The Man Trap

I’m really getting the feeling that the first season was superior to the second. Here’s a few thoughts I jotted down as I watched this fantastic episode:

• The editing is opening, as we’re shown different women from each man’s perspective, was very smooth; well done, and intriguing.
• Plum: that’s a great nickname; initially I wondered why they didn’t intersperse it with Bones in other episodes (particularly when, say, Spock was tryin’ to get a rise out of McCoy); the pain associated with it was obvious by the end, of course.
• Soon after that they have a very shaky shot panning over the bow of the Enterprise; they got better at that as the series went on.
• The professor had my attention the moment he entered: such interesting features, and then the change in his tack — it drew me in as I tried to discover what he was hiding.
• Nancy’s emphasis on the request for salt was really disturbing; particularly after such a traumatic moment.
• Uhura and Spock: his confusion was superb! (“Vulcan has no moon.” :-) ) They should’ve explored that side of Uhura’s character a bit more in the show; afterwards, of course, I realized it was setting up the scene where she meets the Esperanto-speaking technician.
• Kirk’s outburst at McCoy was fantastic! Love haze! Ha ha! The Next Generation was never this fiery! (Or, at least not amongst the main characters — well, except for Worf. :-) )
• “We’ll bring him home, Sir.” — very classy; again, Red Shirt jokes aside, I think this show treats their fallen with more dignity than other Trek spin-offs. I don’t know what it is; maybe the lack of families makes me think of it as more of a ship in wartime or something. Strange.
• Everyone knows Green! (Not enough to immediately notice he’s acting strange, but still.) That’s hilarious. Such a small crew.
• Kirk eating on the bridge? Wow! I love it! So foreign… I mean, Earl Grey in the Ready Room, sure, but food… out of any packaging, on the bridge? What about the crumbs? ;-)
• I loved the effect the stun setting had on the professor; was it just me or did his voice drop an octave initially?
• Again, on the war-time ship theme, that security sweep was something else! Very efficient.
• What a finale! I don’t think that I’ve ever seen McCoy in such agony, save his hypo-induced craze in The City on the Edge of Forever.