I do agree that it would have been better for us to see Spock and Christine together for more time. As it stands, they get together at the end of one episode, talk about how they don't yet know what they want from each other in the next, Christine freaks out when Boimler accidentally reveals that she and Spock won't last, withdraws when she suffers from PTSD, and then they break up. We never actually see them just being a couple together.
However, her song makes perfect sense. We know from "Spock Amok" that Christine is in general not at a point in her life where she wants a serious long-term relationship. We know that she never chased Spock -- Spock chased her. We know from "Charades" that she prioritizes her career and that she was reluctant to admit to herself that she was developing feelings for him; we know from "Lost in Translation" that she wasn't entirely sure what kind of relationship she wanted with Spock; we know from "Those Old Scientists" that she has begun to believe that her relationship with Spock is doomed no matter what; we know from "Under the Cloak of War" that she was emotionally withdrawing from Spock and confide in him for emotional support during a traumatic experience.
Like, Christine's behavior is not fair to Spock, but it makes sense. She feels guilty about how she's jerking him around and she feels guilty because she's reluctant to talk to him about this, and so she avoids him and avoids thinking about how her actions are impacting him. He asks her why she didn't talk to him first, and she jumps straight to assuming he'll ask her to turn it down and so sings about why she's choosing to put the fellowship first. It's an asshole move born of insecurity, but it makes sense.
Um, no. She acts like a woman who doesn't know what she wants out of her relationship and is trying to avoid having an uncomfortable conversation. She has her own sets of flaws and she's not being reasonable to Spock, but she is in no way behaving like a "mean girl in high school" -- that's a really patronizing statement -- nor does she break up with Spock because she's "bored."
I mean, they've been building up Spock/Christine since the series premiere, so that's almost two seasons between "Strange New Worlds" and "Subspace Rhapsody." They had been building up Spike/Buffy basically since "Fool for Love" aired in Season Five, so about a season before "Once More, With Feeling."
I agree we needed more time with Spock and Christine as a couple, and I agree that "Once More, With Feeling" handled its relationship subplots on a much better level. But I also think you're not being fair to what "Subspace Rhapsody" got right in its Spock/Christine parts or acknowledging how much of Christine's behavior was consistent with her character.
I mean, okay? But saying "Subspace Rhapsody" isn't as good as "Once More, With Feeling" is a bit like saying that Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan isn't as good as 2001: A Space Odyssey, or saying that Mystic River isn't as good as The Godfather. You're comparing a good, solid work of art to a work of absolute perfection.
Yeah, sure. I don't think it becoming one of the greatest episodes of television ever made was the goal.
