The Man Trap

     The second episode of Star Trek is the first to feature Captain James T. Kirk, aka Jim by Dr. McCoy, played by William Shatner.
      But the episode itself? What can I say about the episode itself? The episode itself was wonderful. Just from the effects of the opening sequence it is obvious this episode is better than its predecessor. It seemed the creators tried their hardest to fix the mistakes of the pilot. Each actor had their own eye color, there were some wonderfully constructed sets, the show went by a lot smoother and quicker, and the thing that brought me the most joy: THERE WAS RED SHIRTS! But funnily enough, a blue shirt was the first to die! Actually, funnily enough out of all that died...none were red shirts.
      The character Nancy was extremely well written. When each man looked at her he saw his own desires. BRILLIANT! When Darnell saw this beautiful blonde women and started trying to explain what he saw I almost started dying with laughter. McCoy and Kirk saw the same women just two different age groups, but Darnell saw a completely different women. As Darnell's describing the women he see's McCoy and Kirk think he's offending Nancy and look like their gonna beat him up in trying to get him to shut up. They finally convince poor Darnell to leave the room and shortly after...he dies.
    The episode has a narrative in the form of a captain's log by(of course) Captain Kirk. I find this really cool in the fact it leads another perspective into the episode. Kirk voices over details that basically help what's going on in the episode.
      There are a few small goofs that come with this episode, most not worth naming. But one in particular is worth pointing out. Mainly because it is the most obvious. When Sulu is checking to see if the crew member Barnhart is dead he pokes at his face. If you look close enough you can see that Barnhart's eyes twitch as Sulu touches him.
      The storyline is really amusing. There is really nothing quite as fun as a shape shifting monster out to kill you for your salt. Your salt, of all things. That really is creative. I mean...SALT. Who came up with that idea?
     It takes a bit of stalking, several more murders, an impersonation of Dr. McCoy, a screaming plant, me  hiding my eyes in my hands and peeking through my fingers, and an almost murder for them to figure everything out. Then a little more of the hiding in my hands, the almost murder of Kirk, and Spock getting beat up by Nancy for McCoy to realize Nancy was the bad guy the whole time and to kill her.
      It was stupendous. I was right there with Kirk when he uttered the words "I'm sorry, Bones." The dude had to shoot his ex-girlfriend that wasn't really his ex-girlfriend but was actually a monster that killed people to eat their salt. That must've been pretty hard.
     But now I leave you with the same parting words that Kirk ended the episode with "Warp One, Mr. Sulu." I don't know why. It just feels fitting.