#ntm the vague parallel between spock ready to kill the horta to save jim vs jim prying the creature off of spock without hesitation

[favvn]

Something that I've been processing since Errand of Mercy is that line of Kirk's about being used to the idea of dying. I take it to refer to his experiences on Tarsus IV rather than a willingness to die for Starfleet/some loyalty-to-the-death type deal. Like, he saw a leader make themselves into a dictator in a time of famine and suffering, and said dictator used "personal eugenics" on the people he was meant to aid. Kirk himself was selected to die. Regardless of if Kirk was a young child or teenager when it happened, that event has shaped him (and I can not believe no other writers for the show used it explicitly to develop his character, so now I get to feel like the Pepe Silva It's Always Sunny meme always. It's fine. It's cool. It's fun, even. Thank god for fanfic writers).

But in the episode before Errand of Mercy, The Devil in the Dark, Kirk says that--as individuals--Spock and himself are expendable. The implication is the chain-of-command based on Kirk's rank as Captain and Spock's rank as First Officer. Should Kirk die, Spock assumes command and etc. If both are killed together, there's a larger ripple effect in the chain and more issues to get positions filled, so Spock and Kirk together as a pair are not expendable. (To say nothing of the larger risk of endangering two lives vs one and Kirk takes calculated risks.)

I point this out because in Operation: Annihilate, Kirk doesn't give a single care about the chain-of-command and who is expendable once Spock is made host to one of the creatures.

(As an aside: yes, I know the usual considerations. Inconsistent writing on the show's part. Nobody would want to work under Kirk if he didn't care deeply for the safety of his crew. Etc.)

Nowhere in Operation: Annihilate does anyone suggest a replacement first officer (despite idk the weirdly vivid memory that it was a conversation Spock and Kirk had in the episode? Did I write my own fanfic while watching the episode and give myself a case of the Mandela effect? I have tried rewatching it and reading transcripts, and I am getting no such scene and I am feeling truly insane, oh my brainworms have gotten worse) after Spock is made a host to the creatures. McCoy comes close in wanting Spock to stay in Sickbay rather than go out to collect a sample, and McCoy also reminds Kirk that Spock is "the best first officer in the fleet" before they put him under enough light to rival the sun and fry his optic nerves, leaving him (temporarily) blind.

(As another aside, while it is one big facepalm that these 3 geniuses in their respective fields failed to conduct their experiment properly--Nurse Chapel, you are due for a promotion!--dare I say that it is still a compelling and entertaining drama? The time-crunch scenario of if Spock can't withhold the pain and insanity anymore, of if Kirk's nephew wakes up, and of when the creatures will successfully leave the planet to infect a new one, so they will gamble and risk Spock's eyesight rather than enact a plan that would kill 1 million people.)

It's just. Interesting to me. Almost as if Kirk believes that so long as he and Spock are together, regardless of what may injure them, they can do anything.

#star trek tos #spirk #errand of mercy #the conscience of the king #the devil in the dark #operation: annihilate #incurable spirk brainworms as always #but like. compelling the way these two just do what they do #ntm the vague parallel between spock ready to kill the horta to save jim vs jim prying the creature off of spock without hesitation #these two have their own beliefs they operate by but they toss them aside the second the other one is in danger hmmm 🤔 #trek meta