This episode had the potential of becoming a great classic show, but the first 3/4 of it was very boring and the last few scenes kind of rushed the meaning of the story. This was a very good topic to write about and an excellent moral dilemma to deal with.  However, the story (the way it was told in this episode) needed a lot more work to make the scenes and acting flow more smoothly. The Tripp scenes were just way too predictable and lame. It was quite obvious that he wanted, knowingly, and intended all along to interfere with the Vissians "sex" culture. Consequences or not, Tripp was going to play Mr. Righteousness and right what he thought was wrong. In a way, he did represent the flower of how humans tend to want to impose their values on other cultures. However, none of that ever transpired very well.  The last scene with Archer and Tripp kind of hit the meaning of the story right on. I rather enjoyed watching Archer chewing out Tripp for what he did. Perhaps the captain should have given Tripp a good'ol fashion southern spanking. At that point, it really hit Tripp hard at how his actions caused such harm, even though he thought that his intent may have been innocent. I was rather surprised that Archer didn't demote, punish, or have the Vulcans haul Tripp back to earth. He was certainly deserving of it. I think that there was definitely more room at the end for Tripp to suffer a much harsher consequence other than just a guilty feeling. It would have made for a classic Shakespearian character fall!

Speaking of Shakespeare, I was really looking forward to see Andreas Katsulas's performance in this episode. But what a lame part he got! Almost any starving actor could have played the Vissian captain just fine. I though it was a huge waste of Katsulas's acting abilities. The Vissian captain character didn't even play significant role in the story. And this whole Archer/Vissian captain thing about exploring the star was a big joke. There was no real drama in the scenes to speak of and added no real value to either character. However, the special effects of the sun were great!

The TNG episode 'The Outcast' played a similar story line much, much better. This Enterprise episode didn't quite capture the spirit of that theme. Perhaps the writers would have been better off reversing the story and having the human's sex culture being interfered with.