That Which Survives

Losira can kill with a hand, once selected you're fate has been planned, the last of her kind, more than one you will find, her eyeshadow is remarkably grand.

The Enterprise is hurled light years away while Kirk and crew investigate a planet protected by Losira.

If Spock would have been like this in every episode he would have been one of the biggest A-ho's in TV history. Either the writer got carried away and didn't realize how badly Spock would come off or he was trying to sabotage the popularity of Spock. I guess we'll never know.

But even with that it's an intriguing episode about death, beauty, and survival. And about hopes that never come true no matter how long you wait. There might be some of us who can relate to that.

Lee Meriwether is terrific as the alien being who keeps trying to kill everybody. Beauty is one of the few good things in life, but what if the beauty is trying to kill you? Well, then beauty is no bargain. And must be dealt with. But how...

Enjoyable episode outside of the oddly grumpy Spock. Season 3 on the whole is underrated I do believe.

Spock jumps on every comment that every person says, correcting their calculations with comments like "I wish you'd be more accurate" and saying things like "We're not here to engage in gambling" when someone asks about their odds of survival (how many times has Spock himself spewed out odds of this and that in the past? His own mother had to cut him off at the knees when he did that once). I've always thought that the "folding Lee Meriwhether" effect was cool but I'm not sure the episode really makes any sense. My main problem with this episode is how annoying Spock is because he's my favorite character in this series.

This isn't a bad episode, though it certainly isn't a good one. The problem, though, that makes this such a mediocre episode is the character Lee Merriwether plays--she's robotic in all her ways and this ISN'T conducive to creating a memorable character. I do understand WHY they chose to have her play the part that way, but still, there was just so little life in the show and having SOMETHING exciting occur would have helped. Perhaps Lee could have been seductive or more "real" and then lure the people to their death or perhaps another plot element could have been added. All I know is that the plot was thin and so was the action. While mildly interesting, this isn't a glowing endorsement and this episode is pretty typical of many of the lower quality episodes of season 3.

Season 3, episode 17. The Enterprise runs across a planet of interest, a geological dream and it's in an evolutionary stage where there might be life forms and maybe inhabitants. Kirk, McCoy, Sulu and geologist D'Amato are in the middle of beaming down when suddenly a woman appears, touches the transporter technician and he dies instantly. He's examined by Dr. M'Benga and finds he died of cellular disruption. Meanwhile, Kirk and crew is now on the planet and it shakes violently. The Enterprise is then thrown 990.7 light years away and Spock must get back to Kirk and away crew as fast as possible. The woman is still on the ship, kills one of the crewmen and sabotages the ship. The alien woman appears on the planet and kills D'Amato, leaving Kirk, McCoy and Sulu to explore it and figure out what is going on. The away crew and the Enterprise must reunite and stop the mysterious alien woman.

This is not the first time Spock's lines has been comical. This episode a little more "Spock Comedy" than usual but he's still logical. I really don't understand why some dislike Spock (his lines) in this episode - I find the "fascinating".

7.5/10