In the thirteenth episode of the first season of Star Trek, Kirk is asked to identify whether an actor is really a genocidal dictator. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Star Trek.
Trigger Warning: For talk of genocide / eugenics.
Well, this was an interesting episode! Like practically every episode of this first season, it’s also EXTREMELY DISTURBING. I did not think Star Trek would unsettle me so often, but holy shit, y’all, Kodos and his daughter are both HORRIFYING and for entirely different reasons.
I suppose I am surprised by the framing of Star Trek thus far. While this episode has a lot more of Bones and Spock than usual (including a couple of scenes where it’s just the two of them!), the show is definitely about Captain Kirk. He’s the main star, and most of the stories revolve around him. I don’t know what I expected, honestly. Having not seen the show or known anything significant about it, it’s hard to parse these kind of feelings. I guess I just thought that we’d get a lot more of some of the other characters. The show has been inconsistent with the crew over these episodes, and it’s distracting at times. Like, Yeoman Rand was here, but only for a single scene where she doesn’t say anything. And where’s Sulu? BUT KEVIN RILEY CAME BACK, THAT WAS AWESOME.
I mention the casting issue because there are portions of “The Conscience of the King” that aren’t as compelling as others, and I think that if the show was more consistent with characters, it wouldn’t drift as much as this episode does. Everything with Kirk and Spock is great, and a lot of the second half is super exciting. But watch Kirk flirt with Lenore was kind of boring? I was far more interested in Spock’s raised eyebrow while he JUDGED THE HELL OUT OF KIRK than the actual pairing. I just didn’t get a sense of chemistry between them that the show tried to get me to believe was there. But I did understand why this was happening. We needed to see Kirk struggle with Dr. Leighton’s claim as he tried to investigate it himself.
I’m not sure that “The Conscience of the King” is all that clear on that point. Initially, Kirk rejects Dr. Leighton’s claim because it’s so absurd. How could Anton Karidian be Kodos the Executionar, the dictator of Tarsus IV who slaughtered 4,000 people twenty years ago? And yet, as Kirk begins to investigate the claim after Dr. Leighton’s sudden death, there’s too much circumstantial data that points to a validation of said claim. Through this, Kirk courts Anton’s daughter, Lenore, and is conflicted about what he should do. I… think? Because as much as he wants to figure out if Karidian is actually Kodos, there’s a whole period where it feels like only Spock and Bones are concerned about this. But then he’s also super snappy and rude to Spock? But then he’s convinced Karidian is Kodos, but then it’s not Kodos? The back and forth just felt weird to me because I didn’t think it was a huge mystery that Kodos and Karidian were one and the same.
That being said, there were a lot of great performances here. Spock and Bones arguing about Kirk? And then making fun of each other? YES. YES. Arnold Moss is also fantastic here, since his role is so layered. He’s a genocidal monster playing an actor playing Macbeth. On top of that, he’s got to believe that what he did all those years ago was justified, that killing 4,000 people was an act of courage and practicality. That’s an important aspect of his character that’s first revealed in that thrilling confrontation scene with Captain Kirk, and it plays into the horror he experiences at the end of the episode when he finds out what Lenore has been doing. And while I didn’t really find myself interested in Lenore and Kirk’s courtship, I LOVED Barbara Anderson’s acting. In hindsight, her interactions with Kirk are SO CREEPY NOW. Kodos had spent 20 years lying to his daughter, but she knew who he was and what he’d done, and she was killing witnesses to protect him. It’s such an incredible twist, even though I did experience a moment early in this episode where I felt suspicious of Lenore. BUT I DISCARDED IT. I WAS FOOLED.
So, a good episode with a few bumps along the way, but I enjoyed myself!
The video for “The Conscience of the King” can be downloaded here for $0.99.
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