Shatner is bad in this. Sandra Smith ain't much better. They basically continue to play their characters. Shouldn't Shatner subtly incorporate parts of her character? Subtly! We don't know a lot about Dr. Lester's personality but he basically continues to be Kirk. Yes sure, he gives himself away by some unusual character quirks but it's not really convincing. I get it - Dr. Lester wants to be an exact copy of Kirk. Still, the whole performance ain't convincing.
Do you remember this funny Voyager episode in which Shmullus and Seven switched bodies? Ryan nailed it in this episode. She observed the character she had to impersonate thoroughly and she did a great job. This episode is really nothing like the that. Sandra Smith did it all wrong. Did she ever watch captain Kirk on tape? She never tried to impersonate him.
I don't like this episode. It's another example of misogyny. First, I was surprised that she had to resort to such a ruse in order to be able to take command of a ship. It's the damn future. I long suspected the patriarchy might be responsible for the fact that all high ranking officers in this show are male. Well, let's assume that writers wanted to criticize just that. So they designed this episode to highlight this issue. But what did they do? They could have shown the "possessed" Kirk as competent as any other truly male officer. Instead he/she gives himself/herself away for being too emotional, erratic, hysterical. Unfit to command a ship and unable to keep the trust of the crew. That's actually reinforcing the idea that high ranking officers are supposed to be male, logical, cold-blooded men. While women should be nurses, communications officers or yeowomen with fancy hair-dos in short skirts serving drinks at the bridge. It's obvious that this show is from the 1960s.
All that aside, I'm really disappointed by the logic of the plot. In general, I'm prepared to overlook such issues but I don't understand what takes them that long to find out who's the real Kirk. Ask him/her for the command codes or about what happened last week. How could the fake captain answer this? Instead they try endlessly to ascertain whether his latest character quirks are revealing that he's a woman in disguise?
I said it before, I say it again: the penultimate episode would have been a better finale.
Kirk: "Her life could have been as rich as any woman's, if only ..."
Review by Alexander von LimbergBlockedParent2022-12-31T16:09:29Z— updated 2023-02-27T19:19:21Z
Gosh,
Shatner is bad in this. Sandra Smith ain't much better. They basically continue to play their characters. Shouldn't Shatner subtly incorporate parts of her character? Subtly! We don't know a lot about Dr. Lester's personality but he basically continues to be Kirk. Yes sure, he gives himself away by some unusual character quirks but it's not really convincing. I get it - Dr. Lester wants to be an exact copy of Kirk. Still, the whole performance ain't convincing.
Do you remember this funny Voyager episode in which Shmullus and Seven switched bodies? Ryan nailed it in this episode. She observed the character she had to impersonate thoroughly and she did a great job. This episode is really nothing like the that. Sandra Smith did it all wrong. Did she ever watch captain Kirk on tape? She never tried to impersonate him.
I don't like this episode. It's another example of misogyny. First, I was surprised that she had to resort to such a ruse in order to be able to take command of a ship. It's the damn future. I long suspected the patriarchy might be responsible for the fact that all high ranking officers in this show are male. Well, let's assume that writers wanted to criticize just that. So they designed this episode to highlight this issue. But what did they do? They could have shown the "possessed" Kirk as competent as any other truly male officer. Instead he/she gives himself/herself away for being too emotional, erratic, hysterical. Unfit to command a ship and unable to keep the trust of the crew. That's actually reinforcing the idea that high ranking officers are supposed to be male, logical, cold-blooded men. While women should be nurses, communications officers or yeowomen with fancy hair-dos in short skirts serving drinks at the bridge. It's obvious that this show is from the 1960s.
All that aside, I'm really disappointed by the logic of the plot. In general, I'm prepared to overlook such issues but I don't understand what takes them that long to find out who's the real Kirk. Ask him/her for the command codes or about what happened last week. How could the fake captain answer this? Instead they try endlessly to ascertain whether his latest character quirks are revealing that he's a woman in disguise?
I said it before, I say it again: the penultimate episode would have been a better finale.
Whaaaaaaaat? Last words of an alpha male.