Spock giving the prisoner his Vulcan mind meldEpisode Quick Summary
The episode begins with the Enterprise beaming supplies down to a penal colony. They then beam up one piece of cargo from the colony, which we discover actually contains a prisoner hiding inside the cargo. The ship then departs, unknowingly carrying an extra passenger. The colony contacts the ship to inform them that an inmate with violent background has apparently escaped the planet, very likely having beamed onto the ship. The ship goes into security alert and begins searching for the prisoner. The prisoner makes his way onto the bridge of the ship with a weapon in hand and proceeds to request asylum of Captain Kirk, while also exhibiting what appear to be health problems. The prisoner demands not to be returned to the colony, and quickly Kirk and Spock together disable him. While the prisoner is unconscious McCoy does a thorough medical examination and discovers he has some sort of unrecognizable medical disorder. During periods of consciousness McCoy gives him a truth serum but the man repeatedly says things that seem confusing and even contradictory. He begins to indicate that someone has tried to force him to forget experiences and information from working at the colony, and that his struggle is so that he will not forget. What we do not know. In looking up information about the name the prisoner has given for himself, Spock and Kirk discover him to be a well regarded doctor that had been assigned to the penal colony six months before. When Kirk makes contact with the director of the planet, who is clearly someone Kirk respects, McCoy makes clear that the director's story seems unbelievable. Star Fleet protocol requires, then, a full investigation to be made, requiring Kirk and a minimal investigation crew to beam down to the penal colony itself. Kirk and a doctor we've never met before--Dr. Helen Noel--beam down to the surface. Shortly after arriving they meet the director doctor, in charge of rehabilitation of prisoners, and also a woman that had been a prisoner but now resides on the planet as a therapist, and apparently without very much feeling.
Episode Tidbits
Spock comments on human history's encouragement of organized violence, and the fact that it then punishes those that take up violence in private. McCoy responds that he's sure Spock's people must have found a solution. Spock responds in the affirmative, confirming that his people squelched emotion, and that without emotion there is no motive for violence.
After sometime we discover that the rehabilitation occurring on the planet consists of some sort of neural neutralizing--that is, neutralizes patient's brain waves, that is, relaxes the patient, though without long term effect, apparently. When Kirk leaves the neural neutralizing equipment, we discover that actually what is being done is some sort of hypnosis in which the person is being told they will forget everything they know, and that if they begin to remember anything they will feel extreme pain. This episode, then, explores the idea of overcoming that which is difficult for us by simply erasing any memory of it ever having occurred. What we discover is that such erasure will damage us, rather than save us. Eradicating our hardships cannot be a genuine help to us, instead, the only option, then, must be to face ourselves and learn to accept what pains us while also integrating it into a healthier version of our own selves.
We also, in this episode, explore the fears of hypnosis, and mind control. Wanting to explore the reality of the neural neutralizer Kirk convinces Dr. Noel to use it on him with small suggestions being made. When he asks her to suggest something unusual to his mind, she uses the neural neutralizer to play with the idea of Kirk loving her. In the midst of this suggestion the director of the penal colony breaks in and increases the intensity of the machine, using it to apparently take control of Kirk's mind. Kirk is, of course, ultimately able to use the strength of his own conviction to overcome the persuasion being exercised on him, but in the meantime we are forced to consider the worry of mind control, and yet also see that we do have the power to outwit such evils. But such ultimate self control comes only through our own virtuous determination to do what is right.
In this episode we see the first instance of something like a Vulcan mind meld. It is not, though, what we come to see later as the classic mind meld. Instead, Spock directs the prisoner in what appears to be more like a kind of hypnosis technique, through which Spock calms the prisoner's mind, and simultaneously experiences it with him. Also, in this process Spock uses two hands, unlike his single handed technique that appears later.
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