I think of all the other shows that have "crabby" or "clexx" in multiples, yet this is all we have. Go for it.

Go, you crazy lovebirds, go! :-) The angst can't possibly go on forever (or can it?) and I'm still holding out for a big payoff. It's kind of sad to think about though. They haven't even properly kissed. Similitude doesn't count. Harbinger doesn't count (that kissing was a means to an end.. not the ending in itself). Damage doesn't count (though God I wish it did... T'Pol has an active imagination).

I feel like we're *due* a kiss. Or at least one of those Vulcan finger kisses. I'd like that more, maybe.

There are so many places this relationship could go. I think the writing could have been better, but it wasn't terrible (Trellium was T'Pol's malfunction, not Trip/T'Pol).

I hope that we get some kind of payoff before the series ends. I didn't start watching Enterprise til early last season. My kids watched but I would usually just do chores. But then I caught a scene between these two and I was drawn right in. I'm a sucker for a couple with potential for a relationship. And I love watching Connor Trinneer.

Yeah, I think it says something about Trineer and Blalock that they can make us agonize along with them. (As I most certainly have done in similar situations I've experienced.)
Though it's unfortunate we don't have any other relationships (except for wishful thinkers and HoYay), I am *so* glad they dropped Quant'pol.

Tri'Pol showed up in a recent Pixel Challenge. It involves Deadwood, so there's plenty of cursing and vulgarity. Click at your own risk.

I like the writing for Trip and T'Pol. Don't throw eggs. The plot for T'Pol with the Trellium was risky, and they did a decent job. I also think Trip's insecurity and confusion about her was well done. A big part of that might have been Connor Trinneer and Jolene Blalock, who are amazing together on screen even when they're being mean to each other.

I still think that they've never done a believable relationship on a Trek show, ever, at least not between two main characters, and so I think that Tri'Pol was a bad idea from the start. Seeing how they're dealing with not being with each other is, IMHO, much more interesting. At least if they do ultimately end up together, we won't have to see it.

We still have a few episodes left.

I agree that Star Trek has been pretty bad about relationships between characters. However, in my opinion, that is one thing that ENT has actually gotten right. Tri'Pol has been the most believable relationship yet. It didn't come out of nowhere. They had chemistry from the beginning. And they actually took the time to develop the relationship. First they had to get over their animosity towards each other, then they became colleagues who work well together, then friends, then admittedly we had to be put through some pretty embarassingly hilarious neuropressure scenes (I just watched Similitude last night. I couldn't stop laughing during the neuropressure scene. For God's sake, he's looking up her shirt! Anyway...) before actually getting to any romance. And once they did, they took a few giant steps back because of impediments caused by cultural differences. I would have been disappointed had the first relationship between a Human and a Vulcan gone smoothly.

A lot of what I like about their relationship is probably due in great part to the acting, but nonetheless, I think this one was done well.

Well, I think 3 weeks is enough time for this to not be considered a double post. And I think I'm taking back almost everything I said in my last post. I think what they just did with this relationship in Bound screwed up all the potential it had. It just seemed like a total cop out. And in that last scene, it was like all the chemistry they had for the last 3 1/2 years just vanished. What happened?

And that bond? Did they really have to resort to that? And would it kill them to at least try to explain how it was formed? Was it because they had sex a year ago? I was kind of hoping they'd bring in the telepresence unit or T'Pol's mind melds or something that would have triggered it. But no, the writers just choose to use it as a plot device and that's that. Sometimes, they really need to credit their viewers with some intelligence.

I'm with you pennyq. Bound ruined the potential of the Trip/T'Pol relationship.

CT and JB usually have good onscreen chemistry together. In Bound, there was none. It seemed like they didn't have it in them to rise above the bad writing.

I totally disagree. I can't believe you guys think the relationship is over. That last scene in Bound was so... happy. I came out of this episode thinking, "wow, now it's really going to start" not "oh shit they're through".

It was so nice to see Trip smiling for real again, and I think you guys are taking his words way too seriously. T'Pol didn't seem too ruffled by that, in fact I thought she looked pleased and amused.

And I for one was thrilled that Trip had a bit of an upper hand at the end. Why is it just fine for T'Pol to string him along, but when he has some fun with her (which, by the way, she totally understood... she was *funny* in this episode) he's a jerk?

I liked Archer's comment that Trip was rubbing off on her. Cute.

What bothered me the most about the "resolution" and supposed forward motion of their relationship was how badly it was handled. The relationship had a real slow burn for a while, and it made sense since it developed the most during the Xindi arc and they really didn't have the time or energy to devote to it. Then again, I think a lot of the reason that they found themselves together was due to the situation they found themselves in. The stress and the pressure and the thought-in-the-back-of-the-head that there was a good chance they wouldn't survive gave a sense of urgency to them. They also found a certain amount of solace when they spent time together.

When Earth was saved and they had to return to normal life, it only made sense that they struggled to redefine how they felt. It seemed as if they were deciding that even though they cared for each other, it wasn't romantically. At least, not anymore. They had to concentrate on re-discovering who they were after the Xindi trauma, before they could concentrate on others. It made sense, even if it was a bit childish, for Trip to request a transfer. He was having difficulty adjusting to "normal" life, his family and his loss, and to have T'Pol get married was just a lot to handle.

So, to me, this resolution really seemed to fall flat. It was as if the writers didn't know where they wanted the couple to go and so they found the most convenient and trite solution. And I wish they had just let it string along a little until the end. I really didn't need a resolution, one way or the other, by the end of the series. I think it would have been more respectful to have these complex characters be undecided and trying to understand and discover how they truly feel. Instead, we get a cheap psychic link and now it's all better. It just is lazy and uninspired.

Then again, I think that is the most I've ever thought about Trip and T'Pol. I put more thought into Hayes and Reed, though that was never shown.

When or how has T'Pol ever strung Trip along?

" You and I have already had this argument. We just don't see it the same way, that's all. I really like Trip and T'Pol as a couple, but that doesn't mean I have to like everything about what's happened with them. This just happens to be one of the things I don't like.

I never said you had to like "everything" about them, I'm just wondering, for the sake of the discussion in this thread, what your frame of reference is for thinking that T'Pol strung Trip along.

From the "Harbinger" recap, "A Sexperiment in Criticism":

That scene, at least to me, seemed like T'Pol was stringing him along a tiny bit. That being said, taking into consideration what followed, it really seems like she was just trying calm things down a bit. Plus, it makes sense that for a human, it's easier to form emotional attachments and she was putting Trip on his guard that,
as a Vulcan, it would take longer for her to be able to open herself to those emotions.

But, originally seeing the scene quoted above, I was a little aggravated with T'Pol. I thought she handled it better when she explained to Trip that she was exploring the writings of Surak and she needed time to herself.

I just saw that scene as T'Pol freaking out over what she had done. I never saw it as stringing him along. I really don't think she ever did string him along. She has seemed a lot more confused about what she wants over the past couple of years than he has. Add to that marrying someone else out of a sense of familial obligation, and complications and false starts were to be expected. The end of the marriage was rather anticlimactic, but I naively forgave that. But I took the last scene in Bound to be them finally getting together after all of their problems, and that was just ridiculously anticlimactic. I took Trip saying that what they have isn't such a big deal to mean that they can work through it and it doesn't have to interfere with his work like it was before he left. I'm pretty sure that we're meant to interpret that last scene as "they're working it out and they're together now." But after all that they've been through, I was just left thinking, "That's it?" I've been rooting for this couple since the 7th episode of season 1. I didn't find it inappropriate that it took so long to get them together, but this was just a disappointing way to do that.

pennyq, you posted precisely what I was thinking.

ITA, pennyq. After seeing how they've really developed the relationship since then, her handling makes sense. I don't even know that she was completely freaked out as much as she realized that perhaps she and Trip weren't ready for something too serious at that point in time. At the time that I watched the episode, I was disappointed with T'Pol's reaction. Now, as we've seen the relationship and her interaction with Trip, I understand it better.

And, I also agree that the "resolution" was anti-climactic. I don't need to see them angsty and bemoaning their situation, but, on the other hand, it cheats the relationship with this simple wrapping-up with little to no valid explanation.

I read the "Morning After" scene and T'Pol's subsequent behaviour the same way pennyq did. That said, I think it's perfectly understandable that Trip might not have, and that he may even have perceived it as pulling away with no intention of ever coming back (particularly her pushing him away after her marriage is annulled), or simply stringing him along. After all, he wasn't privy, for example, as we were, to her conversation with her older self in E², in which she admits to being confused. I think the bonding finally cleared things up for him, and I read the final scene in "Bound" as his finally expressing that understanding of things. By "it's not such a big deal", I assumed he meant that it was nothing they couldn't work out.

I thought the Mirror Universe version of Trip and T'Pol were a riot. Since we still don't really know if Vulcan females actually go through Pon farr independtly of males, it wouldn't surprise me one bit if T'Pol lied about her PF to gain sexual control over him. There's nothing like mixing business with pleasure.

Is there a particular Tri'Pol fan fic any of you would recommend?

I've had the sense that Trip has been more into T'Pol than vice-versa. That could be attributed to Vulcans not showing emotions/weakness and we just don't see much of her feelings. It doesn't feel like T'Pol has strung him along...she's just not sure if she's interested or wants to "go there". There are many complications to consider.

Loved the scenes between them when they went to Vulcan together.

After the anti-climatic Bound, I liked the twisted MU Trip and T'Pol relationship. A bitter Trip attracted to and manipulated by T'Pol. And T'Pol using Trip's attraction to her as a weapon. They both seemed a little disgusted with themselves. Too bad MU is only two episodes long.

Yeah, I liked the MU relationship too. I also think that Mirror T'Pol at some level likes Trip better than the others - he seemed to have a moral center (being a good engineer) and was bitter rather than evil. Not bad for a Terran.

Let me get this straight. They discover this [admittedly contrived]bond, then that they have a child, they name their daughter, then grieve together over her death, Trip seems to express the desire to have another child with T'Pol, T'Pol grabs Trip's hand, and then they... break up? What? I hate Bermaga.

I loved this relationship with all of its complications and false starts. Blalock and Trinneer's chemistry sold me on it. Until Bound. But Bound sucked, and I figured everyone has an off week, and the whole episode sucked. Then I thought with Terra Prime that they were going to finally give this relationship some justice. Until Bermaga ruined it with the finale. What the hell?

What's even worse is that they make it clear there's been pretty much nothing in the last six years, what they had is all over, including the bond, one assumes...but they make T'Pol start "missing" Trip and he lets her know that even though they won't see each other, at least they'll keep in touch. Sooo, we're not together, but let's revive this 6-years dead relationship just so when he dies it'll hurt her more. But if they wanted angst, can you imagine how wrenching it would have been if they'd been together or even married? But no, oh no. This way it was, "Oh, he's dead. How sad. Enough about that, how's the speech coming?"

Bastards.

Yeah, I don't understand what the point was behind the Tri'Pol resolution. Would it have killed them to stay together? Even in an on-again, off-again manner? Elizabeth's death didn't seem to act as a catalyst to break them up, so what's up with that?

Maybe this is why Jolene was so pissed off about the finale? I sure as hell would have been.

I'm with you guys.

In the episode before it seems like Tri'Pol is on it's way and then in the finale we learn it basically ended. That gave me whiplash along with a loud, "What the fuck?"

The writers just really dropped the ball on the relationship - all the way around. Then killing Trip so pointlessly, was just LAME. Sigh.

I've been agreeing mostly with everything you guys have said. I got sucked back into this show by Similitude and this pairing, then got mercilessly strung along by the writers right up to the end. I don't care that much about general ST canon, I'd just like it if the writers could maintain some consistency with the characters and the relationship. They seem to like to pull out the shocking sexy stuff once and and while (Broken Bow, Harbinger, etc.), presumably for the male audience, then the rest of the time it's just teasing. Would it be so tough to show some real intimacy once and a while? Or would it be asking so much to let it end sort of happily? X-Files, Farscape, JAG -- they all threw their fans at least a brief relationship bone at the end.

The actors did great stuff with what they were given, but jeez, it seemed so childish sometimes. I mean, everyone on future earth seemed to have heard about their romance, but when did it happen exactly? We didn't get to see very much of it -- as Keckler would say, show, don't tell. And don't get me started on the bond -- could have been so much better, could have been sexy, or funny, or spooky. What a blown opportunity! (And I'm not even pretending the finale happened, it's not worth responding to.)

I have a feeling the fanfic writers will be going overboard with this, how to fix what Bermaga royally fucked up.

I was such a Tri'Pol shipper, JB and CT had such great chemistry together and then Bermaga essentially give the fans a big fuck you. It could have been so good.

I think I'm actully going to hunt for some fanfic. It might make me feel better.

I agree with everyone who was angry/disappointed by the finale. They really screwed it up big time. But if the rumors are true and the finale was actually written last year, I'm not surprised it turned out so crappy.

There was so much love and promise for Trip and T'Pol in Terra Prime. It's really frustrating that they couldn't just leave it at that.

For me, "Terra Prime" wasn't so much about believing the whole Tri'Pol saga as much as it was being convinced about how deeply connected they both felt to the baby they didn't even conceive.

Good acting will do that. I have the utmost respect for both Connor Trinneer and Jolene Blalock for pulling that off. Brilliance.

Trip and T'Pol's relationship is what kept me watching week after week, wondering how far they'd get in each ep. They had great chemistry together and man did I cry my eyes out in that last scene in Terra Prime; it still brings me to tears. I was so happy after that. YAY! They're gonna be together.

Then we get slapped with the stinky garbage that was supposed to be a finale.
What. The. Frell.

Nothing in that episode made sense. Even Quantum's addition to the final frontier speech at the end was stupid. The other captains sounded cool. He sounded like an excited idiot who didn't know what the heck he was doing, which, according to Keckler, he didn't.

As I have no love life of my own and not ashamed to admit it, I live through various relationships on tv, and they were my 2nd favorite. I still don't get a good night sleep cuz my mind is thinking about Trip and T'Pol. It's a shame that their future is a story that will never be told and be canon. Now I gotta go and find some fan fic to get out thoughts of what the Bermaga twins did. Who put them in charge anyway...

Gene Roddenberry.

I've decided the ignore the finale altogether. Never happened. Never saw it. Trip never died and I never had to watch Riker mush that dough around.

I'm much happier this way, and I think it gives the episode the respect it deserves.

Trip and T'Pol had chemistry from the beginning(the decon scene). If they wanted to update Pride and Prejudice for Trek, they would have been the perfect couple to do that. I liked the slow and subtle development of their relationship. Trip was sweet when he said he understood that she she needed time to herself at the end of Daedulus. I never watched Bound but all you guys said that it does a bad job explaining their bond. Some fanfics do a better job of it. But don't get me started on the finale. The holodeck was BSing.
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2427871/1/
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2413354/1/

My Tri'Pol love and hate varied and depended mainly on the quality of the writing.
When it was good they were fun and when it was bad...well, I disavowed any knowledge of it.
Anyway, for all true Tri'Pol fans out there I thought I would share this great music video. Please, Follow the link and click on Four To The Floor.
It is a really great video and best part of all is that it has a Quantum slam.

Cool, jake. Unfortunately, it makes we want to watch ENT again. ENT without Quantum (yay!). Now there's a show I'd watch.

As much as I hated watching these two angst over each other, I am even more mad that there was no pay-off. WTF is the point of having them dance in circles, have their characters assasinated and dedicate so much time to the two of them if they weren't going to get together in the end?

Ugh. I'll admit that A/T'P drew my eye first. But if there weren't twelve monkeys at twelve typewriters and two producers wanking off at it, this could could have explored a lot of new territory. We could've seen the true complexities of an inter-special relationship that went beyond the bone-crushing sex that Jadzia and Worf had. ;)

Hm. I actually thought Jadzia and Worf's relationship did go beyond the bone-crushing sex on the inter-special level. I mean, planning the wedding, Worf's annoyance at Jadzia's willingness to share their private issues with her friends, the trip to Risa bringing out even more issues the two of them had as very different individuals...

Don't even remind me of the stupidity of "...Without Sin..."!!!!

I guess what I wasa trying to say is that in the 24th century, inter-species relationship are fairly common place; nearly every Trek show had at least one mixed character on it (IE, Troi being half-Betazoid), but since the Federation was oh-so-peaceful, there wasn't so much conflict about it. P/T on VOy touched up a bit on it, but most of the conflict there was on B'Elann's behalf.

On ENt...well, you've watched the show, I assume ;) Vulcans thought of us as smelly Humans, and Humans thought of them as cold-hearted. And with the xenophobia after the Xindo conflict, perhpas we could have seen how people related to a Vulcan-Human relaitonship in this era. I imagined it'd be akin to seeing an interracial couple back in the 1960's South.

On a somewhat unrelated note, I'm glad to have found a place to discuss the topic of T/T'P without it becoming a war-zone. at the Trek board I usually post at, the shipping between the A/T'Pers and T/T'Pers over the past three years have made that forum the laughingstock of the forum. It's not that bad anymore, but the rep still exists.

Anyway, I love this place! :)

Yeah, you could say I've "watched" it. I've also cooked it, digested it, and spit it back out for the glory of Television Without Pity.

I'm glad you like our site -- you're very welcome here!

For reasons I can't quite figure out, I've recently become fascinated by Connor Trinneer. I tried to get into Enterprise when it came out but I have serious Scott Bakula issues and the writing just annoyed me so I gave up. I did keep up with the basic story from the recaps (because Keckler rocks) but I need help from long time Enterprise people for episode suggestions.

What are the best episodes to view for the Trip/T'Pol storyline? The few times I did watch the show, this was the story that caught my interest. I'm going to rent the series from Netflix and would like a head's up on the good episodes. Then I get the fun of reading Keckler's recaps immediately after the shows!

Also: Why, oh why, are the DVDs so freakin' expensive? They're up there with the original Farscape release for crazy overpriced merchandise.

You're in good company here. Most of the episodes I'd recommend are from season three, especially "Similitude," "The Forgotten," and "Zero Hour." And of course if you want to see a little skin (and probably cringe a little... or a lot), there's "The Xindi," "Harbinger," (which I guess you sort of have to watch to understand everything that happens in their relationship afterwards), and "Damage."

Honestly, I'd recommend just getting all of season 3. I found that to be the most enjoyable season, and it's all 1 long story arc, and there really aren't that many duds, while there are a few gems in there like "Twilight" and "Similitude." Season 4 is a lot more painful, although "Terra Prime," the second to last episode and what most of us like to think of as the last episode, is rather nice. But for the most part, Trip and T'Pol's relationship was kind of trashed in season 4, and it's all rather painful to watch.

I'd say "Terra Prime" is essential as an open-ended final Trip-T'pol episode. There's also that episode where every other male on the ship is affected by the green alien gals, except Trip because of some immunity he borrowed through his relationship with T'pol.

I was thinking of mentioning "Bound" too, because that episode was written to be shippy, but it was also rather bad, and for some reason all the chemistry between Trinneer and Blalock inexplicably vanished in that episode, which was sad because it aired after a pretty long hiatus during which many shippers were looking forward to Trip and T'Pol finally getting their relationship, and the whole episode just fell flat.

"Home" wasn't bad (at least the Trip/T'Pol parts weren't. I'll refrain from discussing Archer's ridiculous plotline), except it was sad in the end and was the beginning of a horribly contrived plotline meant to be an obstacle in their relationship. There were enough natural obstacles in their relationship that creating that one was just unnecessary and annoying.

So true on both eps, penny.

Thanks, guys.

I did watch the final few episodes because I was interested in the fan furor and because Blalock said in an interview the end was awful. I agreed with her. I liked the baby and the Earth First types and all that. Then the final episode was just a cup of warm spit.

Next question: Where does a girl find good Trip/T'Pol fanfic? Or good Trip/anybody but Archer fanfic?

Here.

Trip/T'Poler's Fan Fiction