Star date: 3372.7
Summary: As the Enterprise is on its way to Altaire 6 to participate in a presidential inauguration there, McCoy tells Kirk he is concerned about Spock, and his increasingly agitated behavior. Kirk is skeptical until he sees Spock throw a bowl of soup against the wall, berate Nurse Chapel, and then demand shore leave on his home planet of Vulcan. When Kirk asks Spock his reasons for the request, Spock refuses to say anything more than that he needs rest, and it needs to be on Vulcan. Given Spock's track record as the best First Officer in the fleet, Kirk grants the request and orders the Enterprise to fly to Vulcan.
However, soon Admiral Komack notifies Kirk that the inauguration has been moved up one week, and orders Kirk to proceed to Altaire 6 immediately. Kirk complies, figuring that Spock can take his shore leave on Vulcan later, but after examining Spock, McCoy concludes that Spock will die within the week if he does not return to Vulcan. This spurs Kirk to question Spock again, demanding greater detail. Although Spock insists that the details are intensely personal, he eventually tells Kirk that it is his time for Pon Farr, the time in a Vulcan's life when the biological need to mate compels him to return home or die. At this time, biological drives overtake Vulcan rationality, and Spock is driven almost to madness. Kirk makes one last attempt to get the Admiral to accept a detour to Vulcan, and when the Admiral holds his ground, Kirk orders the ship to Vulcan anyway, concluding that Spock has saved his life many times over, so helping Spock is more important than his career.
Arriving at Vulcan, we learn that Spock has already been betrothed, in a sense, to a Vulcan woman named T'Pring. Spock asks Kirk and McCoy to accompany him to his wedding, for although it is highly unusual for outsiders to participate in the ceremony, it is Spock's right to have his closest friends with him. The ceremony is presided over by T'Pau, a high Vulcan dignitary known throughout the galaxy. However, the wedding does not go as planned, for T'Pring exercises her right to have another challenge Spock for her hand, and she chooses Kirk.
T'Pau gives Kirk the option to decline the challenge, but Kirk accepts --- finding out too late that the fight with Spock is to the death. Spock wins the first round, and McCoy goes on the field to give Kirk an injection to help him deal with the thin Vulcan atmosphere and heat. However, under the grip of Pon Farr madness Spock kills his Captain before he realizes what he has done; McCoy confirms to T'Pau that Kirk is really dead, and returns to the Enterprise with the body. Spock then asks T'Pring why she chose Kirk to challenge him. T'Pring explains that she wants to be with another Vulcan named Stonn, and that the challenge was a win-win situation for her. Had Kirk been victorious, he would have rejected her, and she could then be with Stonn. Since Spock is victorious, she expects him to reject her because she requested the challenge, so she can still be with Stonn.
Spock returns to the Enterprise, and starts to explain to McCoy his plan to turn command duties over to Scotty while they fly to the nearest starbase so Spock can turn himself in for Kirk's murder. However, his explanation is interrupted when Kirk makes a surprise appearance, alive after all. Kirk explains that McCoy's injection on Vulcan was actually a drug to make Kirk appear dead, so that the duel would end before Kirk or Spock were seriously injured. We then learn that T'Pau has contacted Admiral Komack and used her influence to get him to approve the Enterprise's detour to Vulcan.
Although this episode was apparently the fifth one made in the second season, it was the first one aired, and it certainly gets the second season off on the right foot. It solidifies DeForest Kelley and his character Dr. Leonard McCoy as the third pillar of the series, along with William Shatner as Kirk and Leonard Nimoy as Spock. In addition to McCoy playing a pivotal role in this episode, Kelley's name also appears in the opening credits.
This show also gets the second season off to a fast start by showing us more about the most compelling character on the show, Mr. Spock. We see the planet Vulcan for the first time, and learn more about its culture and rituals. We also get a rare glimpse of Spock as being more than a walking computer, battling with biological drives seated deep within his race.
Apparently, in the case of Vulcans, at least, it really is true. There comes a time when Vulcan men really really REALLY have to have it, or they'll die.
On top of everything else, the fight choreography is greatly improved over the first season --- it actually looks like Spock and Kirk are fighting, not just stage-fighting --- and the final scene on the Enterprise is great, with Kirk's reappearance perfectly timed, and just a glimpse of genuine joy and emotion from Spock at seeing his friend and Captain alive again.
Of course, there were also some minor points we have to overlook, like the fact that although T'Pau was very conscientious about telling Kirk he may leave, and he may decline the challenge, she somehow neglects to tell him the battle is a fight to the death until it's too late for him to back out. Oops. Also, although McCoy has concluded that if Spock doesn't return to Vulcan within a week he'll die, for some reason Kirk doesn't share this information with Admiral Komack when asking for permission to fly to Vulcan (unless that discussion takes place off-screen, in which case Komack is the worst sort of jackass for refusing permission). But it's fairly easy to overlook those points, sit back and enjoy the show.
And hey, is T'Pring a bitch or what? Falling for another man is one thing --- she and Spock were betrothed to one another at the age of 7 after all --- but to force Spock and Kirk to fight to the death just so she can be with Stonn? Outrageous. Good thing Spock kicks her to the curb. And actually, it's a bit difficult to believe that T'Pau would even allow T'Pring to bring Kirk into it, since she's obviously trying to game the system.
I am left wondering about a few things at the end of this episode:
T'Pau thinks Kirk is dead, and she's a very important and powerful Vulcan. I imagine she will be quite upset with Kirk, Spock and McCoy when she learns the truth. It will be interesting to see if we see the three of them receive their comeuppance later in the series (I'm guessing no).
If this is how marriage/mating is handled on Vulcan, then how did Spock's father end up marrying an Earth woman?
Other observations about this episode:
This is the first time we see Chekhov. I'm going to guess that the crew stabilizes this season with the usual suspects, and the only other faces we'll see are guest stars and disposable redshirts.
The Vulcan scenery is good --- although since the last time I complimented the scenery, I learned that the whole series was digitally remastered 4-5 years ago. Which is all for the best, I suppose. Still, it would be nice to know what scenery is original, and what's remastered (probably anything worth looking at is remastered).
The Moral of the Story: Sometimes the animal comes out in all of us.
No comments:
Post a Comment