Star date: 3211.7
Summary: As they are about to beam down to Gamma 2, Kirk, Uhura and Chekhov suddenly disappear. The rest of the Enterprise crew has no idea what happened to them, but it turns out they have been abducted to the surface of the planet Triskelion. In short order, they are approached by four fighters of different humanoid species. Their communicators and phasers have ceased to function, so they engage in hand-to-hand combat and are eventually subdued. A fifth humanoid appears out of nowhere, introduces himself as "Galt", and explains that they are all of them --- himself included --- thralls on the planet, held and made to fight for the amusement of the Providers, unseen, all-powerful beings who observe the fights and wager on the outcome.
Galt addresses Kirk, Uhura and Chekhov by name, making it clear that they have been intentionally selected by the Providers for abduction. Each of them is assigned a trainer thrall so that they can be trained as thralls and remain on Triskelion for the rest of their lives. Like the other thralls, the obedience of the Federation officers is ensured by means of a shock collar around their necks, which either Galt or the Providers can activate to cause them debilitating pain.
Back on the Enterprise, Spock, McCoy and Scotty work to find out what happened to their colleagues. After finding nothing in the solar system of Gamma 2, Ensign Jana Haines detects an unusual ionization trail which Spock decides to follow. It appears we are to conclude that the trail was left when the Providers abducted Kirk and the others.
Kirk's trainer thrall is an attractive, green-haired woman named Shahna who, despite having spent her entire life as a thrall, shows no sign of scars or other injury on any part of her body, most of which is visible in the shiny, skimpy outfit she wears. Kirk asks Shahna many questions about the nature of the providers, which Shahna either cannot or will not answer. When she does start to give Kirk some information about the Providers, her shock collar is activated, causing Kirk to plead with the invisible Providers to punish him instead. The Providers acknowledge that Kirk's compassion, along with other human aspects, interest them. Kirk also speaks to Shahna about free choice and love, and gives her a taste of it by kissing her.
Later on in Kirk's cell, Shahna decides she is uncomfortable with Kirk's affections, and tells him she would request that he have a different trainer if such things were allowed. However Kirk has other plans, kissing Shahna again merely so he can distract her, coldcock her, and escape from his cell along with Chekhov and Uhura. However, Galt is waiting for them and activates all three shock collars, but the Providers stop him because they enjoy watching the humans.
At about this time the Enterprise arrives at the planet, Spock's decision to follow the ionization trail proving to be correct despite Scotty's and McCoy's skepticism. However, the Providers have anticipated his arrival, and take control of the Enterprise, leaving them helpless in orbit around Triskelion. Kirk demands to see the Providers, and so they instantly transport him to their underground location. The Providers turn out to be only brains with no other physical bodies, and are able to control the thralls and the Enterprise with pure thought. But since Kirk knows the Providers enjoy gambling, he makes a bet with them: if Kirk wins, the Enterprise may go free AND the Providers must release the thralls and teach them to self-govern. If Kirk loses, then the full Enterprise crew will willingly become thralls and provide the Providers with the most entertaining duels. The Providers agree, but stipulate that Kirk must fight and defeat three thralls --- and if any one of the three is injured rather than killed, that thrall will be replaced by another.
Kirk kills two of the three thralls but only injures the third, and Galt chooses Shahna to take his place. Neither Kirk nor Shahna want to fight the other, but they do, and at one point it looks like Shahna will kill Kirk. However, Kirk turns the tables on her and is holding a knife at her throat when she surrenders. The Providers consider this a win for Kirk and hold up their end of the bargain, releasing the Enterprise and all of the thralls. Although Shahna wants to go with Kirk he refuses, telling Shahna she still has much to learn, but kissing her goodbye.
This show has a decent idea, but its execution is just terrible. Plus, it's another "godlike powers" episode that I'm really getting tired of. Why did the Providers have to be these beings who can control practically everything with their minds? Why couldn't they be some humanoid race like the Klingons or something? We're just a bit more than halfway through season 2, and the "godlike powers" bit has already been done to death.
However, at least the ending has a bit more originality, with Kirk winning by making a bet with them, rather than "mommy and daddy" showing up and making the godlike creature go home.
The biggest problem I have with this show is that Shahna is so obviously a sex object. She's supposed to be an adult gladiator who's lived and fought on Triskelion her whole life. Why is she such a doe-eyed innocent? Why does she walk around practically naked, in a shiny swimsuit? Why isn't there a scar or scratch anywhere on her large quantities of visible skin?
For that matter, only ONE of the other thralls really looks like he's ever been in a fight. Add to that the fact that there are really only four of them plus Galt (we do see two others, but briefly), and it doesn't seem like the Providers are really that interested in watching the thralls fight at all. Plus, despite the fact that arena fighting is supposed to be the main thing the thralls do on Triskelion, we actually see precious little of it in this episode. And what fight scenes we do see are pretty bad. Not first-season, "Arena" bad, but pretty bad.
Another problem with this show is that all of the thralls are so one-dimensional. I don't know what I expect a battle-slave to behave like, but I would expect them to have some kind of personality. Mostly angry and depressed, but possibly belligerent or psychotic or even friendly, wanting to help the new folks through a difficult experience. But these thralls have no personality at all --- I was half-expecting that they'd be revealed as androids halfway through the episode.
My biggest problem, however, is Kirk's behavior with Shahna. Kirk tries to pump Shahna for information about the Providers, and when that doesn't work, he makes a play for her heart, kissing her a few times. On the one hand, this is disgusting. Kirk may feel compassion for her, and may even want to help her find a better life than the one she has, but there's NO way he feels anything like romantic attraction for her, and since he doesn't, he has no business kissing her. On the other hand, war is hell and all that, and despite it being a very slimy thing to do, it makes sense that Kirk would try to romance to to get her off guard for his later escape.
What doesn't make sense, however, is Kirk kissing her again after he's won his battle and all the thralls are freed. He can't possibly be in love with her, and he no longer has any reason to try to manipulate her. What the hell was that kiss about? It's about Nielsen ratings in the 1960's: the writers thought viewers wanted to see Kirk kiss a half-naked woman one last time.
The Providers are problematic as well. Gosh, they've been abducting humanoids and making them fight for how long? And humans are the FIRST species they've encountered to show compassion or a bit of intellect? And since they don't have bodies, they can't possibly care about material wealth, so how can they be interested in gambling? And if they're SO advanced that they don't need bodies, it seems likely they would also be advanced beyond torturing other species for fun.
This is actually a fairly dark episode. Kirk emotionally manipulates Shahna so he can escape his prison cell, and then has to kill two innocent (relatively-speaking) thralls in order to win the release of the Enterprise and the remaining thralls. But the writing and presentation is so flat and cartoonish that there's no real sense of drama.
Other problems with this episode . . .
Kirk may be a starship Captain and a good fighter, but it beggars belief that he could win a 3-on-1 match against seasoned thralls. And especially Shahna. She's supposedly been doing this her whole life and doesn't have a scratch, so she must be really good. No way Kirk could have beaten her.
Shortly after Kirk, Uhura and Chekhov are captured, Galt informs them "your old titles mean nothing here, Captain." While that one statement may be considered ironic, Galt and the Providers continue to address Kirk as "Captain" for the rest of the show.
When Kirk & co. go missing, Spock is able to conclude that "they are not within the confines of this solar system" in less than an hour. That's some damn fine search technology they have.
There are some sort of controls outside the glass dome within which the Providers reside. What are those for? Does some thrall come and twiddle the knobs every now and then?
When Kirk makes his bet with the Providers, stating that they must teach the thralls how to self-govern if they lose, the Providers insist that the thralls are not capable of self-government. But Kirk insists: "we have done the same with cultures throughout the galaxy". That seems like some major Prime Directive violation there, unless Kirk is just BS-ing.
Although the thrall collars are red, yellow or blue to indicate which Provider owns them, the Providers themselves are red, yellow and green.
The episode climax comes when Kirk has killed two thralls and is on the brink of killing Shahna, leading her to surrender. Gosh, thralls can just surrender? Since a Kirk victory would mean freedom and self-governance for all the thralls, why didn't they just surrender right out of the gate?
The Moral of the Story: Don't force people to fight each other just because you think they're inferior to you.
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