[TNG] Season 7, Episode 20: Journey’s End
Rating: 1
When some nonsense 90s style noble savage stuff isn’t the worst thing in an episode of TNG, you’ve got a rough one on your hands. There’s at least some drama to mine from Picard being put in this compromising situation, but the fact that the colonists are Native American kinda throws a wrench in that by connecting too explicitly to specific contemporary issues. (One of Picard’s relatives even personally murdered some natives a long time ago, to make the stakes even more bizarre) That’s aside from this episode continuing Trek’s well meaning but condescending attitude towards spiritualism and religion.
And then there’s Wesley. I get that the writers want to tie up loose ends in the final stretch of the show, but Wesley being some kind of Chosen One genius was incredibly lame in the first season, and the decision to not only revisit it but reinforce that decision is truly baffling. It doesn’t help that they establish Wesley’s personal crisis in hacky, annoying ways by just having him be a jerk.
Lastly, the flow and logic of this episode is all out of whack. The Traveler showing up could have been a surprise, even if it’s an unwanted one, but they blow that by suspiciously bringing him up early on to remind the audience who he was. Wesley goes from not seeming to know much about the colonist’s plight in one scene to throwing down against Worf and resigning Starfleet in defense of the colonists in the next. Then he goes back to not caring *at all* once the Traveler reveals himself. The Traveler, who, by the way, disguises himself as a colonist for no reason other than to delay a “reveal.” An all around mess.
Read more at Memory Alpha
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