silentstep

J and I have re-watched three seasons of TNG, and the number of times I've felt that Troi or Crusher is 100% correct and Picard in particular is being an incurious asshole are getting... let's say, numerous. And in general, they seem to get out-shouted by the male senior officers in this "we're just being reasonable while you're being emotional" way that I find intensely annoying. Even when the plot ultimately justifies their perspective, they seem to get these vague acknowledgments in a private setting, not the unqualified public apologies they frankly deserve—because, IMO, the show itself doesn't feel they deserve them.

Meanwhile, when we marathoned TOS, I was pretty surprised by how much I ended up liking Kirk, and then I ended up loving him even more on some re-watches, despite the occasional dire writing ("Elaan of Troyius" can't make me hate him; my most beloathèd writer on TOS just decided that, in addition to writing Elaan as an unholy combination of Katharina from The Taming of the Shrew and just a racist caricature in general, Kirk was going to be Petruchio for a day and also that it'd be hot if France Nuyen roofied and had sex with him, which is, um, rape, but the episode doesn't understand its own plot the way e.g. "Wink of an Eye" or even freaking "Catspaw" understand what's wrong—and it was written by the same guy who wrote the virulently antisemitic "Patterns of Force" that goes out of its way to put Kirk and Spock in Nazi uniforms—just them among the main cast for most of the episode, for some reason, though it's unusual for them to be placed on a mission alone—and the script includes extra antisemitism directed individually at both Nimoy and Shatner on different occasions). There are a lot of reasons that TOS Kirk in particular ended up as my peak ST blorbo, even surpassing Spock's hold on my heart (though I love him deeply), but one of the reasons are scenes like these that TNG has very definitely brought back to mind:

KIRK: At least try cutting him off!
UHURA: Sir, if I could cut him off, don’t you think I—!
RILEY: ♪ I’ll take you home again, Kathleen— ♪
UHURA: Yes, sir, I’ll keep trying.
KIRK [apologetically]: Sorry.

KIRK: Yes, I’m aware of that, Mr. Scott.
CHEKOV: And, sir, the fact Earth took twelve centuries doesn’t mean they had to.
UHURA: We’ve seen different development rates on different planets.
SCOTT: And were the Klingons behind it, why didn’t they give them breechloaders?
CHEKOV: Or machine guns?
UHURA: Or old-style hand lasers?
KIRK [sharply]: I did not invite a debate. [pause] I’m sorry. I’m worried about Spock and concerned about what’s happened.

These apologies are quite simple, not emotional or dramatic or detailed at all, but that's fine. Just the acknowledgment that he was in the wrong and apologizing for it without hesitation or taking it to a face-saving private location or whatever, just saying it right there in front of everyone, is incredibly refreshing. In both of these, also, Uhura is one of the people he's responding to—it's possible that he's readier to apologize in such an open and unambiguous way because Uhura is involved and they're particularly close (their obvious and consistent mutual affection was another of the big TOS surprises!). I don't really think so (McCoy also freely apologizes on the spot multiple times, if less often than his behavior merits), but maybe Kirk's apologies are prompted by Uhura's involvement. However, if so, TOS going out of its way to show a very white-coded male hero publicly and correctly apologizing to the competent and justified Black woman who answers to him in front of his other subordinates doesn't make it any less welcome tbh.

(I'm definitely enjoying parts of TNG, but if several of the TOS movies frustrated me by moving towards 80s space explosions blockbuster when I was invested in the Having Things to Say Even if They're Deeply Flawed approach of TOS along with the visual experimentation, generally unexpected nuances of the characters, and sheer joyous camp of it all, TNG has seemed so painfully complacent 80s and essentially cautious in its fundamental perspective that I miss TOS all the more, its many faults notwithstanding.)