This episode's title reminds me of a character from "Dagger of the Mind", played by Susan Wasson: "Lethe" - a word that means either the name of a river in Hell, that drinking from can cause you to forget everything, or it simply means "oblivion" or "forgetfulness".
In that TOS episode, Dr Tristan Adams (Played by James Gregory of the appropriate film "The Mancurian Candidate") says this while the blank expression of the woman "Lethe" stares at us from the background:
(A Toast) - "To all mankind, may we never find space so vast, planets so cold, hearts and mind so empty that... that we cannot fill them with love and warmth."
And this exemplifies Sarek's current condition. He is in an empty place, a Lethe place. His ship was damaged by an attack from a "Vulcans Only" terrorist group, the same group that tried to kill Michael when she was a young girl, when Sarek used the Mind Meld to share his Katra with her and bring her back.
A mind meld that works both ways, now his Katra is calling for Michael.
This episode was very difficult for me to watch. From within Sarek and Michael's Meld, there is a rich history of things that happened, some of which we know about, regarding why Sarek, in TOS, had a strained relationship with his own son. We already knew that Sarek wanted Spock to serve in a more Vulcan way. In TOS, Spock did not attend the Vulcan Science Academy. But here, it is the Vulcan Expeditionary Force. Details are not important, the reasons why are.
So we see here that it was Sarek's intent that both Michael and Spock be involved with Vulcan endeavors. But the Vulcans gave him a choice, and the results of that choice directly relate to the original story of Spock and Sarek.
Masterfully done, and it was done from within a rescue mission for Sarek, while he is drifting away both literally and figuratively in the "Yridian Nebula" (Another reference to "Yuri", there were many references to "Kei and Yuri" in Next Generation, care of artist and designer Rick Sternbach).
Meanwhile, it's revealed here and Lorca has some real issues, he carries a Phaser while having sex with Admiral Cornwell (Jayne Brook, who I did not recognize from "Kindergarten Cop"). She wants to do something about it, but is sidetracked by having to resume Sarek's mission in his stead. And now, she is in a Lethe place. The question is, what's Lorca going to do about it?
In that TOS episode, Dr Tristan Adams (Played by James Gregory of the appropriate film "The Mancurian Candidate") says this while the blank expression of the woman "Lethe" stares at us from the background:
(A Toast) - "To all mankind, may we never find space so vast, planets so cold, hearts and mind so empty that... that we cannot fill them with love and warmth."
And this exemplifies Sarek's current condition. He is in an empty place, a Lethe place. His ship was damaged by an attack from a "Vulcans Only" terrorist group, the same group that tried to kill Michael when she was a young girl, when Sarek used the Mind Meld to share his Katra with her and bring her back.
A mind meld that works both ways, now his Katra is calling for Michael.
This episode was very difficult for me to watch. From within Sarek and Michael's Meld, there is a rich history of things that happened, some of which we know about, regarding why Sarek, in TOS, had a strained relationship with his own son. We already knew that Sarek wanted Spock to serve in a more Vulcan way. In TOS, Spock did not attend the Vulcan Science Academy. But here, it is the Vulcan Expeditionary Force. Details are not important, the reasons why are.
So we see here that it was Sarek's intent that both Michael and Spock be involved with Vulcan endeavors. But the Vulcans gave him a choice, and the results of that choice directly relate to the original story of Spock and Sarek.
Masterfully done, and it was done from within a rescue mission for Sarek, while he is drifting away both literally and figuratively in the "Yridian Nebula" (Another reference to "Yuri", there were many references to "Kei and Yuri" in Next Generation, care of artist and designer Rick Sternbach).
Meanwhile, it's revealed here and Lorca has some real issues, he carries a Phaser while having sex with Admiral Cornwell (Jayne Brook, who I did not recognize from "Kindergarten Cop"). She wants to do something about it, but is sidetracked by having to resume Sarek's mission in his stead. And now, she is in a Lethe place. The question is, what's Lorca going to do about it?
