‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’ Retro Recap – ‘Skin of Evil’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

What’s fascinating about evil and its portrayal in print, and on the silver and small screen, is the sheer fact that it is in essence, redeemable. For the monsters that lurk in fiction have a catalyst behind their machinations, the kind that can often be conquered and solved with logic and reasoning and appeals to one’s humanity. Something that exists in storytelling, in order to help the audience, feel safe and comfortable with what they are watching, or reading, since evil is defeated often in fiction. But the fact of the matter is, genuine evil and beings that truly embody it, are not redeemable in the slightest. For they have turned their back upon all that is just and good and that allows for them to perform utterly unspeakable and heartbreaking acts.
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If anything, that particularly nihilistic aspect of evil is relevant to today’s discussion of Star Trek: The Next Generation, simply because pure evil is what the crew of the Enterprise encounter in ‘Skin of Evil’. Which is a bold tale that still stands tall after all these years, for pushing the envelope like never before when it comes to this proud franchise. All because it opted to do something quite brave and kill off a major character in stunning and unexpected fashion. Because no one saw the death of Lieutenant Tasha Yar coming in this particular tale, and even though it is decades after this story aired on television, watching her be brought down by the twisted and maniacal Armus, is still shocking after all this time. Simply because it was so sudden and so brutal.

Yet while that alone does offer up some serious understanding of evil, since Armus clearly doesn’t care about life in the slightest, the episode wasn’t quite done with its exploration on evil and how far it is willing to go to satisfy its bloodlust. For Armus does spend quite a bit of time hurting the Away Team both physically and mentally, since it toys with Geordi’s sight, attempts to get Data to commit murder and outright swallows Commander Riker in order to torture him. And to top it all off, it seemingly enjoys screwing with Deanna’s mind when given the opportunity and this just made for one savage tale. One where you simply don’t have a clue if someone else is going to die or come out of this in bad physical shape because Armus truly cares about nothing but itself, which definitely leaves the viewer feeling rattled and hopeless when all is said and done.

But what truly makes this particular story so impressive and quite frankly redeemable, is how Captain Picard handles this nasty skin of evil. Because rather than throw down with this monstrosity or try and outwit it, he simply lets evil be. For he understands that there is no reasoning with it, nor is it ever going to yield to his demands or pleas for kindness, so it is best to let it think it has the upper hand and every ounce of fear it craves. For that puts evil in a comfortable place, one where Jean-Luc can properly aggravate it, and it is supremely satisfying to watch the always clever captain, find a way to irritate Armus without incurring its wrath so that he can save the shuttle crew and leave this awful place. Which in turn, allows for crew of the Enterprise to properly mourn the loss of one of their own, in a beautiful and respectful fashion.

If anything, it’s quite impressive how impactful and devastating this episode is after all these years and what truly gives it so much weight, is the sheer fact that Tasha outright dies. Because in this franchise, either the doctors work their magic, or there is some kind of cure waiting around the bend that can resurrect a series lead from the jaws of death. But not this time. No instead this really was it for Lieutenant Tasha Yar, a move that drew the ire of the fans and understandably so. Because she was woefully underutilized in season one and Tasha’s true potential wasn’t realized until the season three episode ‘Yesterday’s Enterprise’, and what’s wild, is that this was not the first or last time that TNG would pull out all the stops in order to tell a harrowing tale. But before we focus on that, it’s best we give this one the credit it deserves, because it really did show us what this series could accomplish when it held nothing back. Until next time.

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