It may also be difference in the point of view - as someone who has suffered several deep losses - my only brother, my first husband, my only son - I see the few tears in this scene as very natural. When my son died at 25 years old, all of the young men who were his friends cried openly along with their girlfriends and wives, as did many of the older men. In this scene, which is played as private between Tucker and the woman with whom he is supposedly falling in love, this is a very mild expression of the deep grief that Tucker is feeling. No one would question a woman shedding those few tears. As I write this and the emotions come back, even after 3 years, tears are running down my face and no one would think that odd. I know the struggle to contain and control such intense grief and be normal in public, and for a man to feel that it must never be expressed, even in private, must be a tremendous burden.
Your insight is most welcome here, and I, too, have seen the loss of young person whome I knew and have seen the reactions of those around him. Thanks for sharing. Back to the episode, I want to say that after so many ST shows about battles, tech, and all of that, this episode was true return to real human emotion. Trip began by being stressed out, short on temper, too much on his plate to keep the ship going, plus the stress that his enemy (Degra) wasn't really a bad guy and that he had to look him in the eye to realize that, and Connor did a masterful job of playing these emotions, . Even before the breakdown, the acting seemed very authentic to me. ST has always had good acting, but since the show is so far and so oftne removed from our relatity, it's hard to relate...to really relate, and to see how uathentic the acting is. But here, in this episode, everything up to and including the breakdown felt very authentic.
I remember the day it aired and their was word that the show might be canceled. After viewing the show, I was so impressed that I called Paramount and asked...how could you cancel it after such a remarkable episode.. referring not obnly the story but to Connor's performance as well.