This is a fairly straight forward episode. We have here some people who like to use other people for sport. Note the masters and those they enslave. Note their "bodies" and how our much beloved Captain Kirk describes them.
We have intellect obsessed with competition. So much to the point of using other living creatures to gratify their blood lust for sport. Remind you of anyone or any society current or historical?
Beyond that, there's not much more to talk about. We have enslavement, gladiatorial games, a sexy alien babe, a dark ominous master "chief thrall", and some action.
It's an entertaining episode. Try not to over analyze this one because you'll just give yourself a headache. In the end Kirk pulls another rabbit out of his hat by using the gamesters of Triskelion's own psychology against them. And for all of their higher "intellect" (which proved not to be so high after all), they still succumb to basic instincts in the end.
I guess you might say that the one regret is that Kirk never came back to visit Shauna again, but hey, it's Trek.
A good hours entertainment. Give it a spin on the DVD player.