It is powerful, emotional and true to the characters, but it also confirms how dangerous Sybok is. He may have used his Vulcan telepathy to see McCoy’s pain, but all he did was show it to McCoy. Notice the language used by Sybok. “But that’s not all.” “Tell me what else.” It’s classic cold reading language. Sybok guides McCoy to reach his own closure. A counsellor, perhaps, but with evil motives. The false messiah. McCoy is certainly radicalized at this point, not because of the release but because of the sheer mental exhaustion of his ordeal. Perhaps even a touch of Stockholm Syndrome.

The undoing of Sybok is not with his methods, but with his targets. His next attempt is with Spock, who he believes hides the pain of his dual heritage. In fact, he is utterly wrong – Spock carries the old pain but has long since dealt with it. Sybok’s superficial savior undone by his brother, who sees through the illusion.

Kirk too sees through it, but in a different way. He may not have come to terms with his pain (implied, but not stated, to be the death of his son, or perhaps the death of his brother, which he alludes to later), but he understands its purpose and how it drives him to be better. He needs his pain, as do we all. Radicalization preys on the weak, whether that means intellectually, socio-economically, or emotionally.

In Kirk and Spock we see the failure, whether it be due to strength, wisdom or simply one brother knowing another. In McCoy we see weakness, but an understandable one. That he is not utterly converted is because his ties to Kirk and Spock are stronger. He is not in control of his actions after his ordeal with Sybok, as none are after being preyed on by radicals, but having a support network was a greater anchor than the cool new leader with the easy answers. I’ve been to anti-radicalization training (twice, actually), and this is exactly the strategy that works.

Finally, the encounter. We learn that Sybok’s plan was to steal a starship and take it to God. He has constructed a narrative whereby he is God’s messenger and will deliver all to paradise, literally. The location of God is a problem, however. Firstly, it is beyond The Great Barrier, secondly, it is at the center of the galaxy. The first one evokes the second pilot to the series, “Where No Man Has Gone Before,” and the barrier around the edge of the galaxy that caused Gary Mitchell to develop godlike powers and try to kill everyone. There’s got to be a fan theory in there somewhere (and there are several non-canon novels). The second problem is more difficult to overcome. The novelization mentions Sybok using knowledge from God to modify the Enterprise’s engines, but nothing like that exists in the film (there’s that “first draft” problem again).