[7.6/10] I like this episode because it’s basically a hangout, more of a chance to get to know everyone better than a spate of high drama. Sure, there’s a bit of action here. Reed and Mayweather have a ticking clock to finish their work before the sun comes up on the comet, and their shuttle falls through the ice, and there’s a daring (if doomed) claw machine rescue attempt. But none of that really comes into play until the last ten minutes of the episode, and it’s fairly low stakes by Star Trek standards. Instead, this is a low-key episode, as devoted to helping to scaffold the relationships between our characters and their erstwhile allies as it is to any game-changing plot machinations or high intensity conflicts.
That comes down to four scenes in particular, some of which are connected, but many are almost just little vignettes, nominally related to one another, but mostly just small sketches to give us character details.
The most effective, if not the most artful, of these scenes was the one where Archer and the rest of the bridge crew responded to the questions of an Irish elementary school class. It’s a good narrative device for providing exposition, answering queries about food, feces, and fraternization that fans may have been wondering about as well, like the impudent little schoolchildren that we are. But it also gives each of the bridge crew a moment to shine. Archer tries to project statesman-like certainty and assurance, but worries about how it went. Hoshi explicates the challenges of using the universal translator but expressing budding self-confidence. Proud but insecure Trip doesn't want the moppets to think he’s an intergalactic toilet-cleaner. And Dr. Phlox shows himself off as a delightfully nerdy blowhard.
It’s not much, and it’s a little cheesy at times, but again, it does what it sets out to do in a genial fashion. It explains some of the sundry details of Enterprise in a didactic way that’s swallowable given the context, and it gives several members of the cast to have those little character moments that are both fun and endearing.
But my favorite scene in the episode is the one between T’Pol and Trip where the Vulcan seeks her crewmate’s advice on what to do about her wedding. On the one hand, it’s a superb interaction from a character perspective. We see a different side of T’Pol, one who’s worried about her personal life to the point of insomnia and headaches, who’s taking Dr. Phlox’s advice to talk about her problems, and who is trying to balance her responsibilities to her people and her responsibilities to her crew. We also see a different side of Trip, one who is still blustery in his way, but who’s also apologetic and rueful about violating T’Pol’s privacy and who seems genuinely interested in connecting with her as a friend. (Methinks the Captain’s discussion about dating is not a coincidence.
Still, it’s also a great representation of the differences between Western and Eastern views of individualism. Trip represents the Western view of self-determination, being able to direct one’s own life and pursue life, liberty, and happiness. T’Pol represents the Eastern view of community, where one’s responsibility to a greater whole, one’s culture and family, comes before individual pursuits. Enterprise isn’t exactly even-handed in the debate, but it acknowledges both sides of it, which makes T’Pol’s inner turmoil, and eventual choice at the end of the episode to choose the Enterprise over her marriage, a much more meaningful one.
As much as this is, at heart, a T’Pol episode, about her being stuck between those two impulses, it’s also another human/Vulcan diplomatic kerfuffle episode. Archer feels like the Vulcans have had a contingent “looking over his shoulder” at least since the Andorian Incident. But he’s trying to kill them with kindness, hailing and greeting the Vulcan captain, trying to include them in the Enterprise’s expedition, and even inviting him to dinner.
That dining scene is impressively awkward, calling to mind a similarly touch-and-go effort at dinner table detente between humans and Klingons in Star Trek VI. Archer is bending over backwards to try to connect with Captain Vanik, who is begrudgingly polite but as curt and rude as any Vulcan you might expect. The sense of Vulcan arrogance, of seeing humans like the children Archer was just reaching out to, comes through loud and clear, with him not appreciating the good will behind each of these gestures if not the gestures themselves. The scene does a great deal of work to help justify the resentment that Archer and others feel for the Vulcans, showing him trying very hard to accommodate his green-blooded counterpart and getting nothing but dismissals and thinly-veiled insults in return.
That’s what makes the final major scene of the episode so impactful, and the culmination of Archer’s attempt to connect with Vanik and T’Pol’s efforts to connect (in her own distinctly Vulcan way) with Trip. When Archer tries to rescue Reed and Mayweather on his own, rebuffing Vanik’s offers, the echoes of that dinner scene are present. He wants to buck Vanik’s impression of humans as bunglers who need the Vulcans to save their bacon on routine missions. But T’Pol interjects that Vanik expects Archer to reject his help, that they see humans as prideful, but that Archer, being human, can choose to put his crewmen’s lives over his pride. It’s not the most elegant threading of the needle you’ve ever seen, but it’s sound and significant.
So is the closer, where T’Pol sends (through official channels) what’s implied to be her message that she’s staying on the ship, allowing her wedding to be canceled, and getting to know these humans, and their different but potentially liberating customs, a little better. It’s not exactly subtle, but her trying Trip’s pecan pie at the end of the episode is a superb way to symbolize that. And “Breaking the Ice” is a great way for the audience to get to know all of these characters, T’Pol in particular, better in between the galaxy-shaping misadventures which will no doubt provide plenty of fireworks in the episodes to come. Taking this time to let us understand the people in those interstellar firefights, taking a breather where we can just spend time with them as people, makes the biggest blasts and dramatic twists worth caring about.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2019-04-16T22:57:33Z
[7.6/10] I like this episode because it’s basically a hangout, more of a chance to get to know everyone better than a spate of high drama. Sure, there’s a bit of action here. Reed and Mayweather have a ticking clock to finish their work before the sun comes up on the comet, and their shuttle falls through the ice, and there’s a daring (if doomed) claw machine rescue attempt. But none of that really comes into play until the last ten minutes of the episode, and it’s fairly low stakes by Star Trek standards. Instead, this is a low-key episode, as devoted to helping to scaffold the relationships between our characters and their erstwhile allies as it is to any game-changing plot machinations or high intensity conflicts.
That comes down to four scenes in particular, some of which are connected, but many are almost just little vignettes, nominally related to one another, but mostly just small sketches to give us character details.
The most effective, if not the most artful, of these scenes was the one where Archer and the rest of the bridge crew responded to the questions of an Irish elementary school class. It’s a good narrative device for providing exposition, answering queries about food, feces, and fraternization that fans may have been wondering about as well, like the impudent little schoolchildren that we are. But it also gives each of the bridge crew a moment to shine. Archer tries to project statesman-like certainty and assurance, but worries about how it went. Hoshi explicates the challenges of using the universal translator but expressing budding self-confidence. Proud but insecure Trip doesn't want the moppets to think he’s an intergalactic toilet-cleaner. And Dr. Phlox shows himself off as a delightfully nerdy blowhard.
It’s not much, and it’s a little cheesy at times, but again, it does what it sets out to do in a genial fashion. It explains some of the sundry details of Enterprise in a didactic way that’s swallowable given the context, and it gives several members of the cast to have those little character moments that are both fun and endearing.
But my favorite scene in the episode is the one between T’Pol and Trip where the Vulcan seeks her crewmate’s advice on what to do about her wedding. On the one hand, it’s a superb interaction from a character perspective. We see a different side of T’Pol, one who’s worried about her personal life to the point of insomnia and headaches, who’s taking Dr. Phlox’s advice to talk about her problems, and who is trying to balance her responsibilities to her people and her responsibilities to her crew. We also see a different side of Trip, one who is still blustery in his way, but who’s also apologetic and rueful about violating T’Pol’s privacy and who seems genuinely interested in connecting with her as a friend. (Methinks the Captain’s discussion about dating is not a coincidence.
Still, it’s also a great representation of the differences between Western and Eastern views of individualism. Trip represents the Western view of self-determination, being able to direct one’s own life and pursue life, liberty, and happiness. T’Pol represents the Eastern view of community, where one’s responsibility to a greater whole, one’s culture and family, comes before individual pursuits. Enterprise isn’t exactly even-handed in the debate, but it acknowledges both sides of it, which makes T’Pol’s inner turmoil, and eventual choice at the end of the episode to choose the Enterprise over her marriage, a much more meaningful one.
As much as this is, at heart, a T’Pol episode, about her being stuck between those two impulses, it’s also another human/Vulcan diplomatic kerfuffle episode. Archer feels like the Vulcans have had a contingent “looking over his shoulder” at least since the Andorian Incident. But he’s trying to kill them with kindness, hailing and greeting the Vulcan captain, trying to include them in the Enterprise’s expedition, and even inviting him to dinner.
That dining scene is impressively awkward, calling to mind a similarly touch-and-go effort at dinner table detente between humans and Klingons in Star Trek VI. Archer is bending over backwards to try to connect with Captain Vanik, who is begrudgingly polite but as curt and rude as any Vulcan you might expect. The sense of Vulcan arrogance, of seeing humans like the children Archer was just reaching out to, comes through loud and clear, with him not appreciating the good will behind each of these gestures if not the gestures themselves. The scene does a great deal of work to help justify the resentment that Archer and others feel for the Vulcans, showing him trying very hard to accommodate his green-blooded counterpart and getting nothing but dismissals and thinly-veiled insults in return.
That’s what makes the final major scene of the episode so impactful, and the culmination of Archer’s attempt to connect with Vanik and T’Pol’s efforts to connect (in her own distinctly Vulcan way) with Trip. When Archer tries to rescue Reed and Mayweather on his own, rebuffing Vanik’s offers, the echoes of that dinner scene are present. He wants to buck Vanik’s impression of humans as bunglers who need the Vulcans to save their bacon on routine missions. But T’Pol interjects that Vanik expects Archer to reject his help, that they see humans as prideful, but that Archer, being human, can choose to put his crewmen’s lives over his pride. It’s not the most elegant threading of the needle you’ve ever seen, but it’s sound and significant.
So is the closer, where T’Pol sends (through official channels) what’s implied to be her message that she’s staying on the ship, allowing her wedding to be canceled, and getting to know these humans, and their different but potentially liberating customs, a little better. It’s not exactly subtle, but her trying Trip’s pecan pie at the end of the episode is a superb way to symbolize that. And “Breaking the Ice” is a great way for the audience to get to know all of these characters, T’Pol in particular, better in between the galaxy-shaping misadventures which will no doubt provide plenty of fireworks in the episodes to come. Taking this time to let us understand the people in those interstellar firefights, taking a breather where we can just spend time with them as people, makes the biggest blasts and dramatic twists worth caring about.