History YMMV / StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E23Sarek

* CommonKnowledge: Many fans recall the bar fight in this episode being broken up by Guinan with a big-ass laser gun. In actual fact however, that was from the following season's "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS4E17NightTerrors Night Terrors]]."

** The producers themselves recognized the larger implications of the episode, as the {{applicability}} to similar real world figures was painfully obvious. The episode was also made about the same time Creator/GeneRoddenberry's health really went into decline.
** In this episode, Picard argues with the emotionally-compromised Sarek, who angrily denies his poor disposition, after his subordinates were unwilling to stand up to him. In ''Film/StarTrekFirstContact'', Picard would be the emotionally-compromised one as Lily Sloane argues with him when Picard's own subordinates weren't willing to stand up to him.

* {{Narm}}: The concert scene when Sarek begins crying is wordless and shot and cut beautifully-- except one very tight shot of Sarek's tears that's almost the definition of "on the nose".

* HarsherInHindsight: Watching Picard break down while bonded to Sarek is a bit more difficult to watch knowing that Picard may very well share the same fate in his future. Additionally, a year after his encounter with Sarek, Picard revealed in "[[{{Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS4E17NightTerrors}} Night Terrors]]" that his grandfather suffered from a degenerative mental disease and that the idea of losing his mind has always terrified him.

* TakeThatScrappy: Similarly to "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS1E12Datalore Datalore]]," this episode features two example of Wesley getting abused by other characters--firstly when Geordi calls him a loser who has no chance of getting anything out of his date, and then when Beverly hits him--that aren't his fault in any way, shape or form, but are considered satisfying moments by those fans who aren't overly fond of him. The latter incident in particular became one of the first animated [=GIFs=] to be widely circulated on the developing internet.

* HarsherInHindsight: Watching Picard break down while bonded to Sarek is a bit more difficult to watch knowing that Picard may very well share the same fate in his future. Additionally, a year after his encounter with Sarek, Picard revealed in "Night Terrors" that his grandfather suffered from a degenerative mental disease and that the idea of losing his mind has always terrified him.

* SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments: Picard has taken everything Sarek's psyche can throw at him and he's got nothing left to fight it with. Beverly tells him he doesn't have to fight, and holds him while he cries helplessly on her shoulder. This combined with Picard's uncontrollable outbursts double as a ''major'' TearJerker.
* SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome:
** One for Creator/PatrickStewart during the scene with Picard's madness-inducing rant after he mind-melds with Sarek, and him taking on ''all'' of his negative emotions, giving Sarek the serenity and fortitude to conclude the negotiations. Stewart's performance is ''masterful''.
** InUniverse, it's one for Picard as well, knowingly taking the burden of Sarek's emotions despite being established that Vulcans adopted ''kolinahr'' precisely because ''just how powerful'' their emotions are nearly tore their society apart. One forgets that for all their surface serenity (and, at times, arrogance), underneath Vulcans are an emotional powder keg waiting to go off.
* NightmareFuel: The outbursts from all the crew members? Little unnerving. All those negative emotions crammed into ''one man'' (and Jean-Luc Picard at that)? ''Horrifying'' to watch.

* StoicWoobie: Sarak dives headfirst into this, even as he lashes out at people.

** InUniverse, it's one for Picard as well, knowingly taking the burden of Sarek's emotions despite being established that Vulcans adopted ''kolinahr'' precisely because ''just how powerful'' their emotions are nearly tore their society apart. One forgets that for all their surface serenity (and, at times, arrogance), underneath Vulcans are an emotional powder keg waiting to go off.* NightmareFuel: The outbursts from all the crew members? Little unnerving. All those negative emotions crammed into ''one man'' (and Jean-Luc Picard at that)? ''Horrifying'' to watch.

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome:

** InUniverse, it's one for Picard as well, knowingly taking the burden of Sarek's emotions despite being established that Vulcans adopted ''kolinahr'' precisely because ''just how powerful'' their emotions are nearly tore their society apart. One forgets that for all their surface serenity (and, at times, arrogance), underneath Vulcans are an emotional powder keg waiting to go off.
* CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming: Picard has taken everything Sarek's psyche can throw at him and he's got nothing left to fight it with. Beverly tells him he doesn't have to fight, and holds him while he cries helplessly on her shoulder. This combined with Picard's uncontrollable outbursts double as a ''major'' TearJerker.
* NightmareFuel: The outbursts from all the crew members? Little unnerving. All those negative emotions crammed into ''one man'' (and Jean-Luc Picard at that)? ''Horrifying'' to watch.

** One for Creator/PatrickStewart during his madness-inducing rant after he mind-melds with Sarek, and takes on ''all'' of his negative emotions, giving Sarek the serenity and fortitude to conclude the negotiations. His performance is ''masterful''.
** For that matter, it's one for Picard as well, knowingly taking the burden of Sarek's emotions despite being established that Vulcans adopted ''kolinahr'' precisely because ''just how powerful'' their emotions are nearly tore their society apart. One forgets that for all their surface serenity (and, at times, arrogance), underneath Vulcans are an emotional powder keg waiting to go off.
* CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming: Picard has taken everything Sarek's psyche can throw at him and he's got nothing left to fight it with. Beverly tells him he doesn't have to fight, and holds him while he cries helplessly on her shoulder.

** For that matter, it's one for Picard as well, knowingingly taking the burden of Sarek's emotions despite being established that Vulcans adopted ''kolinahr'' precisely because ''just how powerful'' their emotions are nearly tore their society apart. One forgets that for all their surface serenity (and, at times, arrogance), underneath Vulcans are an emotional powder keg waiting to go off.

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: One for Patrick Stewart during his madness-inducing rant after he mind-melds with Sarek, and takes on ''all'' of his negative emotions, giving Sarek the serenity and fortitude to conclude the negotiations. His performance is ''masterful''.

* TakeThatScrappy: Similarly to "Datalore," the episode features two example of Wesley getting abused by other characters -- firstly when Geordi calls him a loser who has no chance of getting anything out of his date, and then when Beverly hits him -- that aren't his fault in any way, shape or form, but are considered satisfying moments by those fans who aren't overly fond of him. The latter incident in particular became one of the first animated [=GIFs=] to be widely circulated on the developing internet.