The Enterprise comes to Capella IV, a planet that is a major source of an otherwise rare McGuffin. Kirk, Spock, and McCoy beam down to the planet to secure a mining agreement with the warrior-like inhabitants. To their shock, the Klingons have beat them there, and seem to be but one step away from an agreement with the ambitious Maab (Michael Dante). When Maab makes his move, assassinating the ruling Teer and assuming the throne himself, Kirk and company find themselves on the run with Eleen (Julie Newmar), the pregnant wife of the murdered ruler.
Now hunted by Klingons and Capellans alike, and carrying a significant handicap to their mobility in the form of Eleen, it is up to Kirk and Spock to find a way to not only survive the situation, but to somehow still secure the mining rights. Meanwhile, McCoy finds himself stuck with an urgent delivery to make...
CHARACTERS
Capt. Kirk: Still determined to do his duty, and still resourceful in finding ways to turn defeat into victory when he becomes a hunted man. Beyond that, nothing new here, though Shatner's easy interplay with Leonard Nimoy and DeForest Kelly is always fun to watch.
Dr. McCoy: Gets a fair amount of focus in this episode, which may be the best thing about the episode. DeForest Kelly is terrific. Whether playing with McCoy's familiarity with the Capellan culture (McCoy artfully calling Kras a liar is a rare highlight), or mixing sternness with compassion in his treatment of Eleen, Kelly brings the various parts of McCoy's character to life.
Hot Alien Space Babe of the Week: Julie Newmar is Eleen, pregnant wife of the old Teer, now under sentence of death. Eleen is very much a product of her culture. She accepts that she must die in order for Maab to secure his position, and clings very tightly to rules and taboos - such as that, as wife of a Teer, no man may touch her. She is extremely uncooperative when Kirk and Spock rescue her, but forms a bond with McCoy, probably because McCoy shows "strength" by ignoring those very taboos as soon as they get in the way of him doing his job as a doctor.
Villains of the Week: Michael Dante is Maab, the ambitious Capellan who murders his ruler in order to assume the throne himself. He desires power and wealth, and has no qualms about murdering Eleen, or Kirk and company, to secure his position. At the same time, he has the same respect for his own culture and customs that Eleen has, making him something other than a black & white villain.
That role is fulfilled by Kras (Tige Andrews), the Klingon who has managed to gain Maab's trust. Kras oozes evil in his every scene. Kras enters rooms evilly, delivers all lines evilly, and probably even snores evilly, while dreaming evil dreams of evil. After John Colicos' splendid, multi-dimensional Kor, Kras is a big comedown - a one note, comic book villain. You can practically hear "boo's" and hisses every time he slithers on-screen. He also appears to be quite stupid, given the manner in which he suicidally shows his "true colors" at the end.
ZAP THE REDSHIRT!
The landing party is Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and Grant. You can pretty well fill in the blanks from there. Grant pulls his gun when he sees the Klingon answer to Snidely Whiplash. A Capellan instantly throws a plastic knife with a funny sci-fi name at him, killing him instantly and providing the opening teaser with a "dramatic moment" to lead us to credits.
THOUGHTS
Season Three's supposed to be the crappy one, right? I'm just checking because, thus far, Season Two is so far below the standard of Season One that the difference is staggering. None of the episodes has been actively incompetent yet, and I'm admittedly only three episodes into Season Two. But so far, it's been one dull, half-written mishmash after another. With the Season One episodes, I approached the DVD set with great confidence, knowing that I would probably see something good, and at the very least get a reliable 50 minutes' entertainment. With Season Two, thus far, I'm half-forcing myself to watch the episodes. I'm hoping for an upturn in quality soon.
Not that Friday's Child is a complete loss. Once the episode stumbles its way through a very contrived set-up, we get the always-reliable Most Dangerous Game riff. This creates some tension, as Kirk and Spock puzzle out how to evade and defend against both the Capellans and the Klingons, while McCoy works to save the not-terribly-cooperate Eleen. Also, any episode that gives DeForest Kelly a turn in the spotlight can't be all bad. Some of his scenes with Eleen are actually quite amusing ("Say, 'The child is mine.' " "Yes, the child is yours"). But even at its best, the episode feels like a by-the-numbers exercise.
Oh, and the Capellans' outfits are strikingly stupid-looking. Was I the only one listening for carnival music when they first appeared onscreen? As warriors, the outfits are presumably designed to put enemies off their guard. Our multi-colored, hooded warriors can murder foes by the score while their hapless foes are still paralyzed, doubled-over in laughter.
Rating: 4/10.
Previous Episode: Metamorphosis
Next Episode: Who Mourns for Adonais?
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