Post by stargazer1682 on Oct 16, 2019 22:38:26 GMT
Let's try this again on the right board....
It's been a while since I last watched this episode, possibly years; and I'm not entirely sure if I've re-watched it after its initial airing. I remembered the gist of the story - Trip encounters a person from a species that's a third gender; who, though they're as mentally able as the other two genders from their planet, is treated as a second-class citizen, if even that. They don't have names, they don't learn to read. They're treated more like a commodity than a sentient being.
Going into, I found Trip's proactive indignation and decision to teach this person to read and instill his values on them kind of awkward to watch. It seems a little forced; and I feel like whatever this episode is trying to accomplish gets muddled, because they don't really examine the "human" rights question very closely. They even go out of their way of having numerous characters telling Trip to keep his nose out of another species personal business, only for him to proceed anyway.
It's all fine and well to examine where that culture is coming from - take TNG's "Half A Life" for example and examining how society views older people. But I found this episode lacked nuance or a proper exploration of the question of who the cogenitor was, what they could be and whether the decision Archer ultimately makes is the right one. The show allows the story to make open ended assumptions, predicated on human concepts of society; and we're never given any reason to believe those assumptions are wrong, yet we're also not given much of a reason to believe the alien species the cogenitor is a member of is justified in their position, much less supporting Archer's decision not to grant asylum.
When they get word that the cogenitor killed itself, Archer gives Trip a dressing down for being responsible for this; and therein lies the problem I think I have with this episode - the point is meant to be a human applying human values to an alien species, and as a result, unwittingly does damage to that species or at least one their members; which doesn't remotely seem like the story they setup over the course of the preceding 40 minutes of the episode.
While I'm not sure that I'd be as quick as Trip to sneak off to some random alien's quarters and say, "I want to teach you to read," without any indication that this is something they wanted someone to help them do; I couldn't help think how I would respond were I in his shoes when being admonished by Archer after the cogenitor died. The show tries to put the responsibility of that suicide squarely on Trip's shoulders and I think that's extremely unfair; and even worse that Trip accepts that as his fault. Arguably there's room for Trip to "blame" himself, based solely on the reasoning that had he not intervened the cogenitor wouldn't have killed themselves, but the more important underlying issue is why the cogenitor wanted to kill themselves? Trip asks this question, but rather than actual answer it, he skips right to, "this is my fault" and Archer agrees. But that's the full answer. Ostensibly the greater reason for such an act was because they had become aware a potential for their life that their society would never allow them to live up to.
If I were in Trip's shoes, I'd probably feel a little bit responsible, but I'd be more indignant about the greater reason why the cogenitor felt they didn't have anything to live for; and arguably Archer should have seriously questioned whether he made the right decision denying their request for asylum, since by the same guilt trip he tried applying to Trip - that had Trip not involved himself, the cogenitor would still be alive - the same could be said about Archer's decision, that he had he granted the cogenitor's request, they would presumably have still been alive.
It's been a while since I last watched this episode, possibly years; and I'm not entirely sure if I've re-watched it after its initial airing. I remembered the gist of the story - Trip encounters a person from a species that's a third gender; who, though they're as mentally able as the other two genders from their planet, is treated as a second-class citizen, if even that. They don't have names, they don't learn to read. They're treated more like a commodity than a sentient being.
Going into, I found Trip's proactive indignation and decision to teach this person to read and instill his values on them kind of awkward to watch. It seems a little forced; and I feel like whatever this episode is trying to accomplish gets muddled, because they don't really examine the "human" rights question very closely. They even go out of their way of having numerous characters telling Trip to keep his nose out of another species personal business, only for him to proceed anyway.
It's all fine and well to examine where that culture is coming from - take TNG's "Half A Life" for example and examining how society views older people. But I found this episode lacked nuance or a proper exploration of the question of who the cogenitor was, what they could be and whether the decision Archer ultimately makes is the right one. The show allows the story to make open ended assumptions, predicated on human concepts of society; and we're never given any reason to believe those assumptions are wrong, yet we're also not given much of a reason to believe the alien species the cogenitor is a member of is justified in their position, much less supporting Archer's decision not to grant asylum.
When they get word that the cogenitor killed itself, Archer gives Trip a dressing down for being responsible for this; and therein lies the problem I think I have with this episode - the point is meant to be a human applying human values to an alien species, and as a result, unwittingly does damage to that species or at least one their members; which doesn't remotely seem like the story they setup over the course of the preceding 40 minutes of the episode.
While I'm not sure that I'd be as quick as Trip to sneak off to some random alien's quarters and say, "I want to teach you to read," without any indication that this is something they wanted someone to help them do; I couldn't help think how I would respond were I in his shoes when being admonished by Archer after the cogenitor died. The show tries to put the responsibility of that suicide squarely on Trip's shoulders and I think that's extremely unfair; and even worse that Trip accepts that as his fault. Arguably there's room for Trip to "blame" himself, based solely on the reasoning that had he not intervened the cogenitor wouldn't have killed themselves, but the more important underlying issue is why the cogenitor wanted to kill themselves? Trip asks this question, but rather than actual answer it, he skips right to, "this is my fault" and Archer agrees. But that's the full answer. Ostensibly the greater reason for such an act was because they had become aware a potential for their life that their society would never allow them to live up to.
If I were in Trip's shoes, I'd probably feel a little bit responsible, but I'd be more indignant about the greater reason why the cogenitor felt they didn't have anything to live for; and arguably Archer should have seriously questioned whether he made the right decision denying their request for asylum, since by the same guilt trip he tried applying to Trip - that had Trip not involved himself, the cogenitor would still be alive - the same could be said about Archer's decision, that he had he granted the cogenitor's request, they would presumably have still been alive.