YMMV / Star Trek Enterprise S 02 E 022 Cogenitor

• Alternate Aesop Interpretation:
  • It is better to die than return to sexual slavery.
  • Surrogacy is evil: Charles mention that they will be discarded after the baby is born and will play no role in the baby’s education. Trip points out there is no reason for this since the baby could not have been born without Charles, since the couple could not procreate without them.
• Alternate Character Interpretation:
  • During Archer's first of two What the Hell, Hero? speeches, he makes an interesting comment about how if Trip was doing what he thought Archer would do, then Archer hasn't set a very good example. And since Archer was the one who made the call to send the cogenitor back to the Vissian ship, is Archer simply upset with Trip in the final scene, or is he really just projecting; equally mad at himself for allowing this to happen? He looks like he's about to cry when he delivers the news to Trip.
  • Charles' act is not just a Driven to Suicide Despair Event Horizon but a I Die Free that prevents her from returning to a life of sexual slavery.
• Broken Base: This is a very polarizing episode, in an already polarizing series. The people who hate this episode give Archer Designated Hero status (which isn't exactly new for Archer) and some even believe it condones, however accidentally, the discrimination of other cultures against a gender. On the other hand, it's looked upon positively by fans who see it as a blunt examination of a crew who are still new to space, relatively speaking that is, and don't have a grasp on interplanetary diplomacy just yet. At any rate, there isn't much fence-sitting with this episode.
• Designated Hero: Archer. Some critics of the episode ponder whether Trip was ultimately responsible, given that the cogenitor only committed suicide when Archer forced them to go back to a life where they were treated as little more than a pet rather than granting them asylum, and whether Archer should have been the one getting the What the Hell, Hero? treatment instead.
• Moe: "Charles," the very timid and shy cogenitor.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Archer being furious for Trip driving Charles to suicide misses that they chose to die rather than return to their society. That seems to imply that Archer was deliberately ignoring just how horrifying their lives had to be.
• The Woobie: That poor cogenitor. They can hardly be blamed for reaching a Despair Event Horizon.

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