Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Completed Spock’s 180 Change From Leonard Nimoy’s Vulcan

Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4, episode 2 - "The Griffin Incident"Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' horror episode has pushed Lieutenant Spock's (Ethan Peck) embracing of his humanity as far as it can go, and it's time to reverse course to turn Spock into Leonard Nimoy's Vulcan. Directed by Axelle Carolyn and written by Robbie Thompson, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4, episode 2 subjected Spock to gruesome body horror targeted at his Vulcan side.

In Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4, episode 2, "The Griffin Incident," Spock, Lt. La'an Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong), and Lt. Commander James T. Kirk (Paul Wesley) were trapped aboard the USS Griffin, a ghost ship infected by a malignant entity. The Griffin probed each Starfleet Officer and crafted terrifying scenarios based on their deepest secret fears.

The Griffin manipulated La'an's dread of becoming a monster. Under the Griffin's thrall, La'an stabbed and nearly killed Kirk, who was faced with his inadequacies as a father and watched as a manifestation of his brother, Lt. Sam Kirk (Dan Jeannotte), gruesomely died. Meanwhile, the Griffin isolated Spock in Sickbay and preyed upon his inner conflict between his Vulcan and human sides.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Finished Spock’s Reversal From Leonard Nimoy’s Vulcan

For Spock, the revelation in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' horror episode is that he considers his humanity a greater virtue than his Vulcan nature. This was represented by T'Pring (Gia Sandhu), who appeared as a manifestation derived from Spock's memories of his ex-fiancée. T'Pring strapped Spock to a bio-bed and operated on him, cutting off the points of his Vulcan ears.

T'Pring also threatened to perform surgery to move Spock's Vulcan heart to the left side of his chest, where human hearts reside. The twist is that since T'Pring wasn't real, Spock cut off his own ears and might even have attempted to remove his own heart. There is deeper meaning to how the Griffin entity exploited Spock's duality, confirming that Spock holds humanity above his being Vulcan.

By design, Spock in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is different to how he is in Star Trek: The Original Series. Ethan Peck's younger Lieutenant Spock is more open about exploring his human side, and credits his feelings to his human mother, Amanda Grayson (Mia Kirshner). Spock's romances with Nurse Christine Chapel (Jess Bush) and La'an are based around his desire to feel what humans feel and relate to his human girlfriends.

Through the false T'Pring, Spock exposed his hidden desire to shed his Vulcan side entirely — hence slicing off his pointed ears, the most obvious signifier of his being Vulcan. Having survived "The Griffin Incident," Spock must now reconcile the body horror he endured and begin to question his identity. Spock has to start rejecting his humanity and start dedicating himself fully to Vulcan logic.

Strange New Worlds’ Spock Mission Now Is To Fully Turn Him Into Nimoy’s Vulcan

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds set Spock on this character arc so that he would eventually grow into the Spock played by Leonard Nimoy, who holds his Vulcan nature as superior to humans. As executive producers Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers explained, Spock goes on a personal journey during the prequel years when his experiments with his humanity will lead him to ultimately reject it in favor of being Vulcan.

Spock has already been turned human in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2, episode 5, "Charades." That experience led to his breakup with T'Pring and launching immediately into a relationship with Nurse Chapel. Spock also had a negative experience being surrounded by Vulcans when his USS Enterprise crew mates gained pointy ears and exploited logic differently in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3, episode 8, "Four-and-a-Half Vulcans."

It seems like Spock's romance with La'an could be on the rocks. La'an has her own inner demons, and is growing distant from Spock as she copes with her augment DNA altering her physically after she was turned into a diabolical Romulan in "Four-and-a-Half Vulcans." La'an pushing Spock away, and likely forcing his third breakup in three seasons, could be the final straw in terms of Spock exploring his humanity.

In Star Trek: The Original Series, Spock proudly espouses Vulcan superiority. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has the rest of season 4 and the six episodes of season 5 to evolve Ethan Peck into the cool, logical, and unflappable Vulcan Leonard Nimoy originated. "The Griffin Incident" left lasting scars for Spock, Kirk, and La'an. For the Vulcan Science Officer, his pointed ears will become more meaningful than ever.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4's new episodes premiere Thursdays on Paramount+.