TOS – Obsession

Plot – I love how Kirk’s logs become less of a professional report and more of a personal confession as the episode continues. It feels less like one of Picard’s ‘business as usual’ logs and more like Sisko’s In the Pale Moonlight personal therapy.

Character – It’s an old trope in television to reach into the past of a character to reveal something about them that we didn’t already know. Often it occurs early in a shows run so we can familiarise ourselves with their backstory. This is nearly halfway through TOS’ run and Kirk’s history is being flagged up and explored. It feels earnt at this point and it certainly gives the episode a weighty sense of importance. Kirk is one of the three essential regulars on this show and as far as Shatner and the writers are concerned he is the central character (as far as the audience is concerned I am convinced it is Spock) and so digging up some of his more unpleasant past actions is treated like a big deal. Shatner seizes the opportunity to be more than an action hero, this promotes him as a tortured soul and he gives his recollection of previous tragedies everything he has got. I loved his twitchy assertion that nobody gets special treatment on board the Enterprise. It is the first sign that Kirk is going off the rails. I love the moment where he snaps that he’s tired of his senior officers conspiring against him when in fact they are just doing what they always do, which is express their strong opinions. He’s particularly hard on Garrovick because he reminds him of a young James T. Kirk who also paused when faced with the gas entity and 200 people were killed. I appreciated Kirk’s assertion that intuition is an appropriate command attribute as it is a skill that has served all the Captain’s for the past 50 years.

‘I need your advice, Doctor’ ‘Then I need a drink’ might be the best ever Spock/McCoy exchange. What is so effective about both Spock and McCoy’s concern for Kirk is how that manifests. Spock tries to understand obsession and seeks advice at how to handle it whereas McCoy heads straight to the heart of the problem and gives Kirk some advice on how to handle guilt. Ultimately McCoy has the last word when it comes to the Captain’s ability to Command and when Kirk tries to threaten him he pulls that ace out to startle him. It’s very funny that Spock is waiting outside the door during that entire exchange just to come in at the right moment and back up McCoy in his desire to relieve Kirk of duty. It’s very amusing that the one thing that McCoy often uses as an insult against Spock – the fact that he has green blood – is the very thing that saves him in this episode.

Performance - All hail Leonard Nimoy and the glorious scene where Spock says that arguing over the point of whether they should have gone after the creature is academic because they have already done so, and now it is coming after them. It’s delivered with such perfect dryness I burst out laughing.

Production – You don’t need sophisticated effects to suggest that something sinister is going as TOS regularly proved. The early scenes with the smoke curling backwards, the suggestion of smells that stir up memories and the dreamy performances of the actors all contribute to create a feeling of uncertainty. It’s a shame that it has to be the redshirts that all have to die – that’s such a cliché at this point – but this is no ordinary away mission. Smoke is such a simple effect to create that the scenes where it starts pouring through the vents on the Enterprise remain startling, because of the sheer panic is drives into the characters.

I don’t know where they find these actors or if it is simply the uniform that does it but there are a shocking number of handsome redshirts that populate this series. It’s not the only reason I want to watch but it certainly doesn’t harm my enjoyment. Ensign Garrovick is a beautiful looking man and it is a shame that he should not feature in any other episodes. The performance is very strong and the character (as a surrogate young Kirk) plays an essential part in the story.

Best moment – We have encountered all manner of strange and wonderful things in space at this point. It’s come to the point where it is rather commonplace. Thanks to the expert character work that is done in the first half of this episode the moment that the gas cloud appears on the viewscreen really had me on the edge of my seat because Kirk is physically squirming at the sight of it. He’s convinced it is the same entity that killed 200 men he was serving with in the past and here it is again to haunt him.

Worst moment – It’s not a bad moment (actually the entire climax is very nicely done) but the moment when the audience realises that Garrovick is going to sacrifice his life to the cloud so that Kirk can live comes long before he gives the good Captain a Judo chop. A massive round of applause for not going down that obvious route and instead showing Kirk at his most decisive and shrewd.

I wish they hadn’t done that – What is the point of Nurse Chapel? From what I can tell she is there to hand Dr McCoy the odd piece of medical equipment, distribute some exposition and to deliver dinner when everybody is panicking. It’s hardly the most fulfilling role that a woman could have, even in the 1960s (let us remember that in Britain The Avengers was making super spies out of Cathy Gale and Emma Peel and the better Doctor Who companions like Barbara Wright, Sara Kingdom and Zoe Herriot were experts in history, security and astrophysics) and it is a far cry from the brilliantly cold and calculating Number One featured in The Cage. I feel for Majel Barrett who deserved so much more than this periphery and at times pointless role.

A reason to watch this episode again – One of the best William Shatner performances in the Original Series’ run because he has the chance to get his teeth into some dark psychological material rather than simply devouring the scenery. Obsession is an intelligent piece, dramatically executed, very nicely acted and featuring some memorable exchanges between the trio of Kirk/Spock/McCoy. Aside from the overdone music at times there are none of the hallmarks (overdone campness, ridiculous monsters, unconvincing romance) that usually embarrass about early Trek. It’s incredibly focussed, directly told and features a villain that really gets under the skin (obsession and guilt). A top ten TOS for me.

****1/2 out of *****

Clue for tomorrow's episode: