How characters could have been handled better?

Oh, right, sorry about that. That black ensign who "died" in "Dead Stop".

 

Not ringing a bell.

 

Well then I don't know how to help you. He was, after all, most noticeable when he was dead.

 

It would've been too soon for the franchise after Sisko.

 

Mayweather should have been a young, but hardened and cynical spacer.

 

I still think he should've propped the dead body at the helm and taken off to do his own thing. No one would notice.

Maybe he did.

 

Maybe. Much of human decomposition results from the bacteria in your body consuming you. Since Mayweather's repli-corpse had no living ones, it might have lasted quite awhile.

Mayweather, meanwhile, accepts a promotion to lieutenant on NX-03, and is captain within two years.

 

And in the distant future Harry Kim screams.

 

Weird rule about Harry Kim. If you promote him, your reality gets erased, thus resetting his canonical rank.

Non Sequitur: Harry was close to making LTJG. ERASED!
Before and After: Harry was a senior grade LT. ERASED!
Some 5th season episode. Timeless? Harry is like a commander or something. ERASED!
Endgame: Harry is a captain. ERASED!
Online: Harry is a captain again. DE-CANONIZED!

FIVE separate promotions for Harry. All deleted. Harry's rank, according to Memory Alpha: ENSIGN!

 

His rank is a fixed point in time

 

They need to remember that for all these Bad Futures. Spacial anomaly / anti-time phenomenon / cosmic Godzilla destroying entire star systems? Just give Harry a promotion. ERASED!

Could Picard have done that in "All Good Things"? Harry was still in the Academy.

 

No, nor to erase his Borgification. Harry was still in high school at the time.

 

A high school student can't be promoted, but a cadet can. As much as this is a serious idea in the first place.

 

True, but I think Harry has to actually be an ensign before the timeline reset trick will work. Otherwise, there's no zero point for time to revert to.

 

Darn!

 

Agreed. Of the starfleet crew he had the most time in space, had been the farthest from Earth, and had been to other planets inhabited by a variety of species, yet he ended up being totally bland and could have easily been replaced by semi random helmsman of the week like TNG did when Wesley and Ro weren't on the show..

 

he definitely could have. I recommend watching Quantum Leap when you have time to get into a new series. I think it was 5 seasons.

 

Now that I think of it... Pretty much. Maybe not in a few episides, but in most he's just random bus driver A with zero character progression in most episodes. Didn't even make him a "great pilot" like Tom Paris.
Have Travis Tinker with the shuttlepods, maybe him and trip make a warp sled for the pod, give him some hobbys, delve in to character.

 

Harry's promotion was what caused the universe to "take a hard left" in Discovery S3

 

As in "a hard left turn around a tight corner", or "a hard left hook to the jaw"?