Stigma, Prod#ST:ENT 140
Synopsis:
T'Pol contracts a disease that would forever stigmatize her among her people.
MJC Review:
The Drama -
Not a bad episode on the bigotry.  I thought that Jolene's performance as T'Pol with this stigma was one of her finest.  Yes, the chick can really act!  I have nothing but high praise for her in this episode.   I never thought, that I would see so much emotional expression, from an emotional-less face.   Viewer's could actually "feel" what T'Pol was going through just by her looks.  Confronting her disease with the Vulcan doctors must have been an embarrassment for her. It was quite clear that Vulcan society had conditioned T'Pol quite well to "fear" associating with mind-melders.  Contracting the disease made her even more apt to suppress what had happened to her.  Although the personal and professional sacrifice by Yuris may relieve T'Pol's stigma view by her Vulcan peers,  it may as well be the beginning of her people to accept these "different" Vulcan cultures.   As far has this episodes allegory with AIDS, they should have aired it back in the late 1980's/early 1990's when AIDS awareness was at its most need!  Where's that 'Blood and Fire script??

I'm not sure if the ending with T'Pol and the Vulcan doctors was quite right.  All the events leading up to the ending made one think that there would have been some greater dramatic event to unfold.  Instead, it felt like a fire-cracker that began to fizzle only to go off with just a small bang.  I really don't like how Vulcan society has been portrayed in Enterprise, especially in this episode.  After centuries of devotion to logic, I would think that they would have gotten issues like prejudice and bigotry resolved by now.   Remember IDIC?  It seems like humans have resolved those issues faster in the last century than Vulcans have in over a millennia.  Not exactly  "logical".  If the producers want to "humanize" Vulcans and keep them logical at the same time, they should study more Spock scenes from the original episodes and movies.

There was definitely a continuity violation with Enterprise's own history on mind-melding. In 'Fusion', T'Pol had referred about how not only her, but how Vulcan society seemed unaware of mind-melders.  And now in this episode, she and the rest of her fellow Vulcans are completely aware of mind melds, though during this era it is looked down upon.  Plus, T'Pol willing went through the mind meld in 'Fusion'.  She was not forced or coerced.  Oh well, go figure.  I find it hard to believe how during the 22nd century, mind melds are limited to only a very few Vulcans with the genetic trait, only to be a widely common practice among all Vulcans and accepted in the 23rd and 24th centuries.  Also given the fact of Vulcan's long life spans, this makes it highly unlikely to progress so fast amongst the population in a century.  Oh well, another "go figure".  I can understand how the writers and producers wanted to portray this story idea, but they should have watched more 23rd and 24th century Star Trek series to see what had already been established.  Yea, this may sound like too much continuity bashing, but even when writers pitch series or book story ideas, the first thing that the producer or publisher tells you is make sure that you know your Trek literature!!

I thought the subplot with Trip and Feezal was great!  There were some really good hilarious moments worth laughing over!  In some ways it was even more entertaining than the main plot.  It was good to see some more good character development of Phlox and a "peak" at his multi-wived culture and lifestyle.  In fact, there was enough material to do a whole story on this topic.  If there had been any doubts about Trip's gentleman-ness in 'Precious Cargo', well, this experience with Phlox's wife will certainly straighten him out for a while.

 

Tid Bits -
1) Mayweather gets hurt during an alien sport game.

2) Neutron microscope - looks just like the 20th century electron microscope.

3) No shuttle pods were lost.

4) Where was Chef?

5) Where was Porthos?
What it all means -
Bigotry is still a problem.
3 cool peace signs
MJC 200302.09