As the Enterprise heads back to Earth so Picard can give a speech a Star Fleet Academy they receive news that Wesley Crusher has been involved in a serious accident. He got away with a few repairable injuries but another cadet lost his life. As the inquiry gets underway the cadets explain how they were flying in a five ship formation when the dead cadet's shuttle came out of position causing a collision that the others were lucky to survive. To help get to the bottom of what happened Picard runs a parallel investigation aboard the enterprise and it isn't long before it becomes clear that there are flaws in the cadets' evidence. Finding the truth won't be easy though; the group is tight knit and led by Nicholas Locarno, a cadet who is highly respected by the others in the squadron. Ultimately there is no cast iron proof but all the evidence suggests that the cadets have been lying to cover up the fact they were attempting manoeuvre that is so dangerous it has been banned for a century.
This is a very interesting episode; in the past Star Fleet officers have been portrayed as noble pursuers of the truth; there may have been the occasional bad egg but no major character would get involved would lie to protect their own position. Here though it soon becomes clear that Wesley is involved in one of the worst lies possible; he seems willing to let a dead friend take the blame for the accident to protect the rest of the group. Wil Wheaton has certainly matured in the role as he portrays this conflicted character. This episode is notable for introducing Robert Duncan McNeill to the Star Trek universe; here he plays Locarno, a character not that dissimilar to the character Tom Paris he plays in 'Star Trek: Voyager'. We also get to meet Boothby, the Academy gardener and old friend of Picard for the first time. As the story progresses it nicely portrays the conflict between loyalty to one's group and one duty to tell the truth no matter what the personal costs and this leads to the episodes one real flaw; the costs seem surprisingly mild given that the squadron lied to an inquiry about an event so serious that it left one of them dead. Overall though I thought this was a quality episode with some interesting ideas.
This is a very interesting episode; in the past Star Fleet officers have been portrayed as noble pursuers of the truth; there may have been the occasional bad egg but no major character would get involved would lie to protect their own position. Here though it soon becomes clear that Wesley is involved in one of the worst lies possible; he seems willing to let a dead friend take the blame for the accident to protect the rest of the group. Wil Wheaton has certainly matured in the role as he portrays this conflicted character. This episode is notable for introducing Robert Duncan McNeill to the Star Trek universe; here he plays Locarno, a character not that dissimilar to the character Tom Paris he plays in 'Star Trek: Voyager'. We also get to meet Boothby, the Academy gardener and old friend of Picard for the first time. As the story progresses it nicely portrays the conflict between loyalty to one's group and one duty to tell the truth no matter what the personal costs and this leads to the episodes one real flaw; the costs seem surprisingly mild given that the squadron lied to an inquiry about an event so serious that it left one of them dead. Overall though I thought this was a quality episode with some interesting ideas.