...But that Spock was never pushed as far as this one. He never saw his mother and entire planet killed by a maniac, and then a year later lose his mentor and best friend to a ruthless killer. This is a younger, more volotile Spock who has been pushed too far.
We've heard these rationalizations before, so I'll repeat what I've said before:
None of that matters. They did it the way they did it for the TWOK reference. If Shatner hadn't done it, Quinto wouldn't have done it. And the writers appeared to completely ignore the meme - the joke - it has become. I can't fathom they were ignorant of how much of a joke it has become, but that would make it intentional humor on their part. And I can't imagine that they would actually choose to inject humor at that point, so that just leaves stupidly embarrassing.
Wrong.
First, the fact that it mirrors TWOK does not preclude OTHER motivations for having it as well--none of which require humour, intentional or otherwise.
Second, the fact that the moment has been preceded by a series of pivotal events in the character's development that culminate in the scream (more effectively than in the original in terms of motivation for the scream itself) demonstrates that it wasn't just improvised without thought at the last second.
Third, the fact that you did not find it effectively executed (which is perfectly fine--matter of opinion and all that), does not make your disaffection a universal truth. I found it neither embarrassing nor funny and two packed screenings didn't find it funny enough to laugh (can't speak to embarrassing as I failed to conduct a survey of this critical issue).
It is fair to argue the scream was not well executed. I disagree but that is a matter of opinion. It is fair to question the inclusion of the scream as a necessary moment in the story. Again, a matter of opinion. It is not fair to argue the scream lacked motivation or context beyond the desire to insert a "callback" to TWOK. The "rationalizations" of which you are so dismissive are actually integral story and character elements in the two films and provide all the necessary in-story motivation for the scream, regardless of how one views its execution or inclusion. Clearly it is a callback to TWOK, but that is NOT ALL that it is.
