Plot Synopsis: Following an accident during an Academy training exercise that leads to the death of one of his friends, Wesley Crusher must decide whether loyalty or truth is the first duty.
Plot A and B Analysis: The teaser is brief, but with a great hook. The Enterprise is heading to Starfleet Academy where Picard will give the commencement address when the superintendent of the Academy tells him on a private channel that there’s been an accident involving Wesley Crusher. Plot A involves Wesley and the accident, there is no plot B. We learn Wesley was part of an elite flight squadron practicing for the commencement and there was a collision–one of the five pilots died. The inquiry into the accident is the plot of this episode. During the first day of the inquiry Nick, the squadron leader, blames the dead kid for the accident. During the second day there’s a jaw-dropper: an incriminating photo that proves the squadron clearly deviated from what they testified occurred. Picard figures out they were trying to fly the banned Kolvoord Starburst maneuver and the cover-up, and confronts Wesley in a memorable scene. Wesley is left with a choice: his duty to tell the truth about what happened, or his duty to his friends and team. The final day of the inquiry he makes his choice, and has to live with the consequences.
Favorite Scenes: There are so many wonderful scenes in this episode. Picard and Boothby catching up is one that’s always stuck with me, as they allude to some incident in Picard’s time at the academy that Boothby helped him with. There’s a guilt-inducing scene in the 23rd and 24th minute where the dead kid’s dad comes in and tells Wes he’s sorry his son let Nova Squadron down that’s wonderfully done. The audience has such compassion for the father, and heightens the demand that we know what really happened. One of the two best scenes begins in the 32nd minute, when Picard gives one of the more memorable speeches in the entire series. He asks Wes point blank if the Starburst was what they were attempting. Wes replies, “I choose not to answer.” Picard has had enough and lays into him:
Picard: The first duty of every Starfleet officer is to the truth, whether it’s scientific truth or historical truth or personal truth. It is the guiding principle on which Starfleet is based! Now, if you can’t find it within yourself to stand up and tell the truth about what happened, you don’t deserve to wear that uniform. I’m going to make this simple for you, Mr. Crusher. Either you come forward and tell Admiral Brand what took place or I will.
Impressively, Nick gives an excellent speech of his own in the following scene, and the tension that is felt as Wesley’s choice weighs upon him can be almost tangibly felt. The other best scene is where Wesley stands up for the truth, literally and figuratively.
Use of Cast/Characters: Picard gives a wonderful, subtle bit of acting in the teaser right after Admiral Brand at 1:37 where she says she knows he’s close with the Crusher family. Watch his expression change, just enough so the audience can detect it. Picard’s main job this episode is to try to convince Wes to do the right thing. Riker and Deanna and Worf are in this episode but you’d hardly know it, they are only in the teaser. Data and Geordi have about the same, which is one scene where they tell Picard their discoveries about the accident. Beverly has a few scenes, which feels about right. This episode belongs to Wil Wheaton and he turns in a fine performance as a young man who has done something and is not sure what to do about it. There’s a nice reaction he has in the 7th minute, when Picard and Beverly visit him at the academy. They ask how he’s feeling, and his response is, “Not bad, the arm’s a little sore.” The way he says it then turns and walks in sets the tone for the scene. They just become parents visiting a son in his dorm room, people he’s completely comfortable with. It doesn’t last long, but I like it. He will only appear two more times in the series, both in season 7. Boothby is portrayed by the terrific Ray Walston, and his character has twice been referred to: first in Final Mission, and more recently in The Game. He does a great job. Frankly so does Robert Duncan McNeill as Nick Locarno, who is first rate. The rest of the guest stars are just okay, with the notable exception of Ed Lauder who plays Josh’s father Albert, in a memorable scene.
Blu Ray Version: There are a total of 37 seconds of upconverted standard definition footage because they couldn’t find the original. It’s mostly in the teaser, and there are another 12 seconds during 35:11 – 36:02. There are some deleted scenes also. The first deleted scene takes place right after Admiral Brand expresses sympathy to Josh’s father. He just asks a couple of questions about what happened. Later Beverly comforts him. It’s not much, didn’t need to be included. The second scene takes place after Wes tells Beverly not to protect him. She talks to Picard on the ship and says she knows he’s in trouble. Again, there’s nothing here that is significant. Finally, if you pause at about 6:26 and other places in the episode you’ll see some incorrect Latin on the glass panes. “Ex Astra Scientia” was changed to the correct “Ex Astris Scientia” where they could (like 26:57), but in other places they couldn’t. It means “from the stars, knowledge.”
Nitpicks: There’s only one I can come up with. Boothby refers to Picard performing a reverse body lift and pinning a Ligonian in the first 14 seconds of a wrestling match. If you recall, the Ligonians are the aliens from way back in the much-maligned Code of Honor. Seems like a stretch since Starfleet didn’t know much about them when they first encountered them four years previously.
Overall Impression: This has got to be the single finest episode featuring Wesley Crusher. It humanizes him more than most any previous episode, makes him more relatable and puts him under a lot pressure, which I always love. It’s not a typical Star Trek episode at all: they go back to Earth instead of exploring, and it didn’t really feel all that “science-fictiony”. I always enjoy the link between Boothby helping Picard back in the day, and Picard helping Wesley in the same way. I wish there were more episodes on TV about choosing to do the right thing. There’s a lot in this episode to like, and I can readily rate it 5 out of 5 stars.
Behind the Scenes/Trivia: There’s quite a bit, settle in! This is the first ever appearance of Starfleet Academy. It was shot at the same location that Justice was. Take a look in the 5th minute and you’ll see the flag is at half-staff. It’s a nice touch. Naren Shankar (who co-wrote this episode) was friends with Ron Moore in college. He finished his PhD in engineering physics and electrical engineering from Cornell, and decided he didn’t really like the field he was going into. Ron suggested they go out to Hollywood and become screen writers, and he agreed! He served as a science consultant through much of the fourth season. This episode was his first writing assignment and he worked on it with Ron Moore, who had the initial idea. Rick Berman was reluctant to do this episode, but Michael Piller went to bat for it:
We have the chance to explore an issue that is extra meaningful to a lot of young people. If you’re involved in drugs or teenage misbehavior or crime, and you may know that it’s the wrong thing and you have the choice of being loyal to your friends or doing what is honest – that is a great issue for us to explore.
Berman agreed, on the condition that a maximum of three sets be used. Ron Moore had a huge disagreement with Michael Piller (the head writer) about how this episode ended. Ron insisted Wesley would never betray his friends, and Michael said this is about Starfleet, about the truth, your word. Ron’s counterpoint was what about your friends, you make promises to them too! He had a different ending in mind, but I’m glad they shot the ending the way they did, Piller was right.
Robert Duncan McNeill’s performance so impressed the producers that they would later hire him to play Tom Paris on Voyager. Why didn’t they just have him play Locarno? Simple. Using Locarno’s character meant that Moore and Shankar would get a royalty for every episode, since they created him–can’t have that! Robert himself said that their characters are different: “Locarno seemed like a nice guy, but deep down he was a bad guy. Tom Paris is an opposite premise in a way. Deep down he’s a good guy. He’s just made some mistakes.”
There are several references to old episodes, as well as a future one. Picard mentioning “all the running I did” in the 11th minute is a reference to him being a marathon runner, which we learned about back in Best of Both Worlds, Part II. Pay attention to cadet Sito, since she will return in the outstanding Lower Decks. There are also references to Encounter at Farpoint and Where No One Has Gone Before. Entertainment Weekly named this #9 of their top ten episodes of TNG. The Air Force Academy evidently shows this episode to cadets in training to emphasize their code of “I will not lie, cheat or steal, nor tolerate those who do.”
Missable/Unmissable? Another unmissable episode! This is outstanding, please watch it. The next one though, you can outright skip.
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