Taking another hint from HopefulRomantic, I am starting this thread to debate the relative merits and causes of an Archer-T'Pol couple versus Trip-T'Pol.
I think the next quote pretty much covers Commodore64's position.
The stars crossing the lovers are T'Pol being Vulcan. If only in that respect, she is better suited with Archer, but I think that chemistry nonwithstanding, the relationship between Archer and T'Pol might be too professional for romance. Or it would've had to be very serious.
What happens with Trip has nothing to do with what might have happenend with Archer. It is something she hadn't foreseen.
T'Pol herself, at some point, confesses to Trip that the first night, she was merely experimenting. She was answering the call of the wild. And for that, she made a strategically better choice. (choice. The first initiation of intercourse looks like a heat-of-the moment thing, but if she was experimenting, she had thought about it. The moment was precipitated because a rival appeared. T'Pol wanted Trip for herself.)
She dumped Trip in the end, after all. Archer would have been harder to drop. I do not deny that she grew attached to her lover. I didn't want her to marry Kos under his nose. All right, she did it only for her mother and she brought Trip along and designated him as her favourite. But it was still cruel and she didn't get back with Trip. She had never intended to marry him anyway, I'm sure. Even if at some level she perhaps still loved him after she was back to Vulcan normal.
She preferred to use Trip to get her emotional jollies (and get a little hurt in the process) rather than getting in bigger trouble with Archer, I think.
And who is to know about the future, after Trip is out of the way??
Archer has grown much closer to Vulcans, isn't it in season 4, after the T/T thing?
But that's a whole different story.
So in fact, the two couples are not mutually exclusive. A/T is just easier to resist than T/T. When we are governed by our feelings and sexual pulsions we do not make the same choices as when our reason is at the helm.
I think the next quote pretty much covers Commodore64's position.
As for "star-crossed lovers" -- I think Trip was indicating that (like Romeo and Juliet) they were ill-fated. One doesn't typically use the term star-crossed lovers to mean: hey, we've got a great relationship. It usually means two people who can't seem to get together; the "stars" are against them. In Romeo and Juliet's case, they were also doomed.
I'm not in favor of seeing two people who seem to be bad for each other (a relationship that conjures up each person's worst attributes) struggle to work it out on screen or in real life. In that case, I'm in favor of seeing on television the conflict resolved by the couple growing apart and eventually finding true love elsewhere that heals both parties.
I -- for example -- enjoyed the chemistry between Archer and T'Pol and found their relationship a lot more satisfying; it didn't involve drugs or people feeling generally miserable. Instead, to me I saw people who were friends with the prospect of something more -- a relationship built on equality and caring. To me, that's the best basis for a relationship -- on-screen and off.
The stars crossing the lovers are T'Pol being Vulcan. If only in that respect, she is better suited with Archer, but I think that chemistry nonwithstanding, the relationship between Archer and T'Pol might be too professional for romance. Or it would've had to be very serious.
What happens with Trip has nothing to do with what might have happenend with Archer. It is something she hadn't foreseen.
T'Pol herself, at some point, confesses to Trip that the first night, she was merely experimenting. She was answering the call of the wild. And for that, she made a strategically better choice. (choice. The first initiation of intercourse looks like a heat-of-the moment thing, but if she was experimenting, she had thought about it. The moment was precipitated because a rival appeared. T'Pol wanted Trip for herself.)
She dumped Trip in the end, after all. Archer would have been harder to drop. I do not deny that she grew attached to her lover. I didn't want her to marry Kos under his nose. All right, she did it only for her mother and she brought Trip along and designated him as her favourite. But it was still cruel and she didn't get back with Trip. She had never intended to marry him anyway, I'm sure. Even if at some level she perhaps still loved him after she was back to Vulcan normal.
She preferred to use Trip to get her emotional jollies (and get a little hurt in the process) rather than getting in bigger trouble with Archer, I think.
And who is to know about the future, after Trip is out of the way??
Archer has grown much closer to Vulcans, isn't it in season 4, after the T/T thing?
But that's a whole different story.
So in fact, the two couples are not mutually exclusive. A/T is just easier to resist than T/T. When we are governed by our feelings and sexual pulsions we do not make the same choices as when our reason is at the helm.
