Dagger of the Mind
Dagger of the Mind (Memory Alpha; HD Video) take our favorite crew to Tantalus Penal Colony, where they’re dropping off supplies and picking up a box full of records. Except that there’s actually an escaped prisoner in the box. Whoops!
This episode contains a couple of significant “firsts:” it’s the first time we’re told that the transporter can’t work through a “security force field” like the one used at the colony. This is a necessary plot point for this episode, and becomes an important plot point in many other episodes to come. I can’t recall if anyone ever does any transporter-that-works-through-shields experiments, but I’d be kind of surprised if there’s not an episode about it.
This is also the first time we see a Vulcan Mind Meld, except that it’s kind of totally different from what I’ve ever seen as a Vulcan Mind Meld before. Here, Spock performs accupressure and speaks in a hypnotic monotone, and asks questions that the other participant answers. Later, it’s just a few fingers on the face and scenes from the past play on the screen. I must say I like the later version better.
Begin Spoilers
There is one big plot twist in this episode, and it occurs about 5 minutes in. The prisoner on the ship asks for asylum; he’s terrified that they’ll send him back to the prison. So instead of the crazy-guy-on-the-ship episode I was expecting, we get a crazy-guy-on-the-planet instead.
There’s a little bit of intrigue on the planet, but it pretty much plays out exactly how you expect it to: Kirk (and the hottie he’s sent with) are wined and dined by the prison’s director, they don’t suspect anything, they are curious about something called a “neural neutralizer,” they sneak out to use it, the director finds them and tortures Kirk, he escapes, resolution.
Except… why does the director do this? Why is he experimenting with the neural neutralizer? Kirk says early on that this guy is a genius who’s completely revolutionized the penal system, and that everything it just swell, now. So what additional benefit does this machine have? Or are we supposed to believe that this is what makes the system work, and no one has noticed before? It’s all very vague.
End Spoilers
This episode isn’t that great. It’s got a weak story with no real surprises, and it ignores the two big issues it could address: how does the penal system of the future operate? and what good is this medical-experiment-cum-torture-device? Either of these could fill out a smart episode that dealt with something, but instead the plot just kind of drifts into the finish you expect at the beginning like a bad Bond movie but with fewer explosions and no naked women.
Awesome Dialog
Spock: Interesting. You Earth people glorify organized violence for forty centuries, yet you imprison those who employ it privately.
McCoy: If something unusual is going on down there-
Kirk: An assumption, Doctor.
McCoy: I’m required to enter any reasonable doubts in my medical log. That requires you to answer in your log. Sorry, Jim.
[Spock gives a knowing look.]Kirk: One of the advantages of being a captain, doctor, is being able to ask for advice without necessarily having to take it.
Grade
C-
