Nitpicking Star Trek – Esteban Rodriguez, Grief Counselor

Stepping out of universe for a second, in the behind the scenes reference guides to Star Trek, it has been noted the apparent lack of grief on Martine’s part. The reality is that “Balance of Terror” was the eighth episode produced and “Shore Leave” was the seventeenth. It wasn’t after production on Shore Leave started that someone realized that actress Barbara Baldivan had portrayed Lieutenant Martine in Balance of Terror. Rather than recast, the name of her character in Shore Leave was changed to Lieutenant Martine. Everyone was happy.

Then NBC decided to air Shore Leave the week after Balance of Terror. Suddenly we have a young woman who lost her fiancée last week dating someone new within weeks of her loss. Why?

Simple Lieutenant Rodriguez (part of the sciences division) is a licensed psychologist / counselor in addition to other scientific duties. He was assigned to help Angela Martine through the grief of losing her fiancée and forgot where the line was between doctor and patient.

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