1/2
So when we left off Spock was on trial (and taking it rather well) and we were receiving images from these buttheads on Talos IV. (And this is long before they’d be parodied by Itchy and Scratchy.) I don’t want to give it all away, but turns out Mr. Spock is being altruistic and — just in the nick of time — Uhura gets a signal from Star Fleet that they’re willing to look the other way and not condemn our second billed character to the death penalty after all. . .just because. And Jeffrey Hunter gets to live in an underground rock cage with a make believe blonde for the rest of his life. Now that’s a way to get written off a series!
The reason Starfleet let Spock off? Simple: in the teaser of Part 1, when Spock is telling Pike of his plan, he states, “I HAVE NO CHOICE” – Starfleet realized that even Spock was under Talosian control.
No, it was not about Spock being under control. He gave his word to that last commander and he is scrupulous to keep it. In a logical society it is a very black and white situation. It is yes or no. Logical or illogical.
In many was quite boring but also quite “fascinating” too!