#of course he doesn't really like change especially in his material circumstances. he grew up in poverty and then alternative care

[justiceburst]

Human Values Test

Goro's strongest values are Achievement and Self-Direction.

[calliethetrekkie]

Star Trek TOS S01E07: Charlie X

Original Thoughts

"Charlie X, did have a nice take on how being The Nice Guy to a girl does NOT entitle you to a relationship, which since this was made in the 60’s is nice to see, and the ending did make me almost feel bad for the villain. Almost."

(Original Post)

Rewatch Thoughts

Not gonna lie, I hadn't really been looking forward to this one. I gave it a pretty middle rating (3.5/5) in the watchthrough... and for Heaven's sake, I couldn't remember why. I don't remember hating the episode, but I certainly couldn't remember much of anything worth liking, aside from Kirk telling Charlie that he's not entitled to a woman just because he likes them. I guess I was impressed to see a 60's show say that? IDK. I was thinking that I had been too generous, but did the rewatch change that?

The first thing that came to my mind when I first read the summary was an episode of The Twilight Zone titled It's A Good Life. I imagine that most have heard of it, but if you haven't, it's about a six-year-old kid with God-like powers who terrorizes his town into obeying him and always being happy. If you don't... well, it doesn't end well. Now mind you, Charlie is older and has a bit more of an excuse for why he acts like he does, but yeah... this is what happens when you let little Anthony Fremont reach adolescence. Speaking of The Twilight Zone, Shatner was actually the main character in the episode Nightmare at 20,000 Feet and BOY is that something... anyway, back on topic!

So like I said, I went in fully expecting to dislike it and give it a lower rating when I put it on the 10 scale over the 5 scale. But after watching it again? I think I realize why I gave it a generous rating. It's one of those episodes that is interesting to actually watch, but not one you actually think about until you go back to it. There is actually a lot of good material here, even a bit of continuity, and it's actually a bit more complex when you take later canon into account. So let's go ahead and break it down.

Let's start with Charlie Evans. He's a one-shot character, and actually characterized pretty well IMO. He's a seventeen-year-old who has been isolated from humans for most of his life and, as we find out, adopted by aliens who don't understand concepts like 'love'. He's awkward, temperamental, and doesn't understand social cues or customs, as you'd expect from a teenager and especially one who grew up as he did. It really sucks that they don't have a proper counselor in this episode, cause Charlie desperately needed one. That might have helped prevent his power trip... then again, with how unstable he was, he may not have gotten the help extensively enough to prevent it. Who knows?

It's easy to pity the kid at first. He doesn't seem bad, just very troubled and out of place. Even ignoring his circumstances, that's normal for a teenager. But of course, most teenagers don't have realty warping powers like he does. As such, the more the episode goes on, the more Charlie starts to lose it. He's confused and frustrated without any coping skills to help him, so he resorts to using his powers to get his way. Someone laughs at him? He makes them disappear. He's worried that the crew can hurt him? The phasers vanish. He doesn't like a Yeoman because he likes Rand? Now she's a lizard. Why? Because that's all he knows to do, so that's what he defaults to.

You pity him at first, but that can only go so far. He starts to go on a power trip that only gets worst when Rand rejects his 'gentle' advances. This coming after she tried several times to explain to him that she isn't interested nicely. Honestly, you ever think about how Rand's time on the Enterprise REALLY sucked? First there was The Enemy Within, an event that she outright references to Kirk when telling him that she may be driven to hurt Charlie if he doesn't stop. That's noticeably when Kirk starts to take her concerns a bit more seriously... not as much as he should have IMO considering that that last time was him, but it's still worth noting. As I was saying though, combined all that with later episodes like Miri and... yeah as much as it sucks her being dropped, if she left the Enterprise I do NOT blame her. She really deserved a LOT better, but that's a rant for another day.

After Rand stands her ground, even turning the intercom on so that she could have help and being forced to get physical, Charlie is so angry he makes her vanish. But of course it's her fault. He loved her, he was nice and gentle with her, but she still rejected him. Unlike The Enemy Within where they mishandled this subject horribly, this episode actually makes it clear that this is NOT okay. You're not entitled to someone just because you like them, and just being nice doesn't mean you are owed their love either. In fact, it's after he gets rid of Rand that Charlie becomes fully unstable and whatever sympathy you had for the kid goes right out the window even within the episode itself. For a 60's show that just had one of their worst treatments of a female character two episodes ago, this is very much welcome to see.

At the end when Charlie's about to kill Kirk however, the Thasian's return. That's when you feel at least a pinch of pity again. Whatever life with them was life, Charlie is terrified of it and wants to stay on the Enterprise. That's right, he resorts to begging the people he tormented, including Rand when she's restored, to help him. Kirk, being a good guy at the end of the day, even tries to reason to make that happen... but it does nothing. We saw how Charlie reacted, and chances are all it would take is one person making him upset in a human colony to cause who knows what to happen. You feel bad for the terrified teenager as he begs and pleads to not go back, but at the same time he brought all of it onto himself, so it's hard to feel anything more than just pity. Could he have been better if given the time and care? Maybe, but maybe not. I think that the utterly haunting ending where everyone is just stunned says it all.

Then we go to Kirk. This episode is a LOT more fun to look at if you've seen the films and know that Kirk actually does have a son that he's never seen, let alone been involved in raising. It's also hilarious how McCoy, who actually has a kid that as far as we know he was involved in raising up to a point, passes the job onto Kirk, half cause he was freaked out by Charlie and half probably because he plain doesn't want to do it. But for Kirk, that makes it all the more awkward, cause Heaven knows that he has no idea what he's doing. Like I said, he doesn't handle guiding Charlie particularly well, though he is at least trying. Like when he tries to give Charlie The Talk and is clearly dreading every single second of it, even telling him to talk to McCoy for the ugh... biological parts of it? That is underrated comedy at it's finest XD

Like I said, Kirk at least tries to help the kid. He himself didn't exactly have the most normal childhood, especially if you take Tarsus IV into account. He can probably understand Charlie's confusion and frustration, at least to an extent. Enough that he does legitimately try to help the kid. He tries to give him advice. He tries to teach him some self-defense... which probably wasn't the best route but still. He's perfectly affable to the kid until he starts harming his crew, and even then only throws any sense of reason out the window when Charlie electrocutes Uhura and forces Spock into talking gibberish. Hell at the end, when Charlie is practically begging for his life, he has every reason to just let the Thasians take him away without any fuss. But Kirk still tries to convince them to let him stay because of how terrified the kid is. It doesn't work and Kirk acquiesces in the end, but it still shows that despite everything, he was still willing to try and help what he saw as a very troubled teenager.

Kirk is the type of character who may not always know what he's doing, but he'll try nonetheless. He doesn't want to be any sort of father figure. He already has his plate filled enough as the captain and add that to the whole situation regarding his own son and Carol, it probably makes him uncomfortable. But since Charlie at first looks up to him, he sucks it up and tries to help, especially once Rand brings up her concerns. But really, as I said, what Charlie needed was a counselor. Ironically, McCoy may have been the most qualified in this scenario, but again he ain't having any of it XD But it's nice to see this side of Kirk. He's less of a Captain and more reluctant parent until Charlie endangers his crew and thus Captain Mode is activated. It just lets us see a bit more of an awkward yet genuine side to him that we haven't had to this point, and I appreciate it.

There's also a lot of nice little moments. Spock and McCoy acting like an old married couple, with Kirk utterly sick of it. Uhura and Spock's little concert. Seriously, I kind of like how Spock was a bit more expressive in the early episodes, wish we'd gotten more scenes like that. As I said, Kirk's utter dread and awkwardness giving Charlie The Talk is freakin' comedy gold. It's overall a good episode. IDK why I made myself dread it so much going in. It's not a top-tier episode by any means, and it isn't one that I would put on regularly. But overall, it's fine. It has good moments and has some awkwardness, but nothing to drag it down. I guess I just needed to look at it again to remember why I gave my initial rating, haha.

Original Rating: 3.5/5

Rewatch Rating: 6/10

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