From Newsgroup: alt.tv.star-trek.tos   
   From Address: philnblanc@comcast.net   
   Subject: This Side Of Paradise Notes [K/S]  (Humor, commentary)   
      
   This Side Of Paradise Notes   
   by Laura Goodwin   
      
      
      
   In This Side of Paradise, we see lots of interesting scenes with Spock    
   and Kirk. This episode establishes a very important point about Spock's    
   sexuality. Kirk, as usual, acts like a masochist who's in love with    
   Spock, of course... doesn't he always?   
      
   In the beginning, when Leila Kalomi says she has met Mr. Spock before,    
   Kirk and Spock exchange a long look.   
      
   [NOTE: What's up with that?]   
      
   We the audience soon learn that it never came to anything, but Kirk is    
   not present for that revelation.   
      
   When Spock is first infected by the spores, he reacts as if in great    
   pain. Leila says, "It didn't hurt any of us!" and Spock replies "I'M NOT    
   LIKE YOU."   
      
   Moments later he smiles at her and says, "I love you!", then corrects    
   himself. "I can love you!"   
      
   [NOTE: The fact that Spock corrected his impulsive remark to qualify it    
   is NO MINOR POINT.]   
      
   When we next see Spock, he has doffed his uniform in favor of the    
   jumpsuit and lace-up boots the colonist's wear.   
      
   [NOTE: Uh oh! When did Spock change clothes, and why? Did Spock get    
   laid? It's possible! If so, this is highly significant, since this is    
   before the events of Amok Time. If Spock is sexually viable before his    
   first Pon Farr, when he is not influenced by Pon Farr, then that means    
   he could have established a sexual relationship with Kirk already, which    
   in fact, he seems to have done.]   
      
   Kirk is not affected by the spores when first exposed to them. Why? We    
   don't know why at first, but later we learn that anger counteracts the    
   spores.   
      
   REWIND...   
      
   Kirk calls Spock on the communicator, and has a very strange    
   conversation with the intoxicated Mr. Spock. Kirk orders Spock to report    
   to him, and Spock playfully but firmly refuses to do so. Confused,    
   disturbed, Kirk brings Sulu and DeSalle with him as he sets out to    
   search for Spock.   
      
   At this point Kirk is concerned, worried, puzzled, but not angry.   
      
   They find Spock with Leila, and he's climbing a tree like a    
   seven-year-old, while she watches. Kirk demands an explanation, and at    
   this point seems somewhat worried, puzzled, concerned, but not angry.    
   Spock invites the Captain and the others to follow him and Leila, to a    
   place where their questions will be answered. Spock takes Leila's hand,    
   and they set off.   
      
   Everybody is curious so everybody follows them. Everybody stops at a    
   stand of the mysterious blossoms. Spock stands next to Leila holding her    
   hand. At this point Sulu is not upset. He's seen nothing upsetting.    
   DeSalle is not upset, either. These guys are simply curious, so when the    
   spores hit them, they are affected immediately. Kirk, however, remains    
   unaffected. Why? Because he is angry at the time, that's why. Why is he    
   angry?   
      
   REWIND...   
      
   Spock stands next to Leila holding her hand...   
      
   After the entire Enterprise crew gets infected and beams down, Kirk has    
   been left alone aboard the empty vessel. At first he's furious, but when    
   he stops to make a log entry, he quiets down and becomes somber. He says    
   he never realized before how quiet the ship could be. He admits he sees    
   no way out of his problem and calls himself marooned. He sits at the    
   helm, props his chin with his hand, and lapses into deep thought.   
      
   While in this calmer, contemplative state, he get blasted by a plant    
   that was left sitting on the bridge.   
      
   After a moment, his face lights up. Now he gets it! He understands! It's    
   so simple! He doesn't have to stay alone on the ship, he can go join Spock!   
      
   He calls Spock on the communicator and says, "I've joined you!" Spock is    
   glad to hear it.   
      
   Kirk prepares to leave. He packs a suitcase, and puts it on the    
   transporter pad, but suddenly he gets angry again. This again removes    
   the spore's influence. Now he gets it! Anger removes the spores!   
      
   At this point Kirk does something very odd. He could bring McCoy up, he    
   could invite almost anybody else up, Mr. Scott, for example, who could    
   help him to get the people back. He could selectively beam people up one    
   by one, and systematically unintoxicate them all without risking harm to    
   himself. But N0oo! Instead, he chooses to bring Mr. Spock up, and to    
   infuriate him KNOWING that an angry Spock is a very dangerous man. He    
   sets himself up for a date with a man-size can of opened Whup-Ass. Was    
   that ~really~ necessary?   
      
   [NOTE: Apparently *he* thinks it is.]   
      
   Kirk armed himself before the confrontation, showing that he knew ahead    
   of time that if he was successful, Spock would not cry, he'd *get mad*.    
   Then Kirk would have a real fight on his hands, perhaps a fight for his    
   life.   
      
   Kirk verbally abuses Spock to anger him out of his spore-induced    
   silliness. Kirk knows Spock well enough to zero in on the most sensitive    
   issues in Spock's life. He attacks Spock's parents, his loyalty as an    
   officer of the fleet, the Vulcan nation, his mixed racial status, his    
   integrity, his manhood, and his very personhood. He's especially    
   emphatic when haranguing Spock about having the gall to make love to a    
   human GIRL.   
      
   "Does she know what she's getting Spock?" Kirk says, as if *he knows*.   
      
   Captain James T. Kirk knows this about Spock:   
      
   A) Spock has emotions. B) Spock is sensitive about the central fact of    
   his life, which is that he's an unusual creature. C) If you play too    
   casually with Spock's sensitive emotions, you just might get your lungs    
   pulled out through your ass.   
      
   After the short and very brutal fight, Kirk forgives everything, Spock    
   forgives everything, and it's now once again the two of them against the    
   galaxy.   
      
   [NOTE: Uh oh! Spock changed clothes, again! Did Spock get laid? It's    
   possible! Him and Kirk had the whole ship to themselves! Anything could    
   have happened!]   
      
   [NOTE: This marks a change in the K/S relationship. Before this, things    
   were unbalanced, since Kirk was the only one of the two who ever seemed    
   tempted by women. Now that Spock has proven himself susceptible, Kirk    
   cannily uses it as a bargaining chip to buy himself a little bisexual    
   breathing room.]   
      
   Kirk tells Spock that how he handles Leila is his own concern.   
      
   [NOTE: Behold the birth of the gentleman's agreement - from this moment    
   forward they allow each other to toy with girls on the side.]   
      
   The first thing Spock does to get right with Kirk is to dump the girl.   
      
   [NOTE: the way he still expects Kirk to do, the next time, and every    
   time that Jim's in a similar situation.]   
      
   At the end, when dumping Leila, Spock explains that he has a duty to his    
   ship, to THAT MAN ON THE BRIDGE, and then adds, "I AM WHAT I AM".   
      
   Well! That explains everything!   
      
   [Special NOTE: Before this, if Kirk was actively interested in a woman,    
   Spock would deny it was happening (refer: Conscience Of The King) or    
   would in other ways demonstrate anxiety about it. Kirk felt the need to    
   conceal his m/f activities from Spock, since it made Spock uptight    
   (refer: Dagger Of The Mind). After this, they are both more    
   philosophical about the rare sidecar infatuation. Of course, there is a    
   bit of a learning curve. They gradually grow more emotionally secure by    
   small degrees, from this moment forward, as time goes by.]   
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