The Empath (Video; Memory Alpha) is terrible. It’s the old away-team-captured-by-aliens-on-a-planet-that-they-thought-was-abandoned schtick, complete with big-headed aliens performing a mysterious experiment.
Added to the boring retread is the fact that they use the term “empath” completely incorrectly. The titular empath doesn’t feel others’ emotions, but instead takes their injuries upon herself and heals them. She very literally “feels their pain,” but in so doing takes that pain from them, and then within seconds heals from it herself. That’s neat, but that’s not what an empath is.
And further, it undermines the entire episode. The big-headed aliens are trying to teach her to be self-sacrificing, and to do so they make Kirk, McCoy, and Spock offer their own lives or each other. But the crew is in actual danger when they do so; the Empath seems none the worse for wear after she does her injury-transferral trick. So the lesson should be “this is of no cost to you; do it all the time.”
And then there’s the terrible, terrible writing. The dialog is flat, and McCoy spends the entire time spouting expository technobabble that only barely makes sense. The aliens aren’t threatening or interesting or menacing, because they’re too busy being mysterious. And the twist ending is predictable and lame while also being more like a “keep left” than a real twist.
Favorites
This was DeForrest Kelley’s favorite episode. The Devil in the Dark was Shatner’s. The stars of the show pick the worst episodes to love.
Grade
D
