Miri

Ah 'Miri'...I love this episode and I think that it is one that is often under-rated. Many people seem to have a probelm with the episodes with children in them. Anyway, I find this a powerful and deeply moving episode that looks at the folly of a society that tries to prolong their life-spans and instead end up destroying themselves.

The Enterprise comes upon a planet identical in every way to contemporary Earth, except that when they beam down they are confronted with a ghost town or so it seems. They eventually encounter the only residents, a motely collection of children and a few adolescents. The crew quickly discover that there are no adults or 'grups' as the children call them. Everyone who reaches maturity dies of a hideous disease that covers their body with plaque and which finally sends them mad, before resulting in a horrible death.

The crew gets to work isolating the virus and searching for a cure, but the children, threatened by the adults presence, steal there communicators, thus stopping them from contacting the ship's computers to assist with the development of the antidote.

The major subplot concerns the beautiful young girl, Miri and her fate; she is about to enter adolescence and as such will soon succumb to the ravishes of the disease. Jim befriends her to gain her trust in the hope of helping all the children, but Miri develops a crush on the Captain and betrays the crewmembers in the hope of getting Jim away from her perceived rival, Janice Rand. I just want to acknowledge at this point, the outstanding effort from Grace Lee Whitney in this episode; it really is the highpoint for her character's involvement in TOS and she gives a powerful performance as she battles the disease and her feelings for Captain Kirk.

As the clock ticks, the landing party's tempers flare and a cure is found, but without the ship's computers McCoy and Spock have no way of knowing what dosage to use (with the absolutely marvelous line "beaker full of death" from Spock...LOL). Miri lures Yeoman Rand away and she is held prisoner by the children. Kirk decides that he must confront the children to gain Janice’s freedom and retrieve the vital communications devices.

Meanwhile McCoy decides that he must risk taking the serum, which he does with violent results. Kirk convinces the children in the nick of time; the serum works and all ends well.
This episode is chock full of tension and drama, and has the gentle and poignant 'love story' between Kirk and Miri at its core. If you haven't watched this one recently, please do again because it really is a gem.