In the fifteenth episode of the third season of\u00c2\u00a0Star Trek<\/i>, the\u00c2\u00a0Enterprise<\/i> becomes host to a war when two politically opposed beings use their ship to act out their grievances with one another. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0Star Trek<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Trigger Warning: For discussion of racism, racial stereotypes, genocide.<\/b><\/p>\n
Because this is a dichotomous sort of episode, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m splitting this up!<\/p>\n
The Good<\/b><\/p>\n
I admit that the premise here is an intriguing one, and there are story choices along the way that I found compelling. It wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t enough to save the episode for me, but I think they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re worth discussing. This episode\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pacing is all over the place, and I actually believe that largely works in favor of the story. So much of the power of that final scene relies on the fact that the anger and hatred Bele and Lokai have for one has been brimming on the surface all along. We\u00c2\u00a0think<\/i> that they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve truly gotten furious with one another, but NOPE. WE HAVE NO IDEA HOW MUCH THEY DESPISE ONE ANOTHER. In any other situation, I would have pegged the self-destruct countdown as\u00c2\u00a0the<\/i> quintessential climax for a story like this, but I found it brilliant that this happened just barely halfway through \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Let That Be Your Last Battlefield.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not the focal point of the episode, though it was a damn fine display of willpower on Captain Kirk\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s part. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been forced into this awful battle of wills and hatred, and he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just trying to protect his crew. It was a calculated bluff on his part (I HOPE, HOLY SHIT), and it worked.<\/p>\n
For the moment, that is. As messy as the racial metaphor was (I HAVE SO MUCH TO SAY), I\u00c2\u00a0did<\/i> appreciate that there was no easy solution to this conflict. Initially, this was so fascinating because the crew of the\u00c2\u00a0Enterprise<\/i> had no idea what was the truth and what wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t. Everything here was hearsay, and it was impossible to determine what was fact or fiction. What came from a place of confirmation bias? What was a perception of the situation versus the actual reality? And how often does actuality blur the line between these things? Is Lokai seeking political asylum for legitimate reasons or is he merely trying to dodge a murder charge? Is Commissioner Bele seeking order and justice, or is he eager to quash the leader of the very people he is actively oppressing? (I mean, I know the answer, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll get to that.)<\/p>\n
But the boldest part of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Let That Be Your Last Battlefield\u00e2\u20ac\u009d comes in its ending. For a show that so routinely features Captain Kirk swooping in to save another species, this episode shows us\u00c2\u00a0Captain Kirk washing his hands of the whole affair<\/i>. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no sign of hope; there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no glimpse of a possible solution. Bele forces the\u00c2\u00a0Enterprise<\/i> back to Cheron, only to discover that EVERYONE THERE ALREADY KILLED ONE ANOTHER. The whole planet is dead, and all that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s left are Bele and Lokai. And yet, this does not deter them from fighting one another; instead, they transport down to Cheron to continue their pursuit and their war. I mean\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 I get what this is\u00c2\u00a0trying<\/i> to say, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll hold my complete thoughts for the next section. Regardless, this is not the usual ending for this show, and in some sense, it was refreshing to see\u00c2\u00a0Star Trek<\/i> willing to go against its own storytelling patterns.<\/p>\n
The Bad<\/b><\/p>\n
The makeup is\u00c2\u00a0terrible<\/i>, made only worse by the clumsy and simplistic metaphor that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s dragged out over this episode. This is a classic case of the use of a metaphor to discuss racism that ends up supporting the very thing the writers are trying to criticize. Make no mistake: this episode is\u00c2\u00a0horrifically<\/i> racist because it utterly fails in nuance. It fails to properly represent the side of the oppressed and the oppressor, trading in any sort of power dynamic for a foolish and erroneous \u00e2\u20ac\u0153equality.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d We are meant to believe that both Bele and Lokai are responsible for the hatred and violence of the Cheron people, and none of this bothers to acknowledge that\u00c2\u00a0it<\/i>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Bele\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fault<\/i>. Despite that the episode demonstrates Bele\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s monstrous racism, which shows us that Lokai\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s perception of events is correct, we still get a story that paints a false equivalency onto the narrative.<\/p>\n
Of course, the visual aspect of the metaphor is meant to call to mind black and white race relations in the United States, and that seriously makes this episode even more offensive and misguided. First of all, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got white actors in half blackface (I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t believe I just had to type that sentence) talking about being enslaved, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a goddamn\u00c2\u00a0mess<\/i>. Why are white people so eager to paint themselves as being oppressed along a racial divide??? Do you\u00c2\u00a0really<\/i> want to experience systemic racism? BECAUSE SPOILER ALERT: IT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S NOT A FUN THING, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122D RATHER NOT HAVE IT IN MY LIFE. On top of that, the show once again asserts that within this universe, Earth got rid of all its bigotry, but then we have to sit through\u00c2\u00a0this<\/em>? Look, if there’s no bigotry left in this world, where are all the captains who are women? People of color? Why haven’t we gotten episodes centered around Sulu or Uhura or Nurse Chapel? You can’t claim a world is free of oppression while still upholding all the tells of oppression.<\/p>\n There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a deliberate attempt here to portray Lokai negatively that I found upsetting and distracting, especially given that he invoked asylum and Kirk ultimately doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t care about respecting that. I understand that with Bele\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s exertion of his will, things were complicated, but certainly after that conversation about racial superiority with Bele, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d realize that Lokai might be telling the truth, right? It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not like his bigotry was subtle; he openly criticized the difference in Lokai\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s skin and then listed a number of absurdly racist stereotypes associated with him. Meanwhile, Lokai is off trying to reason with the crew (instead of forcing his will onto them) to gain allies, AND I DON\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T SEE HOW ANY RATIONAL CAPTAIN COULD LOOK UPON HIM WITH SUSPICION. But this episode lost me completely by the time it blamed Lokai for the destruction of Cheron. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll spell it out: if you think that oppressed people reacting violently to their oppression (HUNDREDS OF DECADES OF IT) is the same thing as the violent oppression that caused it in the first place, you are sorely mistaken\u00c2\u00a0and<\/i> you are supporting the oppressive side. You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re defaulting to their narrative because the narrative is already heavily weighted in their favor. In this episode, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s demonstrated through the use of the word \u00e2\u20ac\u0153hate,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d as if there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just a general hatred working throughout \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Let That Be Your Last Battlefield.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d There is no generalized hatred here at all; there is the hatred that Bele feels towards Lokai\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s kind.\u00c2\u00a0It has the validation of an entire society behind it.\u00c2\u00a0<\/i>It is socially acceptable for Bele to hate Lokai because the law supports it, his power supports it, and his society grossly favors him over anyone like Lokai. Lokai\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hatred is ENTIRELY A REACTION TO WHAT BELE AND HIS PEOPLE HAVE DONE TO HIM. If I hit you, is it fair for me to tell you not to be angry? If I hit you a thousand times in a row, and you finally strike me back, is it fair to say that your violence is the same as mine?<\/p>\n This is an ahistorical nightmare, one that ignores Lokai\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s suffering because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a lot easier to blame his as much as Bele in the destruction of his home planet. But the truth is that Bele is the real monster here. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just unfortunate that the writers are more comfortable creating an even playing field instead of\u00c2\u00a0actually<\/i> addressing racial oppression. This is what results from it.<\/p>\n The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Let That Be Your Last Battlefield\u00e2\u20ac\u009d 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. In the fifteenth episode of the third season of\u00c2\u00a0Star Trek, the\u00c2\u00a0Enterprise becomes host to a war when two politically opposed beings use their ship to act out their grievances with one another. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0Star … Continue reading
\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– The 2015 Mark Does Stuff tour is being announced!!! Check my Tour Dates \/ Appearances page<\/a> often to see if I’m coming to your city!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"