 James Hunt , reviewing " Sarek " for Den of Geek in 2014 , appreciated the episode 's metaphor for the declining health of Gene Roddenberry . He felt that there was no follow @-@ up to the emotional disturbances suffered by the crew , but said that despite this the episode worked because of the presence of Lenard as Sarek . He said that " they cunningly build up [ Sarek 's ] respect for Picard throughout the episode so that the proposed solution to his problem doesn 't seem too far @-@ fetched , and the rapport between Lenard and Stewart is so immediate that you can believe a literal mind @-@ meld makes sense for the characters . It 's not a perfect episode in terms of its writing , but the acting sells it far better than it could 've . " In 2014 , the episode was ranked as the 70th best out of the over 700 episodes in the Star Trek franchise by Charlie Jane Anders for io9 . 
