Utter bewilderment is becoming a bit of a habit between me and Star Trek. Critical Notes are at the end of the breakdown.
ONE
After showing the Enterprise in orbit, the screen goes to an insert of some kind of pharmaceutical container. Destination: Tantalus Penal Colony, Att: Dr. Tristan Adams. Pull out to show a man lift it on the transporter pad. It’s big!
TWO
It won’t beam down initially because the prison’s force field isn’t dropped. Then, cargo down, and a crate comes up. Classified Material, Do Not Open. The crate lid cracks open. An older man with an oxygen mask sneaks out. The Red Shirt doesn’t even hear him as he rushes up from behind and judo chops his neck. Super close-up on prisoner’s face, sweaty, as he hides by the door.
Roll credits.
THREE
On the bridge as Kirk tries to convince Bones that Dr. Adams’ theories make for a resort-like prison. McCoy says, “A cage is a cage.”
FOUR
Uhura patches through Tantalus: we can’t find one of our inmates. Just as the voice says, “This is a potentially violent case,” we cut to a man down. Oh, it’s transporter Red Shirt.
Security Alert, commands Kirk. Klaxons blare and crew dash about the hallways. Sweaty Prisoner runs past. Someone tries to stop him, then calls it in. Section C, Deck 14. On the bridge, Uhura turns to the Captain and says, “Section C, Deck 14.” (Just like Gwen “I have one job on this lousy ship” DeMarco!)
Oops, there goes another Red Shirt. Sweaty Prisoner comes up from behind in the hallway and chokes him, grabbing the phaser.
Kirk calls down to Tantalus and gets the big man himself, Dr. Adams, on the comms. He’s clever and extremely violent, says Adams of the escaped convict.
Bones walks over to Spock, who gives a philosophical discussion about human violence. Ah, it’s Spock’s chance to explain that Vulcans show no emotion, and are therefore not violent. McCoy and Spock startle as Sweaty comes onto the bridge and judo chops the Red Shirt at the doorway.
“Which one of you is the captain?” asks Sweaty, agitated. Kirk admits he is. Phaser, crazy eyes, confused walk — it comes closer. He squeezes out his name as if it’s painful — van Gelder — then asks for asylum. Kirk steps right, drawing Sweaty’s attention, while Spock circles behind. His eyes give it away, though, and Sweaty sees Spock. Boom — the minute he looks away Kirk kicks the phaser out of his hand. Then Spock gives The Pinch.
Sweaty goes to sick bay and the ship reverses course for Tantalus.
Bones reports the condition of Sweaty, on the med table, to Kirk. Schizophrenia, blah blah medical terms. I’d sure like to study him, McCoy says. Not our problem, Kirk replies. Apparently Sweaty babbled a lot, and now he sits up, crazy-eyed, and says a mouthful of nouns. Kirk walks close and says, “What did you say your name was?” Sweaty begins, then convulses in pain. He battles, says van Gelder, battles, says he was the director of — convulsion. It’s a scene-chewing performance until Bones tranquilizes him.
On the bridge Kirk approaches Spock, who’s engrossed at his monitor. Dr. Simon van Gelder has extensive tapes in the data library. He was assigned — not committed — to Tantalus. Kirk calls down to the surface and talks to Adams. Easy explanations. Van Gelder tried an experimental beam on patients even though it was unsafe.
SWITCH
Bones, coming up, whispers to Kirk that Adams’ version “doesn’t quite ring true”. After Kirk gives him a hard time about basing opinion on feelings, McCoy calls his bluff: it’s going in the medical log, which means the captain must officially respond. Looks like they’re going down to investigate.
Why is Kirk smirking?
Commercial break.
FIVE
Captain’s log, over, and then we see Kirk in his chair talking into a handheld recorder as he reports he’ll get to meet Adams at last. McCoy will stay with the patient, but a staff specialist, a doctor in rehabilitative therapy, will accompany the away team.
Oh, yeah. We get the Kirk freeze and doubletake as he enters the transporter room, the hip swing and push in on the young, sassy Dr. Helen Noel, the Spock eyebrow lift. Oh, no, hahaha! As he takes his transport pad she gives a throaty whisper, “Don’t you remember the science lab Christmas party?” Haha! She has false eyelashes and a bullet bra. Holy cow, folks. Hit me with a two-by-four, already. Oh, it’s only the two of them beaming down. Spock is just there to send him off.
On the planet. Wut?! As they take the elevator from their beam in point, he grabs her in a clench as the elevator car drops rapidly. It’s like Willy Wonka is in charge of it. Flashy lights. Whining machine noises. Please, no one sing.
Then the elevator stops, Kirk ungrabs Helen, and Adams cheerfully greets them. Kirk offers to check his weapon, as regulations stipulate, but Adams says it’s not necessary for him. He pours them drinks.
Kirk comms up to the ship to report their safe arrival. First, Adams must open the security barrier so the signal isn’t blocked. (That seems like a plant for later.) Then a woman enters. Sultry, caftan-wearing, mysterious. Lethe is her name. (Isn’t that the river of forgetfulness in Hades??) She’s a therapist now, but she used to be a criminal. I guess she was cured. The scene ends with a hold on her face. It’s a bold look. Creepy.
They get a tour of the facility: lots of colorful styrofoam walls and couples in flower print robes walking hand in hand. It’s like a cruise ship or something.
Up on the Enterprise in sick bay, Sweaty still yells on his med bed. He squeezes out the words “neural neutralizer”, which instantly gets Spock’s attention. He becomes too agitated, though, and must be tranquilized again.
Back at the prison, Adams says “neural neutralizer” as he explains a failed procedure to Kirk and Helen. It’s a room with a chair, and a swirly light overhead. They still use it, hoping it might work for the most violent cases. Adams claims that van Gelder used the beam at full volume and alone, which is why he’s insane now.
Throughout all the tour, Kirk is pleasant with Adams, but there’s an undercurrent.
After Kirk leaves the neural room we stay as the technician pumps up the volume on the guy in the chair. You will forget everything, he says into a microphone. Anything you remember will cause terrible pain. The dude in the chair has a tortured face.
Cut to Spock in medical. He’s on comms with Kirk, who’s with Adams in his study. Spock mentions the NN (I’m not typing neural neutralizer anymore!), then hesitates. Adams offers to leave the room so they can speak confidentially. As Spock explains more of van Gelder’s reaction, Dr. Helen jumps in and says his complaints are foolish. The shots jump between the two locations. When Kirk says, “I think we’ll spend the night here,” cut to Sweaty sitting up and shouting, “No!” Lol. Nice editing.
Dunh-dunh! Cut to commercial.
Ooh! Spock in sick bay starts to talk about, well, the Vulcan Mind Meld! This is its introduction, so he explains it. Sweaty, all crazy-eyed, looks forward to it. Oh, yes! Fingers on the head, Spock stalks around Sweaty, talking. “You will begin to feel a strange euphoria.” Haha, perfect! Nimoy bringing all the skills on this moment.
Crosscut with Kirk and Dr. Helen. He wants another look at the NN machine, and she wants to flirt. (Sigh.)
Back to Sweaty, calm, as he speaks as one with Spock about the NN process. He was empty, devoid of thought, and Adams filled him. So lonely, he says, as Spock shares his feelings.
Kirk sets the dials on the NN machine all the way to low and asks if Dr. Helen can monitor him safely. Yes, she says. She runs it for a second, and he doesn’t remember. Try again and make a harmless suggestion. You’re hungry, she says. And he is. Remarkably effective for a defective device.
Oh, dear. They try again with a different suggestion. She reimagines their Christmas party moment, and we fade to an enactment of Kirk carrying her into his bed chamber. (Ugh. How is this scientifically verifiable as a suggestion?) While Kirk’s smiling in the NN chair, thugs appear and grab Helen. Adams, at the controls now, cranks up the dial and takes over at the microphone. You’re madly in love with Helen. Helen fights, but the thug has her. Kirk in the chair squirms and looks in distress. Drop your phaser, Adams instructs. Kirk does. And your communicator. Kirk resists, trying to call the Enterprise. Adams pegs the dial and Kirk wails.
Cut to commercial.
SIX/SEVEN
Kirk on the bed in his room while Helen sponges his face. When he wakes he lovingly whispers, “Helen.” She corrects him, saying he must remember. It seems he doesn’t, that he still desires Helen, but then he pulls the grating off the air duct. (That was a misplayed beat, I think.) Helen goes through, looking for the main power junction, while Kirk goes with the thugs for another treatment.
EIGHT
Now Adams says, “You trust me,” as his suggestion. Kirk agrees, although it’s not clear if he’s pretending or not. Van Gelder was on his hands and knees at this point, says Adams. Lethe (I forgot about that scary one!) comes in and says Helen is missing. Adams cranks the dial and asks Kirk where she is. I don’t know! Kirk resists until he collapses on the ground.
Cut to Helen in the duct work. She comes through the grate into the engine room.
Crosscut with Spock in the transporter room. He’s tense, and it’s obvious they can’t beam down.
Helen sneaks away as men come into the room looking for her. She successfully pulls a very large “Master Voltage” lever. The NN powers down, but she’s grabbed.
Kirk is up. He judo chops Adams and wrestles with the thug.
Tossed aside, Helen lays on the ground as the goon throws the lever back on. Then he turns to her, maybe with rape-y intentions, and she kicks him into the power grid. Zap.
In the transporter room they see that the force field around the prison is down. Spock energizes just as Helen slips back into the duct. Taking the lay of the land, Spock kills the force field switch, then throws the master lever back on.
Cut to Adams on the ground of the NN room, waking up as the machine comes back on. He’s caught by the beam at full power, and no one’s around to fill the emptiness.
Kirk returns to his room just as Helen comes through the duct. He clutches her into a kiss. Oh, dear, lol. In walks Spock as Helen is explaining that Adams implanted this in Kirk’s brain. Eyebrow up at Kirk’s clench. Kirk seems to come to himself, and he remembers Adams. They all dash to the NN room.
Of course McCoy is here as they find Adams. “He’s dead, Captain.” The mind alone, without even a tormentor for company, Kirk says. They take a beat, and then leave him.
NINE
In orbit. Kirk walks onto the bridge. He’s okay. Van Gelder, down on Tantalus, has dismantled the NN room. And they’re off to the next space adventure.
CRITICAL NOTES
What an unholy mess! What has history done to my beloved Star Trek? This episode is terrible.
The One and Two are simple, solid, workable. Prison break plot.
The Three is awkward but it has potential. A philosophical discussion about prison reform — can prison ever be pleasant? — between Kirk and McCoy could work if the mirror is proper. Of course, it isn’t.
The Four is short and the Five is long, but that Switch — on the ship at the Four, on the prison at the Five — seems like the best breaking point in the plot. One reason the Five is too long is the Helen nonsense. What, Kirk must romance some random lady each episode? Maybe the showrunners were still discovering the inherent strength in his character. We’ll see if he backs off on what today would clearly be named harassment. The romance is only played for laughs, and it’s so horribly unnecessary.
However, we also get the beginning of Spock and Vulcan canon, which is exciting. Without Nimoy this would never have worked. He brings a seriousness and vulnerability that play so beautifully.
And then we’re at what can only be called a Six-Seven mash-up. On my initial review watch I was clearly confused at this moment. A beat is openly missing. Where is Kirk’s decision, his spark of an idea, to use the air ducting? Actually, Shatner tries to play something, but the shot just isn’t there to support him. Prior to that, in the Six slot, Kirk is freshly returned from experiencing the latest therapy technique. At the Three, Kirk argued in favor of this social process. A little tweak, a little removal of that silly, disruptive romance subplot, and this moment may have hit its mirror. His perspective now compared to then has much dramatic potential.
The Eight is exciting enough, but here’s my problem: What does Adams want? I assume he wants to rehabilitate criminals. And then, when the NN machine proves to be so powerful, does he want to hide it? Does van Gelder object, and therefore Adams melts him? Why put Kirk in the chair? To what end? Nothing is at stake. So Kirk loves Helen, so what? This is unbelievably stupid plot making. The actor playing van Gelder is working so hard to sell this, I don’t think the make-up team had to add fake sweat! The ship set has Shakespearean-sized performances, and the prison location has simpering.
Tell me what Adams wants. Write Dr. Helen as a grown-up woman. Give Kirk something critical to lose in the NN chair. Then we’ll have an episode.