I just watched 'The Devil in the Dark,' and it's so weirdly sweet? In a Spirk coded way.
Kirk was determined to kill the Horta, that "it had killed all those people, we can't risk keeping it alive," and that makes sense, perfect sense, and yet when Spock offers up the alternative, "it could be the last of its kind," Kirk still has all the reason to destroy it.
But Spock had asked him not to kill it, Spock had expressed interest in it, and Spock had wanted it alive. Spock wanted something.
And so when Jim comes face to face with the creature, alone, and knows he could be killed, he hesitates. At the cost of his life he hesitates because Spock had requested something from him. He doesn't kill the Horta, because Spock had asked him to find another way, and so Jim makes one. Makes one despite all odds, and despite no hope, and despite his life being in danger the entire time.
But that's not all, even despite wanting the creature to live, even understanding that it was only an animal protecting what was it's own, the moment Kirk falls into danger, Spock tells Jim to kill it.
'Kill the creature if it means my captain shall live.'
He was willing to forgo his curiosity, his scientific and Vulcan morals, if it was going to kill his captain. Isn't it illogical for one man to live if it kills the entire race of another? Isn't it illogical to be willing to assist that one man in such a thing?
They switched places, kill or find another way, all because of each other, and in the end, solved the problem together.
Idk, I just thought it was sort of romantic, in an odd, sciencey way. The old, "I love you enough to discover," sort of thing. Because discover they did, and the Horta's got to live.











