"The Empath" feels like an Outer Limits rehash that caught a lucky break including the chemistry between Kirk, Spock, and McCoy. Spartan sets for the Vian "rats maze" and simple costuming come across as low budget though the score is distinctive and features some of TOS's most beautiful music. Steady acting helps throughout, from Alan Bergmann and Willard Sage delivering monotonous meaninglessness to the silent gentle performance of Kathryn Hays as the titular Gem. That we never encounter either species again is a shame.

For what a race of healers Gem represents! McCoy spends surprisingly little time studying her incredible gift. In addition the episode barely explores what should have been one of the more interesting meetings in TOS, namely Gem and Spock. In TNG's "Tin Man" the highly empathic Betazed Tam Elbrun, accustomed to always maneuvering around emotions, is startled when the previously "invisible" Data speaks standing nearby. Instead of astonishment from Gem regarding Spock, that a sentient being would choose to actually function that way, we get a condescending smile. However she clearly understands the deep affection these three men have for each other, moved to tears as she watches McCoy's clever ruse disable his superior officers, aware of the horrible consequence of his decision.

Somehow inside a sealed building three months' worth of dust settles to cover floor and equipment (and don't forget the cobwebs!), though the disappearing Kirk's dust angel is an impressive effect. Any science behind the story is smothered by technical improbability, like the Vian magic brain remotes (especially given how easily Spock could adjust one using only a tricorder, no matter how good his bedside manner). The pacing forces uncomfortable sequences like the editing of "stoney-cam" with Kirk reduced to ridiculous slow-motion. Unavoidable (perhaps unintentional) incongruities distract also, like Kirk's miraculously disappearing shirt during his torture that reappears unharmed when he returns from the procedure. Why exactly is that? McCoy doesn't get the same treatment, though by the looks of its material he does get a new shirt (albeit torn).

If the Vians had to think so hard (poor Linke and Ozaba) to spare a race of Gems, how impressive were their alternate choices? If she's such a "pearl of great price" what took them so long? At the end little has been accomplished or learned, maybe explaining Spock's relentless snark about the value of emotion for the Vulcans. Yet at least it settles one thing. No matter what others unworthy may claim, Kirk is the Decider. And that, even with the bends.