Journey's End

Wesley Crusher comes back to the Enterprise for a visit, but he’s not the young man the others expect him to be. Meanwhile on Dorvan V, the Native American colonists are being forced to uproot by Starfleet in an ugly bit of history repeating. Throw in some Cardassians with itchy trigger fingers, and you’ve got Journey’s End going into this week’s Mission Log. A nice send off for Wesley that no one was asking for. It was nice to see him again. John and Ken have been begging for more meatier episodes, here ya go. Could not be more bonk bonk over the head than this one. This episode seems very similar to the movie Insurrection, but in this one Picard is reluctantly following orders rather than what happens in the movie. I think you mean “Indian colonists” (according to this episode which really ought to have known better). I want to like this episode, but there are issues. First, is the Indians. Sorry… but for some reason, it’s easier to suspend disbelief about the ‘Indians’ in “The Paradise Syndrome” than it is to believe these guys, sitting on a set, are really transplanted Lakotas or whichever. I absolutely HATE that the colonists somehow have been keeping track of their 17th century enemy’s descendants for 700 years until they can pull a ‘gotcha’ on Picard. Did the family name not change in 700 years? It’s a straight line to — nevermind. Finally, the AHA moment when the Traveler shows up is the worst deep dive I’ve seen in TNG. Also, the ending just sucks. Otherwise, great episode! Of course, you guys make it better… and thanks for that. John said that he did not like that the Indians left earth to find something else. My take on that was that 200 years ago the 3rd world war was ending and earth became a world government. I can understand that the Indians have been pushed off there land, had to live under the US government and now a new world government. They have the ability to leave and reclaim the identity of their tribe. They kind of have a scene about how everyone from different alien races has a spirit and we are all the same. But, they are also Indian or Aboriginal American separatists at the same time. So, clans and tribes isolating and judging others based on what hill or valley they were born in is OK or not? On a lighter note, what makes Wesley so special? Was Jack Crusher perhaps hiding details about his ancestry? Is there a distant Traveller ancestor whose genes expressed themselves in Wesley and allowed him to develop “pan-dimensional” abilities? Lol I know this is jumping the timeline, but I bet we can assume that when the Dominion wiped out the Maquis, they wiped out this colony as well. Ugh. Ron Moore likes his magic endings. Perhaps Wesley is only magic because the Traveler modified him somehow after deciding he was special. Or does it have something to do with Beverly’s family constantly falling under the spell of candle ghost? I don’t like the political resolution either. You guys nailed it; they have no reason to trust Gul Evek. Even if they can trust him they can’t trust the Cardassian government. I totally believe Picard and the Federation would be willing to let a colony die for political reasons. Ken made a good point when he brought up Sarjenka: Picard will let someone die if it’s in accordance with the rules and he doesn’t have to feel bad about it. The colonists here are so stubborn they made him feel good about it. He’ll go on his merry way and forget about it unless it comes back to bite him. My one thought about the natives the whole time is that this is not ancestral land that the natives have been on for generations They just got there a few decades ago. Now I get that they did not want to move, but how invested could they actually be. And as was mentioned in the podcast, did every colonist feel the same way? I never liked the new agey mysticism treatment ST gave native americans (indians, whatevs). And boy, will we get a lot of that with Chakotay. I wonder why they never committe