Stardate: 3842.3
Synopsis: The Enterprise is shuttling dozens of ambassadors to an interplanetary conference where they will decide whether to admit Coridan into the Federation. One of these ambassadors is actually Spock's father, Sarek, ad it's clear that they don't get along. While the politics play out, an alien ship appears to be following the Enterprise, then a Teleric ambassador is murdered, and then Kirk himself is attacked and stabbed(!) totally out of the blue by an Andurian. Meanwhile, Sarek has a heart attack, leading Spock to have to choose between saving his father's life with a blood transfusion or saving the ship from the alien threat. In the end, we learn it was the Orions - not the Andurians - who are behind everything, as they sought the plant the seeds of mistrust among the delegates in order for interplanetary war to break out where they could be the profiteers. Typical!
Review: Strong material here, and lots of fun. The interplay between Spock and Sarek and Spock's mother lends a personal touch to the galactic politics. It's revealed that Spock played with a "fat teddy bear" as a child and at one point he deadpans, "I will need more data for my instrument." How dirty!
The heart of the story lies in how the Spock-needing-to-save-Sarek's-life runs parallel to the murder-mystery plot among the diplomats. Accusations fly and stubbornness persists in both, yet on the one hand, Spock is attempting to act selflessly in choosing the ship's safety and his duty over that of the life of his father, whereas on the other hand, the Orions (and before them the Telerics) were acting selfishly in pursuit of only their own interests. I suppose the moral is which is ultimately the more beneficial path.
This episode really has it all: heart attacks, blood transfusions, father-son relationship drama, an exploration of Vulcan eccentricities, hostile alien ships, fistfights, stabbings, the ominous threat of war. And it handles it well (other than the we-needed-5-more-minutes-to-better-explain ending where it's just obvious to everyone that the Orions were the culprit and their motives were very clear). But with so much going on, McCoy shushing everybody in the final scene seems appropriate.
Review: 4 stars
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