‘Star Trek’ Retro Recap: ‘A Private Little War’

Written by John Edward Betancourt 

In this age of peak television, it is hard to be genuinely surprised by a particular show anymore. Because we’ve come to expect twists and turns on the small screen and shows do love to employ them in the hopes of telling all of us a quality story that captives us in fun and fascinating fashion. In fact, surprises and gimmicks and outright formulas have become so commonplace that you learn to recognize them in the shows of yesteryear as well since television has always been about building upon what came before it. But once in a while, the structure present in a particular show finds a way to catch you by complete and utter surprise and it really is quite wondrous when a classic series pulls that off, and it just so happens that the next episode of Star Trek accomplished this particular feat.
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For ‘A Private Little War’ had some powerful things to say about conflict and how modern man creates and cyclically perpetuates its own problems. But how it got there is what made the message in question work. Because this particular tale opened up in pretty standard fashion, with the Enterprise returning to a planet that Kirk visited back during his time aboard the Farragut. But this time around there was a troubling development on a world where its people were dedicated to peace and hunting for food with bows and arrows back in the day. Because now they were fighting amongst themselves and using guns to aid in the conflict and that prompted Kirk to go undercover with Bones to see if this was related to Klingon interference and of course it was.

But while that should have immediately brought us to the core thematic concept, I made mention of a moment ago, the series continued to delay getting to the point and at first, I found that to be a touch grating. Because everything that preceded the point was in fact… pretty darn weird. After all, I wasn’t expecting to see a rubber suit monster come out and smack Kirk around, nor was I expecting there to be a sub plot involving Kirk’s old friend Tyree and his strange ‘witch doctor’ wife, Nona. But that’s precisely what the focus was in the middle of the episode, and it led to some over the top moments involving a healing ritual to bring Kirk back from the alien’s poisonous bite and well, while all this stuff was goofy and silly in its own right, I have to give the series serious credit for injecting it into the story. Because this was designed to distract from the bigger message present here and when it arrives, it sucker punches you hard.

Because just like that, Nona and in turn Tyree are obsessed with conflict and the power that they would receive by becoming the more dominant species on the planet, if they had the right guns to make that happen and this was just… sobering to say the least. For it spoke volumes to our modern world and how America in particular loves the notion of pouring resources into conflict all in the name of showing strength. And the downside to this particular belief was put on full display since Kirk’s desire to even the playing field, in essence ruined an entire society by helping them to embrace and indulge in the concept of mutually assured destruction. But what truly stayed with me long after this episode came to an end, was the sheer fact that all parties involved were quick to dive in and fight and that really spoke to how easy it is to let anger and violence take hold of our souls and how long a road ahead we have before we can abandon such notions and embrace genuine peace.

If anything, all of these elements made this episode brilliant for certain. For this tale masterfully manipulates the audience into a sense of false security right before diving into some supremely dark and devastating territory. Plus, once again, the acting is top notch since everyone in this tale, sells the more primal instincts within all of us in believable fashion, and special attention needs to be paid to the nuanced performances from DeForest Kelley and Michael Witney, who plays Tyree. For these two gentlemen add incredible depth to what’s happening in this tale, and it is downright heartbreaking to see Tyree change into a vengeful man from a gentle leader right before our eyes. Either way, I really dug this one. Because this is the kind of stuff that Star Trek is known for and this has me hopeful that the home stretch of season two is going to be filled with the brim with more powerful stories such as this one. Until next time. 

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