Stardate: 2341.4
Original Air Date: June 2, 2022
Writers: Henry Alonso Myers and Robin Wasserman
Director: Rachel Leiterman
“Who doesn’t love hijinks?”
Amidst the red skies and ancient ruins on Vulcan, Spock has a nightmare about his marriage to T’Pring in which his pointed ears have suddenly disappeared. T’Pring notices and immediately invokes the custom of “Kal-if-fee,” a ritual fight to the death resulting in Spock’s Vulcan half battling with his human half (cue the late Gerald Fried’s iconic TOS “ritual” music!) Spock is anxious and insecure about his human half, worrying that T’Pring will reject him.
Anyway this is all revealed to be just a dream. After the Enterprise’s recent harrowing encounter with the Gorn in the previous episode, the Enterprise has returned to Starbase 1, one of the oldest and most venerated space stations in the Federation. The station has been recently repaired after the Klingon War. The crew is ready to enjoy some rest and relaxation. Here, Spock has agreed to assist Pike with a diplomatic matter, but he hopes to spend most of his time with his fiancé, T’Pring.
“T’Pring –parted from me and never parted, never and always touching and touched.”
In Spock’s quarters, T’Pring criticizes his room for being too “human,” but Spock lies and claims he is merely “redecorating.” T’Pring scolds Spock for his excessive devotion to Starfleet. She worries he may be too human: “assured commitment to mutual sacrifice is crucial to a successful relationship.” This is an amusing scene filled with light banter among lovers. Spock has arranged also accommodations for T’Pring’s colleague, K’Tyll. They both are on Starbase 1 in an effort to rehabilitate former criminals by demonstrating the true path of Vulcan logic. One such criminal, Barjan T’or has been spotted within the vicinity. He was responsible for an uprising on Kepler-22B.
In spite of T’Pring’s wish to spend time together, Spock is called away from her to take care of immediate diplomatic needs –the R’ongovian Protectorate controls a small but vitally important piece of territory between Klingon and Romulan space. It is the fastest route to the Beta Quadrant, but without safe passage the Federation keeps losing ships. The R’ongovian Protectorate has been unusually private until recently when the Tellarites (under Ambassador Q’Ral) took over negotiations, and discussions went awry. Now, the R’ongovians are in conversation with the Klingons, with the Romulans not far behind. Thus, it is imperative that the Federation secure a deal with the R’ongovians quickly –Pike, Spock, and Uhura are set to meet with Vasso L’Gaelia (captain of their flagship, an “old solar sail ship”). Apparently, when negotiations are settled, the R’ongovians have a custom of flying the flag of their new ally outside their flagship. All of this exposition is presented in the episode by Admiral Robert “Bob” April.
La’an suddenly interrupts and notifies Pike that the R’ongovian delegation has mysteriously arrived –including two ambassadors, Vasso and Brax. They ask a variety of questions about the Federation, like “with so many voices in your Federation, how do you decide which one is in control?” From here, the episode transforms into a light comedy. With relationship advice from Nurse Chapel, Spock sets up a Vulcan “soul-sharing” in his room with T’Pring, a ceremony where they enter into each other’s minds, sharing their katras, and seeing each other’s innermost thoughts. However, something goes wrong. Spock and T’Pring apparently switched bodies, and both must handle their respective important tasks –T’Pring is compelled to negotiate with the R’ongovians while Spock needs to confront the criminal Barjan T’or. It is surprisingly funny!
There are also several allusions to other romantic relationships among the crew during shore leave: Dr. M’Benga and Dr. Berroa (an expert in non-invasive surgical techniques) and Nurse Chapel who tries to avoid an obsessive romantic partner named Lt. Dever (here, we are given our first glimpse of Nurse Chapel’s infatuation with Spock). Another sub-plot concerns a security breach on the Enterprise by a couple of young ensigns who are caught playing “Enterprise Bingo.” They are punished by La’an and Number One (who realize Una has been given an unflattering nickname among the lower ranking crewmen: “Where fun goes to die”). The offending ensigns are sent to work under Lt. Kyle, but La’an and Number One decide to try their own hand at “Enterprise Bingo” in order to better understand the junior crew members and be more fun. It’s all very amusing.
At any rate, in the end Pike takes over negotiations with the R’ongovians and realizes they are seeking “radical empathy” toward new allies who actually understand their struggles and fears regarding their culture being diluted an swallowed up into a larger Federation. They decide to join the Federation by proudly the flying the Federation flag, while Dr. M’Benga and Nurse Chapel use ground nivallen sea urchins and questionable medical technology to transfer Spock and T’Pring into their own respective bodies.
My Thoughts on “Spock Amok”
An homage to the foundational TOS episode “Amok Time,” “Spock Amok” is a light-hearted shore leave episode –whimsical, heartwarming, and funny. It is filled with all manner of silliness, gags, and even some romance. Despite having shades of the cringey “millennial” humor which has come to dominate modern Trek, I just cannot help but have fun with this episode. “Spock Amok” is filled with levity –it sets up an amusing “Freaky Friday” body swap scenario between Spock and T’Pring, while also offering some fun scenes to Nurse Chapel, Dr. M’Benga, La’an, Una/Number One, and others.
I did have a few eyebrow wrinkles with Pike’s reckless hunch for “radical empathy” when negotiating with the R’ongovians, and Spock suddenly punching Barjan instead of persuading him (since when does Spock clock somebody in anger?) “Spock Amok” is a bit of a farce of an episode, but it still manages to bring a smile. It makes me miss the lower stakes comedy found in the shore leave episodes of TOS and TNG.
Star Trek Trivia:
- Dr. M’Benga is apparently a fly-fisherman.
- Slanikian oysters are briefly referenced in this episode as a restaurant menu order: “they’re always in season.”
- “The scorch” is identified as the oldest, unreplaced piece of the Enterprise’s hull.
- In this episode, Spock alludes to his pet sehlat “I-Chaya” (a nod to the best episode of The Animated Series).
- Nurse Chapel says she had a malamute named Milo while growing up.
- The Vulcan weapon called a “lirpa” is mentioned in this episode.
- “Where fun goes to die” is the nickname given to Una/Number One by the ensigns.
I skipped this episode I’m sorry to say. Somehow I sensed that it would be too difficult for me. But thank you for your review and trivia.