...but the subplot of Trip and T'Pol's ongoing fromance, brings it down a notch. Especially Trip's cop-out in the end.
I understand Trip is worried about T'Pol using the telepresence machine, but they are both Starfleet, and even more than that, they're both officers.
But here again we have Trip written as the lovestruck puppy, while also being exceedingly arrogant, insisting only he can build the machine. He refuses to rest because "I alone can fix it." We all know how that mentality works out.
In the end when Trip asks for a transfer, he claims it's because he missed a "10 point variance" on some setting on the machine, and that it was due to his mind not being on the job. We're led to believe it's because of his obsession with T'Pol, but he's been distracted by her for two seasons. Why 'suddenly' can he not do his job properly?
I think it was rather that he refused to rest in his arrogance, and that is what contributed to his mistake. And likely to his overly irrational behavior with T'Pol and the machine. He's been shown to forego rest to the point of exhaustion, even forcing Phlox to relieve him from duty temporarily until he gets some sleep.
Trip is the chief engineer, but surely he's not the only good one on Enterprise. He has an entire team of engineers, that are apparently too stupid to function without him looking over their shoulders. I don't remember Geordi ever acting that way, and even Torres trusted her team to do their jobs.
I'm not a fan of Trip's character anyway. The writers made him loudmouth, obnoxious and arrogant from the get-go, and then never gave him a chance to grow throughout the series. He kept running his mouth when he shouldn't, judging other alien races by human ideals and making questionable decisions.
Goodness know, he's not the only one. The writers practically made Archer bi-polar in his personality; going from one extreme to the other by episode. But they at least gave him 'some' growth as the series went on.
T'Pol is the only character we really saw substantial growth in as each season progressed. She went from rigid Vulcan to relaxed Vulcan, with a deep understanding and friendship with humans and respect for other races she would never have considered previously, like Andorians.
I wish they would've treated every main player to that same standard. Poor Travis and Reed not only got zero growth, they were almost treated as side-characters in the last season.
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