This was one of the only episodes that referenced another episode-- the first season episode "Mudd's Women" which also features the character Harry Mudd. The premise is that slightly charming rogue Harry Mudd has escaped his prior captivity and now has nominal control over powerful androids, created by some advanced race, which basically act like 'benevolent dictators'-- attending to human needs, but not allowing the humans to leave their presence. The Enterprise crew are their most recent captives, and Kirk's dilemma is figuring out a way to escape the androids.
There were some decent comedic moments here, but I agree with one of the other reviewers that this episode uses, once again, the tired old shtick of "using illogic against a computer", which really wouldn't work. Basically, the crew start acting illogically, which somehow causes the androids to lose functioning because they "can't handle" the illogic-- which is really just the inappropriate anthropomorphic ascribing of 'emotional stability/sanity' to androids. This is comparably silly to thinking that typing nonsense commands to a computer would somehow destroy the computer. It wouldn't; the computer just wouldn't "respond" at all.
The episode really doesn't amount to much. A mildly amusing diversion at best.
There were some decent comedic moments here, but I agree with one of the other reviewers that this episode uses, once again, the tired old shtick of "using illogic against a computer", which really wouldn't work. Basically, the crew start acting illogically, which somehow causes the androids to lose functioning because they "can't handle" the illogic-- which is really just the inappropriate anthropomorphic ascribing of 'emotional stability/sanity' to androids. This is comparably silly to thinking that typing nonsense commands to a computer would somehow destroy the computer. It wouldn't; the computer just wouldn't "respond" at all.
The episode really doesn't amount to much. A mildly amusing diversion at best.