Synopsis: Nurse Chapel put forward an experimental idea that saved both Dr. M’Benga and the U.S.S. Enterprise.
This episode can be seen as an illustration of James Hillman’s acorn theory, that just has an acorn has everything inside it to become an oak tree, we all have inner daimons that have all the information we need to be who we need to be.
“Off Hour,” took place in the hour before the weekend began for the Alpha shift, and the Beta shift would take over. Nurse Christine Chapel spoke to Dr. Joseph M’Benga about Dr. Phil Boyce wanting his job. Chapel told M’Benga that if he left, so would she. He told her she always had one foot out the door. Lt. Montgomery (Scotty) Scott was in engineering documenting that there was a glitch in the nav computer as he clocked out. Meanwhile, Captain Christopher Pike was getting ready to hand over comm of the ship to Lt. Rahda when a navigation shift was noted. There was a wormhole approaching Enterprise. Red alert. The bridge lost all control of the ship. All control panels are electrified. Pike touched one and was electrocuted. Engineering was evacuated. A lab table came toward Chapel, M’Benga pushed her out of the way, and it trapped him against a wall. On the bridge, Ensign Nyota Uhura temporarily had the comm after Pike was injured. Commander Una Chin-Riley (Number One) and Lt. Spock were in the port galley. The Enterprise was in a slipstream wormhole. In sickbay, the lab table that trapped M’Benga was also the only thing holding him together. In the port galley the grav plating was malfunctioning. Number One injured her leg in turning it back on. Boyce called sickbay to order her to leave M-Benga. Chapel told him that his signal was breaking up. M’Benga tried to move the lab table in order to end his life. Chapel told him that she would not leave him. Spock was sent to the ion pod to gather data. Chapel sent Pike information about strong force neutrinos that could both heal M’Benga and create fuel for the Enterprise. Commander Pelia spoke to Scotty. She told him that every ship glitches and every ship is capable of miracles. Lt. La’An Noonien-Singh went after Spock on the ship’s hull to rescue him. Chapel went through with her plan to save M’Benga. Noonien-Singh brought Spock back with data from the ion pod, but it was damaged, so Spock gave Noonien-Singh the information through a mind meld. Strong force neutrinos were a real thing. The warp threshold was crossed, but the strong force neutrinos were collected, and power was restored to the Enterprise. Chapel saved M’Benga as well as the ship, and officially requested permanent assignment as an Enterprise crew member.
In this episode, when Chapel trusted herself to tell Pike about an untested theory that would save both M’Benga and the ship, this can be seen as an illustration of Hillman’s acorn theory. The idea that just as an acorn has everything inside it to become an oak tree, we all have inside us an inner daimon, which has all the information we need to become who we were meant to be, if we only listen.
