We're going to have the usual round table review next week, of course, but since I got my own bit done, I thought it'd be fun to discuss one particular aspect here:
In a crisis situation, the most valuable asset is a leader who keeps a level head. While everyone else is flailing about, the boss makes calm, rational decisions. With the exception of the laughable babbling scene two thirds through the episode (which single-handedly dropped the Young Traveler's appraisal of the episode from four to three stars), Mr. Spock was completely unflappable, and his decisions, for the most part, excellent. In an episode not filled with straw men composed of irrationality, Spock's demeanor would have shored up flagging morale, not stoked anger and resentment.
"But two men died!" some might cry, girding an argument against Spock's ability to command. I submit that, in fact, Spock's actions preserved the most people overall—you just have to see the beings on the planet as people. While Mssrs. Boma and Gaetano were urging for a demonstration of murder, Spock argued restraint, insisting on terrorizing the aborigines rather than killing them. He knew that a demonstration of power was likely to be useless, having deduced that their culture was too primitive to sustain the tribal social structure that would respect such a display. But knowing his men were keen on violence, he channeled it into a less destructive option.
When the indigenous sophont began whacking on the shuttlecraft with a rock, Spock didn't suggest blasting it with a phaser (fuel concerns may have been tight, but they probably could have afforded that shot based on prior consumption). He gave it a painful shock instead. Effective and non-lethal.
Instead of constantly carping on Spock, mourning the dead, McCoy should have been praising Spock for upholding the Hippocratic Oath better than the doctor.
In a crisis situation, the most valuable asset is a leader who keeps a level head. While everyone else is flailing about, the boss makes calm, rational decisions. With the exception of the laughable babbling scene two thirds through the episode (which single-handedly dropped the Young Traveler's appraisal of the episode from four to three stars), Mr. Spock was completely unflappable, and his decisions, for the most part, excellent. In an episode not filled with straw men composed of irrationality, Spock's demeanor would have shored up flagging morale, not stoked anger and resentment.
"But two men died!" some might cry, girding an argument against Spock's ability to command. I submit that, in fact, Spock's actions preserved the most people overall—you just have to see the beings on the planet as people. While Mssrs. Boma and Gaetano were urging for a demonstration of murder, Spock argued restraint, insisting on terrorizing the aborigines rather than killing them. He knew that a demonstration of power was likely to be useless, having deduced that their culture was too primitive to sustain the tribal social structure that would respect such a display. But knowing his men were keen on violence, he channeled it into a less destructive option.
When the indigenous sophont began whacking on the shuttlecraft with a rock, Spock didn't suggest blasting it with a phaser (fuel concerns may have been tight, but they probably could have afforded that shot based on prior consumption). He gave it a painful shock instead. Effective and non-lethal.
Instead of constantly carping on Spock, mourning the dead, McCoy should have been praising Spock for upholding the Hippocratic Oath better than the doctor.
At least the two command gold shirts followed commands and dutifully died in time to reduce the takeoff weight. 
Since both are blue shirts, perhaps there is a less stringent code of behavior for those in the Sciences branch due to the combined services structure, after all, you wouldn't want Starfleet scientists saying "scientists have always been the pawns of the military". 
