Charlie X
Charlie Evans is the 17-year-old sole survivor of a transport crash 14 years ago. And ominous music plays every time he’s onscreen.
Charlie X (Wikipedia; SD Video) sets quite a different tone than The Man Trap; where before it was all suspense, the first half of this episode is farce (including a musical number with Uhura), and the second half tragedy.
Begin Spoilers
Charlie, you see, is a very young Q with crazy powers, but no one on Enterprise knows it. They think he’s a precocious 17 year old who doesn’t know how to interact with people (especially girls), and the crew all try avoid being the one to tell him uncomfortable realities.
This charade goes on for a while until Charlie’s temper gets the better of him, and then it’s the how-do-you-control-him dance as he goes around ruining people’s lives right and left by turning them into iguanas and aging them 50 years in a second.
Eventually Kirk gets an idea: make him do too much at once, and maybe they can take him. They’re just about to try that out when the aliens who gave Charlie his powers appear, and take him home.
This is where the tragedy comes in. Charlie doesn’t want to go back: he hates it there. But he’s proven that he can’t go with the crew, and they know it. Kirk pleads on his behalf, but to no avail; Charlie goes back, and the show ends.
End Spoilers
The suddenness of the ending is almost made up for it by the writing therein, and the whole episode is worth it for the play between Spock, Bones and Kirk over who gets to be the kid’s father figure.
Best Bit Of Ironic Dialog
Charlie: What do you do when a girl likes you?
Kirk: You go slow.
