The Empath

This is definitely one of my favorite episodes of all the Star Trek series.

It introduced to me as a young lad, the notion of empathy, and took it to a level which has at times been debated as possible or not, physical empathy. To be able to take the pain and suffering from someone and transfer it onto oneself while removing that pain and suffering from another is an incredible concept. It made me wonder - Were any of the great healers in ancient times physical empaths?

The actress playing Gem I thought was excellent,watching her throughout the episode was as Spock would say, fascinating.

Sometimes we don't need million dollar special effects and wild chase scenes to have a beautiful episode. And where would we be as human beings without empathy ?

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.

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.

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.