[6.0/10] “Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?” That amusing phrase more or less sums up how I feel about “Code of Honor.” It is an episode rife with racism and sexism that, if you could somehow strip away, would leave you with a solid (albeit not overwhelming) dose of the usual Star Trek moral and diplomatic dilemmas.
The story finds our heroes traveling to Ligon II, a less technologically advanced planet that nevertheless possesses a vaccine capable of curing a disease that’s plaguing the Federation. The catch is that the (indistinguishably humanoid) aliens have the titular retrograde “Code of Honor” which forces Captain Picard to balance his dignity, Starfleet protocol, and the safety of his crewman versus the need to obtain a vaccine that could save scores of lives.
That’s not a bad premise! It’s classic meat and potatoes Star Trek to have the crew tiptoeing around local customs they don’t agree with and bristling against Starfleet regulations when there’s some greater moral good involved. If that’s all this episode amounted to, this wouldn’t be the world’s best installment of TNG, but it’d be fine.
The problem is that “Code of Honor” is suffused racist and sexist approaches to exploring this material. What I’d remembered from childhood was the treatment of the Ligon people, which would have been enough to sink this episode on its own. Suffice it to say, taking the most African-coded characters in all of Star Trek and depicting them as duplicitous and backward in their practices and society, and less advanced than their mostly caucasian counterparts for good measure, is a strike that this episode never recovers from.
But what I didn’t remember is how wide-ranging those uncomfortable elements here beyond the depiction of the Ligon. A stray line from Picard seems to suggest that the civilization of the Enterprise’s less-sophisticated guests resembles that of the Chinese. An otherwise amusing character moment where Picard attempts to defend the honor of the French language devolves into condescension (and, I’m betting, misinformation) about the practices of indigineous people.
That’s all before the sexism at play here. Once again in the early going, the show’s treatment of Tasha Yar as a sexual being isn’t great. You can see TNG trying to pat itself on the back, with the Ligon’s surprise that a woman is the chief security officer and the other crew members explaining that this is no big deal in the Federation. But at the same time, we’re back to Khan Noonien Singh-style “Women can’t help but be attracted to these raw, manly dudes, even when they’re terrible, because they’re just such Great Masculine Men” infantilization with Tasha, which is a whole separate shade of problematic.
Beyond that, a lot of the business here is just silly. I try not to slate older shows/episodes for that too harshly. But it’s hard to deny the abject goofiness of Tasha and Yareena theoretically fighting to the death amid their stage-combat theatrics on some glowy rhythmic gymnastics set. There’s some rough line reads and bad dialogue here (Picard and Crusher’s conversation about the costs of the disease they’re trying to cure is rough.) And that doesn’t even count some of the costuming choices here, like Wesley’s giant sweater or Yareena’s metallic garbage bag jumpsuit. The shame of all of this distasteful/tepid nonsense is that there’s some decent ideas at play here. Stripped of its racial context, there’s some decent interrogation here over how societal “honor” can often be a grift used by those in control to maintain existing power structures and hold down and/or take advantage of those outside of that circle. Framing it as something particular to an African-coded community smacks of baseless cultural condescension, but a greater acknowledgement of it as a self-critique could have paid dividends.
More to the point, the episode sets up some of the usual levers and pulleys that Star Trek captains have to consider when dealing with different civilizations that have something the Federation wants. I particularly enjoy the setup where Picard has to basically play Lutan’s game, sacrificing some of his dignity in the process, in the name of diplomacy so that he can get his crewman back and receive the vaccine that’s so sorely needed. His obvious annoyance at having to play along in the game of the greater good makes for interesting character work.
Speaking of which, the best moments in “Code of Honor” have nothing to do with the plot. They’re just the little moments where the characters relate to one another or reveal a little of who they are. Geordi endures Data’s latest stab at comedy. Picard melts a little and allows Wesley to observe on the bridge. Troi, Data, and the captain himself have to convince Riker to be on board with Picard leading the away mission (addressing this feels almost unprecedented!). Picard pokes fun at himself for speechifying to Data about things everyone already knows. Riker follows the captain’s lead and lets Wesley help out at ops.
These moments are, at most, marginally related to the broader conflict with the Ligon, but they go a long way toward making these characters exist beyond the needs of the plot of the week. They have wants and interactions and personalities that aren’t dependent on which alien culture they’re crossing swords with or strange space anomaly that’s entered the view screen. Especially for a show in its first season, that sort of detail is vital, and it’s not a coincidence that the best stuff here could basically be excised as an out of context clip and not lose much impact.
It doesn’t help that Picard’s solution to the problem seems arbitrary and, at best, lucky. There’s a lot of pontificating about the prime directive here, and how it combined with the Ligon people’s leverage from the vaccine puts Picard in a bind vis-a-vis rescuing Tasha. You can feel the show trying to play the “take a third option” game here, with Picard trying to work within Ligon rules to win the day by allowing Tasha to emerge victorious in the battle to the death, while still ultimately saving Yareena’s life after an emergency beam-up.
But it’s not clear why that would solve the problem of ensuring that the Ligon people turn over the vaccine. There’s also nothing to set up that death dissolve the marriage bonds so Yareena can marry Luton’s second in command and empower him instead. It’s all just solution by fiat, where you can see the framework of what the show’s trying to accomplish, but the details don’t add up.
If that were “Code of Honor”’s only sin, it would merely be one of scores of Star Trek episodes with a solid idea and flawed execution. The solid bones of this installment are still apparent despite its other problems. But since the episode is so wrapped in racist and sexist tropes, it stands out as misguided for so many reasons, not the least of which is how it betrays the inclusive, humanizing spirit that the franchise stands for.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2021-01-10T21:52:19Z
[6.0/10] “Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?” That amusing phrase more or less sums up how I feel about “Code of Honor.” It is an episode rife with racism and sexism that, if you could somehow strip away, would leave you with a solid (albeit not overwhelming) dose of the usual Star Trek moral and diplomatic dilemmas.
The story finds our heroes traveling to Ligon II, a less technologically advanced planet that nevertheless possesses a vaccine capable of curing a disease that’s plaguing the Federation. The catch is that the (indistinguishably humanoid) aliens have the titular retrograde “Code of Honor” which forces Captain Picard to balance his dignity, Starfleet protocol, and the safety of his crewman versus the need to obtain a vaccine that could save scores of lives.
That’s not a bad premise! It’s classic meat and potatoes Star Trek to have the crew tiptoeing around local customs they don’t agree with and bristling against Starfleet regulations when there’s some greater moral good involved. If that’s all this episode amounted to, this wouldn’t be the world’s best installment of TNG, but it’d be fine.
The problem is that “Code of Honor” is suffused racist and sexist approaches to exploring this material. What I’d remembered from childhood was the treatment of the Ligon people, which would have been enough to sink this episode on its own. Suffice it to say, taking the most African-coded characters in all of Star Trek and depicting them as duplicitous and backward in their practices and society, and less advanced than their mostly caucasian counterparts for good measure, is a strike that this episode never recovers from.
But what I didn’t remember is how wide-ranging those uncomfortable elements here beyond the depiction of the Ligon. A stray line from Picard seems to suggest that the civilization of the Enterprise’s less-sophisticated guests resembles that of the Chinese. An otherwise amusing character moment where Picard attempts to defend the honor of the French language devolves into condescension (and, I’m betting, misinformation) about the practices of indigineous people.
That’s all before the sexism at play here. Once again in the early going, the show’s treatment of Tasha Yar as a sexual being isn’t great. You can see TNG trying to pat itself on the back, with the Ligon’s surprise that a woman is the chief security officer and the other crew members explaining that this is no big deal in the Federation. But at the same time, we’re back to Khan Noonien Singh-style “Women can’t help but be attracted to these raw, manly dudes, even when they’re terrible, because they’re just such Great Masculine Men” infantilization with Tasha, which is a whole separate shade of problematic.
Beyond that, a lot of the business here is just silly. I try not to slate older shows/episodes for that too harshly. But it’s hard to deny the abject goofiness of Tasha and Yareena theoretically fighting to the death amid their stage-combat theatrics on some glowy rhythmic gymnastics set. There’s some rough line reads and bad dialogue here (Picard and Crusher’s conversation about the costs of the disease they’re trying to cure is rough.) And that doesn’t even count some of the costuming choices here, like Wesley’s giant sweater or Yareena’s metallic garbage bag jumpsuit.
The shame of all of this distasteful/tepid nonsense is that there’s some decent ideas at play here. Stripped of its racial context, there’s some decent interrogation here over how societal “honor” can often be a grift used by those in control to maintain existing power structures and hold down and/or take advantage of those outside of that circle. Framing it as something particular to an African-coded community smacks of baseless cultural condescension, but a greater acknowledgement of it as a self-critique could have paid dividends.
More to the point, the episode sets up some of the usual levers and pulleys that Star Trek captains have to consider when dealing with different civilizations that have something the Federation wants. I particularly enjoy the setup where Picard has to basically play Lutan’s game, sacrificing some of his dignity in the process, in the name of diplomacy so that he can get his crewman back and receive the vaccine that’s so sorely needed. His obvious annoyance at having to play along in the game of the greater good makes for interesting character work.
Speaking of which, the best moments in “Code of Honor” have nothing to do with the plot. They’re just the little moments where the characters relate to one another or reveal a little of who they are. Geordi endures Data’s latest stab at comedy. Picard melts a little and allows Wesley to observe on the bridge. Troi, Data, and the captain himself have to convince Riker to be on board with Picard leading the away mission (addressing this feels almost unprecedented!). Picard pokes fun at himself for speechifying to Data about things everyone already knows. Riker follows the captain’s lead and lets Wesley help out at ops.
These moments are, at most, marginally related to the broader conflict with the Ligon, but they go a long way toward making these characters exist beyond the needs of the plot of the week. They have wants and interactions and personalities that aren’t dependent on which alien culture they’re crossing swords with or strange space anomaly that’s entered the view screen. Especially for a show in its first season, that sort of detail is vital, and it’s not a coincidence that the best stuff here could basically be excised as an out of context clip and not lose much impact.
It doesn’t help that Picard’s solution to the problem seems arbitrary and, at best, lucky. There’s a lot of pontificating about the prime directive here, and how it combined with the Ligon people’s leverage from the vaccine puts Picard in a bind vis-a-vis rescuing Tasha. You can feel the show trying to play the “take a third option” game here, with Picard trying to work within Ligon rules to win the day by allowing Tasha to emerge victorious in the battle to the death, while still ultimately saving Yareena’s life after an emergency beam-up.
But it’s not clear why that would solve the problem of ensuring that the Ligon people turn over the vaccine. There’s also nothing to set up that death dissolve the marriage bonds so Yareena can marry Luton’s second in command and empower him instead. It’s all just solution by fiat, where you can see the framework of what the show’s trying to accomplish, but the details don’t add up.
If that were “Code of Honor”’s only sin, it would merely be one of scores of Star Trek episodes with a solid idea and flawed execution. The solid bones of this installment are still apparent despite its other problems. But since the episode is so wrapped in racist and sexist tropes, it stands out as misguided for so many reasons, not the least of which is how it betrays the inclusive, humanizing spirit that the franchise stands for.