3. He Values Friendship Above All Else
Believe it or not, there is something more important to Kirk than the Enterprise: his relationships with his closest friends. This was beautifully illustrated in the episode "Amok Time," where Kirk was willing to sacrifice both his career and his life in order to save Spock. The Kirk-Spock friendship is also the central theme of "Star Trek Into Darkness," and there's a pivotal scene that sets the stage for what happens toward the end of the movie. Kirk and Spock have been barely on speaking terms since Spock wrote an incriminating report that got Kirk into trouble, causing him to lose the Enterprise. They've now been reassigned to different ships. But as they part ways, Kirk wants Spock to know that he doesn't hold a grudge. "The truth is, I'm gonna miss you," he says. The appropriate response would have been something along the lines of, "I shall miss you as well." Spock opens his mouth to reply, then hesitates. Kirk waits, hopeful and expectant. His expression is completely open and emotionally vulnerable. And then, the moment is gone. Suddenly impatient, Kirk walks away. He doesn't speak, but the look on his face clearly says, "Ah, the hell with it." Yet despite Spock's apparent inability to reciprocate and his tendency, at times, to be downright annoying Kirk refuses to give up on their friendship. One reason: He enjoys the unique give-and-take between them. Spock continues to insist despite ample evidence to the contrary that he is governed only by logic. Kirk knows this isn't true, and Spock knows that he knows, yet both men play along with this charade and secretly delight in it. For example, as Kirk is preparing for a mission to the Klingon homeworld, Spock says, "I would be happy to accompany you on the away team." Kirk looks at him with a teasing smile and says, "You? Happy?" It is in this scene that Chris Pine most resembles Kirk. It's shot from an angle familiar to us from the TV series, with Kirk in the captain's chair, looking slightly upward and over his right shoulder at Spock. The Vulcan later proves that he, too, is capable of teasing. When he reveals that Carol "Wallace" is in fact Admiral Marcus' daughter, Kirk is flabbergasted. "When were you going to tell me that?" he asks. "When it became relevant," Spock replies. "As it just did." The befuddled look on Kirk's face is almost identical to Shatner's reaction in "This Side of Paradise," when he came across his science officer hanging upside-down from a tree, laughing. (Spock had lost his emotional inhibition after being infected by alien spores.)