At long last, Enterprise returns to Earth. But after an initial heroes' welcome, the crew spends time apart. Trip accompanies T'Pol to Vulcan for a difficult visit with her mother. Reed tries to enjoy newfound fame, but while out in public with Phlox, encounters ugly xenophobia. And Archer avoids a debriefing by escaping into the wilderness with the captain of Enterprise's sister ship.
"Home" is a decent episode, though it doesn't quite have the clarity or focus of The Next Generation. "Family" was unified by the overarching theme stated in the title. "Home" is more disjointed, with no one theme bridging all the story lines.
To some extent, the episode presents a take on a classic war theme that "you can't go home again." Reed and Mayweather discover a streak of racism against Phlox, and T'Pol's visit with her mother exposes just how wide the gulf between the two has grown. But Archer's story is not about him confronting changes in himself or on Earth. He has changed, as his interactions with Captain Hernandez make clear -- but not only is Archer not forced to confront his changes, he's rewarded for them by a congratulatory Ambassador Soval.
In two of the stories, our heroes are forced to ask themselves "what were we even fighting for?" The racist attack on Phlox exposes how humanity seems to have regressed in its moral progress. Archer spends much of the episode grousing about how Starfleet probably should be more of a military force. But then T'Pol's story doesn't really continue that theme into the third story line; her plot is about her feeling coerced into an arranged marriage.
Two of the stories are united around the theme of obligation. Archer has done his duty with the Xindi, and now must face an uncomfortable duty of a different kind in recounting all his morally questionable decisions to Starfleet and the Vulcans. T'Pol faces a two-fold obligation, to the fiance she's pledged to, and to her mother, whose troubles can be resolved if T'Pol helps her. But then the story line on Earth doesn't touch on obligation at all; it's a vignette about xenophobia in a time of war.
What I'm getting at is, "Home" is a bit jumbled. That said, focus on any one of the three main stories, and you'll find something to like. I find Archer's rock climbing themed booty call with Hernandez the least compelling story of the three, but even that is interesting for the contrast between Archer as dispirited veteran and Hernandez as hopeful neophyte. And they didn't skip on the production, taking the show on location for the mountaineering scenes.
The message of the Phlox story line is most engaging to me, even if that story gets the least screen time. Phlox's strange "puffer fish" face moment is just weird, but the scene itself gets something exactly right. In the 9/11 allegory that is the Xindi arc, it's important to note is that bigotry against an "other" -- even if they had nothing to do with it -- lingers for a long time. There's a particularly good scene between Phlox and Hoshi, in which Hoshi gives what should be the right answer (hiding away isn't the way to redress prejudice), but Phlox gives a more nuanced take (that trauma is real, and you can't rush the time it takes to heal).
Most of the episode focuses on T'Pol and Trip on Vulcan. While I'm not as invested in their on-off relationship as the writers, I do like the complications of this episode as a way of keeping them apart. It's so Vulcan to cloak an emotional urge to help family in a sense of moral obligation. It is, well... fascinating to see what a mob-style shakedown looks like when delivered in a Vulcan way. And the ending is especially poignant, as Trip must stand there as T'Pol marries someone else.
Also, T'Pol's mother T'Les -- as played by Joanna Cassidy -- is really an interesting character. On the one hand, she's all about tradition (providing a vehicle for this episode to have fun showing us some Vulcan customs). But at her core, T'Les shows unusual emotional intelligence for a Vulcan, revealing that she knows about the feelings her daughter has for Trip -- and even encouraging him to talk to T'Pol before it's too late.
Other observations:
- The show's CG may not always look top notch (though for being two decades old, it's great). But they often know exactly how and when to use it. The opening shot of the packed stadium welcoming Enterprise back is very effective, as is the vista of Vulcan with its colossal statues.
- Enterprise's sister ship, Columbia, was of course named for the space shuttle -- which had been lost less than two years before this episode aired.
- Yes, imagine the shame of the child of a Vulcan and human. (wink wink)
- When Archer and Hernandez make camp for the night, they weirdly seem to have made a point of laying their sleeping bags directly on hard rocks rather than the softer ground visible all around them.
I wish "Home" hung together thematically a bit better, but I do like that the show took a moment for this Xindi "epilogue" before rolling on to new stories. I give the episode a B.
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