Star Trek TOS S2E13: Obsession

Paranoid colonial murderlust—but in a good way.

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See the Star Trek TOS Rewatch Index page for links to all the episodes covered so far.

“OBSESSION” RATING: 6.3/10

Moby Dick but with space vampires sounds like a promising elevator pitch. Unfortunately, “Obsession” lacks the singular focus on blood-sucking whales that the title promises. Instead, the episode gets itself tangled up in lax plotting, uninteresting side characters, and, inevitably, colonial apology. The ultimate moral is that genocide is a powerful tool for self-actualization, which wasn’t exactly what Herman Melville had in mind.