HarBINGEr indeed. Oy.

What IS this, the O.C.?!?

Edited to reply:



Gloria victis cuiusquemodi

Lo, how I HAVE indeed missed the Temporal Cold War!

I just like how Trip and T'pol resolved to forget the events of this week.

Travis May-yet-be-useful.

The whole Cole subplot was, in my opinion, eh. However, all was reedemed with Mojave's last line before vanishing.

Liked the ep. Few thoughts

Archer disciplining Reed and Hayes should have added, "Don't make me stop this ship!"

And the Trip T'Pol situation was handled wonderfully, leaving us to guess. And leaving the door open.

And that spatial distortion looked like vodka sauce (or any sauce) being reduced.

And the MACO's have baby spit-up for camoflauge.

Moved from the spoiler thread, here's a transcript of THE CONVERSATION between Trip and T'Pol. (If it's too much, keckler, feel free to cut it out.)



Honestly? I thought it was some fairly mature banter between the two of them. The inclusion of Sim certainly cranked up the points, and it seemed pretty natural and in character. They were both in control of themselves - no alien influence, etc. With the addition of the Mess Hall Morning After Coffee scene, I think it was handled as well as it could have been.

Also, the return of the Temporal Cold War (or, hints to it, at least) definetly added to the impact of the Xindi Arc. The Suliban-esque alien is pretty obviously part of the Xindi's "Future Guy" group, and this also seems to hint that the Temporal Cold War is one of the reasons that The Expanse exists in the first place.

Personally, I can't wait to see where they go with this.

Quantum's Quote of the night: "We'll have to bend a few ethics." (Can you even do that?)

I couldn't make out what the alien said at the end. It sounded like a major plot point. Could someone fill me in?

Holy Crap! Not only do we have three? Four? good eps in a row, but we get a good character episode.

I think I'm feeling faint.

Trip's expression when he said "No need to thank me" was priceless.

Oh, dear heaven.

I can just picture the story meeting:

Writer 1: Hey, it's getting to that part of the season, we need to resolve this Reed/Hayes conflict.

Writer 2: And, uh, weren't we gonna hook up T'Pol and Trip right around now?

Writer 3: Oh, and there's that alien from the master race that taunts Archer. We gotta fit him in.

Bermaga: Cool. That's one episode right there.

Of COURSE! Because they flow so darn well together, don't they?

The alien said: "When the Xindi destroy Earth, my people will prevail!"

edited because I'm too slow...

I think he said, "When the Xindi destroy Earth, my people will prevail", but I'm still going over the whole Trip/T'Pol conversation, so I could be mistaken. Mr. F just agreed with me.

ETA Aatrek beat me to it.

He said, and I paraphrase (emphasis mine) "When the Xindi race destroys earth, our race shall prosper." Not an exact quote, but that's the gist of it.

[speculation] Now, I didn't see the promo (assuming there was one) for next week due to my desire to be the first to post on this subject (curse you, Odyssea!), so I think that maybe he is another party of the Temporal Cold War. Now, as was speculated in the Strategem thread, the Xindi pre-attack on earth was orchestrated by one of the parties in the war, possibly Temporal Shower Man (that's a name I've not heard in a long time). I forsee the whole Temporal Cold War plot becoming horridly complicated, to the point where only expierenced fans of shows such as B5 will be able to sort the dark from the shadows. [/speculation]

Edited to add that both frenchtoast and Aatrek beat me to it as well, but only because I was speculating when they posted. Honest!

I really liked this episode. It was more enjoyable than I thought it would it be. Honestly I thought it would be really boring. I didn't pay any attention to the Alien of the Week stuff. I have no idea what was going on with that plot. When I watch the episode again, I'll pay attention.

I really enjoyed the pre and post sex exchanges between Trip and T'pol.

I thought the reddish effect on the bridge after Enterprise entered the anomaly was pretty cool.

I liked that Mayweather was kicking the Uh-ohs ass, but of course they had to make him get beaten so that Reed could get pissy.

I liked the fight between Reed and Hayes, it was so fraught with HoYay. My favorite moment was, when the crewmember walked up on them, Reed said "As you were" then Hayes punched him, and they kept fighting.

It didn't do much to advance the arc, but I liked this one.


Yes, that was great. Connor Trineer does the best facial expressions.

Loved Reed and Hayes left standing there like good little soldiers. Wonder how long they remained before they figured they were dismissed or did they just wait for Archer to come back?

They should have had a quick scene of Trip and T'Pol racing to get dressed and to their duty stations when Archer called the tactical alert. Teach them to be messing around while there's an alien aboard. Don't they know that every alien gets at least one chance to try and destroy the ship?

Loved Malcolm's interpretive dance in front of the mirrors. When did they install a dance studio anyway?

Also loved Malcolm suggesting that Trip do neuropressure on him and Trip's 'Just drop it' comment.

I feel kind of bad that T'Pol came between Trip and the MACO. They had so much in common they probably would be happy together. But, as First Officer, T'Pol was absolutely correct in telling him to be more discreet. Even if the MACO isn't with StarFleet, she is junior enlisted and he is a senior officer so they shouldn't have been carrying on so publicly.

The one thing I didn't like was that the first mention we get of Sim after 'Similitude' is T'Pol using what Sim told her to get back at Trip for his flirtation with the MACO. T'Pol was rocked to the core by what Sim told her and it seemed out of character for her to mention it so flippantly.

Some nice touches of humor in this episode. But overall, I felt it was rushed...too much stuff going on at the same time. During the show, I felt some scenes were deleted due to time constrants. I would have voted to drop one of the subplots.

But then again, this ain't a show where a plot gets voted off the island. :-)

What I learned this week:
1) AM is my new boyfriend. That is all.

I really liked this episode. As we already knew, it was nothing like what was portrayed in last week's promo, thank god. I was afraid the T'Pol/Amanda would quickly degenerate into some idiotic fantasy but it was handled well. I don't know exactly when I became a T'Pol/Trip shipper, but I disliked Amanda the moment I saw her (loved the teaser, by the way) simply because she wasn't T'Pol. JB has definitely grown on me.

I'm surprised that none of the crew caught the physical similarities b/n the alien and the Suliban. The alien's warning reminded me of the season finale of Season 2 of DS9 where the Vorta warned the crew by saying, "You have no idea what's begun here." Or maybe I'm projecting just a wee bit.

I think that I'm actually beginning to like this show, but I don't think I'll ever like SB as Quantum. I didn't beleive a word he said when Quantum was yelling at Reed and Hayes. SB is just too stiff. It's as if his idea of getting mad it to start spraying people with his saliva.



I agree. I yelled, "Kiss him already!" during that scene.

The teaser: Seven gained a lot of weight. And where's the catsuit and stilettos?

ETA: What was up with the 5 minutes of previousles?

Ah, how deliciously satisfying. Bringing up intriguing info all over the place, and whipping it into a concoction to tantalize the devoted Trekker. Now, I'm not going to say that they've got me as involved as they did during the final DS9 arc, but that's a pretty tall order; they're really starting to do a good job hyping the tension. It seems pretty clear to me that whomever is responsible for the spheres is also the one who convinced the Xindi to Kill All Humans. But who were they? Who?

But in the meantime, we came up with a neutral on the Travis-o-meter: he kicked ass, then his ass was kicked. But, hey, he got some lines this week, unlike, say, Hoshi. My biggest problem this week would have to be the weirdness going on with the training. Part the First: Why are they starting this now? Yes, I know they're heading off for the Final Conflict, but seeing as though the Xindi have totally smeared the crew around in their previous encounters, shouldn't they have already been trying the extra training? Part the Second: Why does only the senior staff get the chance to learn how to defend themselves? Part the Third: Would it kill them to put some mats down wherever they're training? That final slam to the deck Travis received looked like it should've done more damage than a mere bloody lip.

On the other hand, Archer yelling = good.



I saw that similarity, but I figured that Phlox would've noted it in his scans. We know that they have said scans, from all the way back to "Broken Bow." So if they end up being the same, it seems like a huge nit.



Seriously. I think that could've been dialed back just a little.

ETA: Thanks for posting the Trip-T'Pol dialogue. I missed the crucial stuff about Sim when extra people invaded the room. Blasted Thinkkaman always shows up at the most inconvenient times.

Did Phlox mention something about not being able to scan him for some reason? I know that utlimately we learned he was from trans-dimensional space or something like that, so maybe scans were useless(?).

I thought the previouslies were long too, but as it turned out, practically every scene in them had some related info in this episode. It actually covered quite a bit, really..

I also didn't quite hear what the pseudo-ban guy said in the very last line, so I'm glad some people here caught it! It was just a little pivotal to the whole episode - they should have made sure it was a little clearer.

Overall, loved the ep.

I like this episode. And Travis gets more scenes. Yeah, he gets his ass kicked but at least he looked good doing it. And the fight between Hayes and Reed was awesome. DK looks good in a tank top. Pretty much anyone in gym clothes kicking someone's ass looked good.

I thought the Trip/T'Pol thing was handled nicely. It was both within characters and really funny. "I'm jealous of myself?" I love Trip's facial expressions, definitely had me laughing.

Don't really care for Archer's story line, because SB pretty much has one facial expression: The Scowl. It's gets annoying.

Poor Hoshi. Even Travis got more screen time. How sad is that?

Overall, good episode.

It's good to see that Pulp Fiction is still popular in the 22nd Century. (Ever give one to a man?) Although the ending here was different, and good, with Trip throwing Malcolm's line back at him.

Where would Malcolm have learned Klingon moves? And why doesn't Archer have to train? And what's with shooting in a bay- doesn't it damage things? Are the beams and/or targets holograms?

Overall, not bad. And the last line had my head spinning. Sure enough, a friend called me to ask what it was.

I'm wondering if the alien wasn't placed in the Space Pustule as a lure by the Xindi. Now the Xindi know where they are. The alien practically admitted it before he disappeared.

Nice to see Malcom getting some more face time, even if it was getting beat up. I don't understand why he's being so difficult, this would be a good way for everyone to burn off some energy.

So, now T'Pol is a Playette? Sigh. Just when I was applauding the character development on this show. I don't even know what to say.

I'm not usually a fan of Chynna (sorry, Joanie Lauer) types, but that MACO Cole was kind of cute.

I will say that Baukla is much better these days. When he read Reed and Hayes the riot act, I was even frightened. Glad Bakula's gotten away from the telegraphing. I do take issue with his continued medling. That alien was such a great piece of cheese for our Furrowed Mouse. He won't be satisfied until some intruder finally destroys them all.

Since the alien fellow lacked a formal name, I think it is our duty to name it. gforce2002 called him the psuedo-ban. I called him Mojave, due to his resemblance of his skin to a desert. For some reason, calling him Sahara or Gobi didn't seem quite right.

So, what - Pseuliban? (Gesundheit!)

Come on, you actually bought her explanation that it was all an experiment in human sexuality. T'Pol is in deep denial, there is no way she was simply using him, otherwise why the insistence that Trip confess that he was attracted to her and that he was a little jealous of "himself." LOL.

I thought the episode was very entertaining, really liked the MACOS and I thought the T/T scenes were well written and wonderfully acted by Connor and Jolene.

I have to say I wanted to slap Amanda Cole in the opening scene. It was actually painful to watch. But Trip's reaction to her saying he would have liked some warning before she kissed him was a great contrast to his reaction to T'Pol kissing him later.

And T'Pol claiming she was "experimenting with human sexuality" at the end -- she was so clearly freaked out by what she did in a very Vulcan manner. I'm looking forward to seeing how she and Trip handle future neural pressure sessions.

I like how they're handling the first human-vulcan couple. 2 steps forward, 1 step back. Much better than anything in the past (horrible flashbacks of Picard/Crusher and the beginnings of the Paris/Torres relationship).

Darn yall all! I got in late from teaching and so I was going to watch the epi tomorrow. I then decide to come in here to see how good/bad it was. After reading what you had posted, I watched it----and of course, loved it. The most frellin hilarious part was the "morning after the night before" talk. T'pol's "an experiment in human sexuality" to Trip's "we're still on for our neuropressure sessions, right" and T'Pol's subsequent reaction had me rolling on the floor. What a Valentine to us Trekkers.

Gotta go, I'm starting an experiment tommorw!

T'Pol taught him (and others) in "Marauders."

See, I thought, "That's one enormous Horta!" Just me? [crickets] OK.

T'Pol said, "I don't have to be an expert to read you," but she was thinking, "I know you are, but what am I?" I was ready to give her line of the episode until:



And so it was that I laughed thusly: "Ha ha ha."


What? I didn't see that at all. Hee. Mr. Ogg actually told me to stop yelling suggestions to Quantum while he was scolding them. Of course, most of the suggestions were along the lines of "Yes, yes, they're naughty boys! Spank them! Spank them!", so I can understand his frustration. Hee.

Aatrek, "Pseuliban." Nice.

So, Trip & T'Pol [ahem] begin. The Pseuliban escapes. Hayes and Reed fight, and 3 minutes later when the Pseuliban starts ravaging the ship, Trip & T'Pol are fully clothed and at their stations? This does not make The Boy look good.

So, all together, I liked it. I just wish they'd spread all those juicy subplots out a little instead of cramming them into one episode.

Wait, that alien wasn't a Suliban? I just thought he was, though I do admit to not paying too much attention to that particular plot.

I enjoyed this episode, even the part where I screamed, "Aaaaaahhhhh!!!! My eyes!" I was interested in almost all of it. Interested enough to watch again on Saturday, which hasn't happened in a while. It was enjoyable and the ending was intriguing. I hope they keep this up.

Isn't Spock's mother's name Amanda?

Huh? I really don't understand what you're saying, tothemax.



Gytha, not just you. I thought it looked like cheese bubbling on pizza and that's always been my description of the the Horta.

I'm so relieved, and so I must press the issue.

That Domino's commercial in the middle of the ep, with the incredibly disturbing closeup of the "Cheesy Dot." I looked up and thought for a second, "Oh, it's back on!" Then, "No, it's not. What the hel--Is that supposed to be food?!" Anyone?

The teaser: Seven gained a lot of weight. And where's the catsuit and stilettos?


Huh? I really don't understand what you're saying, tothemax.


Voyager had an episode where the crew was put in suspended animation with Seven as the only active crew member. Like Phlox, she started losing her mind.

Gytha, that's okay, there was some commercial for headache medicine and I just said, "Get Trip to stop fiddling with your back!"


Okay, well, since this is the episode thread for the current episode, let's not get off-topic. Thanks.

I laughed many times. T'Pol and Malcolms little float-like-a-butterfly-sting-like-a-bee twitchy fighty dances had me giggling.

the morning after chat was 'meh' (too predictable) until the end when T'Pol did the little eye flick thing over her mug of chamomile at the suggestion of continuing the ca-node-eling ... bwah!

I would have liked to have seen more of the alien ... parts of that plot confused me. Was he faking the pain and disintegrating body and just waiting for an opportune moment? If walking through walls was causing such damage to the ship's systems I worry for the damage he did to Phlox's neck!

Perhaps there was a significant time lapse we weren't aware of- T/T was early evening, and the alien attack was around midnight. (Or they went to their stations, and then returned to things after the crisis was over. Or maybe I'm a Trip apologist.)

All in all? Fun, well written, a diversion after two wholly serious eps. And yes there was HoYay in the fight scene, but as someone on another board pointed out, there was much more significant HoYay in Trip and Malcolm's scene ( my favorite flavor). (Malcolm plays with his food!!)

Fave line? "What just happened? Did we..was that?"

Mayweather- kick ass. ( And until the distraction, T'Pol was kicking some serious ass too.)

Wow...I never thought in November, I'd be this cool about T/T. Maybe the good string of eps softened me up.

This is the first episode I've liked in a long time. I really miss the kind of character development we got previously, like in the episode where Malcolm tells Archer about his grandfather drowning in a ship, while his leg is stuck to the device on the outside of the ship. I liked the other episode where T'Pol plays the part of her relative, and we explored what happened to her when she spends time on Earth too. And I liked learning about the Doc and all of his degrees in Psychology, Medicine, etc. and his 5 wives who have other husbands as well.

But what about the sexuality of Vulcans? Unless they are at their 7 yr cycle where they go into heat, are they even interested in sex ? Have we ever seen a Vulcan have a sexual encounter like this before who wasn't in heat? Can a Vulcan who's not in heat get pregnant?

And what about Archer? I thought he and T'Pol were suppose to be kinda sweet on each other!?!? So what happens if Archer finds out what happened? I hope T'Pol is knocked up so Archer can yell at her (for being irresponsible and not taking proper precautions) the same way he did Malcom tonight.

I liked the special effect where they turned red in the bridge section of the ship too. And I'm also tired of what some referred to as the "Alien of the Week" plots as well.

I hope they continue to produce more interesting episodes such as this one. A character driven plot is so much more effective than a plot driven one.

I hadn't really connected those pieces before, the47thman but I think you've got it right. And this guy was them, I suspect. I really don't get what he was trying to do, though. Was he in the anomaly field for a real purpose, or was it a ruse to get him on Enterprise?

I was glad to see I was wrong about the alien triggering the emotions that led to the Reed/Hayes fightfight and the T'Pol/Trip nookie. This was much more interesting on all counts.


No, Phlox would have made a point of saying so, plus his makeup was really pretty different. I think Michael Westmore's getting tired and starting to run low on ideas (Er, assuming he's still doing the makeup).

Glad to finally see how this whole arc is affecting our characters. Some of them, anyway. Poor nearly-lineless Hoshi. But at least she got to throw someone. And May-I-do-my-own-stunts, with the fighting (and it was clearly not a stunt double much of the time).

And the alien is mysterious and menacing, and you can never go wrong with mysterious and menacing.

So as I was watching I was shocked how much I was enjoying the episode. I couldn't believe Bermaga was involved with the episode... until the T'Pol/Amanda massage.

I really did enjoy a lot of this episode. Even the Trip/T'Pol stuff. Their flirting came off pretty well. I loved the Reed/Hayes plot. Nice to see Malcolm get a story and have the MACO issues worked out. And the ending was just frickin' great. I'm definitely intrigued where they're going with this.



I'm guessing it was a ruse. Quatum and Qrew are getting closer stopping the Xindi's WMD. I guess the Psueliban (love the name) sent Mojave to prevent Enterprise from reaching the weapon in time to stop its launch.

Mojave, what a great name. He did look like a desert. I also saw the Suliban resemblance immediately. Possibly Suliban of the future? (They would evolve faster thanks to genetic enhancements.)

Even UPN's trashy preview couldn't ruin this episode. Good character stuff, and we got to hear another piece of the puzzle.

Is it just me or does Amanda Cole look like T'Pol? Same duck lips, brown hair. At first I thought it WAS T'Pol with her hair down a la "Twilight." Trip has a type! Surprisingly, I like Trip and T'pol together. They feel very natural.

Reed was great. Loved his digs about the neuropressure sessions to Trip, and I really wanted him to kick Major Asshat's ass.

I don't really understand a few of the complaints about there being too much crammed in to this one ep. Sure it felt like a couple scenes (no absolutely necessary ones that I can imagine) may've been trimmed or bits of the script just not filmed due to time limitations...but considering that many Enterprise episodes have moved at a snail's pace and bored me to tears while doing so, I was pretty thankful for this. They're keeping the ball in the air, Season 3 is already my favorite of the series and I doubt that'll change even if they let me down with the pay-off.



As the fight dragged on (anyone else feel like it took up a lot of screen time?), I really thought they might. In the back of my head I'm always aware while watching that we aren't likely to ever see anything like that on a Trek series while B&B are running things, but there was so much HoYay between Reed and Hayes I honestly felt a kiss coming. Ah well, I still appreciated how intense and decently choreographed the fight scene was.

A second after it happened I realized that the alien's arm had only gone through Phlox, but for a split second while it was happening it looked to me like he'd just been beheaded. I would've been pissed if they killed Phlox (and the mission may as well be over if they off him this season since they're getting more use out of him than they ever have, not to mention John Billingsley's the best actor of the bunch).

If they hadn't before, Blalock and Trinneer completely sold me on the chemistry between their characters. It's more in the way they play off eachother though. If the characters remain friends/fuck buddies (I'm kinda hoping for that scenario), I think they could maintain the chemistry and the interest of many viewers just as easily as if they pursue a traditional relationship. Trying for the no-strings-attatched-yet-affectionate casual sex approach would be a lot more interesting to me to see played out on TV.

Any Trek episode that has a scene where a very serious Vulcan utters the words: "she touched your behind," goes down as a classic in my book. Jolene's delivery was perfect.

Me too. I think I screamed at the screen. I love Phlox and was very relieved to see his head was still attached.

I would like to thank tptb for finally including a B plot plus a bonus C plot and giving (almost) everyone something to do.

I was very surprised to find myself wanting Trip and T'Pol to kiss during their conversation about jealousy. I wasn't expecting to feel so invested in their relationship. Both the writing and acting were excellent.

I wonder how long Phlox will go along with Archer's ethics bending. He was not happy with his orders this week.

But I guess it's NOT a requirement for T'Pol to be half naked to do Vulcan massage. In her scenes with Cole, T'Pol was covered from neck to toes. I thought from all the massage scenes with Trip that cleavage was a requirement to make it work.



All I could see in Cole's closeups were her huge mouth and teeth.

OK, it looks like I'm in the minority here - I'm very 'meh' over a lot of the ep. The whole Reed/Hayes bit was silly, to my mind, and even though I am a T/Ter I just got rubbed the wrong way (pardon the pun) by how it panned out. Huh.

As for the alien, his big revelation was the one highlight for me. It seems clear that he IS from another dimension (or at least from the future), was in the fiber-optic box to monitor what was going on, and DID actually disintegrate after being removed from it (hence his clamming up; he knew he'd be gone soon, anyway).

His race, wherever they're from, built the spheres and prodded the Xindi on. My guess: thay have issues with the Federation at some point, so they nip the idea in the bud by knocking off the humans, its driving force. I bet the Xindi know nothing of the Federation; they were just told some gloom-and-doom story about humans and told to blow up Earf real good.

Still, at least it forwarded the arc a bit. And I'll keep my eye on T/T for something that does keep my interest.

Well, I thought the whole memory wipe thing from last episode was bending the ethics a bit. Just me? <crickets> They always show Phlox's compassion for the suffering of anybody, which is good and the point of being a doctor.

I completely agree with Malcolm after Mayweather was bloodied. Sparring does not include injuring someone. The worst sparring partners are the novices because they don't have enough control. Hayes' people would have been trained well enough not to injure someone. The demonstration was WAY out of line.

I swear Quantum sounded drunk in the beginning of his scolding of Malcolm and Hayes.

And shooting around the engine? WTF? But nice to show that Malcolm knows how to use the ship as well as fight. Take that, Hayes.

One last thought, Cole actually had some flesh on her--she looked like a woman, not just skin and bones. Thank you, Bermaga, thank you.

Hands down, my favorite line of the night.

Everyone pretty much said what I thought, so I'll just say that I enjoyed it. I can't quite give it an A because it was mostly just filler, but I can definitely commit to a B-.

Oh yeah, I love Connor Trinneer. And I am in serious like with Jolene Blalock.

Edited because Connor is spelled with an "o", not an "e" and I can't claim to love him if I can't spell his name correctly.

I spent the better part of this episode squealing with laughter -- I've decided I very much like a tense crew blowing off steam. I agree with whoever said that any episode featuring a Vulcan primly saying "she touched your behind" is a classic. Also, Trip & Mal's dinner conversation had me roaring. "Cause I have a pain --" "Just drop it."

Loved the fight between Hayes & Mal; glad they finally cleared the air. A detached retina -- ow! I couldn't even look at Mal's face when they were standing in front of CQ; his eye looked awful. Good makeup job. Oh, and ITA -- "As you were." (BAM!) gets my vote for best line of the night.

But what a painful rejection T'Pol gave Trip! I did get that she was backpedaling frantically (for a Vulcan -- and good acting on her part) but ouch. I don't know if Miss T'Pol and I are going to be speaking for a while. :)

I was just discussing this on the StarWoman thread--glad to see someone agrees.


For filler, it was very good. Besides, good drama always steps back and gives the audience a pause/comic relief before they reach the "climax". Gives us a chance to catch our breath but also increases the climactic feel.

Every time they send their 'grappler' whizzing out to latch onto something, I think of Bender (Futurama). Nice work by Reed to figure the carom through the hot pizza toppings, too.