I confess, I really like this goofy episode. I read over all of the reviews here, and, in many ways, the reviewers managed to point out aspects of this odd little episode that fly in the face of what Trek is all about -- duty, responsibility, open-mindedness to alien civilizations, etc.
Obviously, why Archer chooses to bring his dog to the planet is a head scratcher. He explains that even Porthos deserves a little fresh air sometimes, but, given the importance of the visit -- to acquire some much needed hardware for the ship -- it is ill-conceive to risk offending the natives of this planet who we know to be a sensitive lot based on the last time the crew of Enterprise met them.
Nevertheless, I think the other reviewers are being a little bit slavish in their commitment to "Trek-canonical continuity", or whatever you want to call it, and would be well disposed to suspend their religious-like devotion to the tenets of Starfleet, and enjoy the goofiness of this very good-natured episode.
From the suggestion that Archer subconsciously lusts after SubCommander T'Pol -- and his amusing Freudian slips in support thereof -- to the sappy-but-compelling story of a grown man's genuine affection for his quadraped, and, well, the "heart" of this episode defeats the logic of it, handily.
If you are willing to enjoy it as an intergalactic drawing room comedy, and not an "affront" to all that is sacred Trek-wise**, it's an amusing and, at times, touching episode.
** As much as I love Trek in all its incarnations, I certainly do not share the absurd conviction of those humourless drones who seem to view the show as sacred text, and Gene Roddenberry as their saint. If every episode involved a serious inquiry into the manifold issues of intergalactic travel, the prime directive, and the philosophical implications of exploring the galaxy...well, then the various series would be crushed under their own self-important weight, and the concepts themselves would implode, pulling the entire series into a dull, lifeless black hole of preachy sanctimony. The series needs -- nay, demands episodes like this one, if for no other reason than to remind the viewers that, particularly in the early years of warp-speed space exploration, mistakes and folly were as much a part of the growth process as revelation and enlightenment.
In short to the naysayers: lighten up. It's just a television show.
