The Mirror Universe two-parter was kino.
And so many midriffs.
The mirror universe is totalitarian, cruel and filled with backstabbing and hardship... but it does have far sexier universe and more catfights.
I also love the little throwaway line from Phlox who has been comparing differences between literature in both universes and noting the differences, except for Shakespeare which is the same in both. In fact, I really like that aspect of the Mirror universe in that it's not a world where good guys are all evil and bad guys are all good. It's a complex and darker take on things but for example T'pol is good in both. This was beautifully lampshaded in DS9 with Rom listing out "but if the Major is bad, then Garak should be good but Garak is bad so..." throughout the episode.
Between contracting space AIDS from mind rape, having her people turn her back on her, getting addicted to Trellium-d, having her mom killed by rogue governmental forces, star-crossed relationship with Trip, a sick halfbreed clone baby etc... Well, T'Pol took it quite stoically. I thought Blalock's acting was poor at first but she quickly got in the groove and by the end I liked her a lot & thought she was one of the best matches for actor/character in Enterprise. She starts to do this quiet seething thing where she stands still but her body is heaving like she can barely control her emotions.
When I first saw T'Pol I liked her characterisation of Vulcan behaviour but as the series went on I started to feel a little like maybe she was losing sight of how the lack of emotions was supposed to work. Only to have the rug pulled by the reveal of her sickness and that she was supposed to be losing control. Something which she played very well, imo.
I thought she did a great job, imo.
Vulcans are bad ass motherfuckers that need a crazy logic cult just to keep themselves in check. You made me realize just how good her "in the trenches" Vulcan representation was. Need more of that and less of the haughty council or half breed crying Vulcans. Make Vulcans Great Again
I like this view. And again, Enterprise handled this correctly with T'pol talking to Tripp about how it wasn't that they didn't have emotions but that they couldn't allow emotions. Funnily enough the biggest weakness to the Vulcan obsession with Logic > Emotion, is the Romulans. If there's any truth to the Vulcan view of logic and emotions for their species then the Romulans should be wildly emotional and prone to rage, love, passion on a scale that would make your average Klingon look like Lt. Data. But they're not. They're a bit back-stabby but otherwise just smug humans.
If you want to make the Vulcan logic-cult make sense, it's the Romulans that need to change. As stands, it makes the Logic obsession look like an actual mad cult based on a lie.
Hard disagree. She ended up being a likable enough character, but she was a bad Vulcan. She ended up just appearing annoyed/angry/brooding all the time.
I think Tuvok was by far the best "modern" if you want to call 90s Trek that Vulcan. Even when he was annoyed he did not show it, instead he appeared almost perplexed or curious, but you also understood when he was working hard to suppress his emotions at times as well, especially dealing with Neelix.
Almost at all times...
But on the subject of T'pol I thought she was an excellent Vulcan. I mean even before all the madness set in when she was supposed to be a model. We got the slightly suppressed condescension (the hardest of all emotions for Vulcans to suppress it seems), but she was also diligent and helpful and proactive. And after a year with the human crew even told a joke once, kind of, in a weird understated Vulcan way. I'm thinking the episode where she tells the story of the "real" first contact between Vulcans and Humans over dinner with Tripp and Archer. Ending the whole thing with "you asked me to tell you a story". And Archer and Tripp dumbfounded and laughing and saying "she played us".
I thought both she and Tuvok's actor did a great job of conveying they have emotions but renounce those emotions.
It's easy to play a Vulcan as just an arrogant standoffish asshole. It's hard to play one as completely approachable and even friendly in their own unique but emotionally unavailable way. I can think of many 3 or 4 that managed to pull it off.
I agree. But I think Jolene Blalock pulled that off.