History YMMV / StarTrekEnterpriseS02E022Cogenitor

* AuthorsSavingThrow: A common criticism of many ''Star Trek'' episodes was that the crew tend to fly off to the next adventure without having to deal with the consequences of their actions. The episode [[Recap/StarTrekEnterpriseS02E06Marauders "Marauders,"]] from earlier in the season, often gets heat for this. Well, this is ''not'' that episode, and Archer and Trip are left incredibly shaken up once they find out the result of their decisions. (Trip's actor, Connor Trinneer, once mentioned in an interview that this was a concern he'd brought up while talking with the writers.)

** During Archer's first of two WhatTheHellHero 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 [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone himself]] for allowing this to happen? He looks like he's about to cry when he delivers the news to Trip. It's also worthy of note that starting in season 3, Archer would undergo some CharacterDevelopment, and wouldn't be so happy-go-lucky as a captain as he was before. Perhaps the seeds are laid in this episode.

* AlternateAesopInterpretation: It is better to die than return to sexual slavery.

* TheWoobie: That poor cogenitor. They can hardly be blamed for reaching a DespairEventHorizon.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: During Archer's first of two WhatTheHellHero 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 [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone himself]] for allowing this to happen? He looks like he's about to cry when he delivers the news to Trip. It's also worthy of note that starting in season 3, Archer would undergo some CharacterDevelopment, and wouldn't be so happy-go-lucky as a captain as he was before. Perhaps the seeds are laid in this episode.

* TheWoobie: That poor cogenitor. They can hardly be blamed for reaching a DespairEventHorizon.
* YouLookFamiliar: Isn't that [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Commander Tomalak]] that Archer's making friends with? And [[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Quique]] is the Vissian chief engineer?

%%* ValuesDissonance: There's one particularly awkward moment where Trip refers to the cogenitor as a "she," because they "seem more like a she than a he." In the years since this episode debuted, the use of the singular "they" for nonbinary/agender individuals has become more commonly used, in the [=LGBTQ=] community and beyond. To be charitable, taken in-universe, this could be the first sign that Trip might be in ''way'' over his head.

* ValuesDissonance: There's one particularly awkward moment where Trip refers to the cogenitor as a "she," because they "seem more like a she than a he." In the years since this episode debuted, the use of the singular "they" for nonbinary/agender individuals has become more commonly used, in the [=LGBTQ=] community and beyond. To be charitable, taken in-universe, this could be the first sign that Trip might be in ''way'' over his head.

* DesignatedHero: Archer. Some critics of the episode ponder whether Trip was ultimately responsible, given that the cogenitor only committed suicide when Archer forced it to go back to a life where it was treated as little more than a pet rather than granting it asylum, and whether Archer should have been the one getting the WhatTheHellHero treatment instead.

* {{Moe}}: The very timid and shy cogenitor.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: During Archer's first of two WhatTheHellHero 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 equally mad at [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone himself]] for allowing this to happen? He looks like he's about to cry when he delivers the news to Trip. It's also worthy of note that starting in season 3, Archer would undergo some CharacterDevelopment, and wouldn't be so happy-go-lucky as a captain as he was before. Perhaps the seeds are laid in this episode.

* YouLookFamiliar: Isn't that [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Commander Tomalak]] that Archer's making friends with?

* LoveItOrHateIt: Some condemn this episode and the actions of the heroes, but there are quite a few who call it one of ''Enterprise's'' more thought-provoking episodes.

* FridgeHorror: So, how do Vissians react when they give birth to a cogenitor?
* FridgeLogic: The cogenitor was determined by Phlox to be no more or less intelligent than any other Vissian. Yet Trip got the cogenitor to learn to read perfectly well in the span of a single day! Is the cogenitor that much of a quick study, or are ''all'' Vissians quick studies compared to humans?
** Considering their captain cruised through Shakespeare in less than a day and was already reciting it, it's probably the latter.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: During Archer's first of two WhatTheHellHero 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 equally mad at himself for allowing this to happen? He looks like he's about to cry when he delivers the news to Trip.