YMMV / Star Trek S1 E21 “The Return of the Archons”

• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • Star Trek: Lower Decks revisits this planet and shows that the populace quickly fell back on old habits and started listening to Landru again, all because nobody ever bothered to come back and make sure the changes they implemented actually stuck, rendering Starfleet's efforts useless. Of course, that's a story written sixty years later in a comedy program, but it does make victory feel a bit hollow.
  • "No war, no disease, no crime" eh? At the Festival, people aren't just breaking windows and throwing things; it's clear that anything goes. Tula lets out an ecstatic scream at the Red Hour, but after the Festival she returns to her father very upset; in the next scene, as Bilar passes by, Lindstrom tells Reger "Your daughter! That's the man—!"^note all he could say on 1960s television. Reger says Landru was responsible, not Bilar. Festival attendees are not in their right mind, so Tula herself did not give consent.
• Fridge Horror: Bilar may not have been the man. Even if prior to Festival, Tula had thought or told Bilar she'd like to be with him at that time, there's no guarantee she wasn't then brutalized by many others. It's strongly hinted this is her first Festival, and her dad is really unhappy about her being out there.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: During the Festival, you must... RELEASE THE BEAST!!! James DeMonaco, the creator of The Purge, even said that this episode was a major inspiration for the film.

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