‘Star Trek’ Retro Recap – ‘Assignment: Earth’

Written by John Edward Betancourt 

I’ve said it before, and I will say it again, season finales have to be one hell of a difficult venture. Because the final verdict of an entire year of storytelling is riding on how this sucker turns out and well, we all know how the story goes when a particular series botches one in epic fashion. But while we expect the best from our favorite shows when it comes to this all-important episode, what is one supposed to think when a season finale is just mediocre at best? Do we chide the series in question for not doing better? Or do we celebrate the fact that the show didn’t outright fail in wrapping up the season and honestly, I’m not sure how to answer those particular questions. Because a day after watching the season two finale of Star Trek, I’m just not sure what to think when it comes to this quirky tale.
 
Because ‘Assignment: Earth’ was a unique episode, one unlike anything else that season two assembled and the conundrum that is in front of me, is that I can’t tell if I like this episode or not. So, I suppose the best way to break down this particular season finale, is to look at both the good and the weird as objectively as we can and just go from there when we wrap this Retro Recap up and well, let’s start with the solid stuff. Because the plot for this one definitely draws you in, since it features a little taste of time travel. For the crew of the Enterprise has been tasked with returning to 1968 Earth to study a turbulent time in our world’s history, in order to understand how exactly we managed to survive moments that should have ended us. And it’s always cool when this franchise examines current events and that’s where I thought this was headed.
 
Instead, this episode turned out to feature a grandiose mission to save the future. For a mysterious alien named Gary Seven appeared in this era and he was working to ruin the launch of an orbital nuclear weapons platform. Which meant that our dynamic duo were forced to interact with what was modern Earth when this episode aired, and let’s be honest, this is always a treat in Trek. In fact, at times this plot twist gave off some serious The Voyage Home vibes as Spock tried to keep his ears a secret and this lighthearted part of the story really was quite enjoyable. However, there is also a great problem that comes with the best parts of this episode in that… there simply weren’t enough of these moments to go around and well, now seems like a good a time as any to discuss the more stranger aspects of this tale since they relate to this tidbit.
 
Because instead of making Kirk and Spock and the crew of the Enterprise the focal point of this episode, it spends a lot of time with Gary Seven and his intelligent cat/shapeshifting female companion Isis and an innocent office assistant named Roberta (played by Teri Garr) and well, while this is watchable, it’s weird. Because hanging with Gary should have answered all of our questions, but we never find out what world Gary comes from, or how on earth he acquired a companion that is sometimes cat, sometimes a human lady. Or why exactly the species that Gary works for is so concerned with the timeline being straightened out. Because by the end of this episode, everything happens exactly as it is supposed to, so… was there an actual threat that was going to change the timeline, or were Kirk and everyone involved here just stuck in some weird temporal causality loop?
 
That’s just another question that never gets answered and that’s odd for Star Trek since it wrote a lot of the modern rules of time travel in science fiction, but questions and confusion are the name of the game with this episode and even after working out my issues on the page, I still haven’t a clue if I actually enjoyed this one or outright disliked it. So, I think it is best to declare that when it comes to episodes like this, they are what they are. They won’t do anything to find a special place in your heart, and they won’t tick you off. They just exist and they’re so-so at best and I suppose if anything, this finale does reflect season two to a tee. Because it had its highs and its lows, but it was enjoyable when all is said and done and now that year two of the five-year mission in the books, I am quite curious to see what year three has waiting for us. Until next time. 

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