Journey's End

As season 7, it's final season closes on Star Trek: The Next Generation this episode marks the fate of Wesley Crusher who goes on a much different path that what seemed to be marked out for him as the series began. This is Wil Wheaton's farewell performance in the role for the television series.

Captain Picard has a delicate situation. Several generations ago an American Indian tribe moved to a planet to preserve their culture and identity. But that planet became part of the Cardassian-Federation dispute and war. Now it is part of the treaty which assigns it to Cardassian jurisdiction.

It is suggested that they move but they've got an understandable fear of treaties.

How Wil Wheaton figures in all of this is for you to watch and see how it unfolds. But in the end he makes a life altering decision.

This episode belongs to him and to Gates McFadden. The scenes with mother and son are really touching.

My disappointment is that this seemed like the premise of another TV series with Wesley Crusher. It's obvious someone had this mind at least at some point. It should have been made so.

One of my favorite TNG episodes. A must for Trekkies everywhere.

I cringed every time They said the word "Indian". Couldn't they have come up with a specific tribe? Even when this was written in 1995 the word "Indian" was an unacceptable way to reference a specific tribe of Native Americans. Why would a Picard have an ancestor who was Spanish when Picard is French???

This is a good episode with a powerful story and moral dilemma concerning the relocation of a group of American Indians - could have been a 9 or a 10 with a little more drama and if not for the terrible inconsistencies and the problematic character of Wesley Crusher.

Wesley had SO much potential in TNG, his genius and his encounters with the Traveler could have been exploited so much better, but unfortunately it wasn't always the case. This is one of the episodes where his side story ruins the otherwise excellent base premise. Apart from his annoying baby face stupid smile that's part of his "acting" in TNG every 2 minutes or so, there is absolutely no way any group of American Indians would have considered Wesley some sort of Messiah or treat him as one of their own, for a couple of simple reasons: he's too young, he's disobedient, he has no spiritual depth whatsoever and ... he disrespects elders, especially after joining the Academy. All these Wesley traits make him totally incompatible with a culture like the American Indian one, period.

Other than that, the premise of this episode could have produced an effect relatively close to that of 'Inner Light', if exploited properly (maybe some tragic outcome of the main plot) - it certainly suited the culture's history. It wasn't to be however, and the Indians' and Wesley's stories were blended in a very unrealistic fashion. Picard or even Worf could have been much more suited for Wesley's act, while Wesley's subplot could have been merged into another, more suitable episode. In the end, it all looks forced and not that believable (to say the least), pretty much like trying to eat soup and cake together.

I'm surprised that TNG of all shows would so easily subscribe to the evil belief that the actions of one's ancestors centuries in the past is the responsibility of their completely innocent descendent. This is a very disturbing and problematic attitude to hold.

One of the silliest TNG episodes ever, although it tries to make a moral point, it's mired in bad stereotypes. Pre-American natives, referred to as "Indians" in the episode, are presented as ridiculous 60s cowboy movie types--something they've been complaining about since the early twentieth century. One of the other reviews suggested this episode was "ahead of its time," but how can it be ahead of its time when it plays the noble savage card--outdated since the 1970s. Wesley is another example of bad stereotyping in the episode. I admit, I've grown to like his character in recent years, but this last visit from him is the absolute worst. First, he's the broody teenager cliché, then he becomes the hippie era white-kid-exploring-non-white-spiritual-culture cliché, and finally, he goes off the deep end with one of the most absurd call-backs to a previous episode ever.