Trek’s first two parter continues.
The flashback story is at least a little faster moving than in the first part, but this is still a slow moving episode. When the network complained about it being ‘too cerebral’? They were kinda right. Later Trek showed a much better mix of the philosophical and intellectual themes with a bit of action. Action doesn’t just imply violence, it’s anything that keeps the plot moving. And for most of this episode Captain Pike is in basically the same situation, with little change other than in the exposition.
The framing device also hurts more than it helps in this half of the episode, with the regular breaks back out to Spock slowing down the slight momentum that the flashbacks generate.
Overall it’s a good two-parter, and a good re-use of the original material. But the framing story, with Spock’s devotion and skill, ends up being the far more interesting part of it all.
12 down, 725 to go. And no episodes behind now.