Original air date: December 8,1966
SYNOPSIS
While Captain Kirk investigates whether an actor is actually a presumed dead mass murderer, a mysterious assailant is killing the people who could identify the fugitive.
CANON CONTEXT
If you’re wondering why Yeoman Janice Rand only had one brief scene in this episode with no speaking lines it’s because she was fired a week before shooting. We won’t see that character again until Star Trek: A Motion Picture.
RECAP
First I must tip my hat to actors Arnold Moss and Barbara Anderson. Together, they really made this episode great, especially after the two-part menagerie. This had a very different tone, one of a Shakespearean proportions. The play? Macbeth!
But I might just be getting ahead of myself here. Let’s go back to what this episode is all about:
Captain Kirk are sent to a planet believed to have advanced information on food crops, or something to that effect. He’s sent to meet a scientist he’s known for a long time. While visiting he attends a performance of Macbeth where his friend reveals some startling information about the star: he is Kodos the Executioner, former governor of the Earth colony of Tarsus IV.
Now, whether or not Kodos should be held responsible for the execution of 4000 so that another 4000 could live, waiting for supply ships that were late in their delivery, is not really up for debate. According to him, he had no choice. According to everyone else, that’s irrelevant and he should’ve let everyone die if that was how it would end. What we will discuss is how everyplace this traveling troop of performers go happens to be where an eyewitness to the executioner lives and where they end up dying under mysterious circumstances. Including, Kirk’s friend. Could it be that Kirk is wrong and Kodos isn’t dead. That badly charred and unidentified body from 20 years ago probably wasn’t him and he’s seeking to kill those last men who can identify him.
Kirk must find out the truth. But we mustn’t let that interfere with his ability to sweet talk a woman whenever possible. So what if she might be the offspring of a mass murderer.
And now, for a brief interruption of our programming to bring you Lt. Uhura singing, again. I actually like that they’ve given her this thing that she’s known to do in the mess hall. At first it was creepy the way she was clearly going after Spock the first time, but now I appreciate this nuanced side it brings to her character. I wonder how many musical interludes we’ll have throughout the series?
Now, where were we? Oh yeah, the best part, the Shakespearean part. It isn’t till the last performance the troop will give the crew of the Enterprise that we discover who is behind the mysterious deaths.
I’ll give you a hint. Don’t be fooled by a pretty face with blonde hair, she could just be masking the psychotic within.
“The play is the thing, wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king.” Hamlet, Act II Scene II
DID THEY REALLY SAY THAT?
Lenore Karidian: Has the machine changed them? Made them just people instead of women?
Captain James T. Kirk: Worlds may change, galaxies disintegrate, but a woman... always remains a woman.
Lenore Karidian: All this, and power too. Caesar of stars. Cleopatra... to worship him.