In the sixteenth episode of the first season of\u00c2\u00a0The Next Generation<\/i>, the crew picks up an aging negotiator to help navigate a hostage situation, only to find out that both parties have an ulterior motive. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0Star Trek<\/i>.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Good lord, this was so fucked up.<\/span><\/p>\n I do want to make sure I think about an episode like \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Too Short a Season\u00e2\u20ac\u009d with the context of when it aired in mind. One of my initial thoughts was that this was something I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d seen before, but this episode aired when I was FOUR YEARS OLD. I feel like there was a\u00c2\u00a0Twilight Zone\u00c2\u00a0<\/i>episode that touched on this? (I own the newly-released Blu-Ray boxset of the series, but haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t made it through season one in my re-watch.) So, like a lot of my reactions to\u00c2\u00a0The Original Series<\/i>, I had to accept that maybe at the time, there really\u00c2\u00a0hadn<\/i>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t<\/i> been many stories like this at television.<\/p>\n At the same time, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m watching this in 2015, and guess what? Aside from the terrible make-up, I think this story held up incredibly well. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a few reasons for that, and I SHALL DISCUSS THEM.<\/p>\n Red Herring<\/b><\/p>\n Honestly, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, I thought this whole episode would be about the negotiation with Karnas. Admiral Jameson\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s skills were so hyped by Karnas that I was eager to see\u00c2\u00a0why<\/i> Karnas requested his presence. He had to be\u00c2\u00a0damn<\/i> good that he would summon him as soon as he found out he was still alive. I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think they were necessarily\u00c2\u00a0friendly<\/i> with one another, but I got the sense that they had some sort of working respect for the job. For example! There was that scene early on where Picard asked Jameson how he could glean so much information from Karnas\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s brief statement. To me, I read that as\u00c2\u00a0history<\/i>. These two had worked out a negotiation before; it made sense to me that they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d be able to read between the lines well.<\/p>\n Then the show provides another sleight of hand: Dr. Crusher. When she reveals that Jameson\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s medical records are two months old instead of two\u00c2\u00a0days<\/i> old, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s very easy for anyone to assume that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s much worse off than he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s let on. Prior to this, he collapses in his quarters, clutching his chest in pain, and it damn well looks just like he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s having a heart attack. A-ha! I thought to myself. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122VE FIGURED IT OUT. His health was rapidly declining, but he wanted one last glorious mission with his old buddy Karnas before he left this world. I mean, what other option was there? He had a degenerative disease that had no cure; it seemed so simple to me!<\/p>\n HAHAHAHAHA OH, MARK.<\/p>\n Cerberus II<\/b><\/p>\n I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t understand the full extent of what was going on until a later scene with Dr. Crusher. Again, perspective matters so much in how you interpret things, so allow myself to demonstrate that to you. I believed that Jameson was hiding his deteriorating state, therefore I viewed everything up to the big reveal through that lens. When Jameson got out of his chair to assume command at the conn station (is that what it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s called???), I thought he was being deliberately stubborn, as if he needed to prove to those on the bridge of the\u00c2\u00a0Enterprise<\/i> that he was physically capable of being there.<\/p>\n And then we get that scene in his quarters and HOLY SHIT, I WAS WRONG, I GOT IT COMPLETELY BACKWARDS. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s getting\u00c2\u00a0impossibly<\/i> better. Not just better, BUT YOUNGER. HOW?\u00c2\u00a0HOW<\/i>???<\/p>\n There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a haunting synchronicity between what Jameson did years ago and what he does in the present, and to me,\u00c2\u00a0that<\/i> is what makes this episode as disturbing as it was. (Well, Clayton Rohner also did a fine job with this transformation, so he deserves credit, too!) When we finally find out that Karnas was lying about the terrorists \u00e2\u20ac\u201c he himself is holding them to goad Jameson into coming to him \u00e2\u20ac\u201c we discover that Jameson is a selfish, single-minded\u00c2\u00a0asshole<\/i>. When he came to Mordan IV, he chose a course of action that set into motion a bitter civil war that lasted FORTY FUCKING YEARS. He didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t consider that giving arms to Karnas\u00c2\u00a0AND ALL OF HIS RIVALS would still count as breaking the Prime Directive. LIKE, CLEARLY IT DOES. Actually, now that I think about it, he probably\u00c2\u00a0did<\/i> know this, since he purposely hid the truth in his reports to the Federation. He knew he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d get kicked out, and he lied about it.<\/p>\n So then, when we look at how he behaved towards his wife regarding the Cerberus II drug, we can see the exact behavior. He saw a solution to his problem of Iverson\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s disease, he pursued it, and then he made a rash, disastrous decision to take both his dose AND HIS WIFE\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S without asking if she was okay with it. Well, of course, he never even asked her in the first place how she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d feel about growing\u00c2\u00a0younger<\/i>, and I appreciated that this episode gave her the voice to say that, you know? Her perspective, however brief,\u00c2\u00a0did<\/i> matter. She got to tell him that he FUCKED UP. And he did! Gloriously so! He destroyed his own body for some last-ditch effort to rectify what he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d done forty years prior. Which\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 he couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have done that anyway. How do you undo decades of violence that you caused?<\/p>\n Normally, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not much of a fan of episodes fizzling out, but I think it works here. Jameson doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get to save the day; he dies knowing that he upset his wife and that his actions were deplorable. Karnas\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 well, he doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get in trouble, does he? Like\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 the Enterprise<\/i> just leaves him alone, right? Perhaps that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s because of the Prime Directive, too, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s left unsaid. Regardless, I was able to look past the bad make-up job and enjoy \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Too Short a Season\u00e2\u20ac\u009d for what it was.<\/p>\n The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Too Short a Season\u00e2\u20ac\u009d can be downloaded here for $0.99<\/a>.<\/p>\n Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n – The Mark Does Stuff Tour 2015 is now live and includes dates across the U.S., Canada, Europe, the U.K., and Ireland. Check the full list of events on my Tour Dates \/ Appearances page.<\/a> In the sixteenth episode of the first season of\u00c2\u00a0The Next Generation, the crew picks up an aging negotiator to help navigate a hostage situation, only to find out that both parties have an ulterior motive. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for … Continue reading
\n– My Master Schedule<\/a> is updated for the near and distant future for most projects, so please check it often.\u00c2\u00a0My next Double Features for Mark Watches will be the remainder of\u00c2\u00a0The Legend of Korra<\/i>, series 8 of\u00c2\u00a0Doctor Who<\/i>, and Kings<\/i>. On Mark Reads, Diane Duane’s Young Wizards<\/i> series will replace the Emelan books.
\n<\/b>-\u00c2\u00a0Mark Does Stuff is on Facebook!<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0I’ve got a community page up that I’m running. Guaranteed shenanigans!
\n– If you would like to support this website and keep Mark Does Stuff running,\u00c2\u00a0I’ve put up a detailed post explaining how you can!
\n<\/a>– Please check out the\u00c2\u00a0MarkDoesStuff.com<\/a>. All Mark Watches videos for past shows\/season are now archived there!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"