LogFAQs > #967393229

Episode 24: This Side of Paradise

Anything that forces happiness and contentment on people always manages to be more terrifying than a monster could ever hope to be. I initially thought this was going to be planet of the amish but, it obviously becomes a bit more than that. Anger and other base emotions fighting off the spores is a poetic solution and I like that we've had another episode which stresses how much we actually need so called negative aspects of ourselves.

Sandoval is an alright character. His blunt no at the order to evacuate had some surprising power behind it and his realisation at the lack of accomplishments is harrowing. Layla breaks the curse of annoying female one offs by having her romance, aside from the subtle unease this concept inevitably causes, seem like an actual character trait, rather than being a lovesick prop. Actually felt it when Spock broke her heart. There are still some issues (I could do without hearing the "love" theme everytime a woman is onscreen), but the show's getting better at this.

Nice seeing Sulu again and the shovel fight is hilarious. Uhura got a nice moment of cheerily sabotaging communications. It was under the spores' influence, true, but I'll take what I can get. McCoy got some nice sarky lines in, especially when his mind starts getting freed. He becomes an absolute riot whilst he's under control, though.

Spock is an absolute sweetheart and there's something wonderfully surreal about him watching the clouds. Like McCoy, his every interaction with Kirk whilst under the spores' control is hilarious. His last lines are heartbreaking. Given that he's allowed to go through a range of emotions and demonstrate what really makes him tick, this feels more like a Spock centred episode than Galileo did.

Kirk's increasing bewilderment and stunned silence at the crew's antics is brilliant. I love him inspecting the branch Spock was hanging from (another great surreal moment), as though he's genuinely trying to figure out the appeal. You can feel the misery and loneliness at being the only one left on the ship and the direction keeps us lingering on this shot for an appropriately uncomfortably long time. Being resistant due to his sheer ambition and anger tracks well with his character and the silent inspectionof the medals was nice, as was sheepishly explaining how the brig is probably a bad idea.

The sets on the colony are beautiful and give off the idea of a superficial Eden quite well. The irony of Sulu musing about his ignorance of farms, just as the flowers come into view is fantastic storytelling. (isn't botany a hobby?) Another nice shot is the line of crewmembers outside the transporter room. Kirk's speechs suffers from the consistent problems of dodgy pauses, but, along with Spock and Sandoval's last words, it perfectly encapsulates the morals of the episode: while happiness is part of a healthy life, it isn't all there is to it and stagnation without ambition isn't living.

A brilliant episode.

Next is The Devil in the Dark