The Original Series 1×13 The Conscience of the King Sage Elliott, 9 April 20252 April 2025 Welcome back to another installment of Star Trek The Original Series. In the thirteenth episode, “The Conscience of the King,” we meet up with Kirk as he visits an old friend. This post may contain affiliate links, which means I’ll receive a commission if you purchase through my links, at no extra cost to you. Please read full disclosure for more information. Table of Contents Toggle Summary ThoughtsWant to watch this episode? Summary So in “The Conscience of the King,” Kirk’s friend asked the Enterprise to come to Planet Q in order to investigate a new food source. But as it turns out, he has ulterior motives. A traveling Shakespeare company is visiting and Kirk’s friend is convinced that the lead actor, Anton Karidian, is actually Kodos, a mass murderer who was previously believed to be dead. Only a handful of people can identify this man, among them being Kirk, his friend, and Lt. Riley (of all people). Unfortunately, the people who can identify him start being killed off, including Kirk’s friend. Kirk suspects that Karidian may be Kodos, but he isn’t positive and wants proof before he condemns him. And there is some evidence to support this: there is no record of Karidian dating to before Kodos is believed to have died, the traveling Shakespeare company just happened to be nearby around the time Kodos is believed to have died, and Karidian does bear a resemblance to Kodos. Meanwhile, Karidian has a daughter who seems to have been born around the time Kodos presumably died. As it turns out, Karidian is, in fact, Kodos. However, it is not quite as it seems: Karidian/Kodos seems at least somewhat haunted by his actions. Furthermore, it’s not Karidian/Kodos who has been killing off the witnesses. It was his daughter, who seemes very adamant about defending her father. The episode ends with Kirk attempting to arrest both father and daughter, daughter grabbing Kirk’s taser and accidentally shooting her father. Thoughts Oh, Riley, how I’ve missed you. It was nice to see Riley again. I didn’t think I was going to see him again – I kinda assumed he was a one-time character in “The Naked Time“. How old is he supposed to be, again? I get the impression that he is younger than Kirk, and that Riley was a child when Kodos was on his killing spree. Side note: as I was doing some research for my Star Trek trivia Google Doc, I learned that the character was originally going to be called by a different name, but when they decided to bring back Bruce Hyde – who’d played Riley – decided to change the name for the sake of consistency. The traveling Shakespeare company knew about Karidian’s secret identity, right? I mean, how could they not? So why did they agree to let him play the main character, especially in places where he could be recognized? Heck, why did Karidian agree to this? Was he looking to be caught? So this was Janice Rand’s last appearance on The Original Series until the movies (I think). How sad she wasn’t even given some lines. This post may contain affiliate links, which means I’ll receive a commission if you purchase through my links, at no extra cost to you. Please read full disclosure for more information. Want to watch this episode? Stream it on Paramount+ | Buy it from Amazon Updated: Apr 2, 2025 @ 11:17 pm Go to top TOS episodereview