ST:TNG Season Five, Episode Nineteen "The First Duty"

ST: TNG Season Five, Episode Nineteen "The First Duty"
Production Order: 19
Air Order: 19
Stardate: 45703.9
Original Air Date: March 30, 1992

Picard's Log 45703.9: "Going back to Earth, cuz they asked me to give the keynote at the Academy graduation ceremony. Will also see Wesley Crusher, cuz he's part of this flight team that will be doing a flying demonstration that's gonna be broadcast to the ceremony. Should be a cool couple of days."

Senior staff is working on the bridge when Worf tells Picard that they're ten hours out from Earth, and Picard replies back to let Starfleet Academy know, and to also send his regards to Superintendent Brand. This kicks off a brief, friendly convo between Picard and Riker about the superintendents that were overseeing the Academy when they were attending: Riker notes that his super was Vulcan, and had memorized the personnel files of every cadet, making it feel like you were attending academy with your parents; Picard muses on his own own super, a Betazoid with full telepathic powers.

"He didn't have to ask you why you were there to see him."

"You were in the super's office?" laughs Riker.

(Remember: this is before we learn about the dom-jot incident. As far as the audience knows, he's a Boy Scout who likes archaeology.)

"Admiral Brand is calling for you," Worf announces. "But like, on a private channel."

So Picard goes to his ready room.

He's all smiles when he greets Brand, but her news is pretty sobering: there's been an accident, and it involves Wes.

Dramatic music! Commercial break!

I'm sure they did it this way for maximum drama, but when we return, Picard is in Crusher's office, telling her about Wes' injuries, because they failed to call his mother first.
That's some bullshit, Brand. You always contact next of kin first. "Friend of the family" does not get dibs.

Anyway, Wes has some burns and several fractures to his arm, and Crusher drops into doctor mode right away to deal with the stress, telling Picard what medical procedures they'll probably take to patch her kid up.

He points out that Wes is fine, and she says "I know he's fine" several times in this voice that is not convincing.

It's similar to using my Customer Service Voice to apologize to a customer for something that was totally their own fucking fault: you're not gonna buy it, but I'm gonna try selling it anyway.

He explains (because somehow the Academy and its infirmary can't be bothered) that Wes and the flight team were practicing their routine near Saturn, and there was a collision of the crafts. All of the crafts were destroyed, four pilots (including Wes) made it out, but one kid, Joshua Albert, died.

Crusher muses that Wes has been excited to join this team, even though it was dangerous, and that he spoke often of Josh Albert, his friend.

"He's perfectly fine," Picard reminds her.

The E has arrived at Earth, and aw man, the Academy flag is flying half-staff.

There's a meeting with some parents, presumably of other cadets, and includes Picard, Crusher, and Lt-Commander Albert, Joshua's father. There's one other pair, but they have no lines, so we don't really know who they are.

Admiral Brand tells the group that the wreckage of the crafts was pretty mangled, and they only managed to get one black box, which was also pretty banged up. They're going to try to pull footage from it, and there's going to be an inquiry with Nova Squadron - the flight team - later that day.

 Brand tells the others that some people have suggested that commencement be canceled, but Brand and Josh's father talked, and agreed that it should go on, to show the cadets that death is a part of being in Starfleet, and that life continues on.

After the meeting breaks up, Picard approaches Brand and offers her the use of the Enterprise for the investigation, should she need it.

Wes is in his quarters doing arm-resistance exercises to work out the kinks in his arm. (Beverly had mentioned a "regeneration series" in her office earlier, so presumably, medicine in the 24th century can repair bones quickly and easily.)

Also, this resistance-training device is pretty sweet. I don't know anything about physical therapy, but I think this is cool.

There's a knock at the door, which opens on a regular-ass hinge, as opposed to sliding open like on a starship, and Picard and Beverly are there to visit. He invites them in and reiterates that he's fine, just a little sore from the accident and medical treatments.

Ever the doctor, Beverly examines his arm and the device he was using. They both tell Wes that they're sorry to hear about Josh, and ask if he'd like to talk about it.

"Not really," he replies. "I've done nothing but talk about it the last two days, and I'd kind of like a break."

Picard says he's there to talk if Wes changes his mind.

Another knock at the door. Wes is a popular guy.

It's Tom Paris Nicholas Locarno, the leader of Nova Squadron. By the bars on his collar (four, as compared to Wes' two), he's a senior. Nick notices who else is in the room, and drops to attention, but Picard tells him to be at ease.

Beverly and Picard ask how Nick is doing, and he says he's alright, but has never lost anyone under his command before.

"Yeah, that never gets easier," says Picard kindly.

Wes crosses to the door and holds it open. "Um, can you guys leave? I need to talk to Nick alone."

Wow.

Okay, then?

Bit sus, Wes.

Beverly and Picard are also surprised, but do as he asked, telling him they will see him at the inquiry.

Once they've left, Nick tells Wes what time the inquiry is, and asks if he's ready. Then he reassures the underclassman that it'll all be okay as long as Nova Squadron sticks together.

Maybe he's just being nice, and a good squadron leader.

Or maybe Nick Locarno is also sus.

Dramatic music, so you know where that's going! Commercial break!

Back on his old stomping grounds, Picard decides to take a walk, maybe see an old friend.

Y'all, it's Boothby!

We hear him chastise a kid for sitting in a flower bed before we see him kicking that same cadet out. But like, in Boothby's defense, it was really obviously a flower bed.

Boothby is an older guy, the grounchy groundskeeper, and he wields a sharp-looking trowel. If I'm building an army of fictional characters, I want fucking Boothby on my side.

He looks up in confusion when Picard calls him by name.

" It's Jean-Luc Picard? Class of '27?"

Boothby Sassy Moment: "I know that. What happened to your hair?"

The list of people who can safely screw with Picard is short, and Boothby is at the top.

Picard offers to help Boothby replant the flower bed, and the old gardener starts talking about how impressive Picard has become, captain of the Enterprise, giving the commencement address. Guess he did remember Picard.

They get up and start walking the grounds, and Boothby leaves his gardening tools on the ground (???).

"So, hey," says Picard a little awkwardly. "Thanks for like, helping me out at the Academy. I don't think I would have graduated if it wasn't for you."

"Meh," scoffs Boothby. "You were young and dumb and made a mistake. We've all been there. And you knew what to do. I just pointed you in that direction, made sure you listened to yourself."

"Yeah, but I didn't talk to you for months. I thought you were a cranky old man."

Sassy Boothby Moment: "I was. And by the way, I was about the same age you are now."

Damn, Boothby.

"Things is, you turned out okay. That was the important part."

They stop at this metal thing with a roll top, and I think it's a place to store his tools?

Picard asks if he knew Josh Albert.

Boothby names off the members of the Nova Squadron: Crusher, Sito, Hajar, Locarno, Albert. "I know them all."

Worrying music, and a close-up on Picard...

Back in Wes' quarters, the members of Nova Squadron have lined up in a row so Locarno can inspect them before the inquiry. He's friendly about it, though. When Sito admits to being nervous, he says reassuringly that he is too, but they'll be okay. He gives a quick pep talk about how leading the team has been the highlight of his Academy years, and he's grateful for their friendship. They all file out, and he briefly looks uncertain before following.

We jump straight to the inquiry, and watch a Powerpoint about the routine that Nova Squadron was practicing, while Locarno describes it.

"...we were in a diamond-slot formation, prepping for a Yeager Loop. Then Cadet Albert's craft collided with Cadet Hajar's. I hit the emergency beam-out, and ended up at the evac stations on Mimas. Everyone beamed off, except Josh."

The little crafts on the demo blow up, the members of Nova Squadron shift uncomfortably in their seats. So does Josh's father.

Jean Hajar is called to the carpet. She was in charge of filing the flight plan, and Brand points out that the information given indicated that they did a turn a lot closer to Saturn than what was listed on the flight plan.

"It was still within safety parameters," Hajar objects.

GIRL NO.

"That wasn't the question," says Brand icily.

Y'all, that is Admiral Brand. Like, I'm afraid of this woman, and I don't even know her.

Hajar quickly apologizes, and says that the team had discussed changing the flight plan after it had been filed, and the decision to make the change was further discussed while flying to Saturn, and that it was such a small thing that she didn't feel it was worth mentioning.

Captain Satelk, the Vulcan helping Brand with the inquiry, asks Hajar if she saw the collision happening before she transported off. When she says no, he asks the entire team. Shaken heads all around.

Then he asks Sito if she saw Albert in trouble, as she was in the tail position.

"I didn't," she replies. "I was flying on sensor only, not visual."

"Say what now?" asks Setelk.

The gallery starts whispering.

Crusher, who is not a pilot, quietly asks Picard what the problem is.

"It's weird to fly on sensors alone during that kind of maneuver," he whispers back. "You need to be able to see the other ships to check proximity."

Sito quickly ends up in the weeds as Brands starts grilling her about not knowing the location of Josh's ship in relation to her own. Locarno stands up quickly, and offers more insight.

"Josh was... an awesome pilot, but he had been getting nervous lately about the close fly-bys. He would pull away last-minute."

Brand is now unimpressed with Locarno. "You let him fly in this condition? And didn't report it to anyone?"

"We were friends, and had been flying together for a long time. I thought he would handle it, if I gave him some time. I was wrong."

And now Brand wants to be really clear: "You're saying the accident was Cadet Albert's fault?"

Sito and Crusher exchange a look, and Locarno glances at them briefly. 

"I think he got scared, pulled away, and crashed into Hajar's ship. We didn't say anything because we didn't want our friend to be remembered as someone who panicked."

Brand is pissed, but keeping it to a simmer. "You let someone fly who was unfit to do so, and you didn't report it. That's a serious lack of judgement. We're getting the black box info in soon, so we'll look at that, and reconvene the inquiry tomorrow."

Picard scowls at Nova Squadron from the audience. Lt-Cmndr Albert looks distinctly uneasy.

Wes looks at Locarno.

"It's fine," says Locarno. "Everything's fine."

Dramatic music! Commercial break!

Back upstairs, Picard asks Data and La Forge to go over the testimony and the info from the black box - made available to the E by Brand - to reconstruct the accident.

La Forge says he isn't sure if they can contribute much, as the Academy has some of the best equipment out there for the task, but Picard stands firm, with the explanation that Wes is one of their own. They agree.

Downstairs, Nova Squad has gathered in Wes' quarters again.

Damn, look at that view of San Francisco. I'd put up with the Academy's shitty math classes to get a view like that.

Sito is pissed. "You told them that the accident was Josh's fault. That's not true."

"You lied!" Wes accuses Nick. "You said we weren't going to have to lie to them."

Nick is now facing three angry teammates. "I didn't lie! Josh panicked."

"We don't know that!" yells Wes.

So, with the inquiry on his ass, and his teammates pissed at him, Nick elects to gaslight the team. "Josh was getting nervous, and no one wanted to say anything because we're all friends."

Hajar shakes her head. "He must have pulled out too soon. He was probably scared."

NICK LOOKS ALMOST SURPRISED THAT JEAN TOOK THE BAIT.

Nick looks at Sito, who gives a tiny, sad nod: the accident was Josh's own fault.

But Wes is not convinced.

So Nick lowers the boom: "I know you want to protect Josh, but that comes at the expense of our careers. You wanna walk in there and tell them everything?"

Whoa-ho, what's everything, Nick?

"They'll kick us out," agrees Sito.

Y'all: look at the blocking in this shot. Everyone against Wes.

Nick holds up a padd and tells them that it's the black box info, that it was so badly damaged that they could only pull a little info from it, and all of it is from before the crash.

"We're golden," he says.

"You don't have to lie," Sito insists. "Just don't give them any new information."

Girl, that is a lie by omission. 

Hajar looks uncomfortable. 

And Nick goes in for the kill. "I knew I wanted you on this team, Wes, because you've been out there, doing the thing, counting on others and with them counting on you. You know what's like. And we promised each other that we would stick together, through it all, because we're the elite, we're Nova Squadron. And then, after graduation, we were gonna try to get posted together. Josh can't be part of those plans anymore. He'd want us to still be a team, though."

Wes still looks uneasy.

Wes is in the inquiry room, going over his Powerpoint presentation by himself, to lock in what he wants to say. Josh's dad comes in with a sweater, and says that he found it in Josh's room, and was told that it belongs to Wes.

"We went skiing in Calgary last month," says Wes quietly, taking the sweater. "Josh forgot his, so I lent him one."

They talk briefly about how Josh looked up to Wes, and considered him a good friend, who had helped Josh with some of his classes. Albert then reminisces about how much Josh hated math, but knuckled down when he found out about the Academy entrance requirements.

He ends by saying that he's sorry that Josh let the squad down, how they could have all been killed.

Let's layer that guilt on real thick, shall we?

We return to the inquiry room later, for the second part of the investigation. Wes is giving his Powerpoint, and explaining what's happing on the black box video. There isn't anything weird about the footage. After, Brand asks him to describe what happens after the footage ended.

"Nick gave the signal to start the Yeager Loop, so we got into diamond slot formation. Nine seconds later, my proximity alarm when off, and Josh's ship collided with mine. I managed to hit the emergency transporter, and ended up on the evac station at Mimas."

Brand asks if he'd like to add anything, and he replies no.

Just don't give them any new information. 

Setelk asks Wes to describe a Yeager Loop. He does so, making a diamond shape with his hands to simulate the diamond slot formation.

"Was the team in diamond slot formation the whole way through the Loop?" asks Setelk.

Wes replies in the affirmative, and repeats that again when Brand asks if he's sure.

So Brand and Setelk pull up the navigation satellites around Saturn, and enhance a section, showing Nova Squadron in a more... circular shape.

That ain't no diamond slot formation

Locarno shifts in his seat.

"So, this was taken seven seconds after you completed the Yeager Loop," says Setelk.

"That a diamond slot formation?" asks Brand.

"No?" says Wes.

"You have an explanation?" Brand presses.

"I have none," replies Wes.

Dramatic music! Commercial break!

Close-up of Dooooom!

Beverly visits Wes in his quarters (maybe during a recess? Or they'll continue the inquiry later?).

"Everything's going to be fine," she assures him. "Data and La Forge are looking into the black box and satellite footage."

"Why?" he asks in surprise.

"It might have been tampered with," she insists. "I know you're telling the truth, but the sat image makes it look like you're lying."

Oh, Beverly. You think so highly of your Good Egg kid that you're willing to entertain thoughts of conspiracy theories rather than accept the fact that your kid actually is lying, and is receiving a hefty dose of peer pressure at the same time.

Wes is unimpressed. Especially after Beverly says that she's been talking with the other parents, and intends to approach Brand about delaying the inquiry.

"Please stay out of this," he says firmly. 

Picard approaches Boothby again, who is pulling weeds.

"You could use a herbicide to get rid of those instead of pulling them by hand."

Sassy Boothby Moment: "And you could explore space on a holodeck instead of a starship."

LOL.

Boothby talks briefly about a Parrises Squares tournament that took place during Picard's time at the Academy, and the massive celebration that took place afterward. Then he compares those cadets to the ones now: the current students are so enamored with Nova Squadron that the team is basically treated like gods.

"That's hard to live up to," he notes. "Nick Locarno is the heart of that team. Keeps them together, and they'd do anything he asked, even if it meant certain doom."

Upstairs, Picard and Crusher check in with Data and La Forge.

They know that the crash occurred a few seconds after the nav sat images, but can't account for why the team was not in diamond slot, or why the crash occurred.

"Too many variables," says La Forge. 

Picard asks if the black box indicated that there was anything wrong with Wes' ship.

They name off a few things that are not really noteworthy, then mention that his coolant interlock was open, which is weird.

"That's typically closed, unless you're performing a check on coolant levels," says La Forge. "But we don't think Wes was doing a check like that."

"You'd have to have it open to fill the coolant tank, but that can only be done in a maintenance bay," muses Picard. "Are there other reasons it might have been open?"

La Forge pauses before suggesting that it's the first step in purging the plasma exhaust.

"Not a good choice while in-flight," Data notes.

La Forge agrees, saying that the engine would ignite the plasma.

"Oh, fuck," says Picard.

Worrying music... commercial break.

Picard is in his ready room when the chime goes off, and Wes steps in.

Oh lordt. Called to the principal's office.

Picard spins his laptop and shows Wes a demo on the screen, where five ships move into a circle formation, fly across it in different directions, and their emissions ignite, causing a starburst pattern.

"What's this, please?" asks Picard solemnly.

"A Kolvoord Starburst," says Wes.

"It's an awesome maneuver, where five ships cross very closely, then ignite their plasma, but it hasn't been done in a hundred years. Why?"

Wes shifts. "It was banned following a training accident."

"Yeah. And all five cadets died."

Whoomp, there it is.

There's a long pause, where Picard stares at Wes and gathers his thoughts. "I think Nick Locarno convinced Nova Squadron to learn the Kolvoord Starburst for the graduation commencement. If it worked, he would graduate in a blaze of glory. But it didn't. Nick fucked around, you all found out, and Josh Albert is dead. Is that what happened?"

Wes looks away, and when Picard presses him, Wes replies that he chooses not to answer.

DANGER, WIL WHEATON, DANGER!

"Are you fucking claiming the fifth?" Picard demands. His voice is all low. Wes is in the shit now.

"You lied to the inquiry," Picard accuses him.

Wes gets defensive, a poor choice. "I said the crash occurred after the Yeager Loop. It did."

"You left out that in between the Loop and the crash, you attempted a banned maneuver. That's a lie of omission." 

Picard starts talking about the events of "Encounter at Farpoint," when a young Wes comes aboard the ship, and Beverly brings her son to the bridge, where he cheekily sits in Picard's chair, and begins naming off all of the bridge parts and what jobs they perform. How he was annoyed, but realized that Wes could be a badass Starfleet officer, and later made him an acting ensign. He had never questioned Wes' commitment of conviction until now.

And he states off the basis for the title of this episode: "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."

And he hits the point, hard: either Wes tells Brand what actually happened, or Picard will.

This is not Wes' day. "Captain..." he whispers.

But Picard cuts him off with a sharp "dismissed!"

Picard did not come to play. And he is really unimpressed with Wesley's response.

Wes turns and leaves quickly.

Downstairs, Wes is pacing in his quarters when Nick knocks on his door.

"They know everything," Wes says, and he explains how he got hauled onto the E so that Picard could map out just how Josh Albert died, and how Picard has threatened to go to Brand.

"Do they have evidence?" Nick asks.

"No, but he knows exactly how it happened."

Nick sort of half-laughs nervously. "So he has a theory? Let him talk to Brand. The inquiry will ask if that's what happened, and we'll say no."

SLIPPERY SLOPE, NICK.

"I can't call Captain Picard a liar," Wes decides. "I'm going to tell them what happened."

Nick gets mad and reaches into his Big Bag of Emotional Manipulation. "You're going to tell the truth, you're going to come forward - who are you? You're going to decide what happens to me and Sito and Jean?"

Again, Wes versus The Team.

And Nick pulls out more gaslighting bullshit. "Did Picard tell you some story about honor and duty?"

Wes looks away, so Nick knows he's correct.

"Look, if you want to throw away your career, that's fine. Resign from the Academy and just walk away. But don't ruin our careers as well."

Wes is shocked, but he shouldn't be. Since we met Nick, he's been talking Wes and the rest of the team into lying and saving himself. He's not a good friend. But maybe up til now he's been covering his tracks. Or he was friends with Wes, and Wes was too close to see it. "You'd throw me under the bus?"

"To save the team? Yes. This team is more important than either of us. If I was you, Wes, I would put the team first. But that's me."

Nick leaves in a huff. (He doesn't slam the door like I expected, but that may be because the set is too fragile for door-slamming.)

In a lot of these scenes, someone drops a load of information on the floor at Wesley's feet and leaves, forcing Wes to pick up the broken pieces and examine them. This is no exception.

Last part of the inquiry, and Admiral Brand has decided to give her closing statements directly to the table with Nova Squadron.

"After having gone over the testimony, black box info, and navsat images, Captain Setelk and I are left with the feeling that things don't add up. So either the data is wrong, or you lied. That's really suspicious... but suspicion isn't proof, and we don't have that."

Oof, just being part of an inquiry that ends with a feeling of suspicion and lies and cover-ups is not going to bode well for the careers of anyone on Nova Squadron. This is the sort of shit that follows you around.

Now for the doling out of punishments: they each get a formal reprimand on their permanent records for filing an inaccurate flight plan, and for allowing Josh to fly, even though they knew he was not doing well. They're also getting their flight privileges revoked.

Brand rings the bell to close the inquiry, and Nick probably figures he should go somewhere with the rest of his team to celebrate this slap on the wrist, but Wes stands up.

"I... have something to add to my testimony."

"We... didn't get into diamond slot formation after the Yeager Loop. We attempted a Kolvoord Starburst because we wanted to do something cool for commencement. We figured we were invincible, but we weren't. Josh was nervous doing it, but we talked him into it. He didn't let us down, we let him down. It wasn't his fault."

Picard looks glad that he won't have to go to Brand after the fact with his suspicions.

Albert looks stunned that this kid just admitted that the team's crazy stunt got his son killed.

Brand looks sad. Like how your mom looks when she says, "I'm not mad, just disappointed."

She asks if Nick, as the leader of Nova Squadron has anything to say.

Nick stands, looking uncomfortable in his own skin, and Brand has to prompt him again.

"No, sir," he finally says quietly.

Wes is sitting outside in the garden, doing a thousand-yard stare, when Picard approaches.

"Nick Locarno has been expelled," he says simply.

Damn. Like a week before graduation. Sucks to suck, Nick.

Wes sighs. "We all deserved to be expelled."

"You almost were," Picard replies. "Locarno asked them not to. He took full responsibility as Nova Squadron leader, and said he talked you all into doing the maneuver, then talked you into covering up the accident."

"He protected the team, like he said he would," says Wes sadly.

They start walking down the path.

"I feel shitty," Wes confesses. "I let everybody down."

Picard is pulling no punches. "You should feel shitty. And frankly, you're not getting off scot-free. Admiral Brand has decided that all of your credits for this year will be erased. You'll have to repeat it, and you won't get to move forward with your friends. It's going to be really uncomfortable being on campus, with everyone knowing what you did."

Wes thanks him, and Picard reminds him that he knew what to do all along.

"I just made sure that you listened to yourself," he says, repeating Boothby's phrase from earlier.

They shake hands, say goodbye, and exit in different directions.

Y'all, this is a great episode. Like, really REALLY great. It's one of my favorites, and part of the reason why I name as season five as my go-to when I think "what should I watch today?"

The guest stars were well-cast, PatStew and Wil Wheaton both did a fabulous job, and this humble little Earth-bound episode shows us a slice of life at Starfleet Academy.

It's my favorite Wes episode, and in my opinion, the best Wes episode.

There are some cool, subtle things that I noticed while watching this for review, going through each scene with a fine-toothed comb:

- The ups and downs of power and status, as portrayed through blocking. When Brand addresses Nova Squadron during her closing remarks, she stands in of them, while they sit. They must look up at her. She is a rear admiral, superintendent of the Academy, and in charge of the inquiry. Nick Locarno often stands when trying to convince Wes to go along with the cover-up, or when getting angry at him for not doing so. They're power positions. But there are some places where those power positions shift to indicate a different kind of relationship. When Picard approaches Boothby, he does so as Jean-Luc Picard, captain of the Federation flagship Enterprise, and he is initially standing over the old gardener. He occupies a higher office in Starfleet than Boothby does. But both times he talks with Boothby, he quickly crouches down to the same level as a sign of respect and friendliness. When he approaches Wes in the last scene to talk to him about consequences, Wesley is sitting on a rock. He stands, and they do a walk-and-talk. Here, they are on more equal footing, each having made a horrible mistake as a younger person, each determined not to let it fine their lives. Though they address each other formally when parting, they shake hands and depart with a kind of equality.

- Oof, these characters tell one another that they're fine a lot. Especially when they're really not. Beverly says it multiple times to Picard in a manic way, as though trying to convince them both. And Wes, who probably picked this trait up from his mother, does the same. 

"My kid was injured in a life-threating accident? He is fine I am fine, we are fine."

"I was injured in a horrible accident, where my friend was killed, and I am being gaslighted by my other friends, into lying about said accident, but we are probably all getting expelled? I am fine."

- Wes is alone for much of this episode. We first see him doing am exercises, alone, in his quarters. Others enter to speak with him, but he is ultimately left alone again. The blocking pits the team against Wes when they are trying to convince him to lie in the inquiry. The team is separated from everyone else by placing them behind a long table on their own. Wes practices his testimony by himself. He leaves the ready room, and presumably, the Enterprise, by himself. He spends a lot of time thinking, and feeling small in general.

I want to give this episode 10/10. Entertainment Weekly named it #9 on their Top 10 Episodes to watch for the 20th anniversary of TNG, and it definitely deserves to be on that list. During all prior viewings, I would have assigned it that 10th star without hesitation, but this time, something is sticking in my craw, and that something is Nick Locarno. Or rather, his actions. He ends by taking the fall, and saving his teammates from certain expulsion. He cares more about the team than his own career. And he does the right thing in the end. Maybe it's because I've encountered more gaslighters in the last few years than I had previously had, or maybe because I'm more jaded now, but... "ultimately did the right thing" is not something that I would attribute to people who resort to gaslighting and emotional manipulation the way Nick did. In my experience, these kinds of people will go down with the ship, the whole time proclaiming that there is no leak. It feels more in line for Nick to say that Josh was responsible the whole time, rather than agreeing that Wes was telling the truth about the Kolvoord Starburst. At that point, everyone would have been expelled, but to his dying day, Nick would have named Josh as the reason for the accident. Am I saying that people who sometimes use gaslighting or emotional manipulation are never likely to do the right thing? No. We've all done it, I'm sure. You talk someone into something that's sketchy, or you convince a friend to take the fall. If you feel guilty later, congrats! Your moral compass is correct, and you have screwed up. But Locarno seemed a bit practiced at his techniques, and I'll bet he used something similar on Josh to get him to do the Starburst. There's actually a really interesting debate among the showrunners (discussed below) as to whether or not Locarno is "redeemable."

That's it. The one thing that bugs, and it doesn't even bug me that much.

The rest of this episode is masterful. Well done, Star Trek.

Fun Facts:

- The character of Sito was Shannon Fill's first professional acting job. She auditioned at the suggestion of a friend, and was surprised to learn that she had won the part.

- There's a funny discrepancy between Sito and the rest of Nova Squadron: she doesn't have an individual name. (Nicholas Locarno, Jean Hajar, Joshua Albert, Wesley Crusher, and... Sito) This probably wouldn't have mattered much if the team didn't refer to each other by given names, but they do. Sito is only ever referred to by her family name. It's possible that she just goes by Sito to avoid the confusion of "family name first" naming convention that the Bajorans use, but that isn't addressed. Sito will appear in TNG in a later episode, where she will receive the individual name of Jaxa.

I actually found a cool t-shirt on TeePublic that gets it wrong in the other way, listing everyone by family name, except Sito, who is listed by her given name:

- This is the first appearance of Starfleet Academy.

- The character of Kolvoord on "The Expanse" may have been named after the Kolvoord Starburst. Naren Shankar, executive producer of that show, co-wrote this episode.

- The million-dollar question: why is Tom Paris (Voyager), Tom Paris and not Nicholas Locarno? Voyager producer Jeri Taylor has stated that Locarno was definitely the inspiration for Paris, and that he was in the Voyager early treatment initially, but it was felt that Nick Locarno was a bad guy pretending to be a good guy, whereas Tom Paris is a good guy pretending to be a bad one. Robert Duncan McNeill (Locarno/Paris) agreed. Taylor wrote Paris, always intending the character to be played by McNeill, but when it came time to hash things out, they felt like they needed a character who was similar, but who had a different drive for doing things the way he did. Co-writers of this episode, Ronald D Moore and Naren Shankar, disagreed with the assessment that Locarno was "irredeemable," and did not see why the character of Tom Paris was changed from Nick Locarno.

- In a Star Trek novel (Star Trek: Coda: The Ashes of Tomorrow), Wesley Crusher mistakes Tom Paris for Nick Locarno. Paris tells Wes that he gets that a lot. Lol.

- A photo of McNeill as Locarno is later used as a photo of young Tom Paris in Voyager.

- Naren Shankar had done a Writer's Guild internship with the show on a previous season, and she and Moore had become friends. They developed this story based on Moore's membership in the ROTC when he was younger, and they had the idea of catching up with Wesley Crusher at the Academy, and doing an episode about friendship versus duty. Rick Berman was not initially sold. He felt that solid Star Trek stories were about going into space, and this story was set on Earth. Michael Piller was able to sell him on the idea by pointing out that there is a lot of peer pressure on younger people, and the idea of choosing what's right over loyalty to your friends would resonate with viewers. Berman agreed on the condition that no more than three sets were used.

- Originally, Wesley's crime was much worse, and the cover job more obvious. Berman felt that Wesley Crusher was capable of screwing up really badly, but that the original crime suggested was too much. They toned it down so that Wes and his friends would face serious consequences, but would not commit anything too awful.

- Shankar, Moore, and Piller argued over the ending of this episode. Pillar felt that Wes should tell the truth, and Moore thought that Wes would side with his friends. So they sat down and argued about it in a productive way. Piller made the final decision of "Wes tells the truth," but both agree that the episode is a good one, and there appears to have been no ill will afterward. Moore would later elaborate on the argument, saying that he and Shankar were pushing for a different story: initially, Nova Squadron's aim was "we all hang together," and the punishment for silence would be that the entire team gets expelled. In this case, Wes coming forward by himself would be seen as saving his own skin and letting everyone else take the fall. That would make Picard's speech one where he advocated for Wes to not ruin his own career by siding with his friends. Then Locarno would throw himself under the bus to save the team. A similar plot, but it reads very differently. Moore said "...I preferred the story about a young man willing to stand with his friends rather than a morality tale about telling the truth."

- We never find out what Picard had done that Boothby helped him with... because one was never conceived. The writers had Picard talk to Boothby about the case and Nova Squadron, but the scenes were weak and not terribly interesting. They came up with the idea of having Picard face a similar crisis of character at the Academy, which Boothby would help him with. Piller tried to come up with the idea, but Berman argued that it didn't matter what had happened, that it was more important to show that you could have something derail your life, and still become a Jean-Luc Picard.

- Nick Locarno wasn't in the first draft at all. Instead, Nova Squadron was lead by Lt-Cmdr Albert, a career-minded officer.

- The outdoor scenes for the Academy were filmed at the Tillman Water Reclamation Plant's Japanese Garden. These locations were also used for the outdoor scenes in season one's "Justice.". The outdoor shots, combined with the matte painting of the Academy buildings and San Francisco cityscape, will be reused in "Time's Arrow."

A reused shot of the Academy, with the flag painted at full staff

- This is the first appearance of Boothby. When the math is done about the comment he makes to Picard about age, Boothby turns out to be around 104 years old here. We'll see him twice more in Voyager.

- Boothby is played by Ray Walston, an actor best known for the sitcom "My Favorite Martian."

- Show producers wanted Ashley Judd to play Ensign Robin Lefler again for this episode, but the timing could not be worked out.

- Ricard Fancy (Satelk) will show up again in season two of Voyager.

- When talking to Picard, Boothby mentions Picard performing what sounds like a wrestling move at a match with a Ligonian. You remember the Ligonians... from "Code of Fucking Honor." This is the last time they're ever mentioned in Star Trek, and good riddance.

- The events of this episode will form the basis for two seven season episodes.

- Wes has a model of the Enterprise in his quarters. It's actually a replica of the Star Trek ships that Franklin Mint made in the late 1980s.

- Rick Berman felt that the success of this episode was down to the directing by Paul Lynch, and the casting of Ray Walston as Boothby, as well as the casting choices for the other cadets. Paul Lynch felt that the credit for this episode went to Wil Wheaton.

- This episode is shown to Air Force cadets as an introduction to the honor code.

Red deaths: 1
To date: 2
Gold deaths: 0
To date: 1

Blue deaths: 0
To date: 0
Unnamed color crew deaths: 0
To date: 0

Sassy Geordi moments: 0

To date: 2

Sassy Ro Moments: 0
To date: 3

Sassy Worf Moment: 0
To date: 1

Sassy Riker Moments: 0
To date: 4

Sassy Picard Moments: 0
To date:  0

Sassy NPC Moments: 0
To date: 0
Sassy Data Moments: 0
To date: 2
Sassy O'Brien Moments: 0
To date: 0

Sassy Keiko Moments: 0

To date: 3
Sassy Crusher Moments: 0
To date: 1
Sassy Troi Moments: 0
To date: 3
Sassy Guinan Moments: 0
To Date: 1
Sassy Guest Star Moments: 3
To date: 6

Number of times that it is mentioned that Data is an android: 0
To date: 35

Number of times that Troi reacts to someone else's feelings: 0
To date: 9

Number of times that Geordi "looks at something" with his VISOR: 0
To date: 4
Number of times when Data gives too much info and has to be told to shut up: 0
To date: 2
Picard Maneuvers: 0
To date: 18
Tea, Earl Grey: 0
To date: 7

Mentions of the number 47: 0

To date: 2

"What a week, huh?"
"Lemon, it's Monday."