In the nineteenth episode of the third season of\u00c2\u00a0Star Trek<\/i>, Spock, Bones, and Kirk search for an ingredient for an antidote that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll save the\u00c2\u00a0Enterprise<\/i> on a planet that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s home to someone who has a few secrets they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d like to keep hidden. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0Star Trek<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Trigger Warning: For consent.<\/b><\/p>\n
I really wish the final act\u00c2\u00a0of this episode was as good as everything that came before it.<\/p>\n
It was unnerving watching this unfold. As you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll see if you download the video for this episode, I\u00c2\u00a0knew<\/i> there was something wrong. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why I felt like this episode held such promise; without a central conflict beyond the search for Ryetalyn, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re left to wonder when the other shoe would drop. On top of that, there was an intriguing mystery to Flint\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s backstory. Why did he speak of the Bubonic plague as if he were there? Given the episode\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s title, I figured he was\u00c2\u00a0really<\/i> old, but then all of the undiscovered \u00e2\u20ac\u0153new\u00e2\u20ac\u009d works from great masters made no sense within that reality. Neither did Flint\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s contradictory behavior. He was clearly attracted to Rayna, but then repeatedly set her up to be courted by Kirk.<\/p>\n
And then, he delays McCoy\u00c2\u00a0constantly<\/i>. I COULDN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T FIGURE IT OUT AT ALL. Even accepting that Flint was\u00c2\u00a0extremely old<\/i>, the pieces didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t fit together for me. Why let Kirk and Rayna dance? Why promise the Ryetalyn, only to constantly withhold it? Why lie about being the sole inhabitant of Holberg 917-G, only to reveal that SURPRISE, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s someone else here?\u00c2\u00a0Why tell Rayna that her intellectual curiosity will always be satisfied\u00c2\u00a0and then refuse her entry into ONE DOOR?<\/b><\/i>\u00c2\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n
It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a hell of a mystery, and James Daly is great as the uber-creepy Flint. You\u00c2\u00a0never<\/i> feel comfortable with him around, and it doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t help that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s constantly surveilling Kirk and Spock. When M4 attacks Kirk in an alleged attempt to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153protect\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Rayna, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s clear that this isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t the truth. Oh god, I just realized that Flint\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s replacement of M4 in just a few minutes was a clue. IT WAS ALWAYS A CLUE OH MY GOD. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even necessarily have a problem with the general idea behind the conclusion. I was certainly shocked when the\u00c2\u00a0Enterprise<\/i> crew made it into the secret room and found various versions of Rayna. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not the first time the show has used androids as a plot point, but I wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t bored by the reveal, nor did I think it was a bad idea.<\/p>\n
But the execution of the romance\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 lord, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. It is \u00e2\u20ac\u201c if I may be bold here \u00e2\u20ac\u201c\u00c2\u00a0utterly boring<\/i>. I know that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve expressed exhaustion with Captain Kirk\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s romantic exploits, and I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t regret that. The third season of this show heavily relies on this device, and I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t believe it anymore. I cannot accept that this man falls for\u00c2\u00a0every woman he comes across<\/i>. Even more ludicrous is the way in which \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Requiem for Methuselah\u00e2\u20ac\u009d asks us to accept that both Rayna and Kirk fell in love with one another in like an hour. Infatuation? Lust? I could believe that (sort of). But this comes across as if they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re star-crossed lovers destined for the world\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s greatest romance, and I couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t stop thinking about the fact that this episode gave us a four hour timeline. This all happens in\u00c2\u00a0less than four hours<\/i>. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not love! It\u00c2\u00a0can<\/i>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t<\/i> be!<\/p>\n
What\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s even more galling is that this episode tries to explore Captain Kirk\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s loneliness in a parallel with Flint. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t doubt that the job of Captain of a starship is a lonely affair. Flings or hook-ups don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t provide the kind of companionship that some people require, so I can totally accept this premise.\u00c2\u00a0Just not in this episode<\/i>. It makes no sense here because, again, Captain Kirk has known Rayna for two and a half hours. What was he going to do? Move to Holberg 917-G? Abandon his crew? How many times has Captain Kirk fallen deeply in love this season??? It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a mess, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, and then Spock\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s behavior at the end (which is perhaps one of the most emotional things we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve ever seen him do) is tainted by the fact that he erases Rayna from Kirk\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mind WITHOUT GETTING CONSENT FROM HIM. No,\u00c2\u00a0nope<\/i>, not at all great. NOPE.<\/p>\n
But my god, I could probably look past most of this if Rayna\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s end is not one of the worst things this show has ever done. Rayna is overloaded and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153dies\u00e2\u20ac\u009d because\u00c2\u00a0she loves too much<\/i>. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fridged to make Kirk and Flint feel bad about loving her, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just embarrassing to even think about this. What is the scientific basis for a machine overloading itself on human emotion? How exactly does that happen? Let me just remind y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all that Rayna (and many variations of her) have interacted with a humanoid being for THOUSANDS OF YEARS and not\u00c2\u00a0once<\/i> have any of them ever developed an emotional reaction. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m supposed to believe that after just ten minutes with Captain Kirk, Rayna is suddenly awoken? Well, first of all, that implies that Flint is one of the most boring people in the history of the universe. POOR HIM. But this idea that the universe\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s women revolve around Captain Kirk is nothing more than a poorly executed male power fantasy. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no basis for it in reality, in science, or in the very fictional world these characters operate in. Again, if you force a storyline to exist in a\u00c2\u00a0four-hour window of time<\/i>, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m going to analyze the story within that period. Even in an entirely fictional universe, no one falls deeply in love with someone in ten minutes. It doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t happen.<\/p>\n
Kirk can make out with half the universe, but he can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t make out with Bones and Spock?\u00c2\u00a0yawn.\u00c2\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n
The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Requiem for Methuselah\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 nineteenth episode of the third season of\u00c2\u00a0Star Trek, Spock, Bones, and Kirk search for an ingredient for an antidote that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll save the\u00c2\u00a0Enterprise on a planet that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s home to someone who has a few secrets they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d like to keep … Continue reading
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