Kirk Emotionally Compromised? (spoiler)

In STiD, should Spock have relieved Kirk?

In ST09, Kirk relieved Spock of command after the latter realized that the loss of Vulcan had compromised his objectivity. From a plot perspective, this was crucial to getting Kirk into the captain's chair.


Back to STiD, Kirk is clearly influenced by

Spoiler: events

the death of his mentor, Pike. His subsequent decisions to take Marcus at his word and ignore the objections of his crew

demonstrate the loss of his objectivity. Of course, plot dictated otherwise.

 

He might have.

But Kirk changed his mind and decided to go against Marcus' orders and instead leads an assault to capture Harrison/Khan, to which Spock agrees.

 

Jim started taking the concerns seriously because of Scotty and Keenser handed in their resignations from the ship's company, or so it looks. The shock on his face as he realized that he'd just accepted Scotty's resignation...

 

Shhh. The plot justifies the means.

 

"Emotionally compromised" is rather unspecific.

They both may have been acting on emotion and not rationally, but Kirk never tried to kick the shit out of his XO.

 

I figure Marcus knew Kirk was emotionally compromised by Pike's death, and decided that Kirk would be the best lamb to be led to slaughter. Kirk was, in Starfleet circles, the black sheep. So you get this notoriously hot-headed, contentious, young Captain who usually breaks regulation without a second glance, going after the man who killed his mentor, and willing to attack the Klingon homeworld in the process. It all makes for good headlines, disposes of Marcus' tactical benefactor, and it starts the war Marcus wanted in the first place. It's win/win.

 

He did look like he wanted to knock Scotty's lights out when the latter wouldn't sign for the torpedoes.

 

Hmm. In order to make Kirk "emotionally compromised" next film, I wonder which of Kirk's mentors/family members will be killed?

STXI: George Kirk

STXII: Christopher Pike

STXIII: Samuel Kirk(?)*

*If they kill off Kirk's brother Sam in the next film, I hope he is played by Pine with a fake mustache.*

 

YES

 

Actually, in the comics he looks kind of like Chris Hemsworth as Thor. Well, if Thor were a scraggy bum.

 

This, exactly.

 

Or Liam even--who sort of looks like a cross between his brother and Pine.

 

It's no surprise Kirk is emotionally compromised plus it does not help that he's only been a Starfleet officer for a year or so. Would have been cool to see Spock take command because of Kirk being too emotionally compromised or perhaps even out of his league.

But I do wonder just how big of a father figure Pike was to Kirk.

 

I kind of find the emotionally compromising spock plan a bit far fetched in Trek 09. There wasn't anything stopping Spock from calmly telling the security guys to remove Kirk again. He got really lucky.

 

I would imagine Pike had become something of a father/mentor to the degree where Kirk did grow to see him as the father he never had. Kirk's grief is palpable during Pike's death scene. You can see that anger, confusion, and loss just pouring out of him. It's also nice to note that Bruce Greenwood was just perfectly apt in his role, and expressed that fatherly trait with aplomb.

 

Pike is possibly some kind of mentor but outside of interactions whilst in the job, just how well did Kirk know Pike on a personal basis? Given this limited interaction would it be enough for Kirk to consider Pike to be the father he never had or the role model he never had?

I still can't understand why Kirk had a meltdown when Pike died.

 

Seriously?