Star Trek: Enterprise — 2x02 — Carbon Creek
Synopsis
T'Pol's recollection of the Vulcans' first encounter with Humans conflicts with what Archer and Trip learned from history books.
Remarkable scenes
- Trip wondering just how old T'Pol is.
- Mestral: "It's unfortunate that you'll be leaving these people without experiencing one thing they have to offer." Stron: "Such as alcohol, frozen fish sticks, the constant threat of nuclear annihilation?"
- Trip: "This is like finding out Neil Armstrong wasn't the first man to walk on the moon!" T'Pol: "Perhaps he wasn't."
- T'Pol winding up Archer and Trip over whether or not her story was true.
Review
T'Pol's story is captivating, and the Vulcan actors do a superb job. The episode leaves you wondering if any of it is true, but like Voy: The Haunting of Deck Twelve, there's clear evidence that it is true shown in the final scene. Besides, I find it hard to believe T'Pol would lie when she said the incident was well documented on Vulcan. Unfortunately, these plots are poor recipes for episodes and seldom make good ones. I was pleasantly surprised that this episode didn't turn into another Voy: 11:59, which was totally irrelevant. But then again, an episode like this is something the writers can only get away with once a long while. It was done well and it was a nice change of pace, but we just don't watch Star Trek these kinds of stories.