How would you make a good Wesley finale?

[suarezguy]

I think there's general agreement that "Journey's End" was a pretty weird and disappointing last appearance of and farewell to Wesley. What could have been better?

With him not being in the main cast for so long, just not bring him back to give him a finale in season 7? Let "The First Duty" end up being his (open-ended) ending, with or without his cameo in "Parallels"?

Or would "Journey's End" have been better if Wesley had left Starfleet over supporting the Native Americans and going to live with them but not involved the Traveler? Or should he have left related to the Traveler but not the relocation conflict? Or returned for an episode but not left Starfleet? Or is "Journey's End" a pretty good approach and probably better than most others?

 

[DonIago]

I don't (think I) have a problem with Wesley becoming a Traveler, and I don't (think I) have a problem with Wesley wanting to defend the Native Americans. Mostly what I remember having a problem with was Wes being a jerk to Our Heroes and having it written off as, "Oh, that's because he's becoming an enlightened being!"

Though I also think Wes becoming a proto-Maquis would have been a weird twist for the character. I liked "The First Duty" for making him fallible, but it would have been kind of weird if he was never even mentioned after that (especially by his mom). So maybe he didn't need another appearance, but at least a sense that he still existed.

I always thought it was very odd that Pulaski was never seen or heard from again (other than her memory wipe procedure) after S2, and vaguely disrespectful.

 

[STEPhon IT]

I think there's general agreement that "Journey's End" was a pretty weird and disappointing last appearance of and farewell to Wesley. What could have been better?

With him not being in the main cast for so long, just not bring him back to give him a finale in season 7? Let "The First Duty" end up being his (open-ended) ending, with or without his cameo in "Parallels"?

Or would "Journey's End" have been better if Wesley had left Starfleet over supporting the Native Americans and going to live with them but not involved the Traveler? Or should he have left related to the Traveler but not the relocation conflict? Or returned for an episode but not left Starfleet? Or is "Journey's End" a pretty good approach and probably better than most others?

I would've preferred Wesley returning to Enterprise and having a goal in engineering; he was part of the crew and for some he some elements which weren't popular but I thought the showrunners made an effort to give the critics what they wanted and I thought worked. His image was not as polished and now had chinks in the armor but nothing would be more fulfilling if he went full circle and returned to his proper place on the Enterprise. A moot thought at this point bc no matter beyond the series TNG movies were dogsh*t so... oh well.

 

[Ragitsu]

A topic you are highly familiar with?

 

[Orphalesion]

Really anything that isn't "Journey's End". Anything.

I'd probably just have him graduate and get an assignment somewhere.
That doesn't even need an episode. Just a scene. Or even a mention.

 

[suarezguy]

I always thought it was very odd that Pulaski was never seen or heard from again (other than her memory wipe procedure) after S2, and vaguely disrespectful.

I wish she had been mentioned, at least indicated, in "Ship in a Bottle".

 

[DonIago]

I wish she had been mentioned, at least indicated, in "Ship in a Bottle".

It would have been kind of great if Our Heroes had thought they were back on their ship...and then they went to Sickbay and Dr. Pulaski was there as though Crusher had never returned.

 

[Mojochi]

I don't necessarily have an issue with Wesley's arc ending with him becoming "next level". It was kind of low key always his arc anyhow, & the Starfleet thing was aspirational, but not necessarily his best outcome. The Q arc sort of supports humanity becoming next level too, & Wesley's arc being about that also fits well.

The problem was with it being so much an afterthought that he's not even really the sole focus of the episode, & it's played poorly, & doesn't really know wtf it is. Is it Wesley is next level? Is it Wesley is rebellious? Is it Starfleet is wrong? WTF are they targeting here?

Better to have given it a little lengthier time on its own for him to get his write off. It's not like S7 has an overabundance of irreplaceable episodes that they couldn't have spared one to give him more due. Honestly, they could've written a 2-parter that has him rejoin the crew, like permanently. Picard recruits him out of the academy after his repeated year, just like he did with Sito Jaxa, but almost fresh out of the gate something wild happens to the ship/crew, & that's when we get into this next level business as the main crux of the storyline, like it might've been surfacing for him before he'd come back.

So we now find out Wes is meant for more than this. You don't just have the Traveler come back. You open it up to him embracing a whole new level of consciousness that numerous types of beings are tuned into. You could even perhaps tie it into what Q has planned for Picard in the finale, once he's aware that this is happening naturally to a human like Wes. That would provide motivation for Q to push things with Picard into a stunt like AGT

 

[Finn]

I would have not gone with the whole Traveller thing. I would have put him on Voyager with Robin Lefler- with a comment by Beverly about him being assigned there, during a scene in AGT....

 

[STEPhon IT]

It would've sparked some curiosity for the new series. It was a little odd, Wes wasn't mentioned in "All Good Things..." but the story was really compelling and worked quite well.

 

[Jayson1]

Him being a guest at Will and Deanna's wedding and choosing to honor the married couple by not saying a word, in tradition to the Sillia. A form of paying respect to those you consider friends that The Traveler's species follows in their wedding ceremonies. Something He learned on his travels with his friend.

 

[at Quark's]

Mostly what I remember having a problem with was Wes being a jerk to Our Heroes and having it written off as, "Oh, that's because he's becoming an enlightened being!"

I never associated that with becoming a next-level being that directly. To me, his being moody and behaving like a jerk was him simply going through the growing pains of adolescence, and becoming less convinced that the path always marked out for him by those around him since his early childhood, and which he believed himself was the path he wanted to take was actually what he wanted to do in life. I've seen many adolescents 'rebel' that way in real life, and to me, it made Wesley a lot more real than 'early wonder boy' Wesley.

 

[somebuddyX]

He should have guested on DS9 and hung out with all the young cast, like Jake, Nog, Alexander and Ziyal (and aged up Molly from "Time's Orphan" and had their own spinoff, The Next Next Generation.

 

[Orphalesion]

Him being a guest at Will and Deanna's wedding and choosing to honor the married couple by not saying a word, in tradition to the Sillia. A form of paying respect to those you consider friends that The Traveler's species follows in their wedding ceremonies. Something He learned on his travels with his friend.

....huh?

 

[DonIago]

I never associated that with becoming a next-level being that directly. To me, his being moody and behaving like a jerk was him simply going through the growing pains of adolescence, and becoming less convinced that the path always marked out for him by those around him since his early childhood, and which he believed himself was the path he wanted to take was actually what he wanted to do in life. I've seen many adolescents 'rebel' that way in real life, and to me, it made Wesley a lot more real than 'early wonder boy' Wesley.

It's been a long time since I've seen the episode...I doubt it was directly stated, and I'm not sure it was even meant to be implied that Wes's acting out was because he was on the cusp of evolving, but there did seem to be some subtext there, and even your response connects his moodiness with Growing Up...just not in the usual sense.

However, to me Wesley's acting out went outside the bounds of 'Teenage Rebellion' and into 'Wow, he's being a real jackass.' I'd started to warm to the character after his appearances in "The Game" and "The First Duty", and this undid all that work.

Besides, by this point Wesley is 22, so while he may still be pretty young, he's not a teenager or adolescent.

 

[Mojochi]

It's been a long time since I've seen the episode...I doubt it was directly stated, and I'm not sure it was even meant to be implied that Wes's acting out was because he was on the cusp of evolving, but there did seem to be some subtext there, and even your response connects his moodiness with Growing Up...just not in the usual sense.

However, to me Wesley's acting out went outside the bounds of 'Teenage Rebellion' and into 'Wow, he's being a real jackass.' I'd started to warm to the character after his appearances in "The Game" and "The First Duty", and this undid all that work.

Besides, by this point Wesley is 22, so while he may still be pretty young, he's not a teenager or adolescent.

I might actually claim that Wes, while being a prodigy, & ultimately some kind of advanced human, his development socially came off as stunted because of how he grew up. Sure, he was a genius, & developed abilities, but as a young human, growing up acting as an officer instead of as a kid, hindered him. This is how it plays that something like First Duty can happen to him at all. He may be brilliant, but he's not socially savvy enough to see through Lacarno, & gets sucked in & led astray.

He's not maturing well, which also had the effect that he'd kept driving himself down a path he wasn't meant for. This is why he's a total dick in Journey's End. He's unfulfilled, & now having lost his rock star status after the accident, he's fairly disillusioned as well, & that's opening his eyes to how he doesn't want to be the kind of adult he'd be driving at all this time, but now he doesn't know who TF he is, at least until all this Traveler business swoops in & saves the day (Which is certainly a waste of how to play that out imho)

So while 22 is an adult, if you've been stunted a bit in your maturity by deluding yourself, it's still a realistic timeframe for him to be finding himself

 

[DonIago]

Maybe I need to rewatch the episode, but I'd maintain that every time I've seen the episode (probably twice), I've thought Wesley's conduct went beyond "growing pains" to "Dude needs a punch in the face."

 

[Mojochi]

Nope. He's really a royal dick to Geordi. Treated him like he was a worthless idiot. It's more than just growing pains imho. It's a complete & utter disgruntlement at his life. I think the point was he'd been all caught up in being a big man on campus, & that all went away in the couple years since he'd gotten someone killed showing off. He was probably ostracized some, like Sito was. It completely upset his whole direction. Made him question wtf he was doing with his life, & disillusioned him to Starfleet altogether.

 

[Herbert]

I don't know. Wesley from the beginning was shown as the highly intelligent, wonder kid. Even more than that given the Traveller refers to him as a sort of Mozart-like genius. Then, at the end, he evolves into some kind of Star Trek equivalent of a super being.

I'm not sure what would have been the best send-off for him but looking back on the way they did it, it seems unsatisfying somehow.

 

[Richard S. Ta]

I like Journey's End as is...