As the USS Cayuga is engaged to survey a binary star alongside the Enterprise, Pike is trying to have Captain Batel over for a home-cooked meal (even a bottle of Chateau Picard!) and some down time. However, both are consistently interrupted by work, including the news that Batel has been turned Passed-Over Promotion to Commodore; she believes that Adm. Pasalk is still salty about losing the case against Una Chin-Riley. Pike, realizing he is having an adverse effect on her career, suggests the two scale back their Friends with Benefits arrangement. Batel, dismayed, leaves.
Number One receives an urgent communique: the Enterprise has been directed to Rigel VII, a planet mentioned in "The Cage" as a botched mission where three members of the crew were KIA. Pike provides the Back Story: the Kalar grew suspicious and attacked, and the away team had to pull a Screw This, I'm Outta Here after not only the three deaths but a debilitating injury to Spock. Even worse, the Kalar are a pre-warp society, and thus subject to the "Prime Directive" (which is what they renamed the Alien Non-Interference Clause), so it's not like Pike could just come back later and clean up the mess. But now he has to: long-range imaging has spotted the Starfleet delta on the surface of the planet, large enough to be made out by long-range telescopes.
Erica Ortegas, who flies the ship, is excited to be joining the away team; she very rarely gets to step away from the helm. But as she meets Pike, La'an and M'Benga in the corridor, Spock arrives with bad news: there is a massive Asteroid Thicket near the planet, and only Ortegas can keep Enterprise both on-station and in one piece. Resigned to her fate, Ortegas goes off to fly the ship.
Pike, Noonien-Singh and M'Benga make landfall in a shuttle. Pike points out that he has picked the two he has because both are proficient in melee-range conflict. (M'Benga grouses over which part of the "Combat Medic" description led to his inclusion.) As they start to head out, La'an suffers a ringing in her ears, which disorients her; she mentions it to Pike, but Pike is concerned about heading back to the shuttle, as — unbeknowest to La'an — it has not been merely a moment since this happened but a Time Skip of six hours. Also, Rigel VII is cold, and if they head back now they run a serious risk of freezing to death. So the team presses on. As they approach what seems to be the biggest building on the planet, both Pike and M'Benga also suffer moments of tinnitus and disorientation... which is only augmented when they are ambushed by Kalar mooks wielding phaser rifles.
They are brought before the supreme potentate, Lord Zacarias... Or, rather, yeoman Zac Nguyen, one of the three slain crewmembers. (The fact that Pike Never Found the Body is lampshaded.) Using his superior Starfleet tech, he has set himself up to live like a king. He also knows about the ringing: he explains that the planet is dogged by some sort of Easy Amnesia field... and he thinks it would be karma if Pike et al were allowed to be exposed to it.
The next morning, Pike, La'an and M'Benga are let out of a cage and taken to the fields to work. Luq, a friendly Kalar, helps them get oriented, even though they don't remember who they are. However, their basic skills are still there; they can walk, talk, use their subdermal Translator Microbes, and so forth. The Pike and La'an are wearing the sashes of stonemasons, M'Benga the sash of a woodcutter, but Pike points out that something is wrong: he doesn't have the callused hands of a laborer. Luq explains that the Field Kalar are subject to "the Forgetting," but the "Palace Kalar" are allowed to keep their memories; the field Kalar have adapted their entire culture to suit the persistent amnesia. Pike sees an opening and attacks the two guards, with La'an backing him up; they succeed, but she is slashed across the abdomen. Luq takes them to his home. He claims that the palace Kalar have some sort of coffin where they keep everyone's memories, and M'Benga — who retains some knowledge of healing, but not enough to actually help La'an — insists they attack the palace and get them back. Pike agrees, and Luq, impressed with their resolve, decides to help.
Meanwhile, things on the Enterprise aren't peachy: Uhura starts coming down with the amnesia, followed swiftly by others, including Number One. Chapel manages to determine that the cause is radiation-based, and Spock — in command since Pike, Chin-Riley and Noonien-Singh are unavailable — orders Ortegas to take the Enterprise deeper into the Asteroid Thicket, on the assumption that said radiation is coming from the planet and the debris field will shield the ship from it. Unfortunately, he's not only wrong, he's backwards, and it isn't long before the entire ship is filled with confused, disoriented people.
Ortegas awakes at her station, completely lost, and somehow makes it back to her quarters. Her room has windows... making it easy for her to see the Asteroid Thicket and hear the impact of debris bouncing off the Enterprise's shields. She begs the computer for help, and the computer asks if she'd like to plot a course. This sparks something in Erica, and the computer confirms: "You are Erica Ortegas, alpha-shift pilot assigned to the USS Enterprise." Her Heroic Resolve renewed, Ortegas storms back to the bridge: "I'm Erica Ortegas. I fly the ship." And she does, and the Enterprise is saved.
Pike and M'Benga make it inside the palace, but the doctor stays behind to Hold the Line while Pike goes to find the memory coffin. Zac snickers over this, amused Pike has fallen for the field Kalar legends. He explains that the planet was struck by an errant asteroid from the thicket, which brought the amnesia field with it; the palace Kalar keep their memories because the palace is made of an ore that blocks the radiation (as are his mooks' helmets), and soon Pike will come back to himself. Pike does, and, finding himself holding Zac at phaser-point, stands down. He determines that Yeoman Nguyen will need to come back and stand trial for what he's done... But, also, apologizes to Zac for leaving him behind.
Back in orbit, the Enterprise uses its Tractor Beam to yank the asteroid off Rigel VII, freeing the Kalar of the amnesia field. Spock isn't convinced that the Prime Directive allows this but, due to his personal experience with the amnesia field, doesn't object to Pike's reasoning/Loophole Abuse that one asteroid causing a planet's culture to stagnate for millennia isn't natural development. M'Benga got his memories back in time to save La'an, who is recovering. Meanwhile, Pike gets Batel back to his quarters and begs for a second chance. She allows that she might give him one.
Tropes:
- Alien Non-Interference Clause:
- Enterprise is assigned to investigate Rigel VII for prior cultural contamination when orbital imaging spots Starfleet's Delta plastered on the roof of a building. Enterprise previously visited the planet five years ago and had to fight their way out, losing three crew. One survived, and has since taken over.
- After everyone has recovered, Pike has the asteroid pulled into orbit so Ortegas can use the ship's tractor beam to chuck it into the debris field, reasoning that it was not part of the planet's natural development. Spock doesn't sound convinced, but also doesn't object given the trouble it put them through.
- Amnesiac Resonance:
- Deep emotions and instinctual skills survive the memory loss caused by the local radiation field. Ortegas may not remember that she flies the ship, but when put in front of the controls, she knows how. Pike's feelings for Batel also keep him grounded, which makes him realize after he gets his memories back how much she really means to him.
- The working Kalar have adapted this principle to their way of life. Without specific memories to carry over day to day, they have learned to trust their feelings in all things, since it's really all they have. Luq isn't interested in Pike's plan to infiltrate the palace to recover their memories until he hears the desperation behind his intent.Luq: Then we do it now. Before the next forgetting starts and we lose our convictions.
Pike: Suddenly you're okay with this?
Luq: You are guided by your emotions. They are your truth. I find them convincing. The totem teaches that we live in each moment, embrace them. If this is your moment, then I will help.
- Benevolent A.I.: The computer is far more proactive than it normally is in this episode, willing to respond to Ortegas without being specifically asked with the prefix "Computer" and generally reacting to her distress with helpful directions, at least to the extent that it can interpret her ramblings literally.
- Binary Suns: Pike and Batel have been assigned to survey a binary star system in the beginning of the episode.
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: Luq tells Pike and M'Benga over and over that they should look forward to forgetting La'an (ignoring her protests that she's not dead yet) until Pike's distress abruptly convinces him. When Pike questions his sudden change, Luq says that field Kalar must live in their moment, and since this is clearly Pike's, he must be right to save La'an.
- Call-Back: The previously failed mission to Rigel VII which included the loss of Enterprise's Yeoman was first mentioned in "The Cage".
- Captain's Log: Ortegas gets to record this episode's logs at the intro and the denouement.
- Cargo Cult: Long range imaging of Rigel VII showed the Starfleet Delta on their buildings, which indicated that some gear was left behind and the people started patterning their civilization around it. It wasn't until getting to the planet they found Zac alive in a pseudo God Guise.
- Chekhov's Gun: In the opening scene, Batel gives Pike an Opelian mariner's keystone as a gift; when he loses his memories, the keystone helps him center himself and remember that he has something worth remembering.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: The Field Kalar identify their jobs based on their outfit colors. Pike and La'an have dressed as rock breakers, while M'Benga is a woodcutter. Pike quickly realizes that something weird is going on because his hands clearly aren't calloused in the manner one would expect of someone doing manual labor all their life.
- Commitment Issues: Una brings this up as being one of Pike's known flaws, that he breaks relationships when he feels they get too intense.
- Didn't Think This Through: Spock hands out PADDs containing vital information about themselves to the senior staff, which Chapel notes is only a band-aid. This fails spectacularly for a number of reasons, most prominently that the disorientation effect prevents them from being cognitive enough to even remember to check the PADD when they lose their memories. Anyone who sets the PADD down and forgets about it is out of luck; Chapel and Ortegas either lost or fail to consult the PADD, respectively. This goes double for Spock, however, as he can't read his PADD despite keeping it on him, presumably because of his dyslexia (as established in Star Trek: Discovery), which he's forgotten how to manage. (It's also possible that the more intense radiation in the asteroid field has resulted in the entire crew forgetting how to read.)
- Easily Forgiven: Averted. Pike forgives Zac personally, but he still takes Zac into custody and says his violation of the Prime Directive is up to Starfleet to adjudicate.
- Evil Is Petty: Well, Vice-Admiral Pasalk isn't evil per se, but his prior appearance established he's still an asshole. His off-screen actions in the interim since Una's court martial now establish that he's a vindictive asshole. He punishes Batel for failing to prosecute Una by denying her what should've been a shoe-in promotion to Commodore.
- Fantastic Caste System: Rigel VII is divided into the Field Kalar, who do all the manual labor and lose their memories every night, and the Palace Kalar, who rule over them and get to keep their memories. Pike tears the system down at the end by removing the asteroid causing the memory loss.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: Pike and Batel are drinking from a bottle of Chateau Picard during their dinner.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: Starfleet yeomans are usually ensigns or enlisted, and now Zac is King of Rigel VII.
- Giving Radio to the Romans: Zac equipped the Palace Kalar with phaser rifles to secure his rule.
- Hope Is Scary: Luq admits that Pike, La'an, and M'Benga are a lot braver than he is for wanting to recover their pasts, including the painful parts. At the end, he stays in the palace long enough to recover his own life and decides that the pain is worth knowing everything.
- Hypocrite: Vice-Admiral Pasalk, who continues the long franchise tradition of Vulcans embracing logic and denouncing emotionalism when it suits their needs, then dropping it when it's convenient. There is nothing logical about denying a capable officer like Batel a deserved promotion. It's instead out of spite to punish her for losing Una's Court Martial and embarrassing him.
- Identity Amnesia: The strange radiation from the asteroid and the debris field causes everyone to lose their sense of self without affecting language or motor memory. As Chapel puts it, she can treat a simple wound but can't perform surgery and won't know that it's her job to do so. Being shielded or otherwise removed from the radiation reverses the effect fairly quickly.
- Impeded Communication: The atmosphere of Rigel VII is choked with particles from an asteroid impact that make sensors and comms useless. Starfleet is only able to monitor the surface through orbital imaging.
- It's Probably Nothing: A rare subversion in Trek. La'an doesn't report her first episode of tinnitus but does admit to being light-headed and the earlier tinnitus when she experiences a time loss that M'Benga and Pike notice. Unfortunately they don't have any context for it other than it possibly being altitude sickness.
- The Main Characters Do Everything: Egregious, even by Mildly Military Starfleet standards. There's no reason that Nurse Christine Chapel should be in charge of Sickbay while M'Benga is out, aside from the fact that she's in the opening credits.
- Married to the Job: Pike and Batel attempt some romantic interludes when possible but being captains of their respective ships they are frequently unable to go far. Pike starts treating it as an excuse to stop trying while Batel is willing to wade through the noise.
- Missing Time: As the radiation affects the formation of memories, those affected experience tinnitus followed by losing hours of time, suddenly thrust into a new place with no memory of how they got there. At the very least, as is the case with Uhura, they'll forget whatever task they were presently engaged in.
- My Greatest Failure: Pike sees Rigel VII as this, seeing as he lost three crew members and nearly Spock because they ran in full throttle. It's even worse as the planet has apparently been contaminated by their presence.
- Never My Fault: Zac blames Pike for everything that happened since he was left for dead. Pike responds that while he is deeply sorry for leaving Zac behind, everything Zac did after that was his choice.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Spock orders the ship into the debris field after Number One's incapacitation leaves him in command, under the assumption that the radiation is coming from the planet. Instead he takes them closer to the source of the problem, rendering the entire crew amnesiac.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Pike beats the crap out of Zac, partly out of desperation to regain his memories and partly because Zac is laughing at him.
- No Ontological Inertia: Being shielded from the radiation for a brief period is sufficient to completely reverse the memory loss it causes. Chapel describes the effect as a blockage as opposed to actual damage, which would explain why life-long exposure hasn't killed everyone on the planet.
- Not Quite Dead: As it turns out, the poor yeoman who was thought to have been killed wasn't, and he's quite pissed at Pike for being left behind.
- Oh, Crap!: All of "High Lord Zacarias"'s bravado vanishes as soon as an amnesiac Pike points a phaser set to kill at him, and he proves himself a Dirty Coward as he starts whimpering and begging for his life.
- Outliving One's Offspring: Luq inked over his totem because he knows he has no one to pass it to. At the end, after recovering his full memory, he tells Pike that he "had" a son—implied to be the loss he suffered and the reason he erased his totem.
- Passed-Over Promotion: Batel is passed over for promotion to Commodore in favor of another officer, which ruffles her feathers. Both she and Pike believe Pasalk did this in retaliation for losing Una's trial.
- Red Herring: Luq is convinced that there's a coffin within the castle that contains everyone's memories, so Pike goes on a quest to retrieve it so he can restore M'Benga's memories of being a doctor, which he needs to save La'an. After battling and defeating Zac, the "coffin" is revealed to be a box full of Zac's old Starfleet equipment, and has nothing to do with the ability of the Palace Kalar to retain their memories. It's actually the material in the castle that's preventing the memory loss, and just being in the castle for a short amount of time will fix things.
- Relationship Upgrade: In the first season, Pike and Batel's relationship was quite solidly in Friends with Benefits territory. Here, we see them considering the idea of a deeper commitment.
- Resolved Noodle Incident: Notable for resolving one of the franchise's very oldest Noodle Incidents (if not the oldest). This episode finally explains the failed mission to Rigel VII mentioned during "The Cage".
- Retcon: The ship computer having the ability to guide people to specific rooms was first introduced as a new innovation particular to then brand new Galaxy-class in TNG: "Encounter at Farpoint", where a crewmember demonstrated the feature to Riker, who was new to the Enterprise-D and didn't know about it.
- Rule of Three: Pike and Batel Almost Kiss twice during their opening scene before being interrupted. They finally share a Big Damn Kiss on their third attempt, when they reunite and reconcile at the end of the episode.
- Sensory Abuse: The ringing sound effect used for the radiation's effects on various characters. When the episode was first broadcast, some sensitive viewers complained that it gave them tinnitus or migraines in reality.
- Shipper on Deck: Una likes Pike and Batel being together, and dings him for his Commitment Issues screwing up a good thing for the both of them.
- Still Wearing the Old Colors: Zac is still clad in his Starfleet uniform, five years after he was left for dead on Rigel VII.
- Survival Mantra: Ortegas inadvertently gets the computer to reveal her name and job, turning it into a mantra."I'm Erica Ortegas. I fly the ship."
- Tempting Fate: When Uhura is brought to Chapel with the first symptoms of memory loss, she is worried but assures Ortegas that the ship should be fine so long as no one else displays symptoms. Cue Spock calling in with six more cases.
- They Call Me MISTER Tibbs!: Zac demands that Pike address him as Lord Zacharias, as the Kalar do.
- Tinfoil Hat: Inverted. While at first looking like simply part of their uniform, the helmets worm by the Palace Kalar are actually made from the same material as the palace itself. This shields them from the radiation and they keep their memories when they venture outside the palace's walls. On this world, a tin-foil hat actually keeps one sane.
- Unflinching Walk: In his determination to recover his memories, Pike marches straight toward Zac without bothering to seek cover, grabbing a nearby serving tray to block a couple shots as he approaches.
- Unseen No More: Rigel VII has been mentioned in several Trek series including DS9, Picard, and TOS and was used as an illusion in "The Cage" but this marks the planet's first actual on screen appearance.
- Weapons of Their Trade: La'an battles a Kalar guard using the sledgehammer she was using earlier to smash rocks. Sadly, sword beats hammer and La'an gets gutted, though she does manage to knock the guy out.
- What You Are in the Dark: Zac claims the memory loss from the planet changes people for the worse, while Pike more correctly realizes that while the radiation wipes people's memories, their core values and character traits survive— such as Pike's desire to protect his crew, M'Benga's urge to help the injured, etc... It's therefore more accurate to say the planet reveals who you truly are.
- Wistful Amnesia: Field Kalar (and anyone else afflicted with the radiation-induced memory loss) have a sense of the major events in their life but no details. For most of the episode, Luq is content to know that he has experienced a painful loss because he doesn't think that knowing the details will make things any better.
