Whom Gods Destroy
The insane, shape-shifting Garth of Izar takes control of a mental colony and plays mind games with Kirk, who's trying to restore order.
You know onscreen proceedings are slow when you start observing the character's outfits in detail. Garth looks pretty fabulous in a pimped-out way, in gold-lined fur coat and mismatched boots. The Andorian chooses a pink feather boa, and Marta (Yvonne Craig, better known as Batgirl) doesn't wear much at all. Her dancing is the best portion of Garth's "entertainment", but still not very good. A lot of plot elements are imported wholesale from Season One's Dagger of the Mind, with a lot of random nonsense to fill to time. It's pointless to sift through it all. Spock's behavior is enough to deal with.
Spock Saves the Day: The double nerve pinch is clever, but amounts to nothing.
Oops: Where to start? Well fortunately, the Vulcan is off screen for many of Garth's activities, but when confronted by two Kirks, there is a mind-numbing display of illogic. Shoot them, question them, contact the ship, fight them yourself (you can take 'em) - the choices are many. Sitting, waiting, and getting knocked out is not a wise one. His last-minute explanation to the captain is as painful to viewers as Kirk, who should not be impressed with his first officer. Another quibble is that Garth disguised as Spock knows the nerve pinch, but Marta might have faked it. Whatever. Since Nimoy wasn't happy with this episode and the producers and writers don't seem to have given it a second thought, I'll go no further.
Developments: Forget it. Regressions, maybe, but we'll just assume it was a bad day inside the Star Trek universe and for those creating it.