This episode flirts with completely awful, but manages to redeem itself a little in places. The basic premise is irredeemably sexist and dated, the actor playing Mudd has to spit out scenery between takes. Plus the men of the Enterprise wandering around panting after the women is pretty awful. The entire first half of the episode is ‘cover your eyes’ awful, really.
But the tension is ratcheted up nicely from the middle of the episode, and the motivating plot with the dilithium crystals is quite good. The miners, the ‘believe in yourself’ moral and the continued Mudd antics all detract, but there is a glimmer of hope for the episode.
6 down, 731 to go.