Synopsis:
In an effort to promote peace between two traditionally warring planets, the Enterprise is directed to accompany the Troyian ambassador to Elas in order to transport Elaan, a daughter of the Elasian ruling house, to Troyia to be wed to their prince. Elaan is an unwilling participant in this diplomatic arrangement and in a fit of arrogance, stabs the Troyian ambassador.
Kirk is unimpressed with her haughty ways and develops a rapport with the princess, one which is quickly cemented through contact with her Elasian tears. These tears have a chemical property that creates an emotional bond with the man who comes in contact with them, an effect that Kirk seems subject to as well. With Kirk distracted, one of Elaan's guards, apparently without her knowledge, has been subverted by the Klingons to sabotage the Enterprise, disabling the warp drive and destroying the dilithium crystals that control it.
The extent of the damage is discovered just as the Klingons begin to mount an attack. As Kirk and the bridge crew fend off the Klingons as best they can, Elaan develops a reproachment with the Troyian ambassador, accepting his gift of wedding robes and the royal necklace. Returning to the bridge in her new attire, Spock discovers that the necklace she has been given contains uncut dilithium crystals which Elaan decrys as "common stones." As Kirk attempts to stall the Klingons, Scotty and Spock reconstruct the dilithium matrix and return warp capability to the ship. Thus restored, the Enterprise defeats the Klingons, who limp away.
Kirk continues his mission to deliver the Elasian princess to Troyia. The importance of this star system, both to the Klingons and the Federation, is made clear by the abundance of dilithium. By wearing the Troyian robes, Elaan has signaled her acceptance of her responsibility to bring peace to the system.
Analysis
This is easily one of the best episodes of the third season and a strong contender for the entire Original Series. The story delivers both the human element in the form of the unwilling princess bride as well as the adventure elements of the sabotage and Klingon attack. Each of the characters is well used, with Kirk taking the obligatory love interest, but Spock, McCoy, Scotty, and Sulu each have a satisfying contribution. Uhura, Checkov, and Nurse Chapel all get a brief spotlight as well and feel comfortable in their roles, easily capturing the essence of their characters.
This is also one of the few episodes that has the main cast appearing in their traditionally assigned roles on the bridge: Checkov as navigator and tactical, Sulu at the helm, Spock at the science station, Uhura at communications, Scotty at engineering, with McCoy and Chapel in sick bay. This is the team that we traditionally remember, yet it is surprising how seldom this ensemble actually appears in a bridge-based episode.
The quality of this episode is in the strength of the narrative. The story is quickly paced, with each scene bringing new elements into
the narrative, and is a clear break from the moody, atmospheric episodes
that precede it. This is a classic short story, capturing the intermittent threat from the Klingons as well as the struggles and triumphs of what are essentially diplomatic missions undertaken by the Enterprise. In this episode, we establish the Klingons as a credible and everpresent threat to the Enterprise, and debut their iconic battlecruiser as a menace worthy to challenge the Galaxy class starships of the Federation. Again, every element that the audience identifies with Star Trek, every element that persists to the later series, is found in this episode.
This is not a hot war with galaxy shaping consequences but more of the daily adventures of a capable ship and crew, the kind of story and genre for which Star Trek is famous. Fifty years later, these are the enduring elements that persist, while the vague, ambiguous, bizarre and minimalist episodes have almost entirely fallen by the wayside. Not in evidence are Hyper Powerful Species that control the crew at their whim, nor bizarre inverted worlds where the laws of physics and reason don't apply, nor visual phantasmagorias where nothing makes sense.
Instead, we are dealing with a very real and ordinary threat from the Klingons, who are no less dangerous. And we resolve the tension with the crew's ingenuity and skill, rather than being brow beaten into submission through the convoluted reasoning of a Kirk Speech. The crew operates as competent characters who know their job and do it well. They struggle with the limitations imposed upon them by the story: (Scotty with his saboteur and Sulu with the sluggishness of the ship, for example) but the characters succeed in spite of the limitations, rather than being rendered ineffective by them. The limitations serve to highlight their capabilities rather than negate them.
Elaan, as the guest character, becomes more believable and relatable as her story unfolds. The interaction with Kirk humanizes her, and we explore the real source of her arrogance as being an unwilling pawn in a diplomatic game that leaves her frustrated, frightened and alone. We initially see her as a spoiled child, but with Kirk we recognize the unfairness of her situation and the absolute necessity of her accepting this role that her planet has demanded of her. In fact, Kirk recognizes parallels to his own situation, duty-bound to complete this distasteful mission and put up with Elaan's childishness at .037% impulse power when he would much rather be anywhere else.
This character could have been a caricature of entitled royalty, and instead delivered a nuanced exploration of the balance of personal freedom with societal duty.
Post Script: A lot has been made of the sexism that this episode contains, On one side of the argument are obvious references to classics such as Taming of the Shrew, Antony and Cleopatra, My Fair Lady, and Helen of Troy. Surely Trek can participate in that same tradition. Unless, of course, you find each of these to be hopelessly sexist in their own right, in which case they are no help.
When pointing out the sexism of the show, commenters point to three things: the Joke, the Blow, and the Deal. Kirk starts out the episode with a particularly offensive joke about how the only logical women are found on Vulcan. There's no real defense of this, except to say that jokes about women and men not understanding each other are commonplace even in the modern day, where men are pigs with lizard brains.
The Blow is a much darker matter, since the instinct not to hit women is deeply ingrained in our culture and any kind of justification seems feeble at best. I would only say that Elaan and Kirk exchanged blows as part of an ongoing plot where Elaan had earlier stabbed the Troyian ambassador, later threw a knife at Kirk's back, and initiated the exchange with her own blow first. Elaan was a violent person. She was the product of a warrior culture that valued violence and respected strength. None of the people around her was strong enough to warrant her respect, least of all the ambassador. I see this sequence more about Elaan being a warrior and Kirk dealing with her on those terms, than about her being a woman.
The Deal is the plotline of a thousand romance novels, where a young woman is asked to marry against her will. Diplomatic marriages were the standard across medieval Europe as exampled by Elizabeth's extended negotiation for a husband. While it isn't particularly empowering to women, neither is it sexist to admit that arranged marriages are a legitimate source of tension, and a tension that was addressed in the story. Nobody simply accepted that this deal was a good situation and that Elaan wasn't entirely justified to rebel against it, just as Petri was right to despair of being ruled over by an Elaian queen.
In Elaan, I don't see someone who has lost her strength of will, or
become meek and domesticated. Instead, I see her as turning her strong
will from selfishness to responsibility. None of the players (neither
Elaan, nor Ambassador Petri, nor Captain Kirk; and I'm not convinced of
the prince of Troya either) want to be here in this situation. Each is
forced into this role because of duty and for the sake of peace. I
think it raises an interesting question that we single out Elaan as
somehow more put upon because she is asked to marry.
rating: 5 out of 5
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