Let's get this out of the way immediately: I will be referring to the title character of this episode as "Charlie Sex" for the duration of this post. Okay? Okay.
So this episode deals with the problems that come with having a teenager around. Some people from a tiny space ship called Antares (fun fact: until reading the wikipedia article on this episode, I thought that the Antaris were an alien race or something) drop off a surly teenager with the Enterprise, apparently for summer camp or something. Now, Kirk should have been pretty suspicious basically immediately, because the Antarniks are all like "It's good that you did that, Charlie," and the Enterprise has what Kirk describes as "entertainment tapes." But whatever, they decide they can totally take care of a teenager, no problem. Haha suckers. No one can handle a teenager under normal circumstances.
It turns out Charlie can totally control things with his mind, and is also just way pissy. This would be cool, but he develops a huge crush on Yeoman Rand, who's apparently the first woman he's ever seen up close, and whose sexual attractiveness is directly proportional to the height of her hair.
Things get out of hand, though, when Charlie Sex catches a dude patting another dude on the behind, leading him to think that this is appropriate behavior in general, and leading him to try that move on J-Rand.
Here's where the episode gets awesome, from a Women's Studies perspective. Rand needs to deal with this sexual harassment fast, before it gets way out of control. Unfortunately the Enterprise has no HR rep, and no women in leadership positions at all for the most part, so Rand has to ask Charlie to talk to Kirk about why what he did is inappropriate. In terms of issues women face in the workplace, this is kind of a doozy. Kirk will not adequately express to Charlie why this kind of sexual harassment is not okay. In fact, look at him trying to figure out why it would be:
"Now why would a woman not want her body patted and grabbed? Wait... maybe... if the man involved weren't me... no, I lost it. I dunno."
Charlie continues harassing Rand, even after Rand tries to set him up with her flat-haired friend. Rand sees the warning signs of dangerous stalking and possible sexual assault, and tells Kirk flat-out that she knows what direction this is going. 
Kirk seems to take her seriously, but responds by again giving Charlie a bro-chat, this time while wrestling shirtless, which is kind of the only way Kirk can be comfortable with bro-chats. Again, despite Spock and McCoy's insistence that Charlie Sex looks up to Kirk like a father, his words go unheeded by his new ward. Charlie Sex starts Disappearing people with an efficacy that could make Stalin weep (too soon?).
Anyway, they have to confuse him when he takes control of the ship and whatever and finally return him to his dad who's a TOTAL DICK who does NOT UNDERSTAND Charlie and also is made of smoke or something. Whatever. Problem solved. Gender issued endemic on the ship not solved. But honestly, like the best episodes of Mad Men (and actually much like The Office's Boys and Girls), this episode highlights the challenges women face in these male-dominated fields and the need for female advocacy. But none of that is as important as my favorite part of this episode:
I have held off on mentioning her, but is there any character more awesome than Uhura, basically always? First of all, in the "Uhura's job sucks" file, her whole switchboard gets electrocuted by Charlie Sex, zapping her pretty bad, and she just tries to shake it off while Kirk actually lifts her up and forces her back in her chair to continue working. Yikes.
But this episode gives us another glimpse of Uhura's rich inner life by taking us to The Best Place In Space, The Enterprise's break room:
First of all, I love that Spock is that asshole that sits down with his guitar (or Vulcan space-guitar) and insists that everyone shut up and listen to him playing, like no one has anything better to do. One example of other fun activities include: Uhura is just watching Rand play solitaire, because apparently Rand does not share. Uhura, thwarted again. 
UNTIL: She starts singing. She improvises songs about people who are around, although wikipedia suggests they are based on old Scottish folk songs, which is kind of extra awesome. I really wish the two of them would take their act on the road, with her whole "Hey Spock how long 'til Pon-Farr?" and his whole "Doin it is way illogical lady I'm just here for the music" routine. It's really adorable, and I want more Uhura. I demand it.
Kirk moments from this episode include the fact that his chest is shaved for the only time in the series on this episode, which leads me to believe that morning Kirk was staring himself down in the mirror (like every morning) and finally said "I wonder?" Also, Kirk beats Spock at space-chess because he's SO ILLOGICAL Spock can't defend against his moves. I'll close this post with the Kirk Smug Mug of the Episode:
So this episode deals with the problems that come with having a teenager around. Some people from a tiny space ship called Antares (fun fact: until reading the wikipedia article on this episode, I thought that the Antaris were an alien race or something) drop off a surly teenager with the Enterprise, apparently for summer camp or something. Now, Kirk should have been pretty suspicious basically immediately, because the Antarniks are all like "It's good that you did that, Charlie," and the Enterprise has what Kirk describes as "entertainment tapes." But whatever, they decide they can totally take care of a teenager, no problem. Haha suckers. No one can handle a teenager under normal circumstances.
It turns out Charlie can totally control things with his mind, and is also just way pissy. This would be cool, but he develops a huge crush on Yeoman Rand, who's apparently the first woman he's ever seen up close, and whose sexual attractiveness is directly proportional to the height of her hair.Things get out of hand, though, when Charlie Sex catches a dude patting another dude on the behind, leading him to think that this is appropriate behavior in general, and leading him to try that move on J-Rand.
Here's where the episode gets awesome, from a Women's Studies perspective. Rand needs to deal with this sexual harassment fast, before it gets way out of control. Unfortunately the Enterprise has no HR rep, and no women in leadership positions at all for the most part, so Rand has to ask Charlie to talk to Kirk about why what he did is inappropriate. In terms of issues women face in the workplace, this is kind of a doozy. Kirk will not adequately express to Charlie why this kind of sexual harassment is not okay. In fact, look at him trying to figure out why it would be:
"Now why would a woman not want her body patted and grabbed? Wait... maybe... if the man involved weren't me... no, I lost it. I dunno."
Charlie continues harassing Rand, even after Rand tries to set him up with her flat-haired friend. Rand sees the warning signs of dangerous stalking and possible sexual assault, and tells Kirk flat-out that she knows what direction this is going. 
Kirk seems to take her seriously, but responds by again giving Charlie a bro-chat, this time while wrestling shirtless, which is kind of the only way Kirk can be comfortable with bro-chats. Again, despite Spock and McCoy's insistence that Charlie Sex looks up to Kirk like a father, his words go unheeded by his new ward. Charlie Sex starts Disappearing people with an efficacy that could make Stalin weep (too soon?).Anyway, they have to confuse him when he takes control of the ship and whatever and finally return him to his dad who's a TOTAL DICK who does NOT UNDERSTAND Charlie and also is made of smoke or something. Whatever. Problem solved. Gender issued endemic on the ship not solved. But honestly, like the best episodes of Mad Men (and actually much like The Office's Boys and Girls), this episode highlights the challenges women face in these male-dominated fields and the need for female advocacy. But none of that is as important as my favorite part of this episode:
I have held off on mentioning her, but is there any character more awesome than Uhura, basically always? First of all, in the "Uhura's job sucks" file, her whole switchboard gets electrocuted by Charlie Sex, zapping her pretty bad, and she just tries to shake it off while Kirk actually lifts her up and forces her back in her chair to continue working. Yikes.
But this episode gives us another glimpse of Uhura's rich inner life by taking us to The Best Place In Space, The Enterprise's break room:
First of all, I love that Spock is that asshole that sits down with his guitar (or Vulcan space-guitar) and insists that everyone shut up and listen to him playing, like no one has anything better to do. One example of other fun activities include: Uhura is just watching Rand play solitaire, because apparently Rand does not share. Uhura, thwarted again. 
UNTIL: She starts singing. She improvises songs about people who are around, although wikipedia suggests they are based on old Scottish folk songs, which is kind of extra awesome. I really wish the two of them would take their act on the road, with her whole "Hey Spock how long 'til Pon-Farr?" and his whole "Doin it is way illogical lady I'm just here for the music" routine. It's really adorable, and I want more Uhura. I demand it.Kirk moments from this episode include the fact that his chest is shaved for the only time in the series on this episode, which leads me to believe that morning Kirk was staring himself down in the mirror (like every morning) and finally said "I wonder?" Also, Kirk beats Spock at space-chess because he's SO ILLOGICAL Spock can't defend against his moves. I'll close this post with the Kirk Smug Mug of the Episode:
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