Breaking the Ice

This is a very mundane episode of "Star Trek: Enterprise". This does not mean it's bad but not a whole lot happens in this one. The Enterprise finds a comet and decides to investigate it up close--so close, in fact, that they land a shuttle on it. However, the Captain is surprised to see a Vulcan ship nearby that just seems to be watching them. Captain Vanik says he's not spying on them, but it sure looks like he is--especially because the Vulcans ALWAYS seem to be doing that! At the same time, a coded letter than T'Pol sends makes some of the crew wonder where her loyalties lie.

This episode just reinforces how sneaky and distrustful the Vulcans are on this series--a major plus for "Star Trek: Enterprise". In the other Trek shows, they are dull and ultra-nice--so it's a nice chance to once again see how duplicitous and nasty they were when they first began interacting with the smelly and stupid humans.

The one thing that always annoyed me with the Star Trek series is the liberties they take with the laws of physics. This episode had me shaking my head with amazement that I felt the need to review something I wouldn't normally take the time to do. Sometimes you suspend your believe system to allow for such things as a properly functioning warp drive, time travel where deemed unavoidable, sound in a vacuum, etc. You want to participate in the fun. In this instance two of the crew are deployed onto a comet with a diameter of about 82 kilometers or so. They went to all of the trouble, for once, to position a nearby star in order for the comet to have a tail - the star is referred to as the 'sun' for some reason though I don't believe they intended THE Sun, and plotted a position of the slowly rotating comet for the shuttle to land to avoid 'the sun'. But then when the crew land they are almost instantly confronted with a very Earth-like gravity field very much not in line with what a comet of that size would have -- which should be virtually none. OK, so let's chalk it up to gravity boots? Somehow they manage to build a snowman!? Hmm. OK...let it slide. But then on the way back to the ship one of the crew falls into a hole with much the same force as if influenced by normal Earth gravity? He hurts his leg and needs to be carried back to the ship and yet his apparent weight causes the going to be slow. Literally, he should weigh next to nothing here. Later, the ship falls into a hole as well with the same 1g results. Very hard. Very abrupt. Sorry, folks. This fails the physics test even if you struggle to construct an assumptive work-around in your head. Even the mining explosion makes a huge noise - which they even warn about prior to the explosion. I notice I neglected to review the actual episode here however. Very well. It was mundane. Nothing special here. I have never watched the Enterprise series previously but noticed it did not have a long stay on the network. So far into the series, for myself, no episode has been memorable - but this one takes the cake to bend the universal laws of common physics in order to establish a story for the fragile blossoming of the human/Vulcan relationship. There were more plausible ways to do it.

The Enterprise crew investigate a large comet whilst being observed by a Vulcan ship.

This episode is mainly about character development, particularly T'Pol and it includes some insight into the relationship between Humans and Vulcans. It has a heavy use of symbolism with its ice theme and pecan pie scene. Nothing of real note actually happens other than a revelation about T'Pol's personal life, which does make her character a bit more interesting from here on.

There is (I hope) one good scene at the beginning where the crew are communicating with Earth children by answering questions about space exploration and the day-to-day functioning of a starship. If this is intentionally awkward, then well done to the crew for making it seem quite authentic.

It isn't a bad episode but it does rely on you having some interest in the characters. I've still got an open mind that the characters will develop in an interesting way, so I am willing to invest the time. It is worth watching though for continuity purposes regarding T'Pol's character.

A writing team noted for their work later on "Mad Men" contributes a subtly engrossing story in which the focus shifts to Jolene Blalock and her Vulcan culture. She remains an enigmatic character and the way that issues and feelings are presented tangentially is far different from the TV soap operatics one might expect.

The series' main theme of exploration is maintained as the Enterprise encounter a very large comet and sends a pod to get a core sample of a rare mineral. There's a bit of derring-do and suspense as retrieving the pod and its crew becomes dangerous, but the show is about human versus Vulcan behavior, not action-movie gimmicks.

A stoic (almost to the point of satire) Vulcan commander of a starship is monitoring our heroes for unspecified reasons, and he's well-played by William Utay, known for his long run on the soap "Days of Our Lives".

The Enterprise finds an iced comet with the rare mineral Eisilium in its core. Captain Archer sends Lieutenant Malcolm Reed and Ensign Travis Mayweather in the shuttlepod to collect samples 20 m beneath the crust using a portable drilling rig. Meanwhile, the Enterprise is observed by a Vulcan ship and the Vulcan Captain Vanik believes the humans are arrogant and prideful. When the Enterprise discovers an encrypted message from the Vulcan ship to T'Pol, Ensign Hoshi Sato gives the translation of the message to Trip, and he sees that it is a personal letter. The ashamed Commander seeks T-Pol and asks her to forgive him. Later she calls him to discuss the subject. When the drilling team is trapped in a hole in the comet, Captain Archer accepts the offer of help of the Vulcan vessel.

"Breaking the Ice" is the best title of an episode that I have recently seen. This title is related to every situation disclosed in this episode: refer to the surface of the comet; refers to the relationship of T'Pol and Trip, and also to humans and Vulcans. The wise T'Pol has lesson of human free will and uses it to define her destiny. I believe the respect among the humans in the Enterprise and T'Pol will increase. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Quebrando o Gelo" ("Breaking the Ice")