Stardate: 1789.3
Original Air Date: July 13, 2023
Writers: Kathryn Lyn & Henry Alonso Myers
Director: Jordan Canning
“I’m going to do what I should have done many years ago…
I’m going to teach you about your human side. I’m going to show you how to lie.”
Christine Chapel’s personal log: The Enterprise is en route to the Vulcan system to survey the moon of Kerkhov on the far side of the sector where an ancient civilization once dwelled before it vanished. Long-range scans suggest a strange energy anomaly just above the surface of the moon. Hopefully, it can provide answers about what happened to the Kerkhovians. Pike has decided to travel at sub-impulse speeds to enjoy the view. Now, the crew has been given some down time. Nurse Chapel is using her time to prep for an interview for an upcoming two-month fellowship at the Vulcan Science Academy.
We are also given a science officer’s personal log. In the recent down-time, Spock has benefitted from Dr. M’Benga helping him use therapies to better control his emotions. Spock has enjoyed learning how to cook. Upon arrival at Vulcan, Spock’s fiancé T’Pring intends to host a ceremonial engagement dinner (a “V’Shal” dinner). However, there are tensions between Spock’s and T’Pring’s families. Her mother, T’Pril, is still not approving of their union, and Spock is not looking forward to the visit. Also, he has been avoiding Nurse Chapel since their last encounter.
Spock is set to pilot the shuttlecraft investigating the Kerkhovian moon, and Pike pairs him with Nurse Chapel because, keeping in mind her fellowship, the Kerkhovians were “rumored to have a robust system of medicine, more advanced than anything today.” Any discovery could lead to a significant medical breakthrough for the Federation.
Spock and Chapel take the shuttle and travel near a “stable vortex” or “a rupture in space-time,” but they quickly lose control of the ship and an accident occurs. Spock wakes up in sickbay as a human (his Vulcan ears are missing!), while Nurse Chapel is fine. But the shuttle has been strangely cleaned somehow (perhaps by the Kerkhovians, who are believed to be inter-dimensional beings). For the remainder of the episode, Spock’s human emotions get the better of him –he is angry and sad and hungry, like a moody teenager. What he needs is “impulse control.”
Pike confronts one of the Kerkhovians named “Yellow” about Spock’s transformation but discussions end without resolution. Apparently, the Kerkhovians decided to rescue the shuttle when it nearly crashed and corrected what they saw as flaws in Spock. Nurse Chapel continues to search for a solution to Spock’s situation, and sadly, her fellowship application interview doesn’t go very well. Meanwhile, Spock’s mother, Amanda, and his future mother-in-law, T’Pril, insist on moving forward with the traditional dinner –aboard the Enterprise no less! Naturally this premise is primed for some wacky hijinks, Spock must pretend to be a Vulcan in order to impress his fiercely proud mother-in-law, and Nurse Chapel leads a team to retrieve the cure for Spock’s missing Vulcan DNA from the Kerkhovians. In the end, T’Pring is disappointed in Spock lying to her about what happened so she proposes that they take some time apart. The episode ends as Spock praises his mother and her humanity, before he (a newly single Vulcan) and Nurse Chapel finally embrace and kiss.
“It is not easy being a human who loves a Vulcan.”
My Thoughts on “Charades”
A quirky comedy episode, admittedly I laughed out loud a few times at all the goofy hijinks in “Charades,” however, I continue to be dismayed at Spock’s place in SNW as essentially the show’s comic relief. His portrayal as an erratic, moody teenager was disappointing and I’m getting really tired of SNW desperately exaggerating Spock’s human side, making Spock the butt of all the jokes, the target of all the zippy one-liners, the likes of which have come to dominate modern Trek. And the overly emphasized sexual tension between Spock and Chapel seems a bit over-the-top to me. Personally, I prefer the more serious, stoic, admirable, intelligent version of Spock in TOS to this wacky, slightly unstable interpretation. I am also not crazy about Spock’s mother (Amanda) in this episode. At points, it looks as if she could be his younger sister.
While this episode is good for a few laughs (and at least it ended on a high note), I can only hope SNW returns to the smarter science fiction potential of Season 1.
Star Trek Trivia:
- At the start of this episode, Dr. M’Benga mentions “Korby’s three principles of archaeological medicine,” n allusion to Dr. Roger Korby in the TOS episode “What Are Little Girls Made Of?”
- This episode establishes the ritual V’Shal ritual dinner, a traditional Vulcan engagement dinner.
- Pike makes a traditional Vulcan “tevmel” meal for the occasion of the V’Shal engagement dinner.
- In this episode, T’Pring’s parents are: Sevet and T’Pril.
- The title “Charades” is a reference to a scene of Pike attempting to stall Spock’s V’Shal by claiming “Charades” is a traditional human custom played at such occasions. It also refers to the “charade” Spock is forced to perform by concealing his absence of Vulcan DNA. In some senses, it can refer to T’Pril’s obsession with this traditional Vulcan charade, as well.
Very nice episode for Spock and Christine. Thank you for your review and trivia.
One thing Charades certainly has to say: No matter how many personal comfort zones or self-made purgatories we might have, they can be greatly challenged at any time and especially in the forms we least expect. That’s certainly a most common drama in Star Trek, whether it’s confidence in the Prime Directive suddenly turning into an ethical urge to disregard it, being forced to see your own evil side due to a transporter mishap, or finding it in your heart to spare a little boy even if he will grow up to be one of history’s worst infamies. Given Spock’s most firm disciplines in trying to come terms with who and what he chose to be, and all of the natural and well-known conflicts that he consequently faces, Charades qualifies as one of the most need-to-be-told Star Trek tales.