Episode Report Card Keckler: B- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Melded Cheese on Melda Toast
By Keckler | Season 2 | Episode 14 | Aired on 02.04.2003
T'Pol walks through the same misty streets they used in "Civilization" until a voice hisses at her from the shadows. A cloaked Dr. Yuris -- you know, I once had a crush on a guy named Yuri, and he had a best friend called Nate, and once I got over my crush and realized he was a jerk, I used to put their names together with hysterical results. Well, hysterical to me and Puzer -- passes over a Day-Glo pink receptacle, telling her it might be useful. T'Pol asks what it is, and Dr. Yurinate tells her, "The research your doctor asked for." T'Pol opens the container and reveals a bunch of little vials. Since it is the "research" Phlox asked for, it is really not clear by looks alone whether those vials contain computerized information or if it is actually medicine for Phlox to analyze. Such is the Trekverse when stuff like that all looks the same. T'Pol tells Dr. Yurinate that he took a great risk in bringing her the stuff. "One that I'm more than willing to take," Dr. Yurinate says emotionally. "Why?" T'Pol breathes. "There's more intolerance today than there was a thousand years ago -- it has to stop," Dr. Yurinate tells her. T'Pol asks him why he's jeopardizing his career to help someone he despises. I think he already answered that question with the comment that the intolerance has to stop. "If I despised you, I would be despising myself," Dr. Yurinate drama-queens. "I'm part of the minority." T'Pol's lips swell with the complexity of the situation, and we go to commercial so we can sit and ponder all the important messages this episode contains, and how important it is for us to sit and ponder them. Don't get me wrong -- I'm behind the sermon this episode is preaching, but it's about a decade late with its Modern Scourge Of Anvils.
What IS that drat "Childhood" song in the friggin' Saturn commercial? It's annoying to hear it constantly and not be able to figure out the words or the whingey singer.
Back to the sociological timewarp. T'Pol reminds Dr. Yurinate that she's not a member of the minority, but Dr. Yurinate tells her that in the eyes of his colleagues, she might as well be. "Anyone who chooses to perform a mind-meld is worthy of contempt," Dr. Yurinate tells her. "What if I didn't choose?" T'Pol says, looking away much in the despairing manner of the Lady of Shalott when the curse had come upon her. "You were coerced," Dr. Yurinate states in sympathetic disbelief. He urges her to tell the High Command, as they will be much more understanding of her situation. T'Pol asks if he is infected. "No, only a small percentage are," Dr. Yurinate tells her, and then lets her know that, if asked by his colleagues, he will not be able to condone what T'Pol did. I thought they just established that she didn't do it -- that it was done to her. T'Pol understands that he cannot jeopardize his position. Dr. Yurinate has to get back, and pleads with T'Pol to come clean with his colleagues before they tell the High Command. T'Pol thanks him for his help.
Mess. Hoshi and Trip break bread together; Hoshi can't understand why Trip wants to watch a movie when there's a whole new world to be explored down below. "Are yew kiddin'? They're showin' The Black Cat with Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi!" Trip tells her. Aw, Trip's winning me over -- that's one of my favorite horrors. Did I ever tell you about the time my grandmother was in Dracula with Bela Lugosi? I did? Oh well, can't brag about that enough. "It sounds like you're the one picking the movies," Hoshi comments. "Me?" Trip innocents. "Who else would choose an obscure horror film? Why not something a little more, I don't know, romantic?" Hoshi asks, just as Trip notices Pheezil Phlox getting some phood. "Obscure"? That's just sad. Hoshi gets up to leave and Trip panics, stammering out, "What's the rush? You haven't even finished your dinner!" Hoshi tells him there's a shuttle leaving for the surface soon. Trip convinces her she should try the cobbler: "Chef outdid himself." Hoshi relents and sits back down for a few more minutes as Pheezil makes a beeline for their table.