Tonight's episode was A Piece of the Action, aka planet of the gangsters! This is one of those episodes the pushes towards campiness without totally falling into the pit of silliness. The premise is that 100 years ago a Federation ship stopped by this then primitive planet and left them some textbooks and a book about Chicago gangs of the 1920's and they built an entire civilization based on it. The episode has lots of Kirk punching people and Spock neck pinching, but it doesn't really get going until Kirk dresses up in a suit and starts talking like a gangster.
The episode opens with the Enterprise checking in on a planet that hasn't been contacted in 100 years. When Kirk, Spock and McCoy beam down they are kidnapped at gunpoint and taken to the offices of the head of the local mob. Literally everyone they meet has at least one gun throughout the episode. And so not shockingly Bela wants more phasers so he can kill the other bosses and take over the planet. Fortunately he isn't too bright so he leaves Kirk, McCoy and Spock in a warehouse with three guards. Kirk makes up a fake card game for some reason since his actual plan is to just fight the three guards. They escape and Spock and McCoy use a local radio station to talk to the Enterprise and beam up.
Kirk meanwhile gets kidnapped by the other major crime syndicate lead by a man named Krako. Krako leaves Kirk alone in a room with a radio which Kirk tears apart. I was thinking he was going to figure a way to use it to contact the ship, but no, he just uses some of the wire to trip Krako's guys when they come to check on him. Spock and McCoy beam back down for some reason and are immediately kidnapped by Bela again. But luckily Kirk returns armed and takes over the situation.
Kirk has Krako beamed aboard the Enterprise and then gets Bela to call the other crime leaders one the phone and has them beamed to his office. Krako is beamed in as well and Kirk explains that the Federation is taking over and demands that they form a Syndicate and work together to run things. They are unimpressed and realize they have only seen 6 total members of the Federation. Suddenly several of the leaders goons show up and start battling in the street. A perfect opportunity for Kirk to stun them from orbit which puts him in a much better position to negotiate with the leaders. They agree to work for Bela and give him a 40 percent cut.
Whatdayathinkathat: As much as this is one of the sillier episodes I really enjoyed it. At the same time living on a planet run entirely by gangsters isn't exactly a pleasant thought. Also, what prime directive?
8 out of 10
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