A Piece of the Action - episode #49

A PIECE OF THE ACTION (2nd season; episode #49)
Directed by James Komack        writers: David P. Harmon, Gene Coon
Air Date: 01/12/68
100 years ago (a century before the events of this episode), a Federation ship, The Horizon, visited this planet and left behind a book about the Chicago mobs of the 1920's. This book is the contamination, as Spock terms it, a bible on which an entire civilization has based its culture on. One can dismiss this as simply a race of people being extremely imitative, yet don't laugh too soon. This entire episode may be poking fun AT us, not laughing WITH us. The concept could be scary, an unsettling reminder of how an entire society of people can be deluded into following a certain doctrine, whether it makes sense or not. Well, whatever turns a profit makes sense to most people, I suppose.
But, the Trekmakers decided to go the comedy route with this one (as in I, MUDD above). Most of the humor stems from all the catchy phrases that Kirk and his boys get inundated with during the course of the adventure. They get "bagged" by Bela, the big boss, almost immediately; they break free, but Kirk is soon put "on ice" by Krako, the second most powerful goon. Then, later on, Tepo gets a ride to Bela's flop while on the other end of his blower. Check? Right! This followed the pattern, less subtly, of Kirk the snappy comic with a quick comeback and Spock as his straight man, a la The Trouble With Tribbles.
The whole thing is, of course, ridiculous -- especially after the 1st act if the viewer looks on objectively, but by the 3rd act we're so immersed in the escapades it doesn't matter. Here's Kirk's chance to play God once more, served up to him on a platter.  The Federation itself is responsible for this culture getting out of whack years back, so Kirk knows he has a great chance here -- a duty really -- to rectify matters.

A rationalization? Maybe. But, so what? Soon we have 'Kirk-o' and 'Spock-o' dressed to the nines, toting their machine guns, re-organizing an entire culture -- not in theory, but in practice.  Kirk's a field commander, after all, not some desk bound pencil-pusher. He plays the game of the locals and, because he's Kirk, he plays it better.
And now, speaking of playing games, Kirk's creation of the Fizzbin card game is an instant classic, especially as I could swear that Shatner was ad-libbing the entire scene, changing the rules with each card played. He deals 2 jacks to his opponent and states that a 3rd jack would be bad. He then deals a 3rd jack but changes the rules instantaneously.  His opponent is so confused by this point, he doesn't even notice -- he's still trying to figure out what happens on Tuesday. This scene alone would have placed this episode in the top 30.  Such comedy routines are simply not done anymore on TV and haven't been for a long time. BoG's Score: 8 out of 10
My favorite scene, however, is the far briefer one between Scotty and Krako -- their conversation about concrete galoshes.  You mean, cement overshoes? Ah... yeah. A dizzy, breezy episode, with a peculiar, sobering coda at the very end.  McCoy reveals he accidentally left his communicator gizmo on the planet. I've long pictured a sequel in one of the newer series (TNG, DS9) ...the Federation checks up on the planet and gets more action than they bargained for.
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Extra Trek Trivia: for purposes of full disclosure, Kirk cut the Federation in for a take of 40%. That's a pretty good deal, right? Check!  
RIGHT:Krako!