Requiem for Methuselah Review

[Soullessblackeyes]

Just wanted to share some thoughts on the episode I just watched. Season 3 episode 19 "Requiem for Methuselah". This has to be one of my favorite episodes. It has gothic vibes, Da Vinci and Brahms HIMSELF as a vampire coded IMMORTAL?! Like- okay thats epic , and SPOCK EVEN PLAYS A BRAHMS ORIGINAL which made me see a more poetic, artsy side of Spock. I mean is there anything Spock ISN'T good at? Anyway, I am really wondering who wrote the script here because I am getting total Shakespeare romanticism vibes here. Especially with Kirk falling so deeply in love.. AND WITH AN ANDROID (Rayna)!! (This episode is combining all of my interests here. (Immortals, androids, poetic speech, historical romanticism.) AND to top it all off, I really like how the dialogue is poignant, and grapples with what it means to be human, have emotions, and the duality of love. I love that we get to see a different side of Spock here. I am actually shocked because compared to a more severe version of Spock I saw recently in S3 E17 "That Which Survives", everything seems to be cast under a "rose colored tone' here. Spock, Kirk, and even McCoy are so soft spoken and emotional here it seems. In "That Which Survives", Spock was the harshest I have ever seen him. He must have been stressed. But in direct juxtaposition to that we now see his art and music loving soul in "Requiem for Methuselah".

Not only is this episode rather poetic, but we GET TO SEE THE MODEL OF THE SHIP make an appearance which was kind of random but neat nonetheless.

My favorite scene has to be at the end where Spock is watching heartbroken Kirk very closely as if trying hard to understand. I really love the subtext here. Spock doesn't really have to say anything, yet I can really know exactly what he's thinking. As well, McCoy tells Spock he will "never understand" or "never experience love" in this way which was sort of..wrong in my opinion, (maybe Spock choses not to participate in romantic love, but he still loves) but Spock doesn't defend himself. Anyway, this leads up to the part where Spock performs a partial mind meld it seems with a sleeping Kirk, and seems to take on some of his pain and makes him forget. (Not sure if he's actually able to reduce Kirk's memory or pain? what do you guys think?)
At first I thought Spock just desperately wanted to feel what it felt like to be in such despair/ heartbreak. But he really just showed compassion and LOVE for his friend. I really enjoyed this aspect of the episode where Spock's emotional side peeks through the cracks.

One objectively hilarious part was the exaggerated fight over the android girl Rayna, while Spock and McCoy just sort of stand there watching. ( I feel Kirk would normally automatically fall out of love once he finds out this girl wasn't human, so this was really interesting.) As well, Kirk was down BAD for Rayna saying "YOU LOVE ME" as if he knew it as a fact. Did him and Rayna even have a conversion like..once..? Kirk was rather irrational in this episode, which was a bit out of character in my opinion.
But the FACT THAT HUMAN EMOTION KILLED HER was rather poetic in of itself. (because same girl same)
I really loved the undertone and "blink and you miss it" themes like this that are sometimes not obvious, and this episode was full of those.

While I enjoy high stakes, high action, morally gray characters that are often present in episodes, this was a nice reprieve from that. (Through Flint seemed a bit morally gray). The stakes seemed low, and there was a leisurely tone ( even though we never know what happened to the time crunch with the vaccines..?). The immortal guy, Flint, seemed a little misguided, but not CRAZY like some of the other villains. I like this type of character as he had clear intentions with his androids, (unlike Mr.MUDD....but don't even get me started on him) didn't make any serious threats (he kind of tried to kill /threaten Kirk a few times) but backed off quickly. I like him as a "villain" because his actions and intention seemed to always have a clear path of logic, even though he did keep his intentions a secret, it wasn't overtly malicious. Other villains drive me crazy because they can't seems to make up their mind, will hold viewers in suspension FOREVER, and just act crazy for crazy's sake. Which makes them not so relatable in my opinion.

I just love how you can sense the different "flavor" of certain episodes that are obviously written by a different team. In this way, some episodes really click with me while others don't. I am not a fan of too much action, at least without cause, and I do prefer a more "cerebral" flavor to Star Trek episodes in general.

So, overall, not too much violence, action, suspense, or "male ego" in this one. But an abundance of poetic speech ( but not in a cheesy way), thoughtful themes, and emotion throughout. Yes, it was a typical "fall in love with a girl and the other man is jealous" type of story, but it was done tastefully well.
(Rant concluded)
What do you guys think?

 

[Metryq]

I must differ with you. "Requiem for Methuselah" was a terrible episode with the characters acting wildly out of character—especially Kirk. He falls for Rayna at the drop of a hat, and seems to have forgotten the dire situation of his ship.

The episode was written by Jerome Bixby, who wrote four TOS episodes ("Mirror, Mirror", "By Any Other Name"—more Shakespeare—"Day of the Dove" and "Requiem For Methuselah"). And he has a string of other sci-fi credits. If you want to see a much better treatment of the concept in "Requiem" by Bixby, look up the movie Man From Earth. "I never said I was immortal, just long-lived."

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[FredH]

Got to say, I’m enjoying your fresh enthusiasm! I’d have to go back like fifty years to feel like that again, and in a lot of ways I wish I could. Would I be correct in guessing you’re watching TOS for the first time? If so, glad you’re enjoying it, and welcome to the family!

 

[Grant]

The plague is out of control on the ship, crewmen have died, Flint stalled them hoping to "awake" the android and when they finally get the cure McCoy and Spock stand there and watch Kirk and Flint thrash about the room. (Gee I hope they don't knock over the container with the antidote!)
Spock who was willing to let his father die and incur his mother's hatred by refusing to step away from the command chair BECAUSE THE SHIP AND MISSION WERE AT RISK -- now thinks it's more important to see who wins a brawl over a robot girl. He doesn't even order Bones to beam up with the medication -- nope....gotta see how the love triangle turns out!
More crap third season writing.

 

[Grant]

And Flint as seen -- is more "soulless" than the Vians. He has been all the great figures in history and cares not for the crew of the Enterprise dying? He recalls the black death ravaging Europe but plays games with the cure. He had the ability to let them have the cure for the ship while still holding Kirk hostage for whatever was his dumbass plan to give the robot emotions.
This episode like so many 3rd season episodes is just the Kirk, Spock, McCoy show. Not even pretending anymore the other 400 crew are needed on the landing party.
I know that's what a certain segment of fans want. I'm not in that group.

 

[Warped9]

Flint is evidently a contrarian.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

Sorry guys, but I have always loved "Requiem." A lot.

• The fembot you fall in love with is an intriguing Twilight Zone concept ("The Lonely"). And Louise Sorel made Rayna captivating. I wouldn't mind charging her batteries.

• Kirk inspecting the 3-foot miniature as if it's the real Enterprise was mind-blowing for a model-building boy like myself at the time, and I like the scene to this day.

• When Kirk confronts Rayna in the lab, there's a gorgeous medley of love themes from "Elaan of Troyius" and "The Empath." And before that, there's the piano waltz. The music alone would make the episode for me.

• McCoy's soliloquy to Spock about "the things love will drive a man to" stands alongside his "Balance of Terror" speech ("In this galaxy...") as one of the best things ever written for McCoy.

Put all that together, and I do not leave the table hungry.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Was McCoy trying to get Spock to use his Vulcan powers to help Kirk, or was he just being critical of him?

 

[ZapBrannigan]

Was McCoy trying to get Spock to use his Vulcan powers to help Kirk, or was he just being critical of him?

McCoy is interested in the psychology of long space missions, crew under stress, and all that. He just loves making observations.

Also, Spock has been presenting him with a psychology that's contrary to typical humans for three years. They've been arguing regularly, and McCoy still doesn't see what Spock wants to hide. But we see. That was the point of it, I'd say.

 

[Qonundrum]

Just wanted to share some thoughts on the episode I just watched. Season 3 episode 19 "Requiem for Methuselah". This has to be one of my favorite episodes. It has gothic vibes, Da Vinci and Brahms HIMSELF as a vampire coded IMMORTAL?! Like- okay thats epic , and SPOCK EVEN PLAYS A BRAHMS ORIGINAL which made me see a more poetic, artsy side of Spock. I mean is there anything Spock ISN'T good at?

Depending on viewing, it's one of my favorites as being one of the few Trek stories ever that deals with androids in an effective, mature way. Yeah, a vampire creating a (what amounts to the ideal blow-up doll) begs parody, but this story nails the structure and tone, complete with poetic flair that simply works.

IMHO, Spock may not understand the emotions outside of rote but would be able to play it accordingly.

Anyway, I am really wondering who wrote the script here because I am getting total Shakespeare romanticism vibes here. Especially with Kirk falling so deeply in love.. AND WITH AN ANDROID (Rayna)!! (This episode is combining all of my interests here. (Immortals, androids, poetic speech, historical romanticism.) AND to top it all off, I really like how the dialogue is poignant, and grapples with what it means to be human, have emotions, and the duality of love. I love that we get to see a different side of Spock here. I am actually shocked because compared to a more severe version of Spock I saw recently in S3 E17 "That Which Survives", everything seems to be cast under a "rose colored tone' here. Spock, Kirk, and even McCoy are so soft spoken and emotional here it seems. In "That Which Survives", Spock was the harshest I have ever seen him. He must have been stressed. But in direct juxtaposition to that we now see his art and music loving soul in "Requiem for Methuselah".

The shock twist that she's a sexpot of a sexbot is handled extremely well and with a level of maturity never since bettered.

Spock in season 3 could be written out of character ("That Which Survives" has him being a possible partial blueprint for Sheldon Cooper, "The Cloud Minders" has him babbling about his sex life to strangers (though headcanon makes this easier to deal with, as does his piano playing.) Indeed, in this story, the melding of otherwise emotional attributes feels surprisingly natural. Ditto for when he "reaches" with the Space Hippies, the juxtaposition oddly works but does so effectively.

Not only is this episode rather poetic, but we GET TO SEE THE MODEL OF THE SHIP make an appearance which was kind of random but neat nonetheless.

Still better than when "Lost in Space" did it with theirs!

My favorite scene has to be at the end where Spock is watching heartbroken Kirk very closely as if trying hard to understand. I really love the subtext here. Spock doesn't really have to say anything, yet I can really know exactly what he's thinking. As well, McCoy tells Spock he will "never understand" or "never experience love" in this way which was sort of..wrong in my opinion, (maybe Spock choses not to participate in romantic love, but he still loves) but Spock doesn't defend himself. Anyway, this leads up to the part where Spock performs a partial mind meld it seems with a sleeping Kirk, and seems to take on some of his pain and makes him forget. (Not sure if he's actually able to reduce Kirk's memory or pain? what do you guys think?)

Or at least understanding via rote and a form of relational empathy?

What's more interesting that he doesn't have Kirk forget about, oh, Miramanee... or anyone else as he's had two or three people that qualify for a love stronger than the usual teaching sessions go (Edith Keillor, perhaps Shahna, etc). Maybe his mind meld worked for them as well, it's headcanon but not inconceivable... or I'm thinking into it too much, but I'll more easily headcanon a story that really works in every other area and holds up over time, and RFM really does hold up. Haven't rewatched it in over a year or so...

At first I thought Spock just desperately wanted to feel what it felt like to be in such despair/ heartbreak. But he really just showed compassion and LOVE for his friend. I really enjoyed this aspect of the episode where Spock's emotional side peeks through the cracks.

His half-human nature does help, which he does keep under control - and has to ("Plato's Stepchildren"), ensuring Spock's complexity is very nuanced and layered indeed (that's not a slight, especially as there was no direct background for Spock, so his ground-up evolution and how much consistency and depth there is truly is impressive.).

One objectively hilarious part was the exaggerated fight over the android girl Rayna, while Spock and McCoy just sort of stand there watching. ( I feel Kirk would normally automatically fall out of love once he finds out this girl wasn't human, so this was really interesting.) As well, Kirk was down BAD for Rayna saying "YOU LOVE ME" as if he knew it as a fact. Did him and Rayna even have a conversion like..once..? Kirk was rather irrational in this episode, which was a bit out of character in my opinion.
But the FACT THAT HUMAN EMOTION KILLED HER was rather poetic in of itself. (because same girl same)

Yeah, the romance is a little fast going in this story, but some people (or robots!) have such a magnetic effect. Perhaps, as elapsed time between scenes, they had more talking? I was able to roll with it, but YMMV. Rayna may have been programmed to adapt, and Flint had no clue he'd ever have visitors - no protomatter here, the complication of Kirk is what really set the stage for her breakdown, albeit inadvertently.

I really loved the undertone and "blink and you miss it" themes like this that are sometimes not obvious, and this episode was full of those.

^^this

Plus,. the story is solid and well-executed, engaging despite the big plot twist ending, making rewatches where those other little facets do start to peek out come to life and renders the whole story even better as a result.

While I enjoy high stakes, high action, morally gray characters that are often present in episodes, this was a nice reprieve from that. (Through Flint seemed a bit morally gray). The stakes seemed low, and there was a leisurely tone ( even though we never know what happened to the time crunch with the vaccines..?). The immortal guy, Flint, seemed a little misguided, but not CRAZY like some of the other villains. I like this type of character as he had clear intentions with his androids, (unlike Mr.MUDD....but don't even get me started on him) didn't make any serious threats (he kind of tried to kill /threaten Kirk a few times) but backed off quickly. I like him as a "villain" because his actions and intention seemed to always have a clear path of logic, even though he did keep his intentions a secret, it wasn't overtly malicious. Other villains drive me crazy because they can't seems to make up their mind, will hold viewers in suspension FOREVER, and just act crazy for crazy's sake. Which makes them not so relatable in my opinion.

Flint was awesome, especially in wanting to keep his secrets.

Plus, unlike MUDD, I like how this episode could take a theme played for laughs but then do something extremely serious. And not hokey, such as "What Are Little Girls Made Of". All 3 stories only use androids as a partial theme, they go in different directions of course (WALGMO duplicates a personality, MUDD involves cybernetics, RFM is an android programmed to behave like a real person. TOS managed to keep recurring tropes impressively fresh, IMHO...)

I just love how you can sense the different "flavor" of certain episodes that are obviously written by a different team. In this way, some episodes really click with me while others don't. I am not a fan of too much action, at least without cause, and I do prefer a more "cerebral" flavor to Star Trek episodes in general.

Cerebral for the win, but well-placed action I'll never balk at. Action for action's sake, however, is just spectacle that doesn't feel as compelling. Of course, this is IMHO, YMMV, UC, EIEIO, ETC...

So, overall, not too much violence, action, suspense, or "male ego" in this one. But an abundance of poetic speech ( but not in a cheesy way), thoughtful themes, and emotion throughout. Yes, it was a typical "fall in love with a girl and the other man is jealous" type of story, but it was done tastefully well.
(Rant concluded)
What do you guys think?

It's a curate's egg of an episode. Different, breaks the mold, but does so in such great ways that it's a gem. You don't get that every week, which would be impossible to do - not just because Kirk makes his assembly line speech in another episode as great ideas don't come off those things and never can.


Lastly, it's parody time!

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[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Of course now, we can look back and compare Kirk's brief infatuation with Rayna to people today falling in love with an AI chatbot.

 

[FredH]

Of course now, we can look back and compare Kirk's brief infatuation with Rayna to people today falling in love with an AI chatbot.

Although, as with most older TV robots, I think we’re given to understand that Rayna is a person — she has actual interiority. A chatbot doesn’t.

 

[Rowdy Roddy McDowall]

I mean is there anything Spock ISN'T good at?

Waking up without getting slapped repeatedly. Always the drama king.

What do you guys think?

I think James T. Hypocrite should apologize to Chekov and THE APPLE's Yeoman Landon after lecturing them for finding each other fascinating. No disrespect to the scrumptuous Miss Kapec, but HypoKirk's wasting time smiling and dancing with Rayna while his crew is fighting off the galactic plague.

 

[Warped9]

In Star Trek Continues’ “The White Iris” they went with the idea Spock tried to erase or suppress all memory of Rayna from Kirk’s memory. But when I watch it now I wonder if Spock wasn’t trying to just suppress or erase Kirk’s pain and heartache over Rayna while not totally forgetting her existence altogether.

I guess Kirk hadn’t yet told Spock, “I need my pain.”

 

[Metryq]

The episode has elements of The Tempest (Miranda, Ariel).

I might have found it more palatable if Kirk had been played in character. Rayna was already attracted by the newcomers, a not uncommon infatuation of emotionally immature people. Suppose she gravitated to Kirk. And while enchanted by her, and perhaps flattered by her attention, suppose Kirk remained focused on his duties to his ship and crew. It would be all the more human for Rayna to want Kirk more.

That might be the crux of Flint's jealousy. From there, things would escalate: Flint showing hostility towards Kirk for something Kirk hadn't done. (Just for being who he is.) Curiosity aroused, Kirk and company might wonder if Rayna was with Flint voluntarily, leading to more questions about who Flint is, etc.

 

[Grant]

I need to reassess my opinion of this episode based on the fact that they showed a model of the Enterprise and I built models when I was a kid.

 

[Poltargyst]

Waking up without getting slapped repeatedly. Always the drama king.

I think James T. Hypocrite should apologize to Chekov and THE APPLE's Yeoman Landon after lecturing them for finding each other fascinating. No disrespect to the scrumptuous Miss Kapec, but HypoKirk's wasting time smiling and dancing with Rayna while his crew is fighting off the galactic plague.

In my headcanon, Flint has altered Kirk's emotions/thinking to make him irrationally in love with Rayna as part of his experiment.

 

[Poltargyst]

In Star Trek Continues’ “The White Iris” they went with the idea Spock tried to erase or suppress all memory of Rayna from Kirk’s memory. But when I watch it now I wonder if Spock wasn’t trying to just suppress or erase Kirk’s pain and heartache over Rayna while not totally forgetting her existence altogether.

I guess Kirk hadn’t yet told Spock, “I need my pain.”

Spock really couldn't have erased all memory of Rayna from Kirk's mind. Kirk is still the captain, he still needs to make log reports, he still has to know everything that happened.

I need to reassess my opinion of this episode based on the fact that they showed a model of the Enterprise and I built models when I was a kid.

Are you mocking ZapBrannigan? He did give a number of reasons he liked the episode. His having built models is hardly representative of his points.

I'm sorry you don't like the episode, but there is plenty to like for those of us who do.

 

[Grant]

Shore Leave had a White Knight.

 

[Warped9]

Spock really couldn't have erased all memory of Rayna from Kirk's mind. Kirk is still the captain, he still needs to make log reports, he still has to know everything that happened.

I have long believed that.