Synopsis: The Enterprise comes across a Romulan vessel at the Neutral Zone.
In this episode, after over one hundred years of truce two opposing races finally see and confront each other. This meeting can be interpreted as an illustration of Jung’s concept of the union of opposites, and the consequences of this coming together not taking place, on a galactic level.
There are several visual cues that indicate that there is a meeting of two opposites; one of the most obvious is that the “Balance of Terror” begins as Captain James T. Kirk is officiating at a wedding ceremony. One of the terms used to describe the union of opposites is the “sacred marriage” or the “hieros gamos.” Here, an attack by the Romulan vessel on one of the Earth outposts along the Neutral Zone interrupts this union between two crewmembers.
Shortly thereafter, in a briefing to the crew Mr. Spock displays a map of the Neutral Zone and the boundary that lies between it; a line which has now been crossed and forces the confrontation between the two races. The two enemies have never laid eyes on each other, and when the Romulans are first seen by the crew on the Enterprise, they seem to resemble Vulcans. This is a further example of a de-coupling of opposites, as Spock explains the Vulcans chose logic and the Romulans chose to live more militarily.
Kirk has the Enterprise follow the Romulan vessel in a course that is parallel, mirroring the other ship, so that it might think that it is a sensor reflection. Mirroring and reflection, as well as projection, are also terms from depth psychology. Messages from the unconscious to the conscious. When unconscious messages are ignored, they tend to break through unexpectantly, as in a Freudian slip. But sometimes, these messages from the unconscious bring the conscious to the breaking point – to a place where a union between the two parts of a psyche is necessary for healing. When resistance is futile. But this was not to happen in this episode. When the Romulan vessel is disabled by the Enterprise, and Kirk offers assistance to the Romulan commander, he tells Kirk that it was not their way. Instead, he destroys his ship – no détente, no further communication, no union, no healing between the two enemies this day. This was also symbolically reflected at the end of the episode when the only casualty aboard the Enterprise was the would-be bridegroom from the opening scene. The impossibility of going through with the marriage bonds mirroring how the two warring halves of the galaxy will not be brought together this day.
Original post created 18 January 2021
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