Whom Gods Destroy was a reasonably good show which portrayed the mentally ill inmates running the the penal colony of Ebla II. Captain Garth, a former starfleet captain, does a good job of acting as the lunatic inmate's leader in trying to trick Captain Kirk in revealing the password for beaming aboard the Enterprise. Kirk shows he has matured since his last visit at a penal colony by instituting a password system to prevent any inmates from beaming aboard the Enterprise. We also see a convincing and frightening portrayal of mental illness by Martha, the Orion dancer, who seems sane at first but then later attempts to stab Kirk with her knife saying "I kill the people I love." However, the resolution of the episode was a downer. Spock escapes from the clutches of Garth's guards and enters the control room where he encounters 2 Kirks--one his captain and the other the shape shifting Garth. But Spock is made to appear stupid when he poses the question to them: "What maneuver did we use to defeat the Romulan vessel near Tao Seti"? One of the Kirks says: 'The Cochran Decelartion' while the other Kirk interjects and immediatedly says this solution is a classic battle maneuver which every Starfleet captain knows. And Spock is forced to agree...and hold his fire? A real Vulcan would have asked a more probing question such as what was Kirk's nickname for McCoy--Bones--or what did Kirk say at such an event. Garth would never have known the answer to this question. Then Spock gets hit on the head by Garth (in Kirk's disguise) and lets the two Kirk's get involved in a fight which lasts for about 1 minute. Spock only resolves the problem--and shoots the illusory Kirk (Garth here)--when the real Kirk pleads with Spock to shoot both of use to "save the Enterprise."
A highly unsatisfying ending. We get a touching and powerful scene when Garth--who has been given his new Stafleet medicines--later turns to Kirk and asks him..."Do I know you, sir?" since we see that Garth is not a really wicked man...just one who has fallen into bad times. Unfortunately it doesn't do much to restore the show's dignity especially when Kirk--at the episode's ending--chides Spock for not being able to distinguish between the real and illusory Kirk and says King Solomon would never allow himself to be hit on the head. This speaks directly to the poor execution of the film. But, at least, the show was fun and eminently watchable.
A highly unsatisfying ending. We get a touching and powerful scene when Garth--who has been given his new Stafleet medicines--later turns to Kirk and asks him..."Do I know you, sir?" since we see that Garth is not a really wicked man...just one who has fallen into bad times. Unfortunately it doesn't do much to restore the show's dignity especially when Kirk--at the episode's ending--chides Spock for not being able to distinguish between the real and illusory Kirk and says King Solomon would never allow himself to be hit on the head. This speaks directly to the poor execution of the film. But, at least, the show was fun and eminently watchable.