In the nineteenth episode of the second season of Star Trek, Kirk returns to a planet he visited years earlier, only to discover the society has rapidly developed in a disturbing way. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Star Trek.Â
Trigger Warning: For discussion of war/warfare, sexism, consent, and nonconsensual drugging.Â
Well, this was an incredibly uncomfortable episode of this show, and it was absolutely intended to be. I’m so used to Star Trek being about hope and resolving conflicts with happy endings that this was a bit of a shock. LET US DISCUSS IT.
Spock
SO SPOCK GETS SHOT IN THE BACK IN THIS EPISODE. Seriously, that plot twist alone was a sign of how different this story was going to be. GUNS! Actual guns! His health is a subplot throughout “A Private Little War,” but it’s also one that’s both fascinating and hilarious. I enjoyed the chance to learn more about Vulcan physiology in this context, and I was even more thrilled to be introduced to Dr. M’Benga. Look, I love the idea that Star Trek normalized his character, and it’s important that the show’s vision of the future included a black man who was not only educated, but considered an expert, enough so that Bones trusts him entirely with Spock’s health. I point this out because “A Private Little War” is dependent on the context of the time it was made; you can’t divorce it from the specter of the Vietnam War, and you can’t divorce it from the racist American media, either. So it’s meaningful, then, that this little science fiction show gave us a future where black men held positions of power.
I think you could also say that it’s important that Nurse Chapel continues to have a part in this show’s greater narrative, though I certainly wish she had a bigger role. Still, she’s here to care for Spock, and the writers take a chance to develop her ongoing feelings towards Spock. Of course, it’s played for humor, so I don’t want to ignore that either. But I don’t know if Spock is capable of romance! I don’t even know if that’s possible or if it’s ever addressed or if there’s a pairing in future canon! So it’s exciting to me to imagine that there’s a possibility this might be addressed. Regardless, while I don’t expect this to become a part of canon, I was entertained by Spock’s healing. Nurse Chapel and Dr. M’Benga got to slap the hell out of him. INSTANTLY AMUSED.
War Without End
As I mentioned before, Star Trek as a series is fairly certain to end their episodes with happy conclusions and ideal conclusions. It’s part of the fabric of hope of the show. But “A Private Little War” acts to remind us that sometimes, there isn’t an easy solution to the problems that the crew of the Enterprise comes across. When Kirk returns to Neural thirteen years after his last visit, he is shocked to see that the previously peaceful society he once knew is locked in a war with a local village.
AND THE LOCAL VILLAGERS HAVE GUNS.
I think that while it’s never outright mentioned once in this episode, the Prime Directive plays a huge part in the drama that unfolds. They’re all in a delicate position here. With Spock’s bad health hanging over their heads, they’ve got to figure out how it is possible that  in thirteen years, the villagers developed flintlocks. And even when it’s outright confirmed that Klingons were responsible for encouraging the villagers to fight, there’s still no easy solution to the conflict. Because at the heart of this problem is history. Bones and Captain Kirk openly discuss the concept of an unending war in the context of Vietnam. This episode aired in the early part of 1968, which was a RIDICULOUS year in both American and world history. (If you’re in Chicago, I highly, highly recommend checking out the Chicago History Museum right now. They’re running an exhibit that details a month-to-month history of 1968, and it’s extremely detailed. It’ll give you a great sense of what a monumental year that was socially and politically, AND THERE’S A STAR TREK PART OF IT.)
Now, do I necessarily agree with Kirk’s assertion that these two groups needed a balance of power in order to develop properly? I’d actually suggest that this isn’t really the point of the story. We’re supposed to feel kind of gross about what happens here because that helps us understand what a vicious and upsetting decision Captain Kirk has to make. At the very least, we can accept that if Kirk had done nothing, his friends and all of the hill people would be outright slaughtered in a few weeks, and an entire culture would have disappeared from the galaxy. So we accept that in this case, Kirk has to violate the Prime Directive in order to save an entire culture from being wiped out.
Again, that doesn’t really make anyone feel better about what’s happening, particularly Bones, who was incredibly vocal about how much he disagreed with his friend. And y’all, this show featured one of the main characters decry an endless war and endless bloodshed WHILE THE VIETNAM WAR WAS STILL GOING ON. That’s a huge deal! While some folks might not think of Star Trek as a political show, it’s becoming clear to me how much this show was part of the cultural framework of the late 60s. A great deal of the science fiction genre has always dealt with social commentary, so it’s not like I’m entirely surprised by this. It’s one of the reasons I enjoy reading and watching science fiction as much as I do. But this was a bold thing for the show to do. I mean, the ending of “A Private Little War” is so distressing! Tyree’s wife is killed before his eyes, Bones has to watch everything erupt into chaos, and Kirk agrees to replicate a hundred flintlock rifles for the hill people, fully aware that he’s enabling the war between his friend’s tribe and the villagers. WOW, EVERYTHING IS SO ENDLESSLY UNCOMFORTABLE.
Nona
Oh, Star Trek. As progressive as this show can be at times, even within the context of modern times, there are areas where it fails pretty badly. Nurse Chapel may have a decent role in “A Private Little War,” but then we’ve got Nona, who is a jumbled mess of negative tropes surrounding women. She’s a witch and she drugs the men around her to get what she wants and she’s willing to betray her husband and she tries to sexually assault Kirk and she’s dressed in an utterly absurd, sexualized outfit and it’s just a disaster. She’s simply not compelling to me because all of these tropes are so boring. I was fascinated by her motivation to protect her husband and his people, but this is twisted in a way so that she’s largely a nonsensical antagonist. What about her people? If she’s part of some indigenous group on Neural, where are they? Does she have no allegiance to them? If she’s trying to protect those she loves, why is she so willing to give that power to Apella? Does she love her husband, or has she been using him for her own means by keeping him continually drugged?
There’s simply too much going on with her, y’all.
Mugato
I spent most of this episode so distracted by the name of this creature because all I could imagine was this attacking Kirk and Nona:
You’re welcome.
The video for “A Private Little War” can be downloaded here for $0.99.
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