The Empath

One of the best of Star Trek episodes is this one when the Enterprise comes upon a superior alien race that select the landing party of William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley and a pair of unnamed crewmen as guinea pigs in a psychological experiment. The aliens look like second cousins to the Talosians and we know what intellects they had. You also know what happens to unnamed crewmen in any Star Trek episode.

This crowd is almost as good or bad depending on your point of view. The three regulars are put into a room together with a deaf mute named Gem played by Kathryn Hays. She cannot speak, but her facial expressions tell much because Hays is a total empath with healing powers. As all the series regulars are tortured, Hays heals them. But like that other healer from the big screen, John Coffey in The Green Mile it takes a lot out of Hays every time she heals. It's soon clear she's the object of the alien experiment.

As Kirk tells them at the end these experiments are futile because these aliens have evolved into pure intellect, way beyond even that noted Enterprise intellect Spock. Empathy is not something you can objectively analyze. You either have it or you don't. A little more empathy, a little less intellect without sacrificing too much is what this old world needs.

Nice issues are developed in this fine Star Trek story.

It saddens me to see how many people are utterly lacking in any perspective on this episode. This episode is very different from any other, and perhaps this explains some of the pointless critique I have seen.

Deforrest Kelly called this his favorite episode. Those of you who fail to see its beauty are simply lacking in any artistic sense or human empathy.

Of course there are mistakes with effects, plot, etc. Show me an episode of ANY show from the 60's that is pristine. Show me any Star Trek episode with a perfect plot. This episode isn't about these things. It is about Empathy. It is about love. It is about the ability to perceive the feelings of others, and to incorporate these so completely into your own emotional and mental state that you must act in such a way as to serve the interests of others just as you serve your own.

This episode shows the pure love that exists between the big 3, and how each man will do his damnedest to protect the other, even unto death. This goes to the extent of even violating normal codes of conduct. This love is even expressed by Spock. Love is not only a gushy, touchy-feely thing. It is also respect, admiration, and duty. It is the moral imperative to serve one's comrades, and to sacrifice oneself if needed. No episode shows this so poignantly as this one, and this message is at the heart of all that is humane and civilized.

Torture? Gratuitous? Not at all. Anybody who has ever lived a significant life knows that life involves all kinds of torture on a continual basis. It is all around us, in our schools, our jobs, and sometimes even our relationships. It is part of the natural world too, and we can even say that life itself is often torturous.

The episode is a test for Gem, and the quickest way to evoke her empathic response is to injure somebody for no reason. This is exactly how any scientist would go about the experiment, were the test subjects considered to be below us like mice.

This episode loudly proclaims the most powerful of all of the messages in the series: It is our capacity to feel what others feel and to act in the interests of others that makes civilized and humane. It is this which ensures our survival.

But, as we all can see from the comments here, few people understand this. They do this for we live in an age where empathy is bad taste, and love is a cause for ridicule.

There's a lot of criticism of Star Trek's third season, and deservedly so. And, among those stories, this one seems to have gotten its share of bashing for the skeleton like production values.

Where I agree with the thrust of a lot of the reviews I would like to point out some of the more redeeming aspects of this episode. To me it seems more of a dramatic exercise for the actors. We're witnessing performances, not so much a plethora of adventure and special effects.

It's the kind of thing a university acting class would do. It's the kind of thing a local theatre troupe would conjure to keep their creative and performance juices fresh and active. That's the charm of this episode. The ability to pull off a story with a fraction of the budget.

Regrettably there's only so much frugal art that the audience (in this case the Trek fan base) can take. Without offering something more meaty for us to chew on, Trek was doomed with continued efforts like this one.

Still, for me at least, this episode has a certain charm to it. The theme of intellect-verse-emotion is abundant, and how one collides and synergizes with the other is made all too plain. The story shows an imbalance of sorts, but then shows the audience the true meaning of who and what we are, and what it is to be human.

It's an interesting episode. It lacks gloss and punch, but from a dramatic point of view it is an interesting exercise.

Though most hale "Amok Time", "The Naked Time", "The Man Trap", and "The City on the Edge of Forever", as the best episodes, and maybe they are, but I would have to say that is the most underrated story of all three seasons. It is an over-looked treasure I couldn't wait to get on DVD. The whole story takes place pretty much in one main facility. There are no back-and-forth to the ship or to other planets and stuff, which means the writing had to be extra clever to keep our attention. The big three of Kirk, Spock, and Bones, are forced to show an alien female what it means to sacrifice your life for someone else. The experiment is conducted by two superior alien beings who lose the meaning of life themselves in the midst of all the testing. With all the bickering Spoke and Bones do, you really see how much compassion they have for each other and their captain.

Thought this was an above average episode. Sometimes less is more, IMO the lack of the usual cheesy and laughable special effects, props and costumes was a huge plus. I found Gem's performance absolutely mesmerizing.