I have a feeling that a clichè soap opera with a love triangle wasn't exactly what they had in mind.
Spock has survivor guilt, it makes him question if his duty essentially is to sacrifice everything in order to use his whole life to help people who never accepted him (but ironically, now need
EVEN him and will NOW consider him a 'real vulcan' if they need him). What he wants or needs is, in his mind in that moment, irrelevant.
Being with a vulcan would just be cold procreation purposes so one woman would be like another; it's indifferent (ditto for the vulcan woman who would be with him). You can question how silly the whole concept might be, to begin with; really, the idea the vulcans are now forced to be in unwanted relationships that way when it's more logical to use clonation to save their race. A bit sexist, also, to assume that the vulcan women are all just waiting to get used as incubators when the majority of them might have careers too, even better than Spock's, and no desire to be moms soon.
Not to even mention the little 'detail' that Spock is still part human anyway so his kids, regardless, won't be 100% vulcan which makes him not exactly 'the one' dude vulcans absolutely need for that one purpose.
However, this whole 'Spock wanted to make vulcan babies' thing is by itself an assumption that we make just because McCoy made it, but truth is Spock might have helped the vulcans even without being a baby maker. The problem for him and Uhura was him possibly needing to leave the ship and his career in starfleet. I honestly think Uhura wouldn't have a problem if Spock was asked to be just a sperm donor. With his lifespan being longer than humans, he would always have the time to 'help' the vulcans that way.
I think even just implying that his kids with Uhura wouldn't be valid as vulcans, and to continue their culture, just because they'd be mixed, is not a good message to deliver especially in terms of Spock's own arc as a mixed person himself who struggles to get his both sides get accepted.
It would be coming to full circle if his kids with Uhura were actually accepted as vulcans in ways they never accepted him, because that would mean they are learning from the past and using the loss of their home planet to look forward and become better people.
The idea that Spock would essentially need, instead, to further deny his human side and deny his kids have it is regressive and undermining most of his character development IMO.
Also, frankly the idea a vulcan lady would be more compatible for him just because she's vulcan is, well, stupid. It's like saying that Uhura would be better with Kirk or Scotty than Spock just because they are human dudes, in spite of her essentially having nothing in common with them.
and we seem to always gloss over the fact that Spock IS human too and as such, he has needs that might not be that of the average vulcan. It's wrong to assume he automatically wants everything to be vulcan. In a way, he's more vulcan amongs humans than he most likely is amongs vulcans.. he's an outsider to both.
Remember he got along with his human mother better than his father.
I think the reason why he 'clicks' with Uhura is because he found a human who is embracing her feelings, and thus helping that side of him that craves for human affection and show it the human way (and not have it considered 'wrong'), but at the same time she's logical like him and she can complement his vulcan side nicely. They can have problems just like any other couple, but in the end she accepts him the way he is and she doesn't try to make him only human. Would a vulcan do that too on reverse and thus let him express his human side?
Nah, I don't think a specific Vulcan would've been necessary. I think it worked just fine as Spock wanting to make Vulcan babies with a Vulcan, any Vulcan, and that Uhura felt angry and betrayed because she's human and doesn't fit the bill.
On the other hand, Kelvin T'Pring??? Perhaps that was a missed opportunity.
Surely Spock Prime spent the years of 2258-2263 re-populating the Vulcan race? There must be a load of little Spocklets running around on New Vulcan by the time Spock decides to break up with Uhura in Beyond.
you guys seem to get it wrong.
For a start, the actors and writers (especially Jung in the dvds) explained that Uhura broke up with him at the beginning because she understood his conflict and wanted him to be free, which isn't something Spock necessarily liked (hence why he told McCoy that he had intended to discuss things with her more. He wasn't sure about leaving until he heard about Spock Prime dying)
this from an interview
Jung:
"With all of the characters, we were trying to see how much they had matured since the last we had been with them. (about Spock and Uhura’s initial breakup) we didn’t want to do it where it felt like they were tired of each other, we wanted it to be something that was born of a real, mature, thoughtful idea. By having it be that they broke up over these concerns of Spock, and Uhura making a decision to release him, despite strong feelings for each other, we thought it was a nice way of advancing their relationship that was so well established. It (also) added another element to how the other characters might perceive it, specifically Bones, and his misunderstanding in thinking that it might’ve just been this “boy meets girl, boy loses girl” story."
You can argue that the movie didn't show it all in details (and that's more Lin's fault than Pegg&Jung's. I don't think Lin is a good story teller when it comes to some aspects related to the characters) but what we see still makes more sense with what Jung said. There is no evidence of Uhura being 'angry' at Spock (aside from McCoy stating that he could see if she was upset about Spock wanting to help the vulcans repopulate. But even that, her being upset or angry would be totally normal but it doesn't necessarily mean she's angry AT Spock and that was her modus operandi when breaking up with him), and even more there is no evidence that HE broke up with her because, if anything, the break up is only implied but even in the 'only implied' that scene seems to rather suggest - with the help of McCoy mocking Spock too - that it was UHURA who broke up with him (and he wasn't happy about her decision).
I understand that hollywood is a clichè, especially when it comes to women and romances, so some things might become almost 'automatic' for the audience because we internalize things like sexism, but at one point one gotta make the effort to, at least, try to not project things even in a narrative that doesn't really have them.
