71 – Sarek

Grade: B+

Summary

The Enterprise is hosting a conference with a little-known alien species, and one that is not well understood. The Federation is also sending Ambassador Sarek to negotiate the conference. But it soon becomes obvious that the Ambassador is not well.

Commentary

This is a very strong episode, led by two great Star Trek actors. It’s definitely one of the best of this season, and possibly of the entire series. Mark Lenard is a veteran Star Trek guest, who has played several characters. He’s most recognizable as Sarek, the father of Spock. In this episode, he pulls of a remarkable performance, and possibly the best of the first three seasons. Patrick Stewart also plays a very important role in the episode. The acting really makes this a great episode.

The storyline is also fantastic, however. Sarek is suffering from a rare Vulcan disease that causes its victims to lose control over their emotions. For a Vulcan, there can be nothing more embarrassing as succumbing to emotion. The writing is done very well, and the characters are deep. It’s one of the best-written episodes of the series.

This is definitely an episode you must see.

Of Note

Apparently, the writers considered using another Ambassador, but they used Sarek instead since they wanted to show that even great people can suffer debilitating illnesses. For what it’s worth, I think they made the correct decision.