I was thinking about the end of that one #StarTrek episode where Spock mind-melds with Kirk and makes him forget his dead android girlfriend. And... what if that happens at the end of every adventure, and we only see it one time?

What if Spock mind-wipes Kirk every time they come back to the ship? Maybe this is how Kirk stays so chipper and able to go blow up another god-computer. He literally can't remember all the shit he's dealt with before.

@charliejane That would TOTALLY explain the new-episode-history-reset so many TV SF series suffer from! (Side-eyes Space:1999 as a particularly egregious offender.)
@cstross @charliejane I had a viscerally horrified reaction to this idea and didn't really understand why. Then I remembered a character who went through almost exactly this in one of Vernor Vinge's books (avoiding spoilers) and understood.