Chekhov has a girlfriend. Does everybody get a romance in the last couple of episodes? One can only hope. Irena — Chekhov’s old flame — is a super-hippy. I have serious issues with the structure of the group and the episode trying to force the issue of Original Sin, but it was mostly very interesting.
Super-hippies (with whom Spock feels an affinity) are seeking a planet where all sentient beings can live peaceably as equals. Unfortunately their leader is completely cray-cray and the planet they find is completely poisonous.
I may, in the future, write some alternative-universe fan-fiction exploring some of the one-off women from this series and featuring goatee-Spock. For now, a sonnet (kicking off a four-part crown of sonnets):
Oh how we crave that gentle touch,
a food the fully satisfies,
to feel we are the same as such,
to feel we are beyond goodbyes.
We were one in the beginning,
grew apart in great confusing;
now, we must seek — or else create —
a place that all may count as great.
No room to doubt, but all to err
as we meet face-to-face in joy
and understanding then employ.
No room to doubt, but all to air
Hope’s laundered flag once more unfurl’d
too soon made secret by the world.