Final Mission by: Kacey Arnold-Ince and Jeri Taylor from a story by: Kacey Arnold-Ince and directed by: Corey Allen

 

“Final Mission” is written by: Kacey Arnold-Ince and Jeri Taylor, from a story by: Kacey Arnold-Ince, and is directed by: Corey Allen.  It was produced under production code 183, was the 9^th episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 4, the 83^rd episode overall, and was broadcast on November 19, 1990.

 

Wil Wheaton’s decision to leave Star Trek: The Next Generation is a moment in fandom that was unfairly celebrated.  Wesley Crusher is a character who entered the gestalt of pop culture as the prime example of an annoying child character who saved the day when the adults in the room failed to see solutions right under their noses.  This is a kinder stating of the sentiment early internet forums at the time displayed.  This assessment has issues.  While there certainly are episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation where Wesley is responsible for saving the day, especially in the first season, this is due to the writing staff not knowing what to do with the character.  His journey to become an ensign and enter Starfleet Academy is a compelling character arc, Wheaton as an actor is allowed to grow even if he’d already proven himself as a competent actor with earlier film appearances such as Stand by Me.  Wesley Crusher is a character who works best when he’s allowed to be written as a child and not an adult in a child’s body or Gene Roddenberry’s self-insert.  Even subpar or mediocre episodes like “Coming of Age” are elevated by characterizing Wesley as a full character and not a sketch of what these adult writers think a child acts like.  Wesley’s exit from Star Trek: The Next Generation came about because on paper Wil Wheaton wished to pursue film opportunities, and the production staff of the show would not accommodate him.  Wheaton has spoken of other reasons for leaving, including emotional abuse from his father contributed to the decision.  His decision to leave, like Denise Crosby before him, is entirely due to being rightfully unhappy with choices made by the production team, usually placed at the feet of executive producer Rick Berman.

 

“Final Mission” opens with Picard informing Wesley he has been accepted into Starfleet Academy, he has two weeks to report and will be accompanying him on a final mission to mediate a mining dispute.  Picard and Wesley are joined by a Captain Dirgo, played by Nick Tate, while the Enterprise is taken to resolve a distress call involving a radiation leak and a mysterious spaceship as the B-plot of the episode.  The A-plot is the shuttle crashing onto a desert moon, cut off from the Enterprise.  The episode is a race against the clock to save themselves, Picard as the calm and rational man in a crisis while Dirgo is always on the knife’s edge of exploding.  Wesley is caught in the middle, “Final Mission” acting narratively as a final test for the character to see how far he has grown.  The weakest part of the episode is the B-plot, it’s perfectly serviceable and puts Riker in the spotlight but it is at this point a standard Star Trek plot.  The A-plot could also be described as a quintessential Star Trek plot where the dramatic tension is being put on the acting ability of Wil Wheaton to deliver on the episode’s premise.  Wheaton is up for it, Kacey Arnold-Ince and Jeri Taylor (Taylor more than Arnold-Ince) write plenty of material to examine how much he has grown and how much he still has ahead of him.  The more interesting elements are Wesley’s own need for paternal approval from Picard, the final line being Patrick Stewart giving Wesley that pride and approval.

 

Picard is not Wesley’s father, even if Picard and Dr. Crusher have chemistry, but he is the father figure in the child’s life.  The episode ends with this admission of pride, not a goodbye from Dr. Crusher to her son.  Crusher is in the episode, but Star Trek: The Next Generation would not be Star Trek: The Next Generation without leaving a female character with less to do than their male counterparts.  Dr. Crusher in this episode is part of the B-plot and only in the final act of the episode where she does get to be concerned for her son, Gates McFadden playing the material she is given quite well.  The shame is that there is not enough of the material to really excel at portraying the relationship between a parent and child.  A deeper reading of it and the previous episodes to include interactions between Crusher and her son as shallower than interactions between Wesley and his male counterparts.  Star Trek: The Next Generation is still a show largely made by men and “Final Mission” is a revelation of how it separates the relationship between father and son over mother and son as different and almost incompatible.  Indicating a rigid view of gender, Dr. Crusher is not a character who can provide the same type of pride and approval that Picard can to Wesley because she is a woman, he is a man.  She is his mother and could not understand the male psyche, while Picard can.  Jeri Taylor’s influence on this episode specifically makes that about the absence of the father Wesley never knew, however, the reflection on the series is there.  Picard gets the last word, Beverly barely gets one.

 

Overall, “Final Mission” works as a good exit for Wil Wheaton as Wesley Crusher.  There is certainly more care than the last time a cast member was being written out, Jeri Taylor’s position on the production team is certainly additive to the experience.  Wheaton’s performance is his strongest in the series, even if the script is doing in the greater scheme of television a basic final episode for a character.  Where it falls is the B-plot being largely uninteresting and not including enough of Dr. Crusher in a parental capacity except for worry and a brief scene at the end of reunion.  “Final Mission” is the definition of a standard good episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation.  7/10.