STAR. TREK.

queendeannatroi:

Also known as the episode in which possessive!Kirk can be proven scientifically.

I’m completely serious. 

This meta contains spoilers for this episode, so be forewarned!

The crew beams down to the planet Omicron Ceti III, when Spock’s ex-girlfriend Leila shows up and starts making eyes at him. 

We don’t actually get to know that much about their romantic history, but we do know that Kirk immediately reacts like

“We do have a mission here,” he snaps, cutting off the eyesex. 

As it turns out, the colonists on the planet have all been infected by happy plant spores, and Leila quickly makes sure Spock gets infected too. 

Kirk sees the two of them frolicking together, and he is NOT happy. 

He and a few crew members go to check it out, and they are all sprayed with the plant spores. Yes, even Kirk. 

But for some reason, Kirk is not affected. Weird, huh? He even says as much later in the episode, when he notes in the Captain’s log that “The pod plants have spread spores throughout the ship, carried by the ventilation system… I don’t know why I have not been infected.”

And they never tell us. 

Maybe Kirk’s immune, for some reason? Nope, that’s not it, because he later gets sprayed again when he’s on the ship, and this time, he goes all happy-go-lucky-spore-high.

We later find out that "strong emotions and needs destroy the spore influence,“ according to Spock. This is the only known counteragent to the spores, and the only viable explanation as to Kirk’s condition. 

It’s only natural, his being upset. The colonists are uncooperative, he’s losing authority over his crew, the mission is not going smoothly. Of course he’s unhappy.

But that doesn’t quite make sense, now does it? Because Kirk is upset throughout most of the episode. When we see him alone on the bridge, he is at his lowest point. He mourns the loss of his crew and the apparent failure of the mission, stating “I don’t know what I can offer against paradise.“ 

Kirk has consistently been characterized as fearful of being alone, and he is clearly saddened and uncomfortable in the situation. However, he is still affected by the spores this time he is sprayed. How can this be?

What eventually drives both Kirk and Spock to overcome the spore influence is anger: Kirk by anger at being forced to leave the ship, and Spock anger at Kirk’s behavior. Anger is a more violent emotion, while sadness is more static. It makes sense that melancholy would not be as effective in counteracting the spores. 

Leila, on the other hand, is driven by sadness.

She is heartbroken, and her reaction is logical. She experiences a rush of emotion the instant she knows she has lost Spock. 

From Leila’s reaction, we know that sadness is effective against the spores, but Kirk’s reaction tells us that it is ineffective unless the person in question is overwhelmed by a rush of emotion.

Conclusion: When Kirk first encountered the spores, he must have experienced an overwhelming rush of emotion. Maybe anger? Maybe sadness? Maybe… a mix of the two? 

Or jealousy?

Let’s think back: what was the last thing that happened to Kirk before he was sprayed? The last thing he saw?

Oh. Right. 

Kirk/Spock. It’s science. 

(via spirkian)