#I wonder if we'll get to see him interact with spock more

[bardicious]

🥺😭😭

Goddamn, looks like the next episode is another alternate reality. So no young Kirk, yet??? Or will we get to see him as young Kirk later, and then Kirk will have interacted with La'an and Pike both without actually meeting them before hand? Which is hilarious. But Im also worried this means he'll have one episode in the season. 😔

[prairiedawn]

Spock & McCoy Relationship Analysis: Miri

Image description: Spock is crouched over McCoy, with a security officer looking on. McCoy is lying on his back, unconscious, with an inflamed palm sized lesion on his cheek. Spock has one hand on the doctor's chest over his heart, and the other clasping the doctor's hand or wrist.

Boy Howdy a lot changes when you're stuck for a week on a planet full of feral children while dying of a horrible disease. We have reached "Miri," after skipping over "What Are Little Girls Made Of," since McCoy isn't even in that episode. And so, on to the analysis!

Character Impacts:

Spock gets a solid 7/10 on the Stress-O-Meter for this one. He's stranded on a planet with several members of the crew, including Kirk and McCoy, for an entire week while watching them slowly die of a painful, personality altering disease. The entire week, he must entertain the prospect of remaining there for an indeterminate amount of time after his crewmates die with only annoying feral children who might well want to kill him for company. McCoy gets a 9/10. I mean, he gets to do all of the above, while also being responsible for attempting to find a cure for the deadly virus they all have within a few days--while sick with the virus himself. Close to death, he injects himself with his own, untested cure and falls unconscious without knowing whether it will cure him or kill him. (I am saving 10/10 for The Empath ok?)

Interactions: There's another remark at the beginning in which McCoy notes in a more or less professional context that Spock's different physiology is sparing him from the virus, and Spock returns with his usual assertion that he is glad of his Vulcan traits.

Later, we see Spock remarking on the old microscope McCoy is using and McCoy noting that it may be old, but it works. During that conversation, McCoy snaps at Spock about the amount of time they have left and excuses himself from the room (demonstrating that the virus is making him irritable). They are shown throughout the episode with their heads together, working on random sciencey looking stuff. Finally, they have an argument over whether to test their possible cure without access to the ship's computers--an action that has a substantial risk of death. McCoy argues that they could have only hours, even minutes anyway (it's strongly implied that McCoy may have only minutes) Spock wants to make one last effort to retrieve their communicators to contact the ship. The argument is heated but respectful. Spock leaves McCoy alone with the cure.

While Spock is absent, McCoy injects himself and calls Spock's name as he collapses. Spock finds him lying on the floor, checks his heartbeat with a splayed hand on his chest, then takes both of McCoy's hands and places them on his chest, holding them there with his own for an extended period of time while watching him with intense concern until the lesions start to disappear, then he's also manhandling McCoy's face.

Analysis: Hoo boy. Well. I have to assume being thrown together under those circumstances brought them much, much closer. We've gone from "coworker I occasionally joke with" to "I'm going to hold you while you die" in a week. It also makes me wonder what Mr. Touch Telepath is doing holding McCoy's hands and gazing meaningfully at him. A little life support, maybe? Also, did Spock leave him knowing he would inject himself? Knowing it was probably the only way to save his life, but not being able to agree with him that he should do something that might kill him? Does he feel guilty for leaving? (Glob, Hemmer, is he thinking of Hemmer?)

Anyway, we'll just see how this impacts their future interactions.