{"id":4269,"date":"2014-12-09T13:00:35","date_gmt":"2014-12-09T21:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=4269"},"modified":"2014-12-01T10:21:47","modified_gmt":"2014-12-01T18:21:47","slug":"mark-watches-star-trek-s03e05-is-there-in-truth-no-beauty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2014\/12\/mark-watches-star-trek-s03e05-is-there-in-truth-no-beauty\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘Star Trek’: S03E05 – Is There in Truth No Beauty?"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the fifth episode of the third season of\u00c2\u00a0Star Trek<\/i>, the\u00c2\u00a0Enterprise<\/i> help transport a telepathic ambassador who is accompanying a dangerous alien. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0Star Trek<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Trigger Warning: For discussion of ableism regarding blindness and for discussion of misogyny relating to friendzoning.<\/b><\/p>\n

Let me start off by saying that this episode is\u00c2\u00a0great<\/i>, genuinely so. For a story that cycles through multiple plots and subplots rather quickly, I felt like everything got just the right amount of closure. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a difficult thing to pull off, particularly since there are like three dinstinct arcs at work in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Is There in Truth No Beuaty?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Does that mean everything works for me? No, not necessarily, but by the end of this episode, I felt like I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d watched a really satisfying episode of\u00c2\u00a0Star Trek<\/i>. LET\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S DISCUSS.<\/p>\n

Lawrence Marvick<\/b><\/p>\n

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll acknowledge that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m\u00c2\u00a0still<\/i> amused by the fact that I believed the Medusan was the\u00c2\u00a0actual<\/i> box. IT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S SUCH A FUNNY IDEA. But once I was able to get past this (let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s be real, I never got past it, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122M STILL LAUGHING AT IT), I was able to understand what was at stake here. The Medusan race, formless and hideous, caused a loss of sanity in any human who viewed them. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a neat take on traditional Medusa mythology, though it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a little hard to fully believe that random flashes of colors and shapes would cause someone\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mind to shatter. Still, I wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t going into this episode with a need for believability. The behavior of the characters\u00c2\u00a0around<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0Kollos helped make this a credible story.<\/p>\n

Initially, this episode focused on the conflict between Marvick and Dr. Jones. Dr. Jones, in and of herself, is one of the most fascinating characters in\u00c2\u00a0Star Trek<\/i> history, so I was pleased that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Is There in Truth No Beauty\u00e2\u20ac\u009d wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t solely about how Marvick chose to treat Dr. Jones. But that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an important part of this episode because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an (admittedly extreme) example of why friendzoning is bullshit and absurd. While Marvick never once utters the term, his entire tantrum here is based in the same sort of entitlement. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s in love with Dr. Jones and absolutely\u00c2\u00a0furious<\/i> that she won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t reciprocate his feelings. And it goes beyond that, too! The lack of reciprocation is bad enough to him, but then she has the nerve \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the nerve! \u00e2\u20ac\u201c to want to pursue her career over romantic entanglements. (Headcanon: Dr. Jones is asexual, this is so satisfying to think about. Go watch that scene where Kirk tries to seduce with this in mind, IT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S GREAT.) She cannot return his affections and she doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t\u00c2\u00a0want<\/i> to. So what does he do in response?<\/p>\n

He tries\u00c2\u00a0to destroy the very reason Dr. Jones spent years training with the Vulcans.<\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an obsessive relationship, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s one that is THANKFULLY portrayed as such. In the end, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not really meant to feel like there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s something wrong with Dr. Jones for rejecting Marvick. Truthfully, she has her own issues to deal with, which come to fruition in later parts of this very episode. But Marvick\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s actions have disastrous consequences for the entire ship, given that he steers the\u00c2\u00a0Enterprise<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0OUTSIDE OF THE GALAXY. (While I do get that they were at warp factor 9.5 because of Marvick, I did find it kind of funny that they left the galaxy in the span of a few minutes.)<\/p>\n

I felt pretty much no sympathy for Marvick. GOOD BYE.<\/p>\n

Jealousy<\/b><\/p>\n

What I\u00c2\u00a0was<\/i> fascinated by was the chance to explore Dr. Jones\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s own obsession. I thought it was really compelling that the show gave us a character who studied Vulcan psychology for years, all in the hope of being able to meld with the Medusan, something no one had really done before. So I think it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s understandable that Jones would resent the fact that Spock was possibly able to achieve what she was aiming for, but\u00c2\u00a0without<\/i> the training she went through.<\/p>\n

That initially manifests during the awkward dinner sequence when she spots that icon on Spock\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s shirt. Again, it makes sense that she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d interpret Spock\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s attempt to honor her as an act of deliberate offense. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an area she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s sensitive about! Wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t\u00c2\u00a0anyone<\/i> potentially feel this way after you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d devoted a huge part of your life to a single pursuit? Of course, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s another motivation to her behavior: she was born blind. I admit it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a little difficult to parse my thoughts on how blindness and disability works\u00c2\u00a0within\u00c2\u00a0<\/i>the fictional universe of\u00c2\u00a0Star Trek.\u00c2\u00a0<\/i>I got the sense from Dr. Jones\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s reaction that she probably spent her entire life feeling like she was disadvantaged because of her disability, so she had to go above and beyond in order to get the respect of her peers. So does that mean that ableism is still an aspect of the future that Roddenberry imagined? There are definite glimpses of a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153better\u00e2\u20ac\u009d future here, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m intrigued by where someone like Dr. Jones would fit.<\/p>\n

I will admit that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s nice that Dr. Jones is never magically healed by the end of this episode. She is blind at the end of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Is There in Truth No Beauty?,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s given what I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d say is a happy ending. Of course, she has to work through her jealousy of Spock in order to get to that closure, and I became increasingly worried that she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d let her obsession get the best of her. Hell, didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t that seem like this is where the story was going once Kirk confronted her and claimed that she was responsible for Spock\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s condition?<\/p>\n

I enjoyed that there was a lot more nuance to her development than I expected. Kirk has the awareness to question whether his confrontation was necessary or not, which was a HUGE surprise to me. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not usually that subtle, you know? And even if what he said was cruel, Dr. Jones still realized that she could help Spock regardless. She chose to mind meld with Spock in order to save him, which allowed her to mentally see what he saw when he linked with Kollos. At the heart of this is the concept of empathy: she understood\u00c2\u00a0what someone else experienced, and it made her appreciate her circumstances and options more than she did before. Instead of killing Dr. Jones off (which I honestly expected), she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s given a chance to move forward into the world while still pursuing the same goal she had at the start of the episode. The only difference is that she now has the confidence she always needed to succeed.<\/p>\n

I must also give a shout out to Leonard Nimoy, who was DELIGHTFUL as Kollos!Spock. Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, I love it when he gets a chance to play Spock so dramatically different than what I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m used to. IT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S A GIFT THAT NEVER STOPS GIVING.<\/p>\n

The video for “Is There in Truth No Beauty?” can be downloaded here for $0.99<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n

– Mark Does Stuff is now on Facebook<\/a>! Feel free to Like the page, which I’m running myself, for updates and SILLINESS.
\n– If you would like to support this website and keep Mark Does Stuff running, I’ve put up a detailed post explaining how you can!<\/a>
\n– Please check out the MarkDoesStuff.com<\/a>. All Mark Watches videos for past shows\/season are now archived there!
\n– My Master Schedule<\/a> is updated for the near and distant future for most projects, so please check it often.\u00c2\u00a0My next two Double Features are now in the schedule! I will be watching <\/b>The Sarah Connor Chronicles<\/i><\/b> and then <\/b>Leverage<\/i><\/b>. <\/b>Commission away!
\n– I will be at quite a few conventions and will be hosting events throughout 2015, so check my Tour Dates \/ Appearances page<\/a> often to see if I’m coming to your city!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"