And though the Sarek of Star Trek: Discovery will have more than a century of fame and accomplishment ahead of him, “Sarek” reveals just how immensely he failed to close the distances yawning between him and his son. But it does reveal the soul that underlies the exterior he’ll show Michael Burnham. “Sarek” isn’t one of Player.One’s essential Star Trek episodes to watch before Star Trek: Discovery because it has anything to reveal about Sarek’s role in the incipient war between the Klingons and the United Federation of Planets.
Picard has to move Sarek’s fingers into the shape of the Vulcan hand salute because his hands are shaking too much. In his last appearance on The Next Generation, in the first half of the two-parter episode “Unification,” Sarek is quivering in his deathbed, demanding of himself, over and over, “No more chaos!” He never reconciles with Spock. Sarek will suffer rage and emotional confusion for the rest of his life. Though Sarek successfully conducts the Ligaran talks, with Picard’s help, there is no cure for his Bendii Syndrome. Instead, “Sarek” simultaneously affords an empathetic view of Star Trek’s most repressed character and dramatizes the dignity and challenges of Vulcan restraint.Īs an episode of Star Trek, “Sarek” succeeds by resisting utopian shortcuts. This isn’t a deconstruction of Vulcans, revealing them all to be twisted perverts deep down. That Sarek’s deepest hidden emotions are benign, even noble, softens the moment. Where’s my logic, I’m betrayed by desires… I must feel nothing… Spock, Amanda, did you know? Perrin, can you know how much I love you?” Picard says, because Sarek can’t. (Mark Lenard appeared in the role for more than 23 years.) But “Sarek” not only deepens our understanding of Vulcans, it unlocks Sarek himself, enlightening every other Sarek appearance. Spock huffing spores on Omicron Ceti III in “This Side of Paradise” is a memorable example. “Sarek” isn’t the first time Star Trek writers have found ways around Vulcan reserve. Even worse, thanks to the Vulcan psychic capacity, Sarek’s projected anger is causing fights to break out all over the Enterprise, including a bar brawl in the ship’s lounge, Ten Forward. Compounding the problem is the willingness of his loved ones and aides to cover up the condition, unwilling to admit Sarek is no longer capable of conducting the delicate negotiations. More than 200 years old, Sarek suffers from Bendii Syndrome, the Vulcan Alzheimer’s equivalent, his Vulcan restraint crumbling. But just like when he was first introduced in “Journey to Babel,” something is off, and this time it’s not just residual awkwardness between father and son.
Sarek’s negotiations with the Legarans are meant to be a pre-retirement victory lap - the “crowning achievement” of a lifetime of diplomatic accomplishments. “How do you make small talk with someone who shaped the Federation?” Picard asks Riker.
#PICARD MIND MELD SERIES#
In case viewers weren’t familiar with Sarek from his appearances in two previous Star Trek series and four movies, Riker reminisces over his resume, listing the Treaty of Alpha Cygnus IX, the Coridan admission to the Federation (as seen in “Journey to Babel”) and the Klingon alliance (deepening the peace first established by the Khitomer Accords in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country). “Sarek” begins shortly before sensitive Federation negotiations with the mysterious Legarans.
Sarek’s fall - his tragic, final adventure - would come a century later, in Star Trek: The Next Generation’s Season 3 episode “Sarek.” Where “Journey to Babel” showed us Sarek as he was in the era of Star Trek: Discovery, “Sarek” brings him to an illuminating and bitter end. He is introduced in Star Trek: The Original Series episode “Journey to Babel” as an accomplished diplomat on the rise. Sarek’s also one of the more tragic characters in Star Trek history - a Vulcan who lost the core of his being and dies estranged from his son. Spock’s father Sarek will be an important secondary character in Star Trek: Discovery, serving as a mentor figure to protagonist Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green), the first human to attend the Vulcan Science Academy and first officer aboard the Discovery NCC-1031. 24 premiere of Star Trek: Discovery approaches, Player.One will profile essential episodes to watch for a better understanding of the characters, species and history informing the first Star Trek series in over a decade.
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