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So I've just been watching Season 4 and I was thinking that I would throw 'Koss' out there (and no, I don't mean an airlock!!) in a similar way that's been done with Natalie - what do y'all think about him? I know that ff featuring him traverses a fairly wide range of opinion and can depict him as either a fairly decent guy or a bit of a jackass, but I'm really curious to get everyone's opinion on him. Personally, I can't figure him out: does he truly care for T'Pol, even though he's aware (particularly by the end of the Vulcan arc episodes) that she doesn't care for him in 'that' way? Is he too caught up in the 'Vulcan way'? Is he aware of T'Pol's partiality towards Trip? How does he feel about that? Anyone got any hypotheses on what happens to him after their last meeting? I always got the sense that Koss was a fairly straight-up, traditionally Vulcan, a decent guy who was quite happy to go along with the Vulcan way of things, perhaps put his faith in the opinions of his peers and elders that affection between them would grow in time.... he did release T'Pol from their marriage by the end of Season 4, acknowledging that she had only entered into the marriage to please and assist her mother. Anyway, I'm aware that this post is beginning to ramble now, so I'll stop, but to return to the tagline, what does everyone think of Koss?

Well, this would obviously be my take: Koss

I'm actually fairly indifferent toward him since he was clearly introduced to be little more than a roadblock for the TnT relationship. I don't really buy that he "cared" for T'Pol more than was proper for a Vulcan, but that's probably because I found the whole "blackmailing someone into marriage" idea to be pretty reprehensible. At best, I found him to be dull and not particularly imaginative - he strikes me as someone who is simply doing what he was told by his father, likely for political reasons ... although to be honest, the whole marriage subplot was so patently illogical that it was hard to see it in any light but the meta one: as soon as they introduced that element in Home, my very first reaction was "Ah, so this is how they're going to avoid writing an actual TnT relationship." Unless his family are Syrannites - something that is never explicitly confirmed, even though it is the only thing that makes any sense - then them wanting to have him marry T'Pol makes zero sense.

Rigil Kent wrote:... he strikes me as someone who is simply doing what he was told by his father, likely for political reasons ...

What he said! Koss is daddy's boy.

Okay, I just found this thread. There have been many discussions about Koss before, and I really don't want to repeat them here. But the people who have responded to this thread so far mostly seem to be in the camp of not caring much about the character. There are other fans who really hate him and there are a few fans who like him - seeing him as being misunderstood and really a good guy. I am one of those who think the actor who played him showed some evidence of really caring about T'Pol. Rewatch the Home episode and then watch the Vulcan arc episodes and decide for yourself what you think the actor was trying to show about the character.

There are a few fan fiction stories about Koss. I can't remember all of them, but I did write one myself and it is on Triaxian Silk. It is called "The Commission". You might find other stories about him by looking through the archive for his name in the title of stories. Or you might use the keyword system on this site to find stories about him.

I couldn't stand him in "Home." I thought he was cold and manipulative. I didn't know whether he was following his parents' orders, or whether he wanted her as a matter of Vulcan honor, but I didn't believe that he cared for T'Pol at all. There was that line about wanting her to be happy, though. That seemed weird for a Vulcan, and it left me open to the possibility that he might not be pure evil.

My opinion completely changed after seeing the Vulcan arc. There was something about the actor's performance in those episodes that made him seem more vulnerable, less cold. When T'Pol seemed so disgusted by his touch, I actually felt sorry for him. I think he was trying to do the right thing according to his culture, but that he also thought that T'Pol might grow to care for him like any "normal" Vulcan wife would do. Clearly a marriage based on blackmail isn't going to lead to that, though, and I think he realized it in the end.

Like Linda, I too have a Koss fic (called ... wait for it ... Koss). I never found the guy as appalling as many others do, but I also kind of gave him what I thought he deserved...

Kotik would probably think I was way too nice to him. Actually, make that yes, he definitely did (I just went to get the url and saw the comment).

I always kinda got the idea that Koss was a bit naive - probably had seen less of the galaxy, let alone Vulcan, than T'Pol - and was just doing what his parents wanted him to in "Home." I imagine that he felt a touch guilty for forcing T'Pol into something she didn't want, which nagged at him until the events of the "Kir'shara," by which point he had realized that, maybe, just maybe, his dad wasn't always right. And so he releases T'Pol, in part to show his father he's his own man, in part because he realizes that T'Pol would never be happy with him, without really thinking through the consiquences of doing so for himself. In this own little vision of mine, Koss was always a bit of an outsider as a child - socially akward - as was T'Pol - for her struggles with emotional control - and that mutual outsider-ness was why their parents decided to pair them up in the first place, in classic parental fashion.

Of course Koss let her go. The Vulcan Science Directorate has determined that, once you go Terran, there is no comparing. It would not be logical for him to even attempt to compete with such an immutable fact.

Rigil Kent wrote:Of course Koss let her go. The Vulcan Science Directorate has determined that, once you go Terran, there is no comparing. It would not be logical for him to even attempt to compete with such an immutable fact.

I always thought that a guy who was so lame that he had to blackmail a female in to marriage was a gold plated jerk.

It was interesting to see the look on his face just before the marriage Ceremony. He is standing and has a very hard look. Perhaps he was having a pang of doubt?

Once you go Terran, there is no comparing? Rigil that is one great line!



Someone give me a hand so I can get up from the floor after I stop laughing. Rigil has done it again!

Considering all the weird 'ships the Internet has spawned, I wonder if there are any Koss/T'Pol shippers out there?

Crystalswolf explores the possibility T'Pol would maintain a relationship with both Koss and Trip in The Understanding.

Once you go Terran, there is no compare'n. *snerch* Good one! Please make that your sig, lol . . . Oh, and I loved Linda's story, the Commission. If I recall correctly, Koss was both wronged and pitiable and borderline psychotic. Whoa . . . ! Was he a jerk? Yes. Do I feel sorry for him? Kind of . . . Check it out.