Enterprise is strained to the breaking point in a rescue of freighter captain Harry Mudd and his "cargo," three conspicuously beautiful women. When the ship travels to a mining planet to replace its depleted resources, Mudd has struck first in a deal with the miners: the only trade they'll accept for their needed lithium crystals is for the three women, to take as their wives. But not all of the women feel enthusiastic about the situation... or about the secret behind their beauty.
This episode hits on a noble message in a quite ignoble way. Through the conceit of a "Venus drug" that conveys beauty -- and Kirk's cunning swap of it for a placebo -- this story culminates in the rather uplifting idea that if a person feels beautiful, then they are beautiful. And yet, the preceding hour is mostly a lewd parade of objectification.
"Mudd's Women" is so set on telling us how beautiful the titular characters are that every male character is one notch shy of "aaa-ooooooooga"-ing in their presence. (Expect Spock, who tiptoes right up to the edge of eye-rolling at everyone around him.) The women beam up in a "cover shoot" pose (and then, weirdly, are off the transporter pad in a line, then back on the pad in their tableau). Slinky music accompanies their every step. They're color-coded, upholstered Bond girls who need husbands. Not particular husbands; any will do. Needless to say, that's all pretty icky, regardless of the surprising story turn at the end.
That said, one of the three women -- Eve -- gets more characterization than you'd expect the premise to allow. When directed to flirt with Kirk for advantage, she doesn't play along. She's the one this close to rejecting the Venus drug altogether. When ostensibly paired off with one of the miners, she'll have none of it... though she is determined to earn her keep for however long she's around. Eve is a (tiny) island of feminist ideals in the deeply misogynist ocean of this episode.
But of course, most Star Trek fans don't remember "Mudd's Women" for the women, they remember it for the "Mudd." Actor Roger C. Carmel makes a meal of every scene as an almost proto-Jack Sparrow kind of character (who is even costumed not dissimilarly in a pirate shirt and bandit hat). Out of dozens of "villains" over the course of original Star Trek, he gets a return later because he's fun. He doesn't seem like a credible threat to the ship and crew (Star Trek: Discovery would retcon that), but he's also far less annoying than, say, Trelane, or other buffoonish, lighter characters the show would try.
This is still an early episode of Star Trek, and so we're still getting a number of other important milestones in this episode. McCoy expresses distrust of the transporter. Majel Barrett is heard at length as the voice of the computer. And for the first time, there's a hint that maybe there could be another "woman" in Kirk's life besides the Enterprise. (I think the absence of Yeoman Rand from this episode may have contributed to the thinking that romantic pairings for the captain were off the table with her character around.)
Other observations:
- This is one of the few very early episodes in which Uhura wears gold.
- Given the content of this episode, it's laugh out loud funny when, after rescuing the people from Mudd's ship, we hear the line: "how many did we get off?"
- Apparently, you could say "jackass" on network TV in the 1960s.
- How do just three people handle all the mining on this entire planet? Especially if what they're mining is so valuable? And how are they able to hide every last crystal from the Enterprise sensors?
"Mudd's Women" doesn't quite feel "well-intentioned," but does manage to stumble into a good place at times. And the character of Mudd himself keeps it from going completely off track. I give the episode a C.
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