Writer: D.C. Fontana
Director: Joseph Pevney
Producer: Gene L. Coon
This episode establishes a paradigm that will become familiar throughout season two in terms of the crew's interactions with Klingons and with other planets. In the wake of "Errand of Mercy", the Federation can't fight the Klingons for territory and resources, but they can compete with them. Thus several episodes, starting with this one, revolve around Kirk and his party trying to convince a native population to side with the Federation's freedoms over the Klingons' strength. And then usually breaking the fuck out of the Prime Directive in regards to that native population.
In this case, it's Capella IV, a planet rich in minerals but whose population is a tribal, warlike people with strict rituals and deadly taboo punishments. Dr. McCoy was once stationed there a few years back in a Federation attempt to provide hospitals that was rejected, and so he takes point on instructing the landing party on what to do. So Kirk, Spock, McCoy and some redshirt beam down, and said redshirt is dead before even the opening credits roll.
Turns out the Klingons are already there, manipulating one of the Capellans to stage a coup agains the "High Te'er" and seize power. Our boys end up persona non grata, on the run from the Capellans and Klingons but with an unusual companion -- the wife of the murdered Te'er, who carries his child and thus is a political target for assassination by the new regime. Fleeing into the hills, McCoy must help Ele'en to give birth to her son. Unfortunately the customs of the Capellans means she believes she must die, and her son too.
There's something in this episode about this woman going from a subserviant concubine in a society that respects her purely for her breeding purposes, to being a woman who values her own life, the life of her child, and has the wiliness to turn the tables on those who attacked her and seize power as regent. It's there but it's buried under an action adventure plot about the bad guys chasing the good guys into the hills (Vasquez Rocks makes it's fourth and final appearance on the show), and the good guys' tactics in defeating them.
There's also a subplot aboard ship about Scotty getting lured away from the planet by a false distress call, and then playing cat and mouse with a Klingon ship. It's a lot of fun because it's a chance to see Scotty, Uhura, Sulu, and Chekov (the "other four") interact on their own while the "Main Three" are on the planet. Sulu's new tactical scanner gets a cool dramatic introduction, and Chekov gets to make his first "invented in Russia" joke.
Ulimately, there are a lot of good bits and moments and character interactions in "Friday's Child", but the episode as a whole is a haphazard batch of chases, tricks, double crosses, fight scenes, and wandering around outdoors. It never quite comes together into a cohesive whole to say anything about the issues it raises.
Rating: 2.5 out of 4
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