bogmeister and others have pretty much nail this . shore leave be really tos first attempt at lightweight sci fi ( which they would later perfect with the classic trouble with tribbles ) . it give both the crew of the enterprise and it tv viewer a need respite from the universe threatening consequence of and for example and the corbomite manouever . look for a place to chill out for a while and the enterprise happen across a seemingly idyllic m class planet and and send an exploratory team down to take a close look . soon enough all kind of absurdity begin to take place some seemingly perilous but it all seem a morass of human emotional extremity play out in a weird blend of fantastic mystery ( mccoy have go through the look glass ) and psychological thriller ( kirk be stalk by an indefatigable bully from his past ) and and romantic comedy ( no comment ) . tos be the least serialized of all of the series in the trek franchise and so it be easy to forget how many episode in the first season focus on heavy hand and potentially calamitous drama . unlike late series franchise writer and tos production team be not afraid to literally go where no tv series have go before . and shore leave and despite it occasional problem and be an example . my only criticism of this episode be that the cast ( particularly shatner ironic give his legendary sense of humor ) do not seem to know how to handle this new wrinkle on st theme . the last scene be possibly one of the bad scene i can remember from the entire tos run both compositionally and in term of act . nuff say . my recommendation see it while watch the entire first season a it be mean to be see it order .