Wow.
Easily the best episode so far. Probably one of the best Trek episodes I’ve ever seen.
Clearly the story has a cold war analogy in it, and it wouldn’t be too far fetched to imagine most of the episode happening in a submarine. But the episode goes beyond these origins, and tells an interesting story about Kirk, Spock and the rest of the crew. The ‘loneliness of command’ thing is a recurring theme for Kirk, but it works better here than anywhere else it’s been tried.
The real highlight of the episode is Mark Lenard as the commander of the Romulan ship. The picture painted of Romulan society, and his place in it, is quite vivid. Romulans have changed the least from their first appearance, while some of the others (especially the Ferengi) change a lot.
The only discordant note was the wedding at the start. They might have just shot one of them there and then, it was that inevitable that someone was going to die.
14 down, 723 to go. 2.11% complete.