3.23 — “Sarek”
Plot: Ambassador Sarek visits the Enterprise with his wife, Perrin, to conduct a negotiation between the Federation and the Legarans that will triumphantly end his career. Picard is honored by Sarek’s visit, but dismayed to discover that soon after his arrival unexplained outbursts of rage begin occurring throughout the ship.
Thoughts: I’m bearish on this episode, which I understand is generally beloved. It’s hard for me to watch “Sarek” without thinking about TOS 2.10, “Journey to Babel,” the episode which introduced Spock’s parents. “Sarek,” unfortunately, suffers from the comparison.
As I watch stilted scenes between Picard and Sarek’s new human wife Perrin, I can’t help but remember “Journey to Babel”‘s marvelous scene in Engineering between Kirk and Amanda, so wonderfully played by Jane Wyatt. In Perrin’s scenes with Sarek, I long for them to touch the tips of their two fingers and display even a glimmer of the easy intimacy Sarek shared with Amanda in “Babel.” As the breast beating reaches ever-new crescendos, I miss the subtlety and sly humor of the earlier show.
Neither Marc Lenard as Sarek nor Rocco Sisto as Sakath seem particularly Vulcan-like to me. Yes, according to the episode they are shouldering unusual emotional strains, but also maybe they forgot to study Leonard Nimoy’s work before shooting? Nimoy made playing a Vulcan look easy, but the performance is far from easy to emulate. So much shouting! I wrote on my notepad “Please find the strength in quietness.”
Perhaps my expectations were inflated going in. There is much about “Sarek” that is good. Patrick Stewart’s one-take scene as he channels Sarek’s emotions during the mind meld is something else. I cried at the end when Picard and Sarek say their farewells. While the story basically works, I’m not impressed by the continuity behind the assertion that all Vulcans are “telepathic,” or the use of a mind meld in a way that is both unprecedented and hard to understand.
Michael Piller’s statement about the episode quoted by Memory Alpha is interesting: “What I remember most about that episode, however, is that in a very real way it reflected what was going on with the show at the time we wrote it. Gene [Roddenberry] was beginning to go into decline. Not that he was completely uncommunicative, but it was clear that he was not the same man that he had been. We all respected him so much, and he had been such an important, strong leader of the franchise and everything it stood for. But here is this great man – and I’ve only known him for less than a year at this point – here is this great man going into decline, and I immediately felt a very strong connection to the premise of ‘Sarek,’ because I could see that it really was about the universe that we lived in on a daily basis. If you go back and look at ‘Sarek’ closely, what that character is, is Gene Roddenberry.”
I was disappointed that O’Brien did not play in the string quartet, since he is established as a cello player in “The Ensigns of Command.” He does appear in the episode, however.
While we’re feeling nostalgic for TOS, the fight in Ten Forward reminds me of the bar fight in “The Trouble With Tribbles.” I think it may include direct homages to that scene.
Wait–Picard was present at Sarek’s son’s wedding???
This episode taps into nostalgia and reportedly broke the taboo against mentioning TOS on the new show, leading to more callbacks in future episodes. As a metaphor for dementia, the episode addresses an important topic. Still, I can only give it 3 of 5 smelly slime pits. What did you think?
Leave a Reply