For all its “Bonk bonk on the head,” and “No blah blah blah,” I think we overlook the fact that Miri actually does a pretty good job of presenting each of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy with what turns out to be a worst-nightmare scenario, given what we find out in canon.
Kirk has to convince a group of children to stop resorting to violence and mob mentality before they starve to death. He tells them there’s only six months of food left, if they don’t let Starfleet help.
“And the little ones. What’s going to happen to them after you’ve gone, after you’ve turned into creatures like Louise? Oh, they’ll still be here, but not for long, because the food’s all gone. You’ve eaten it. Maybe six months left, that’s all, and then nothing left to eat, nobody left to take care of them. They’ll die, too.”
Kirk has seen children starve.
Spock, by virtue of his unique heritage, doesn’t seem affected by the disease. This gives him an advantage. However, he’s a carrier, and unless they solve the problem, he can’t go back to the ship. Not only that, but if the problem is never solved, Spock could conceivably be left completely alone.
“I am a carrier. Whatever happens, I can’t go back to the ship, and I do want to go back to the ship, Captain.“
Spock’s heritage puts him between worlds in a liminal space, out of place on a parallel Earth, not successful enough to go back to the ship.
McCoy’s caught in a race against time to find a cure. It’s a disease that will cause “great pain,” make each one of them lose their humanity, and will make him violate his Hippocratic oath.
“Only a matter of time before we all go mad, destroy each other, till the last of us finally destroys himself.“
The worst part is when he believes he’s almost got the cure, but the communicators that would let them contact the ship have been stolen. The concoction could very well be “a beaker full of death.” He’s so close, and yet so far. If that sounds familiar, remember that McCoy was unable to save his own father, releasing him from his own extreme pain - only to find out that the cure had been found, just too late.
MCCOY: We can’t wait for those communicators any longer.
SPOCK: We must. The vaccine could be fatal.
MCCOY: The disease certainly is. How long do we have left? Hours, minutes? How much longer do you want to wait?
McCoy performs an essentially suicidal action, choosing to end it for himself, one way or another, just so he won’t be too late one more time.
No blah blah blah, indeed.
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