Final Mission is a kind of misleading title. It's in the middle of a season so it's not a final anything, although I always kind of liked to think that they were just very confident at this point that the show had traction and there wouldn't be a "final mission" for at least a few years. Of course, it's a reference to the Wesley character. Wil Wheaton wanted to leave the show to pursue other things and who could blame him? But this episode and the last one he played a major part in, Remember Me, were two of the best ones for him up to this point. It's frustrating because it seemed promising, but I know that if he'd stayed they would've just squandered the character more.
It begins with more teasing Wesley for being late to answer a call from the captain. I always hate parts like that because it's so typical of how I think the writers saw the character of Wesley... a scamp... a whippersnapper... a perpetual child. Of course it's an endearing moment because Picard is telling Wesley personally that there's an opening at the academy. It seems like another teaser for the audience - how will Wesley end up staying in this season? But with it being in the middle of the season and having a title like Final Mission it could also make one wonder if he would actually be going this time or perhaps be killed off, so there's no need for us to put our guard up for another bait and switch with the Academy subplot. Since there's going to be a two week wait though, Picard opts to take Wesley with him to observe while he arbitrates a mining dispute since Federation Law is part of what he'll be studying at school. This episode kind of flips things around a bit for Wesley. Instead of introducing a character that looks down on him as a child, it's Wesley who finds the shuttle pilot from the mining outpost they rendezvous with, Dirgo, lacking in qualifications to call himself a captain. It's an interesting switch, but it also makes Wesley seem kind of immature even though the only thing I'm sure they were trying to convey was his hero worship of Picard, something we all have by this time in season three. The Enterprise receives a distress call from another helpless planet that is being threatened by radiation levels from an unmanned garbage barge that is nearing its atmosphere. Riker can handle it without Picard, so the team splits up to carry on with these routine missions.
Of course, there wouldn't be a show without unforeseen consequences. The shuttle suffers a mishap, but the pilot has made some modifications that allow them to crash land on a dessert moon. There isn't any water and few emergency supplies on board. Again, Wesley is baffled by this kind of short-sightedness and it awkwardly makes his character seem snobbish even though this is exactly the kind of reaction Riker would have in the same situation. Dirgo's explanation boils down to the fact that the pod is small and he needed more room for more cargo and had to make some decisions on what to carry along. His attitude is poor, but proud. He's very defensive, pessimistic, and a little high strung. Picard, as always, takes charge and keeps everyone calm. They take what little they have and head for a nearby mountain range for shelter. There's never any doubt that a rescue party will come for them, so they leave an arrow from the debris to mark the direction they went.
On the Enterprise, they are informed that the mining shuttle has suffered damage and is possibly lost but there's nothing they can do. The garbage barge is leaking toxic waste and had drifted into the orbit of the planet that called for help, so the crew has no choice but to give medical aide to the parts of the planet that have suffered radiation damage and also to tow the barge away. They decide to take it to the sun, but it's not that easy since its close proximity to the Enterprise endangers them as well. They're reassured that the mining colonies will be sending out search parties for the shuttle Picard and Wesley are on, but are downcast knowing that their technology is limited compared with that of the Enterprise.
They decide to follow some strange readings that come up on Wesley's tricorder. The insufferable Dirgo is caught hiding a flask of some kind of alcoholic beverage. He lies and says that he'd planned to share it, but Picard confiscates it and decides it should be used as medical supplies if needed. In the cavern they reach they find a fountain of water which Dirgo immediately runs toward. He's bounced back by a forcefield.
Wesley is ready to examine it a little further but Dirgo pulls out his phaser and starts firing at it. A defensive energy shot from the field shoots the phaser out of Dirgo's hand and encases it in a selenium cocoon. It also ricochets off the ceiling which sends rocks falling over Wesley. Picard pushes him out of the way and catches the full brunt of it.
He's alive but too incapacitated to help. He tells Wesley to try to keep Dirgo reigned in. But Dirgo isn't interested in studying the phenomenon and trying to figure out how it works. He just wants to try a new plan of attack. He pressures Wesley into doing it, but not in the usual way, i.e, pulling rank as an adult over a child, which I liked. He makes a very valid point about Picard needing the water sooner than later and Wesley can tell he's going to do something whether he helps or not, so he helps.
His plan backfires and he too is encased in selenium. Leaving Wesley to do what he would've done anyway.
While he's preparing for another assault on the forcefield there's some great interaction between him and Picard. Like I've said a million times already, they should've paired Wesley with Picard all the time because that's when the character of Wesley was always best. It's Patrick Stewart that lifted the character up so well. This is another fine moment as was his pairing with the Traveler. More of this much sooner would've done Wesley a lot better. This is the first time the groundskeeper of Starfleet academy, Boothby, is mention. He'd later be played by Ray Walston and become a nostalgic focal point for many characters.
Riker and the crew manage to guide the barge into the sun of that solar system just in the nick of time before they suffer from too much radiation exposure themselves. And so another disaster plot device is used in a supplementary fashion which is a good place to use something like this. It keeps them from helping Picard and Wesley sooner.
But Wesley gets to the water. It presumably would've been easier if Dirgo had been alive and able to help, but he manages to neutralize the defensive energy pulse and collapse the forcefield on his own. It's a good Wesley moment. By this time in the series it seemed right to have him saving the day as opposed to the first season when he was just outsmarting the adults. It's really a good way to send the character off and it's just a shame it took them until nearly the end of his regular appearances to find good ways to use him.
Wesley tends Picard with the water as best he can and later you see him waking up to find his mother and other crew members tending to all of them. He's sent off to the academy with Picard's blessing and so ends Wesley's status as a main character. Honestly, he got better stories after he left when they'd bring him back in for an episode here and there. Much like Tasha. Perhaps my first theory was correct... that they just had too many main characters in the beginning, along with the fact that they didn't know what to do with a teenage boy in this sort of series at first. At any rate the show would now be at its peak balance of characters, main and recurring.
Four stars. It's a good episode, but not great. It was necessary and well executed, but it doesn't grab at my heartstrings.
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