#that said. you remember that scene w trip and archer where trip is like. we're not going to be taking any of t'pol's non-interference crap

[el-im]

Whoa whoa whoa, how could the Romulan War plot line POSSIBLY be more of a drag than the Xindi-Iraq-yeehaw-space-revenge plot?

an excellent point. however! i think (at least for me personally) if you could set aside the Very Obvious American War On Terror Analogy (i know that's near impossible, but bear with me), the xindi as a collective of several intelligent species evolving on the same planet was something that trek hadn't explored in depth before, and allowed for there to be some fascinating investigations into a theoretical society, whereas i think there was less to work with with the romulans (arguably)

the xindi's own political infighting/social hierarchies/development of behavior based on evolutionary history (the arboreals being characterized as slow/ponderous, akin to earth tree sloths, the insectoids being quick to anger/make agreeable/do anything--due to their comparatively shorter lifespans/consequent necessity for fast decision making) i think made their defensive war all the more interesting, and by showing the scenes with the xindi council, we get to see this enemy "humanized" ("xindi-ized"? -- meaning, provided with individual characters and not just represented as a faceless, ruthless enemy)

but! i think most importantly, that showing them as beholden to the sphere builders made their motives comprehensible (being told they would be attacked if they didn't strike first)--i think the great schism here is that the romulans are kind of just portrayed... more or less... as evil vulcans. i've kind of blocked out the last season of picard (which explored romulan society/culture more than i think has ever been done before so i'm using that as a baseline here) so frankly don't remember if they give an in-universe reason for this but... isn't their whole society kind of based off of espionage/expansionism/colonialism, but for no explained reason?? if this is the case (it might not be, honestly--i don't remember) it just seems that they're a lot easier to vilify without real reason, which i imagine makes for a worse arc. so, in terms of rationale for warfare, i think this at least gives the xindi the upper hand/claw/fin (EH?)

that said, i'm kind of biased against the romulan war because i read andy mangels' the good that men do recently, which was written to sort of carry enterprise on after the ending of the show, and in it, they use trip as a section 31 agent, who is physically made to look like a romulan and sent to infiltrate romulan territory. i know they likely wouldn't do this in the show but... god. i shudder to think of what they'd have come up with had they gone down that road.

#that said. you remember that scene w trip and archer where trip is like. we're not going to be taking any of t'pol's non-interference crap #right? we're gonna obliterate them--right captain??? #fucking awful #ent is so regressive but. i don't know. you gotta watch it w vented goggles on to keep it from getting in ur eyes #asks #trek