This scene is brilliant, because you can see how desperately Jim is trying to get Spock to show an ounce of affection, and then he is frustrated of something he should not have expected of Spock in the first place. Not that he blames Spock, yet he is sure this is anything to either of them but some mutual advantage; his tone softens gradually, because he doesn’t want Spock to be made to do or say anything for his sake, something only Jim wishes to hear. It’s been a while, and here they are, both very well aware of the fact that Spock chose to abandon Kolinahr, which gives Jim every right to demand attention from Spock regardless of how little that might be. Perhaps it is too much to ask of him anyways, and he is making peace with it knowing this is how Spock has always been. Spock knows. This is what’s killing Jim. Is there anything else? No. Not unless he wants it to be. He’s here and that’s all that matters, and yet Jim can’t shake the feeling that Spock is deliberately holding back what he’s really feeling at the moment. They’ve spent too long together and have been too close to each other than for him not to notice Spock is shutting him out. And even so, he still chooses to be patient. The last thing he wants is to push it. He longs for Spock, yet selflessly so. He also knows that this is just as hard on Spock as it is on him.
Ok so OBVIOUSLY whenever people talk about K/S moments in Star Trek: The Motion Picture, they talk about “this simple feeling,” and for obvious reason, that line is just. Holy shit??? “This simple feeling”??? While they’re holding hands???? Ahhhh????
But I feel like we’re all sleeping on a line that comes after, right before Spock calls V’Ger a child. He says, “it knows only that it needs, commander. But like so many of us, it does not know what.”
He may be speaking to Decker, but he’s looking at Jim and I. I just. Ahehdjejdjehhsjejdjdjsjsj. Spock saying this, saying it to Jim, saying it after attempting Kolinahr, after “this simple feeling”….
spock is holding jim kirk's hand in sickbay in 1979.
he's saying "this simple feeling... is beyond v'gers comprehension."
this feeling, this love is beyond their understanding. but i understand. i still feel it.
and to queer people watching that. when everyone else is telling you that you're wrong. and you're thinking i understand. i tried to purge it. just like spock did. but it was barren, cold, no mystery, no beauty... i thought 'is this all that i am? is there nothing more?'
there is more.
spock is holding jim's hand and telling you he understands. and he's telling you there is more.
My mom: maybe the simple feeling was loyalty. Maybe the simple feeling was friendship
Me: if the simple feeling was friendship the bald girl would've dematerialized into specks of rainbow light with her bestie not with the guy she's been exchanging longing glances with for the entirety of the movie