"Wolf in the Fold" carves the friendly and familiar forms of TOS into a hair raising horror story well paced and suspenseful throughout. Rarely do episodes begin with such emotional whiplash, as fog literally and figuratively frames an innocuous Aberdeen pub crawler to savage murder. It's true that Robert Bloch's script regurgitates a plot device (or rather, villain) recycled regularly in fiction, science and otherwise; from hell the riddle of Jack the Ripper seems to enthrall the imagination right up and into the heavens themselves.

Many strong performances accent the drama like shadows playing among the luxurious sets. Famed character actor John Fiedler (how could the voice of Piglet be evil?) brings just the right level of smug satisfaction to the diabolical city administrator Mr. Hengist. Distinguished actor Charles Macauley returns to the second season as the firm if almost haughty High Prefect Jaris handling the death of his special spouse with remarkable calm. The graceful and enigmatic Pilar Seurat shines briefly as his wife, the priestess Sybo (but why wasn't Spock included in the "spooky mumbo jumbo" empathic contact?). It's a shame we see Argelius this one time only and in such poor context, further so that Risa was introduced redundantly despite its inestimable charms.

Kirk keeps the action moving but the story deliberately focuses on his (and McCoy's) efforts at exonerating Scotty. Still we don't really learn much about the chief engineer except that he's no stranger to cozy bars or the young lasses who attend them (despite the misogynist claptrap early on). The foreground activity doesn't leave much screen time for the remaining background cast, with the exceptions of Sulu at about as far from gloomy as he gets, and Majel who gets a vigorous vocal workout "relaying accurate accounts" in the extended riveting trial scene. Spock doesn't even leave his seat until late in the show and mostly just pushes computer buttons (and Kyle, clearly a nuisance to the Vulcan in multiple universes).

As a murder mystery the story does a good job disguising the clues to build suspense all the way. At the same time it also does a respectable job exploring the delicate dance a ship captain must sometimes make around local laws to honor diplomatic responsibility. It certainly looks bad as Scotty contemplates death by slow torture, but after a few scares and riotous denouement (thanks to a computer that can't count) the survivors end up laughing on the happiest ship in space, with the galaxy's worst killer super-stoned and spun into oblivion.