When AOS Spock loses his mother, Sarek tells him that he shouldn’t try to control his anger and sadness because she wouldn’t have wanted him to. He then goes on to say that he married her because he loved her (after previously having told him that marrying a human was merely a logical decision for an ambassador), and Spock’s entire world looks like it’s falling to pieces and crumbling right before his eyes.
In the prime timeline, Spock never told his mother that he loved her. He cried over it in The Naked Time, and it wasn’t so much over the fact that he had run out of time or opportunities to do so, but rather how disgusted he was with himself for having never even considered that it might’ve be something she would’ve wanted to hear from him. He had spent his entire life learning to be ashamed of his love, and shame was all he knew. It didn’t matter how deeply he felt his love for his mother, he could never admit it, as it wasn’t the Vulcan way to ever speak of one’s feelings. After all, we find out in TNG that Sarek never told Amanda or Spock that he loved them, and it tore him up too profusely for him to control anymore.
Even though Spock had been afflicted with a virus and Sarek had Bendi Syndrome, their emotions were completely honest and genuine. They both held their deepest regrets centered around not expressing their affections for those they loved most and held closest in their hearts. Furthermore, Sarek and Spock never told each other how much they cared for one another, and they both continued to grow deeper into their remorse with each passing day they didn’t speak to each other–until it was too late for either of them.
Perhaps this means that AOS Spock and Sarek will be more expressive in their love and care for one another. Perhaps Spock, hearing Sarek say he loved Amanda after it was too late for her to hear it from him, will realize that experiencing shame simply for feeling love will result in catastrophic levels of remorse much later on in his life. After all, he was ready to admit to Kirk that he loved Uhura, so I wouldn’t put it past him to do the same for his father. With so few Vulcans left, putting aside his shame isn’t so much a virtue anymore, but rather a necessity, so that they each can live peacefully and free from the burdens of their own consciences.
The last thing that these Vulcans need is more regret. An entire lifetime’s worth of love, and all prime timeline Sarek or Spock have to show for it is their own guilt. Love has an obligation to be defined and measured by more than just pain and loss, and at least AOS Sarek and Spock have the chance to choose a different path for themselves this time around.
