History Recap / StarTrekS2E2WhoMournsForAdonais

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Kirk and Co. [[IShallTauntYou openly mock Apollo]] so that he will attack them, expending his energy and allowing ''Enterprise'' to counterstrike. Unfortunately, Carolyn [[PleaseSpareHimMyLiege interjects on their behalf]] and [[CooldownHug calms Apollo]], averting the fight -- and causing the away team to remain under Apollo's thumb a bit longer. Kirk even lampshades it with his sarcastic thanks. (In her defense, Kirk never told her what they were attempting.)
** Should also be noted that Kirk knew at Apollo would very likely kill at least one of them when sufficiently enraged. Carolyn may well have saved their lives.

* AncientAstronauts: Kirk speculates that Apollo's story of being the Greek god of that name may be true, not in a "actually a deity" way but in an "advanced aliens visit primitive Earth and inspire worship" way. Notably, this episode predates Erich von Däniken's ''Chariots of the Gods'', which is usually considered the TropeCodifier. [[UnbuiltTrope This may be why the episode focuses on the Greek pantheon, which tends to be sidelined in more modern iterations of this trope.]]

* AncientAstronauts: Kirk speculates that Apollo's story of being the Greek god of that name may be true, not in a "actually a deity" way but in an "advanced aliens visit primitive Earth and inspire worship" way.

* SocietyMarchesOn: It appears that Scotty will soon be marrying a female crew member, causing Kirk and [=McCoy=] to lament the loss of such a skilled crewman, because ''of course'' she'll be giving up her job once she ties the knot. Oddly enough, this comes a season after "[[{{Recap/StarTrekS1E14BalanceOfTerror}} Balance of Terror]]" featured a marriage between two crew members where this attitude was completely absent.
** The novelization mitigates this - Carolyn doesn't just want a relationship, she wants to have children. This being before TNG era, she wouldn't be able to raise her kids while working aboard a starship. Presumably, the other two had no plans for kids just yet.

* DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu: Kirk and co. turn their back to Apollo and laugh when he demands sacrifices of deer and laurel leaves in hopes of getting their point across.

* PlotHole: Kirk leads a landing party down to the nearby planet, where the alien reveals that he is Apollo. Later in the episode, Spock, who had been on the Enterprise the whole time, makes reference to Apollo. There is no way Spock could have known who the alien was as Apollo immediately jammed the landing party's communicators.

* SadlyMythtaken: Kirk seems to have [[AssPull taken some liberty]] with his knowledge of ancient Greek and Roman mythology. Such stories include no element of gods needing to "recharge" after a good smiting of the mortals.

* PlotHole: Kirk leads a landing party down to the nearby planet, where the alien reveals that he Apollo. Later in the episode, Spock, who had been on the Enterprise the whole time, makes reference to Apollo. There is no way Spock could have known who the alien was as Apollo immediately jammed the landing party's communicators.

* ObliviouslyEvil: Apollo essentially holds the crew of the ''Enterprise'' hostage, punishes them when they step out of line - nearly killing some of them, and takes Carolyn away from the landing party to have all to himself - not caring about if he has a relationship with anyone (then again, neither does Carolyn very much). [[BlueAndOrangeMorality He doesn't realise]] [[DeliberateValuesDissonance that after thousands of years of cultural development, those actions to 23rd century humans]] [[JerkassGods just make him look like a jerk]], [[RageAgainstTheHeavens and certainly not like a god worthy of their worship anymore - just earns their hostility]]. His muttering to Carolyn, and his eventual demise reveal that he was genuinely confused by their antagonism towards him.

* ObliviouslyEvil: Apollo essentially holds the crew of the ''Enterprise'' hostage, punishes them when they step out of line - nearly killing some of them, and takes Carolyn away from the landing party to have all to himself - not caring about if he has a relationship with anyone (then again, neither does Carolyn very much). [[BlueAndOrangeMorality He doesn't realise]] [[DeliberateValuesDissonance that after thousands of years of cultural development, those actions to 23rd century humans]] [[JerkassGods just make him look like a dick]], [[RageAgainstTheHeavens and certainly not like a god worthy of their worship anymore - just earns their hostility]]. His muttering to Carolyn, and his eventual demise reveal that he was genuinely confused by their antagonism towards him.

!!Tropes for this work include:

'''Note:''' This episode got something of a sequel, courtesy of fan-made web-series ''WebVideo/StarTrekContinues,'' entitled "Pilgrim of Eternity." It features Apollo's original actor in this episode, Michael Forest, doing a RoleReprisal.

--> ''(while hurling lightning bolts)'' STOP!! STOP, I SAY!! I COMMAND IT!! ''STOOOOOPP!! STOOOOOOPPP!! STOOOOOOOOOOPPPPP!!''"

-->'''Kirk''' ''(about Scotty)'': Scotty doesn't believe in gods.

-->'''Kirk''': Mankind has no need for gods. We find the one quite adequate.

'''Note:''' This episode got something of a sequel, courtesy of fan-made web-series ''WebVideo/StarTrekContinues,'' entitled "Pilgrim Of Eternity." It features Apollo's original actor in this episode, Michael Forest, doing a RoleReprisal.

'''Note:''' This episode got something of a sequel, courtesy of fan-made web-series ''WebVideo/StarTrekContinues,'' entitled "Pilgrim Of Eternity." It features a cameo by Apollo's original actor in this episode, Michael Forest.

!Tropes for this work include:

* YouAreACreditToYourRace: Apollo tells Carolyn she is wise for a woman. She later turns it on him, telling him he's quite good at imitating humanity.