I don't like this episode, but I have a measure of respect
for it. I'm very torn on this one.
Two things are happening simultaneously in this
episode. First you have Picard and the
Enterprise crew under investigation and you also have Wesley trying to pass an
entrance exam into the academy.
The running theme seems to be tests. Tests of loyalty for the Enterprise crew and
various tests for Wesley on the planet.
I get it that they were really trying hard to come up with something
meaningful in this episode.
Here are my problems with the episode. Firstly, another moment of "you're doing
it wrong." If you have to have a
"recap" episode in the first season, you're doing it wrong. They bring up incidents from four previous
episodes as a matter of inquisition into Picard's command style and walking the
line with the prime directive. This show
hasn't even been on an entire season yet and we're already reliving the good
times. It's perilous if you want a long
lifespan in a show. This is the sort of
thing that shouldn't happen until at least 4 seasons have passed. The idea is to create tension, but the
atmosphere is a little too negative for the end result.
All the while this is going on Picard is put to another
command test when another kid who can't take parental pressures to achieve
steals a shuttle craft to run away. This
part seemed out of place and even though it showcased Picard's coolness under
pressure and ability to lead, it was obviously just a time killer since the
rest of the interrogation and the investigation content was very weak... there
just wasn't enough of it to support an entire episode. The overall weakness of this episode is its
biggest problem.
I guess that's the reason for having the sub plot of Wesley
at the academy. And I like it that they
were trying so hard to have more than one thing going on during an episode for
the purpose of character development. It
shows that there was more to the writers than what they'd been putting out so
far. But the time at the academy is just
too awkward and weird. You don't get a
sense of realism from it. The whole
touchy-feely atmosphere; the guy in charge whose behavior is like that of a
wise, mystic monk rather than an instructor or teacher; the colors... It seems
more like a McDonald's play room than a serious training academy building. The "tests" Wesley has to endure
are, again, reminiscent of an after school special, only more compact and
goofy. In fact these segments seem to
pander heavily to tweenagers. Obviously
younger teenagers would really enjoy the angst over the coming
"psych" test which was hyped almost as being more important than any
academic test. That, again, is a little
unrealistic, but I get what they were doing with the younger audience. Perhaps it was smart, but not as enjoyable
for a thinking adult. Just more
weakness.
Of course, I would be remiss if I didn't mention that the
psych test itself was an early example of how Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
had far reaching effects and influence over all of the Star Trek
franchise. Star Trek II changed
everything. Hard decisions had to be
made rather than the good guys just endlessly coming to the rescue and leaving
unscathed. They equate it to the loss of
Wesley's own father, and I see the validity in that assessment. Wesley's character was kept relatively
2-demensional for a long time, so the simplicity made some sense. But I admire the test itself (even though I
don't think it would be a realistic part of an entrance exam) because it
showcased the complexity that had been started with Wrath of Khan, and was a
taste of complexities to follow as the series progressed.
Ultimately Wesley fails because he's too nice and too perfect. Giving him nothing to work on and nowhere to
grow, but simply used as an excuse to keep the character on the ship instead of
sending him away to be the prodigy that the Traveler envisioned him as being. The scene at the very end with Picard and Wesley
is gold. Pure gold - it wasn't sappy or
childish - and they were utterly too blind to see it. Had they paired Wesley with Picard sooner, he
would've developed differently, but they were more concerned with Picard being
uncomfortable with children and it's not until after Picard grows that Wesley
has a chance and by then it's too late.
The investigation story ends with the admiral admitting that
there's nothing wrong with Picard or the enterprise, but that he's just
paranoid about the politics of the Federations and wants to promote Picard to a
more powerful position. Like I said, the
negative atmosphere created in the episode gave a kind of anticlimactic let
down to this ending. All of that tension
for nothing. But the respect comes from
the fact that they actually planned to follow up on this episode, though it
doesn't really telegraph it all that well.
This episode sets up another one later, and that's the kind of
broad-stroke writing that Star Trek would become expert at as the seasons
passed and throughout Deep Space Nine. This
is another "first try" that needed to have the bugs worked out.
I don't know what kind of rating to give the episode. I think two and a half because it is
ultimately weak and not the most enjoyable watch even though the potential was
very high and you could see a brighter future for the show in it.
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