U.S.S. Enterprise
NCC - 170
Constitution-class
In 2249, Michael joined Starfleet [ref]
In 2249, Spock joined Starfleet [ref]
By 2254 Spock was assigned to the U.S.S. Enterprise under Pike [ref]
2256 Star Trek Discovery takes place
[ref]
2269–2270 Star Trek TOS takes place [ref]
In the Star Trek episode, Journey to Babel, Sarek is on the ship. Kirk voices support of Spock’s choices and notes that he has a personal friendship with Spock to his mother Amanda, who appreciates the sentiment but also warns that the estrangement between father and son may be permanent, since it has been 18 years
[ref]
So, taking 18 years off the canon dates of TOS, Sarek hasn’t spoken to Spock since 2251 or 2252, a couple of years since Spock started with Starfleet and likely around the time he graduated and began working on a ship. Despite literally walking one child onto a star ship and arranging her stay there, Sarek was entirely disapproving to the point of ostracisation about his other child’s choice to work within the fleet.
When Michael called Sarek for advice on how to handle the Klingons (a call he took and advice he freely gave) he was not speaking to Spock.
My point here isn’t to say that Sarek is inherently evil or that no one can like him or any such shit, it’s to point out that the plot of Discovery does not affect how Sarek treats Spock, because Sarek was treating Spock awfully the whole damn time. Sarek treats his children with double (even triple, if we consider Sybok) standards and it’s awful, it’s a form of abuse and I personally can’t stand it and nothing Discovery does is gonna make me like Sarek, cos every good thing he does for Michael is another shitty thing he does to Spock.
I’m glad Michael’s relationship with Sarek is better than Spock’s is, she deserves every bit of good she can get and her life has been harsh enough without Sarek throwing a needless amount of punishment her way, but it still doesn’t make Sarek a better person or parent.
Having said all that, he is a great character, he’s just a great bad guy in my opinion. He’s complicated and nasty and manipulative and I like his scenes, I just don’t like the character.
