Over dinner, T'Pol tells the tale of first contact between humans and Vulcans, via a mission one of her ancestors was a part of.

There's something about this episode curiously reminiscent of the Voyager episode 11.59, presumably its more contemporary nature, but what it reminds of more is the original series. While it might be slightly later historically, the arrival of a group of Vulcans and the wearing of hats to conceal their pointed ears is reminiscent of The City on the Edge of Forever. Indeed, I was waiting for some reference to a threshing machine to pop up at the start. Where this differs, however, is in the fact that it's not a classic episode. Yes, it's fairly inoffensive and interesting, but you can't claim there's a whole lot of story here.

Vulcans trying to blend in haven't been done especially often to date, and this provides a better insight into the race and their compassion and thirst for knowledge. What it also has is a little too much freestyling. There are a few gaps in plot here, such as the way through a pool game three Vulcans manage to get a stackload of groceries, and eventually wind up housed thanks to minimum wage jobs. The pool game is unlikely from the outset on the basis that one Vulcan knows he has to pocket the eight-ball last after specifying a pocket despite it being mentioned that he doesn't know the rules. Also, despite the cover story of a broken down vehicle, not one local seems to be concerned about where this vehicle is and when the three will be leaving.

Yes, it's fun, yes, it raises the odd chuckle; indeed J Paul Boehmer's character is awfully reminiscent of Spock, but this is very lightweight stuff and, as Trip points out, rewrites Earth history. Now, while T'Pol claims it's only a story that may or may not be true and only we know the truth, you still feel that Trip or Archer would have asked for some note to be put in the history books before the Enterprise-D crew learnt about Cochrane's encounter with the Vulcans. Would no one have made some enquiries about the real course of events at some point? Enjoyable, then, but still flawed.

***

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