In the eleventh episode of the first season of Star Trek, Spock ruins my life. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Star Trek.Â
SO THIS IS LIKE THE BEST EPISODE YET? EASILY? NOTHING COMES CLOSE? WHAT IS LIFE.
I wouldn’t suggest that the ten episodes of this show that I’ve experienced so far are bad, so I want to temper my reaction by saying that I have enjoyed this. A lot! And that enjoyment was way quicker than I anticipated! But this episode (along with “The Carbomite Maneuver”) felt like the show falling into place after a few bumps in the road. It’s thrilling, it’s incredibly well-acted, the sets are stunning, AND I SPENT 50 MINUTES SHRIEKING WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON? Can we talk about the things that make this so good?
The Framing Device
The story itself feels so exciting because it’s the first time Star Trek has ditched a linear storyline. After twenty minutes of utter confusion at Spock (which I’ll get to), the show gives us a set of stunning flashbacks that are also completely fucking impossible. WHICH IS OUTRIGHT ADDRESSED BY THE CHARACTERS HERE AS WELL!!! Not only is this a flashback episode to shed light on Spock, it’s also a COURT PROCEDURAL. Then it’s A SPACE MYSTERY. And somehow, all of this is jammed into one part of a double episode, and it works. I didn’t question the narrative choices and I never felt like this wasn’t purposefully designed. There’s such a good balance between the personal character moments for many of these people and the greater plot. Again, it just works.
Spock’s characterization
This would not have worked if I’d not spent ten episodes learning that Spock was half Vulcan, half human. It wouldn’t! You need the knowledge of his behavior in order to understand why the first half of this episode is so shocking. Spock has been repeatedly shown to cling to logic at all costs, though that’s routinely just at the expense of other people’s comfortability. But it’s why he’s respected as much as he is. There’s no nonsense to his Vulcan logic. By hiding his human half deep within him, he’s able to avoid the pitfalls of human emotions. (Though I imagine Uhura would offer up the opinion that he’s also missing out on the grandeur of being a human.)
We know this going into “The Menagerie,” and then Spock consistently baffles us for no discernible reason. We discover that he’s lied about receiving a message from his old captain, Christopher Pike. Then we watch him have a cryptic conversation about mutiny with Pike. THEN WE WATCH HIM LIE CONSTANTLY, BREAK INTO THE COMPUTER CENTER, ATTACK TWO MEN, AND PURPOSEFULLY MANIPULATE THE CREW OF THE ENTERPRISE SO THAT HE CAN LATER USE THEM FOR HIS OWN NEEDS. None of it made sense. This was Spock doing this. He doesn’t get emotional. He doesn’t betray people. He doesn’t break Federation law! And yet, here he is, doing a billion things we know he’d never do, and there’s not a shred of evidence to suggest that it’s not him. It’s not a doppelgänger, it’s not a copy, he’s not being tricked into be unlawful. It’s really him.
It only gets worse as the episode goes on. He kidnaps Pike, tricks Bones into going back to the Enterprise, and then programs the ship’s computer to automatically travel to a specific destination: Talos IV. WHICH WE THEN LEARN THAT PIKE AND SPOCK TRAVELED TO 13 YEARS BEFORE AND IT IS NOW PUNISHABLE BY DEATH TO EVEN TRAVEL THERE. HOW THE FUCK IS ANY OF THIS HAPPENING? WHY? WHY IS HE DOING THIS?
It becomes apparent by the time Captain Kirk and Commodore Mendez eventually catch up to the Enterprise that Spock has planned every aspect of this. There wasn’t an eventuality he didn’t predict, and it’s downright bewildering to watch. Is it in-character? Absolutely. Someone with a mind like Spock would easily have been able to plan for so many contingencies in order to ensure that their endgame would be met. But what the hell is that endgame? Why would Spock risk the death penalty to get himself and Pike back to Talos IV? What happened there 13 years ago? AND THIS IS CHILD’S PLAY COMPARED TO WHAT SPOCK DOES DURING HIS COURT MARTIAL HEARING. Again, it’s not possible to ignore that Spock planned the intricacies of that. He offers up a guilty verdict; he makes sure that there are three officers on board, one of whom is Pike, and he knows that Pike and Kirk will back him up; he then goads Mendez into asking the exact questions he wants asked, all so he can play the tapes of what happened 13 years ago.
SPOCK. HOW ARE YOU REAL.
The Flashback
The show has been providing background information on these characters through details revealed in casual conversation. It’s never been particularly obvious, and it’s never the point of these plots. So the whole flashback sequence is thrilling to watch because it’s a detailed account of Spock thirteen years before. He looks different. He even acts slightly different, as if he was still figuring out how to manage his Vulcan half and his human half while on a ship full of humans. But lord, it’s all the character building for Pike that is the biggest surprise here. Here’s a character who is brand new to us, and we get a sympathetic look into the hardships he’s faced while captain. Exhaustion, loneliness, restlessness… AND I JUST MET HIM AND I CARE ABOUT HIM AND WHAT IS THIS SHOW DOING TO ME.
I’m curious to see how some of this is going to carry over in the second part. Pike expressed discomfort with having to make so many life-or-death decisions, and then he’s cast into a dilemma where he has to do just that. By pursuing the distress signal of the Columbia, the team are tricked by an elaborate illusion, AND PIKE IS CAPTURED BY THOSE SUPER CREEPY ALIEN BEINGS. It’s all part of a hellish cliffhanger. We have no idea what happened to Pike aside from him surviving the experience; we know that the impossible video feeds are coming from Talos IV, which suggests that it’s part of the surveillance system that the Talos aliens have; AND WE HAVE NO IDEA WHY SPOCK BROUGHT EVERYONE BACK. The credits roll as Spock is carted off to be locked up and Kirk is pondering if he’ll escape the DEATH PENALTY.
what the fuck WHAT THE FUCK
The video for “The Menagerie: Part I” can be downloaded here for $0.99.
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