::sniff, sniff:: No T/R. None. Nada. Zippo. Bubkis. I begin to wonder if the writers even remember that Trip and Malcolm are supposed to be friends, at least. My screencaps are starting to look disgustingly similar. Archer and Reed on alien planet. Trip and T'Pol (and occasionally Phlox) on Enterprise. It's bloody depressing, is what it is.

On the up side, I did like the episode. The Xindi-Sloth are nifty, and Gralik's horror at hearing that his compound was being used in a WMD was conveyed very well, despite the heavy latex mask the actor was wearing. It's so nice to see that they're hiring guest actors who can, you know, act. I'm glad that Gralik managed to get through Jon's thick skull the concept that not every member of all the Xindi species could or does know about the council's plot to destroy Earth.

Speaking of the multi-species Xindi... It was good to hear an explanation for the destruction of the Xindi homeworld. Civil war... suppose that could be turned to Earth's advantage, hmmm?? There was apparently once a sixth species of Xindi -- Avians. None managed to escape when the planet was destroyed through the actions of the Reptilians and Insectiods. Adds a nice (okay maybe not exactly nice) touch, I think. Not only are these people willing to go in for a little pre-emptive genocide on sketchy information, but they're already responsible for the genocide of one of their own. Such lovely people.

So, Trip starts playing with the Reptilian-Xindi weapon they acquired at the end of "Rajiin," to learn about its capabilities and to find defences against it. Um, so we're supposed to believe that Malcolm's had this thing for however many weeks and hasn't torn it apart, put it back together, and tested it within a micron of its existence? Sure... Must be because he's depressed about not getting to see Trip anymore. That would explain his suddenly lousy aim, too.

Yeah, so poor Malcolm misses this little flying droid multiple times, right after Jonny-boy nails one of the suckers on the first try. ::shakes head:: Now, I realise that Jon is the captain and all, but why does that mean that tbtb have to make Malcolm look inept to show what a skillful guy Jon is? I thought the point of having specialists was so that the captain didn't need to be The Best At Everything and could have his hand-picked, talented officers step in to help him out when he needed it. Foolish me. I'm having bad thoughts about sending Archer and T'Pol on alone to stop the Xindi. Then Malcolm and Trip can show what talented individuals they are, with the odd break now and again to have hot sex in secluded spots around the ship. ... Actually, maybe they're not such bad thoughts. ;)

One last thing, Hayes made his reappearance tonight. Despite snarky excanges and Alpha-male verbal tussling in "The Xindi," Hayes is willing to back Malcolm up when the lieutenant questions Archer's decision to let Gralik go, accepting the Xindi-Sloth's plan to help them get information. Archer slapped him down for it, but I have to give him points for standing by Our Man Reed. I would have liked to have seen more of that conflict tbtb promised us would be happening between Reed and Hayes, but since the trade-off so far seems to be no cringe-inducing "sexual tension" between Malcolm and McKenzie (which tbtb also had made noises about), I'm willing to go with it.