but it
seems clear it’s intelligent.
They decide to attack with EM radiation, but that only causes the
creature to tighten up. Trip and
Archer
are entwined in the gooey
strands that hold them immobilized.
When Reed attacks, they all jolt in pain. They are being integrated into the alien. Again, Trip grimaces vigorously,
leading to charges of overacting. Pooh on that. He’s in pain!
Part Three: Trip talks water
polo strategy with Archer, something that he doesn’t know at all, and
Archer asks, “How do you know that?” Rostov says, “I know it too!” The life form is linking them together
as it invades their bodies and incorporates them further. [Rostov must get a mindful of the A/T
conversation!!] Trip starts to
panic about the takeover and his immobility.
Trip: “We’ve got
to get out!” (writhe)
Archer: “Calm
down!”
Trip: “This
thing’s gotten inside our heads!” (grimace, groan, writhe)
**side thought: who makes
goo look this good???**
Archer: “Do you know
what I’m thinking about?”
Trip: “Now’s not
the time to be thinking about the regionals.”
Trip recounts Archer’s
thoughts, a memory of a water polo match he played in and won. Archer’s message: “As soon
as you give up, the game’s lost.” Trip calms down, visibly. Trip “thinks” something silently, looking up at
Archer. Shot of Rostov, looking
from Trip to Archer. Archer,
looking down, nods silently.
Non-slash: He was thinking
“Thanks, Cap’n.”
Slash: He was thinking,
“Thanks, Cap’n. I love
you.”
Reed and Phlox argue. T’Pol and Hoshi argue. Mayweather saves the day, all by
himself!, by contacting the K’s, discovering the offense, apologizing
profusely and sincerely, and getting the coordinates of the alien life
form’s home planet.
Trip: “Cap’n....
I feel you drifting away over there.” Rostov and the others are unconscious and nearly dead. Trip recalls Zephram Cochrane’s
words with irony: “Is this
what he meant by new worlds and new life forms?” Archer smiles weakly.
Part Four: Trip is almost
completely encased in gooey strands, but his nose is still visible. :D “Cap’n,” he whispers
weakly. No response.
The crew attempts to communicate with the alien being. Reed has created the first working
force field (YEAH MALCOM!) and Hoshi has the language mostly figured out (YEAH
HOSHI!) Eventually the life form responds to Hoshi in a high-pitched tone (like
rubbing on a balloon). It
works! They tell it they are
taking it home, and it releases the crew. The gooey strands let loose and the
bodies are lowered to the floor, slowly, gently. Hoshi looks at Trip but
doesn’t touch him; T’Pol tenderly wipes her hand over the
captain’s head. (!)
Last scene: They return the
life form (and the severed tendril) to their home world, where they rejoin the
unitary life form they came from. Very ‘awww’. Hoshi’s ‘Sluggo’
guilt is relieved. Trip? Who knows?
I guess he’s in sickbay, lying next to Jon. The mind meld? Who knows?
FYI: Strong and Sussman
script, Roxann Dawson directing. This
is a powerful combo.
This was a great ep, and
underrated. It is a fine ensemble
piece, calling on all of the crew to work together to save their five
colleagues. The big ideas, like in
Silent Enemy, are about communication. They include:
1) not assuming hostility in
aliens (as Reed does)
2) not harming intelligent
life (as Phlox refuses to)
3) asking for help when you
need it (as Hoshi does)
4) trying to find a way to
communicate with aliens (as T’Pol suggests)
It is about Reed and Phlox
learning how to communicate and cooperate, and about Hoshi and T’Pol
learning the same thing, and about everyone learning how to communicate with
the Kreetassans.
ENT EP RATER SCORE:
Trip with hair mussed +5
+5 for making slime look sexy
Trip eats and drinks (pretzels,
beer) +10
Trip does something cute
especially cute: cheering up scene +20
Trip gets major screen
time +20
Special points for casual
clothes +5
Total: 65 points.
Slash points: The Date, The
Thank you, The Attempt to Save Archer, The Mind meld (+20 each.) Revised Total: 105!!