Zack Handlen of "The A.V. Club" gave the episode an 'A-' rating, noting strong performances from the actors including a "great Spock/McCoy dynamic" and "some very credible acting from Shatner." Keith DeCandido, writing for "Tor.com", commended the acting of Moss, Shatner, and Anderson, but felt that the episode had aged poorly in regard to only being able to identify Karidian as Kodos via an unreliable voice comparison. He gave the episode a rating of 7. Jamahl Epsicokhan of Jammer's Reviews rated the episode 2.5 stars out of 4 and similarly praised the performances of Moss and Anderson, but criticized the ending, calling it "inappropriate".