I'm not entirely sure what point this episode is trying to make.
On the surface, it seems to be an obvious gender equality play, with clear parallels to the past (and continuing) struggle by women in all parts of real-life human society to be taken and treated as equal to men in all respects. There's even an entire story beat wherein the writers went to great lengths to have Phlox scientifically determine that the Cogenitor is equal in every way to the other Vissians.
Then there's the undercurrent of commentary on slavery. The Vissians do seem to treat the Cogenitors in their society as property of sorts, what with the male/female couple being "given" a Cogenitor. This line doesn't go very far, unfortunately. All we really have on it is that one scene around the conference table with the Vissian engineer's line asserting that Enterprise's stewards are forced to serve, and his following statement that it's easy to misunderstand another culture when you don't understand it. That's pretty much all of it. We don't know if Cogenitors are forced somehow into serving their role. Vissian culture remains pretty opaque.
The whole thing is overshadowed by the resolution, in which Trip is all but formally reprimanded for his methods, if not his intent. (Though it's pretty clear that Archer disapproves of both.) Keeping in mind that this is pretty much pre–Prime Directive, I suppose Archer's objections stem mainly from the obvious: Trip's actions resulted in a sentient being committing suicide. I'm just not sure how to square his apparent opposition to Trip's intent, which was to show one Cogenitor that the way they're treated isn't necessarily right. Potentially starting a social revolution would definitely violate the Prime Directive, but that doesn't exist yet.
Unless the subtext is that the Cogenitor was killed to prevent her inflammatory ideas from spreading. That would make the story marginally more interesting, maybe.
Review by dgwVIP 10BlockedParent2018-03-02T08:02:51Z
I'm not entirely sure what point this episode is trying to make.
On the surface, it seems to be an obvious gender equality play, with clear parallels to the past (and continuing) struggle by women in all parts of real-life human society to be taken and treated as equal to men in all respects. There's even an entire story beat wherein the writers went to great lengths to have Phlox scientifically determine that the Cogenitor is equal in every way to the other Vissians.
Then there's the undercurrent of commentary on slavery. The Vissians do seem to treat the Cogenitors in their society as property of sorts, what with the male/female couple being "given" a Cogenitor. This line doesn't go very far, unfortunately. All we really have on it is that one scene around the conference table with the Vissian engineer's line asserting that Enterprise's stewards are forced to serve, and his following statement that it's easy to misunderstand another culture when you don't understand it. That's pretty much all of it. We don't know if Cogenitors are forced somehow into serving their role. Vissian culture remains pretty opaque.
The whole thing is overshadowed by the resolution, in which Trip is all but formally reprimanded for his methods, if not his intent. (Though it's pretty clear that Archer disapproves of both.) Keeping in mind that this is pretty much pre–Prime Directive, I suppose Archer's objections stem mainly from the obvious: Trip's actions resulted in a sentient being committing suicide. I'm just not sure how to square his apparent opposition to Trip's intent, which was to show one Cogenitor that the way they're treated isn't necessarily right. Potentially starting a social revolution would definitely violate the Prime Directive, but that doesn't exist yet.
Unless the subtext is that the Cogenitor was killed to prevent her inflammatory ideas from spreading. That would make the story marginally more interesting, maybe.