Back in 2016, when I rewatched Star Trek (2009) and Star Trek: Into Darkness in anticipation for the Blu-Ray/DVD release of Star Trek: Beyond, I began noticing parallels between scenes in the first two Kelvin timeline films and Beyond. Parallels that place Leonard McCoy in a critical position in both Spock and Kirk’s lives.
Of course, it’s been long established that these three characters are important to each other. The “heart, mind, soul” triumvirate has been a part of the canon since 1966. Yet, due to the events of the first of the Kelvin films, certain character dynamics have been altered. McCoy is still a critical part of the crew, but it’s not until Beyond that we’ve seen him be a critical part of Spock and Kirk’s personal lives, and he does so by filling a position left vacant by the events of the alternate timeline: parental guidance.

The Enterprise’s Captain and First Officer have gotten the short end of Fate’s stick when it comes to parental figures. Each of them have had one distant and up to three dead parental figures each, and the scenes given to Leonard McCoy in Beyond ends up taking the place of and even paralleling the scenes in Star Trek that were given to said parents.
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