Leonard McCoy Guide: Season 3 - Episodes 6-10
#6 – Specter of the Gun An ill-advised mission to explore a new planet ends badly when the landing party is condemned to die by the advanced species that lives there. They are sent to their execution… in a showdown on the OK Corral. Yes, you heard me – Star Trek cowboys.
Rating: 3
Highlights:
There’s a wonderful little scene in which McCoy procures some medical supplies from an enemy. On display: his uniquely quiet and resolved personal strength.
Spock actually compliments the doctor, commenting on his ingeniousness when he is able to create a bomb out of primitive materials. McCoy goes o_o!
To rescue his comrades from the limits of their all too human minds, Spock melds with Kirk, Scotty, and Dr. McCoy.
Tags: Fearless-McCoy, Mind Meld, Omnipotent Being
#7 – Day of the Dove An alien who feeds on hostility lures the Enterprise and a Klingon crew together and isolates them on the ship with primitive weapons. It provokes feelings of hatred between the groups, and plans to lock them in eternal combat. Only by resisting prejudice and stopping the fighting can the true enemy be defeated.
Rating: 2
Highlights:
The first indication that something is wrong comes from McCoy, who makes a strangely OOC comment about the Klingons being guilty just because they are Klingons.
The unknown alien seems to be exploiting McCoy’s nature. Clearly angry, he calls the Klingons butchers as he treats the sword wounds of injured personnel.
Spock and Kirk get a big clue about what the alien is doing to people’s minds when McCoy, who is usually very anti-violence, harangues them, telling them to start acting like military men and fight the Klingons to the death.
Having been told about the game being played with them, a somber McCoy says, “If we are pawns, then you are looking at one who is extremely sorry.”
McCoy sword fighting!
The final confrontation is Kirk, Spock, and McCoy + Klingon Commander. Amusingly, the Klingon commander’s “call to peace” is a bald statement that Klingons do not need alien interference to hate humans. :)
Tags: Landing-Party, Sickbay, Medical Tunic, Mentally Assaulted, Moved to Violence, Hostile Alien
#8 – For the World in Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky One of the genuinely excellent tales spun by the series – both poetic and entertaining, character driven and balanced between plot and sub-plot. In artistry and completeness, It’s only surpassed by “The City on the Edge of Forever.” The premise is that the Enterprise must redirect an asteroid on a collision course with a populated world, but finds that the rock is actually a spaceship which has, for centuries, cradled the last remaining people from an otherwise extinct race. The catch? They don’t know that they’re on a ship, but believe the asteroid is the whole world. Meanwhile, McCoy, who we discover is dying from an incurable blood disorder (Xenopolycythemia), attracts the interest of the high priestess.
Rating: Strong 5
Highlight:
A rare McCoy-centric episode.
There’s a must-see scene when Nurse Chapel insists that Dr. McCoy share his illness with the captain. He shouts at her but then deflates, and his quiet use of her first name (“Christine”) when he promises that he’ll give a full report really speaks to how close they are, in spite of their usual professionalism.
Kirk and Spock’s separate reactions to finding out their friend is dying make the whole episode worth watching. It’s all very subtle, of course – no talking, just touching and looking – but a lot manages to get across anyway.
The priestess’s marked interest in McCoy is warming rather than nauseating, and her straightforward declaration after requesting permission to be blunt – “I would like you to stay here as my mate” – combined with his boggled reaction, makes for a really lovely scene.
McCoy gets married again, but instead of a ring, his spouse inserts an “instrument of obedience” in his head. Then the devise nearly kills him when he attempts to send vital information to Jim and Spock. Yeah.
Tags: Hurt/Comfort, Cure-Find, Sickbay, Triumvirate, McCoy-Romance, Self-Sacrifice, Landing-Party
#9 – The Tholian Web Following what appears to be Captain Kirk’s death, Spock transcends command of the Enterprise, whose people are slowly going mad and becoming violent. McCoy, grieving and also affected, proceeds to question him at every turn, resulting in some truly ugly confrontations. However, a timely intervention via the Captain’s final wishes makes them partners determined to rescue the ship.
Rating: 5
Highlights:
In spite of the fact that Spock and McCoy spend much of the time fighting, the intensity of their battle is captivating to watch.
Dr. McCoy gets attacked by a frenzied technician. He is being choked on a tabletop before Nurse Chapel finally comes to her senses and rescues him by knocking the man unconscious.
Captain’s Kirk’s last message: Amazing. Does he ever know his friends.
McCoy’s final violent outburst at Spock, which is followed immediately by his apology, vow of support, and then subsequent collapse from the effect of the disease.
Spock does have a sense of humor, which he proves by collaborating in a spectacular ruse with McCoy, in which they deny ever having seen Kirk’s final message. Poor Jim visibly deflates…while the other two smirk behind their hands.
Tags: Spock-McCoy Tag Team, Spock-McCoy Banter, Hurt/Comfort, Bridge-McCoy
#10 – Plato’s Stepchildren This episode revolves around a concept that I had fairly longed to see – the idea that, at some point, some race/species/ruler would insist on keeping a certain brilliant Starfleet physician around, by force if necessary. However, it also contains several nauseating scenes of humiliation and torment that are distinctly not comical.
Rating: 5
Warning: I rarely issue an outright warning, but beware; there are parts of this episode that truly disturbed me.
Highlight:
The Platonian leader is suffering from a massive infection. As the medical tricorder cannot read Platonian biology, McCoy must create a treatment from scratch.
Platonians have powerful telekinesis. See McCoy get thrown against walls and be yanked around by their ability.
Parmen decides McCoy must stay, but Fearless-McCoy refuses. For this, he is literally anchored in place.
Kirk’s response to Parmen’s demand is resolute. He refuses to leave McCoy.
Parmen tries to persuade the doctor by humiliating his friends. This is one of the most upsetting scenes in the entire series. I can barely stand to watch it.
Forced to witness their suffering, McCoy looks ready to give in, but Kirk gives him an order: No matter what Parmen does, the answer is still no. McCoy closes his eyes, looking anguished.
I can’t bear to see Spock forced to be emotional, and neither can McCoy. He begs on Spock’s behalf, to no avail.
Want to get nauseated? Watch Kirk and McCoy hover helplessly around a distraught Spock, who can barely control himself.
For the sake of the others, McCoy wants to give in. However, Kirk refuses, and together they make a plan to use the Platonian mental aptitudes for themselves.
The final scene of the episode is famous, as is contains one of the first interracial kisses on television, between Kirk and Uhura. However, this kiss is deeply non-consensual and I find it extremely disturbing for that reason. McCoy can’t stand seeing women mistreated either, and breaks down completely, agreeing to do anything Parmen wants.
There is no cannon aftermath for all this, of course, but I can imagine how much therapy was involved. And poor McCoy is the only psychologist.
By the way, I wrote a story based on this episode called "So True a Fool Is Love." It’s an alternate version: What would have happened if Kirk and Spock had been forced to leave McCoy with the god-like psychopaths? Nothing good. Side note: Although the tone of this episode is serious and the kiss between Kirk and Uhura is non-consensual on both their parts (so gross), the actual story behind how television’s first scripted interracial kiss came to be is pretty funny (Shatner and Nichols tricked the studio execs). In fact, if you aren’t aware of Star Trek’s entwinement with the Civil Right’s Movement and its status as a favorite show of Martin Luthor King Jr., it’s worth reading about!
Tags: Landing-Party, Fearless-McCoy, Medic-McCoy, Cure-Find, Nurse Chapel, Assaulted, Mentally Assaulted, Triumvirate, Hostile Alien
