Friday's Child is an episode about the trio almost to the complete exclusion of the rest of the cast. Scotty leads the bridge crew on a very minor B story, but other than that it is strictly Kirk, Spock and McCoy on the planet of the giants. Not one of those episodes that wins awards, but definitely a solid adventure episode. It is kinda funny how when negotiating a treaty with a pre-warp society the prime directive never comes up once. I guess that only counts when the natives don't live on top of valuable mineral resources. McCoy adds to his collection with, "I'm a doctor, not an escalator."
The episode begins with McCoy leading a briefing on a primitive society that Kirk is to negotiate a treaty with. It is never explained why McCoy was the one that Starfleet chose to send down and study these people. I guess they give some excuse about trying to give them medical tech, but really, the chief doctor on the Enterprise? The aliens are 7 feet tall and use deadly throwing weapons, "as deadly as our phasers up to 100 feet." Upon beaming down they discover the Klingons have gotten there first, but the Capellans (see, I finally looked it up) want to hear from Kirk as well. The leader of the Capellans seems more willing to work with the Federation than the Klingons, so the Klingon leads another Capellan faction in killing the leader and taking over.
The pregnant wife of the overthrown leader is to be killed now that he is dead, but Kirk grabs her and intervenes, a grave violation of Capellan customs. Now Kirk is to be killed, but fortunately the Capellans are dumb so they manage to escape with Eleen, the dead leaders wife. At first she refuse to be touched by any of them, but McCoy insists getting his way after slapping her in the face which she apparently finds highly romantic. McCoy learns she is about to give birth and we learn through narration that she doesn't want to keep the child. The Cappellans attack, but Kirk and Spock manage to create a rockslide (on the Vasquez rocks again) with some sort of magic sonic blast from the phasers. One of the Capellans is crushed and the Klingon sneakily steals a Federation phaser from his body.
This whole time Scotty is in charge back on the Enterprise. He is fooled into flying away from the planet by a false distress signal. Eventually they figure it out and turn back, but are confronted by a Klingon bird of prey. We are left wondering if they will survive or come to the rescue in time. There is a cool scene where Sulu's scanner unfolds from his console which they haven't shown before.
McCoy manages to deliver the baby successfully, but Eleen flees leaving the baby with McCoy. Kirk and Spock make highly effective bows and arrows in a few minutes and they are ready to confront the Capellan forces. Just before they are about the fight Eleen comes out from somewhere and tells the leader of the Capellans that the baby is dead and she killed the humans. The Klingon doesn't believe her and pulls his phaser on the group of them. Kirk shoots him with an arrow and the fight is on. Several Capellans are killed and for some reason the new Capellan leader throws his life away allowing the Klingon to kill him just as one of his men kills the Klingon. Now Eleen's new son is the ruler apparently and Scotty shows up with a crew of red shirts just after everything is resolved. The baby gets named Leonard James Akaar pleasing Kirk and McCoy to no end.
Scoring: This is a really fun episode. It has humor, but is hardly lighthearted. It really cements that Kirk, Spock and McCoy are the main characters of the show. The Capellan costumes are kinda funny looking, but they manage to come across as not overly silly primitive people. Kirk and Spock making effective stone age weapons faster and better than the Capellans is unbelievable, but less so than the Gorn cannon...
7 out of 10
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