‘Star Trek’ Retro Recap: ‘Bread and Circuses’

Written by John Edward Betancourt 

Over the course of the past couple of weeks we’ve dug into some fascinating episodes of Star Trek. For the back half of season two has been on quite the tear, presenting us with stories that have definitely made an attempt to go deeper into social commentary and/or challenge our characters like never before. And while that’s something worth celebrating and praising at every turn, there is an inherent danger that comes with this kind of exploration in that, sometimes too many unique ideas get thrown around in a writer’s room and the end result of too much brainstorming, is an incomplete idea, one packed to the gills with potential but no point.
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As it turns out, this is a problem that our intrepid series ran into when it comes to its next episode, since ‘Bread and Circuses’ features another cool idea filled to the brim with awesome potential, but the execution leaves something to be desired. Because it really tried to do way too much storytelling wise and that’s a shame because this one could have been an outright stunning tale. For in this mission, we see the crew of the Enterprise unexpectedly solving the mystery of what happened to a freighter known as the S.S. Beagle, which disappeared about six years ago and sadly, it’s not good news. For they find wreckage of the ship floating about in space, near an M class planet and their check to see if survivors escaped the ship’s destruction is what leads to the wonderful idea in question.

For their arrival at this uncharted world revealed quite the surprise in that, a parallel Earth in essence evolved in this corner of the galaxy. But instead of being inhabited by a peaceful space faring race, the crew came to discover that this world was a few centuries behind their Earth, and it took a vastly different path in its development. For on this world, the ideals of the Roman Empire took deep hold, and never left, giving us a 20th Century filled with the same technological innovations Earth-Prime enjoyed, with the power of the Roman Empire influencing everything and this really was quite the genius notion. Because this had the potential to dive deep into all kinds of social commentary regarding mankind indulging its darker side, especially when one considers that our true heavy was a Starfleet drop out who didn’t make the service because there were concerns about his temperament.

But alas, this is where the story loses its identity. Because rather than focusing on our heavy and exploring what drove him to abandon his life and embrace a much stranger one, and how this world came to be… the story instead opted to pour on the action and the violence and that honestly drags you out of this venture immediately. Because all the intelligence is sucked out of the story by having Spock and McCoy duke it out on live television for the masses, all while some cackling Emperor straight out of central casting fires off his one-liners and offers pedestrian threats to Kirk. And this focus on topical elements eats up so much time that the ending is rushed at best and it never quite feels all that satisfying.

Yet, while this episode is a bit sub-par, and you’re left with more questions than answers, this is still quite the fascinating and entertaining ride. For the notion of a parallel Earth is quite awesome to say the least, and it does ignite the imagination as you wonder what other Earths are out there in this iteration of the Milky Way Galaxy and what strange paths they took in their evolution. In the end however, I guess it is just best we declare this episode to be nothing more than a filler episode since it entertains but advances nothing and that’s just fine. Because it’s better to have that over a bad episode and honestly, considering the fact that the series has put together a string of quality episodes as of late, it’s okay if they take a little break, right before the season comes to a close. Until next time. 

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