Risa

My fiance and I just finished watching all of Enterprise and were discussing this too. We got the impression that the writers and producers really wanted us to like Archer and think he was a good guy, but we both decided that he's really just an inconsistent asshole.

Man, I love the bit where Archer is already force feeding Trip a plate of shit for giving a person kept in sexual slavery a glimpse of a better life, and to add insult to injury he's all, "And on top of it all, now the Vissian couple will have to wait to be able to conceive."

Archer is the worst captain.

What the writers were trying to convey is that meddling with other cultures can have serious negative consequences (the person trip tried to help killed themselves, relations with starfleet were very negatively affected etc) but it doesnt come off that way. It comes off as shitty society sexually enslaves people after brainwashing them to think thats normal and once they find out that it isnt for other cultures, they want no part in it. So Archer comes off as an uncaring dick for scolding trip for trying to do what he thought was right. And beyond that, it makes trek's non-interference policy look like a really bad idea when applied with no regard to the context. Which has been a longstanding issue in the series. i.e the prime directive is problematic.

I feel like it just showed that those responsible for the wrong thing happening often lash out at those that were trying to do the right thing,, I wouldn't have come to this conclusion if it wasn't for Tripp telling Archer that it wasn't his fault while he was chewing him out, and Archer didn't even acknowledge him saying it because he knew that it was his fault, not Tripp's, that Charles was dead.