“Obsession” is, essentially, Moby Dick in space. But instead of a great white whale, we’ve got a great white puff of smoke – that sucks blood like some vampire. Because it’s meant to be symbolic, the object of vengeance isn’t as important as the actions of the characters – in this case Kirk – who seek to fulfill their rage. But here, the white-cloud monster thingy becomes a distraction – and indicative of the sloppy approach to an episode which had the potential to be an insightful look into the captain of the starship Enterprise.

The backstory is that, while still a young officer, Kirk once encountered a creature (the smoke thingy) which killed the landing party by sucking out their red corpuscles. That Kirk hesitated before firing his phaser adds a layer of guilt to his desire to seek vengeance against the creature. Now, on a planet far from where the previous incident took place, Kirk recognizes the “sickeningly sweet smell” which was the trademark of the creature being in the area. And sure enough, within moments several redshirts are dead – and the hunt is on.

The episode makes an effort to portray Kirk’s “obsession” with killing the creature as genuine as possible. But Kirk’s acting is out of synch with the tone of the episode, creating some cringeworthy moments. And, too, the manufactured subplot about getting perishable medical supplies to their destination on time is not only a poor contrivance, but it’s wholly unnecessary considering that after everything that takes place, the delivery is made within an acceptable margin of error. In other words, Kirk never really has to face the consequences of his “obsession” – beyond seeing current redshirts die.

There is one intriguing notion to the episode, an attempt to add a much deeper layer to the story by way of Ensign Garravik – whose father was killed by the creature long ago when Kirk survived. In many ways, Garravik’s story mirrors Kirk’s – including a missed opportunity to fire a phaser at the creature. This leads Kirk to transfer his own guilt onto the young Ensign, deriding him for a dereliction of duty. It’s an interesting psychological angle. But once again, Kirk’s performance doesn’t allow the real depth of the story to reach its potential.

That Kirk’s “obsession” is validated by the events of the episode also undercut any possible commentary about the negative consequences of a thirst for revenge. And, too, the episode’s final sequences are a horribly paced, poorly scripted and contrived. The whole “invasion” of the ship by the creature is, perhaps, some of the worst writing I’ve seen from Trek – and that’s saying something.

“Obsession” is a missed opportunity. A lot of very good building blocks are haphazardly thrown together without any real concrete ideas or performances to hold them all together. The result is a subpar episode.

Filed under: Original Series