History Recap / StarTrekS3E2TheEnterpriseIncident

* SeriesContinuityError: The Enterprise encountered Romulans using cloaking devices back in "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E14BalanceOfTerror Balance Of Terror]]". Here, the Enterprise crew have never heard of the technology and it's implied to have recently been invented.

* CanonDiscontinuity: In a 1991 interview Tim Lynch, [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration TNG]] research consultant, Richard Arnold talked about the crew forgetting that Romulans had cloaking devices and said to consider the third season canon until it contradicts something.

* ForcefieldDoor: Kirk gets injured throwing himself at it, causing Dr [=McCoy=] to beam over.

--> "Execution of state criminals is both painful...and unpleasant."

* FakingTheDead: Kirk. Even his own crew isn't in on it. [=Dr. McCoy=] [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] a real danger with this kind of trick that most people don't think of, "You're lucky they didn't do an autopsy on you."

* OnlyMostlyDead: Kirk, thanks to the "Vulcan Death Grip."

* TakeAThirdOption: The Romulan Commander accurately points out that as a hybrid, Spock is constantly torn between the emotionless logic of his Vulcan side and the emotions of his human side. She tempts him that if he joined Team Romulan, he wouldn't ''have'' to choose, because the Romulans are an offshoot of the Vulcans who did not reject their emotions and passions, thus making them a nice middle-path where he would actually fit in pretty well. At the end of the episode Spock reveals that this middle path was more tempting to him than he ever let on, and it took his strong sense of duty to Starfleet to reject it.

* ScottyTime: Kirk gives Scotty fifteen minutes to rig up the cloak. Spock meanwhile gives a 20 minute formal statement justifying his crimes, which is almost up by the time Scotty is finished. Unfortunately Scotty's first attempt doesn't work and a HyperspeedEscape is needed to gain enough time.

* LensmanArmsRace: Starfleet has to steal the cloaking device to keep the BalanceOfPower with the Romulans. The new model is even better at hiding cloaked ships from sensors than old models — demonstrated when ''Enterprise'' is caught completely by the Romulan armada, whereas in "Balance of Terror" the cloak was imperfect enough ''Enterprise'' could catch an echo of the cloaked ship. Starfleet wants a copy so they can study it and build countermeasures.

* GenderMisdirection: The audience doesn't get a gender reveal until the ChairReveal.

* SealedOrders: Kirk receives them from Starfleet, explaining his erratic behavior.

It's another day on the ''Enterprise'', and Kirk's acting like he had an extra helping of bitch flakes for breakfast. This becomes especially evident when he orders the ship to fly straight into Romulan space, a direct violation of the peace treaty. Of course, they soon find themselves surrounded by Romulan ships demanding their surrender. Kirk tries to B.S. the (female) Romulan commander by saying it was all a big mistake due to equipment failure. Spock rats him out, saying it was deliberate, resulting in Kirk doing a passable impression of [[Creator/JeffDunham Achmed the Dead Terrorist.]] Bones comes aboard just in time to see Kirk attempt to carry out his threat, only to be thwarted by the Vulcan Death Grip (tm). "You're dead, Jim!"

* ElevatorConference: Spock and the Romulan Commander get one. Naturally, the ride (from the Bridge to Deck 2, just beneath) lasts ''just long enough'' for their lengthy conversation.

* {{Corpsing}}: Kirk breathes awful deeply for a dead man. Then again, he's not yet dead....

* PlugAndPlayTechnology: The Romulan cloaking device is compatible with a Federation ship? Maybe Scotty has an adapter in his bag of tricks. {{Downplayed}}; Scotty notes that it's a slapdash job, likely to overload and blow out the cloak or cause any other number of problems. His wince when he "throws the switch" per Kirk's orders indicates that at least one of those potential problems was a fatally large boom.

* ChairReveal: My God, the Romulan warbird is piloted by...a [[SamusIsAGirl beautiful woman!]]

* PantyShot: The Romulan Commander's uniform may be ''the'' shortest skirt in the entire ''Original Series''; there's hardly a scene that ''doesn't'' flash a shot of her underwear. It makes her SlipIntoSomethingMoreComfortable almost comical because her slinky evening gown is in many ways ''less'' revealing than her uniform.

* YoureInsane: The Romulan Commander says "You must be mad!" to Spock after he betrays her. He denies it.

* PantyShot: The Romulan Commander's uniform may be ''the'' most short skirt in the entire ''Original Series''; there's hardly a scene that ''doesn't'' flash a shot of her underwear. It makes her SlipIntoSomethingMoreComfortable almost comical because her slinky evening gown is in many ways ''less'' revealing than her uniform.

* CustomUniformOfSexy: The Romulan uniform doesn't involve much fanservice, except for the female commander's DangerouslyShortSkirt.

* PantyShot: The Romulan Commander's uniform may be ''the'' most DangerouslyShortSkirt in the entire ''Original Series''; there's hardly a scene that ''doesn't'' flash a shot of her underwear. It makes her SlipIntoSomethingMoreComfortable almost comical because her slinky evening gown is in many ways ''less'' revealing than her uniform.

* SlipIntoSomethingMoreComfortable: The commander leaves Spock to change from her uniform to a more feminine dress, giving Spock a chance to send a signal to Kirk about the location of the cloaking device. Ironically, given the DangerouslyShortSkirt of her uniform, the "Something More Comfortable" is in many ways ''less'' revealing.

* RealLifeWritesThePlot: The Romulans are suddenly using Klingon battlecruisers because the original Romulan Warbird model was not available. The reasons are unclear: some say it was lost and eventually passed to a private collector, others say it was damaged or destroyed, either in a mishap while filming for "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E13BalanceOfTerror Balance of Terror]]" or by the modelmaker himself (who was not in the prop-makers union and so was uncredited and unpaid for his work, and smashed it in anger when it was returned to him without payment).