Stardate: 1630.1
Original Air Date: July 6, 2023
Writer: Kirsten Beyer & Davy Perez
Director: Eduardo Sánchez
“We are forgetting who we are.”
The Enterprise is currently assisting the USS Cayuga in a joint mission, charting a new binary system. According to Pike’s personal log, both he and his girlfriend Captain Batel (of the USS Cayuga) are stealing a bit of personal time together. Patel offers Pike a gift –an Opelian Mariner’s Keystone she found Galt. Ancient Opelian captains used these keystones to guide lost sailors home. However, she has also been passed over for a promotion in favor of Commodore William Geary –apparently a punishment for Batel’s involvement in Una’s trial (as portrayed in the episode “Ad Astra per Aspera”). As far as their relationship goes, Pike suggests perhaps they should “pull it back a little.” Pike laments that he has a habit of torpedoing his romantic relationships.
After Batel abruptly departs, Una delivers a “sensitive communication” to Pike from Rigel VII. Five years ago, the Enterprise visited Rigel VII as part of a routine mission to a remote M-Class planet when they found the Kalar on Rigel VII, a bronze-age society organized into a dual caste system of a “formidable warrior class and a secretive ruling class.” The visit by the Enterprise five years ago was cut short when the landing party was ambushed. The Enterprise had to flee to Vega Colony –tragically, three crewmen died in the ambush and Spock barely survived. Why go back to Rigel VII now? Unfortunately, Starfleet scans cannot penetrate the atmosphere of Rigel VII because it is a “hot mess of wind shear, exotic radiation, and heavy particles that jam sensors on shuttles.” Rigel VII is regularly scheduled for routine long-range photography every couple of years, and a recently captured image reveals that the culture on Rigel VII has been contaminated since they are using Starfleet’s Delta symbol in their city, indicating there has been some manner of cultural contamination in violation of the Prime Directive. And any example of cultural contamination needs to be addressed and corrected if possible. Thus, a small strike team is assembled to assess the cultural contamination in an “undercover recon operation.”
Wearing Kalaran outfits in order to blend in, Pike, La’an, and Dr. M’Benga shuttle down to the planet’s surface (Ortegas reluctantly remains behind to pilot the Enterprise). Upon landing, Pike reveals that they cannot use phasers for this mission, they must rely on their hand-to-hand combat skills. As the trio begins the long journey through snowy mountains, something strange happens to La’an. She begins experiencing severe tinnitus and six hours seems to pass in a mere moment. Next, they are quickly captured by Kalar warriors and led into a giant castle where one of the lost Enterprise crewmen, yeoman Zac, currently rules. Zac was presumed dead in the previous mission. Now, on Rigel VII he is known as High Lord Zacarias, an embittered king that Starfleet once left behind.
Zac explains that Rigel VII is no ordinary planet –heavy radiation engenders ringing ears, time loss, and fear. Soon, the imprisoned crewmen begin to forget who they are and why they came to Rigel VII, and even the crew aboard the Enterprise suffer the same conditions. On Rigel VII, Pike, La’an, and M’Benga are taken in by a kindly older man named Luq (Reed Birney) who explains the “forgetting” is a nightly routine experienced by all people on Rigel VII, except those who dwell in the palace. While the “Palace Kalars” get to sleep each night, the lower class “Field Kalars” merely forget their identities each night. In a confused state, they cling to popular stories and superstitions to survive. For example, the gods decreed long ago that there would be two Kalars –those who can remember and record history, and those who work in the fields. The Field Kalars use a totem to try to cope with their forgetfulness, here Pike’s totem (the Opelian Mariner’s Keystone) comes in handy as does his love for Batel.
In time, Pike, La’an, and M’Benga piece a few things together and they stage a palace coup. After attacking all the guards, Pike confronts Zac who reveals that the palace and helmets have an ore that protects them from the planet’s radiation. After a period of time within the palace, Pike begins to recollect his identity. Meanwhile, aboard the Enterprise, Ortegas clears the debris field surrounding the planet, eliminating an unknown element that was causing all the problems. In the end, Pike apologizes to Batel and they rekindle their relationship, while Ortegas learns to embrace the importance of her role as the ship’s pilot.
“Not having a past can be nice for a while…”
My Thoughts on “Among the Lotus Eaters”
A gripping bit of continuity from “The Cage,” “Among the Lotus Eaters” brings the Enterprise back to Rigel VII (which previously appeared as a vision invoked by the Telosians in “The Cage”) where a severe form of forgetfulness plagues its denizens. This episode has all the hallmarks of a classic TOS episode, however, unlike in Homer’s Odyssey, this land of Lotus Eaters is a barren and frigid tundra ruled by a dual caste system that reminded me a great deal of the TOS episode “The Cloud Minders.”
While we all expected Spock to remain unaffected by the radiation/forgetfulness and for him to once again save the day, it is actually Ortegas who becomes the hero of this episode –and the ship’s computer serves as the only entity capable of remembering important things. Technology is portrayed in salvific fashion in this case. I thought this was a terrific episode, a compelling callback to the TOS era. One final point of noteworthy praise in this episode include the beautiful landscape visuals on Rigel VII.
Star Trek Trivia:
- Ortegas accuses Uhura of staying up late reading “Tellarite sonnets.”
- The Rigelian warrior garb in this episode has been updated from “The Cage.”
- “The Lotus Eaters” is a reference to Homer’s Odyssey, an island where people live in perpetually ignorant bliss.
- As far as I know, this is the first time the Opelians are mentioned in Star Trek.
- This episode establishes that Rigel VII has radiation that forces people to experience time loss, fear, and then they forget themselves.
I too liked how the visuals for this episode improved on the otherworldly beauty of Rigel VII. The original thoughts that Roddenberry had for how some worlds, even in Federation space, might be most dangerous to explore were always evident, from redshirt deaths to Kirk having to break the Prime Directive somehow to save his ship and crew. This episode was different enough thanks to some particularly creative writing, and a message about how living in the present moment could become a most powerful survival trait. Ortegas finding a refreshed appreciation for her role as a helmswoman is certainly nice. But I hope that she still soon enough gets her chance to be helpful on away missions. Thank you for your review.