The Meaning of Kirk's Last Orders?

[Mudd]

That seems backward to me.

If Kirk is really assuming that they're in the midst of a crisis, then describing them facetiously as being "in combat" because of their personal friction is trivializing and dismissing whatever situation they're actually facing.

 

[David cgc]

Well, yes, casual humor is one of his command tools for reducing tension, and he knows nothing about the situation that killed him, but he does know Spock and McCoy, and he knows he relies on both of them to get out of crises. His priority would be making sure that they're working together and aren't at odds without him.

If it's not about making sure Spock and McCoy don't turn on each other after the loss of Kirk but instead collaborate to save the ship, then what's the point of the tape at all? If he's assuming they'll take it well and work together smoothly, the whole message is just telling them to do what he thinks they're already doing.

 

[1001001]

Kirk's last order...

 

[Rowdy Roddy McDowall]

If it's not about making sure Spock and McCoy don't turn on each other after the loss of Kirk but instead collaborate to save the ship, then what's the point of the tape at all?

He correctly figured only his advice would get Bones off Spock's back. And for ten entire minutes it did, until the chair incident.

 

[BK613]

He correctly figured only his advice would get Bones off Spock's back. And for ten entire minutes it did, until the chair incident.

Which he backed down from—even apologizing—and Spock did the 'forget it Bones' line.
And, of course, by the end, they are cooperating to the point of BSing Kirk about even listening to the orders.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

He correctly figured only his advice would get Bones off Spock's back. And for ten entire minutes it did, until the chair incident.

The chair incident was clearly McCoy's mind having its first twinge of Space Madness, which meant things were getting pretty dire by that point. Same thing happened to both McCoy and Scotty in "Day of the Dove."

 

[Elias Vaughn]

"Mortal combat" doesn't seem like the kind of phrase Kirk would use outside of a facetious sense. It doesn't seem right for Kirk to be describing actual danger generically with that phrase, especially since it probably wouldn't qualify as "combat." Indeed, the ship was ensnared and endangered in the Tholian web, but it was hardly engaged in mortal combat (ba ba ba ba, ba ba! ba, ba, ba, ba...). On the other hand, Spock and McCoy's bickering, exacerbated by grief and a stressful situation, would probably lead them to entrench themselves in their positions and refuse to cooperate or reconcile, like some kind of... not-giving-up fight.

It took way too long for someone to match my assumption that Kirk was just making a joke. Spock and McCoy are proessionals, they'd put whatever issues they had between them aside long enough to get the ship out of danger, and Kirk knew that. He wouldn't have them on his ship otherwise.