I sure gave Homeward a lot of grief for being the inspiration behind Insurrection, but I had forgotten about this one completely at that point. Once I started watching it though I did remember it, and I remembered not liking it one bit. But upon reflection this is a pretty good episode if you totally cut out all the parts involving Wesley which I guess is fine since they are pretty clearly tacked on as an afterthought. Did the writers realize all the angsty teen Wesley they missed out on by sending him to the academy when they did? The scene that really stuck out for me was where Wes is hella rude to Geordi for no reason. Well, I guess the reason is he sensed he was meant for something else or something. But come on, Geordi? I have to wonder if the writers knew they were nearing the end and decided they needed to "resolve" Wesley's story with the traveler or something.
The episode opens with the Enterprise stopping by a starbase for a meeting with Admiral Nechayev and to pick up Wesley who is on leave from the academy. Wesley has a bee in his bonnet about something and snaps at his mom and then Geordi in engineering. He is so rude to Geordi that he is told to leave. Meanwhile in the observation lounge Picard is preparing to meet the admiral who he hasn't exactly gotten along with in the past. Picard decides to get things off to a better start by having her favorite snacks prepared along with some tea. At first she is cold as usual, but she notices the snacks and seems to calm down and open up a bit. She tells Picard that negotiations with the Cardassians have concluded and that both sides will be giving up a few systems as part of the peace treaty. One planet in particular was colonized by Native Americans and it is Picard's job to go kick them out. He isn't exactly pumped about it but Nechayev tells him she already tried to protest the decision and was overruled.
Negotiations with the natives go predictably poorly but they do at least agree to come on board the Enterprise to talk things over more. In Ten Forward Wesley meets one of the natives who seems to know a lot about him and claims to have seen him in a vision. The head of the Native Americans tells Picard he knows that one of Picard's ancestors participated in a forced removal of native peoples and that this must be the reason Picard is here. Down on the planet Cardassians have arrived to start surveying their new possession but Picard warns them it isn't there's yet. Wesley goes on a vision quest or something (I would be more culturally sensitive but the dude leading his quest is literally a white guy pretending to be a native so whatever.) Wesley sees his father who tells him not to follow the same path he did.
Wesley returns to the Enterprise and turns in his combadge and resigns from the academy. His mom is understandably upset but she tells him she just wants him to be happy. He returns to the planet as the Native American's take two Cardassians who were snooping around hostage. Picard is meeting with their captain as this happens and urges caution. One of the Cardassians grabs the weapon and tries to escape and weapons are fired but suddenly time freezes. The native who has been talking to Wesley reveals himself to be the Traveler and offers to take Wesley with him on a journey across all the planes of reality. Wes agrees and back on the Enterprise the Cardassian captain orders his men to stand down. He lost a son in the war and isn't eager for more fighting. The natives agrees to leave the Federation and stay on the planet under the Cardassians.
Review: I liked the A story in this episode and didn't care much for the B story. All the stuff about it being Wesley's destiny was a lie from the Traveler so why when he figures it out does he still agree to go? Also -1 for being such a direct inspiration for Insurrection.
4 out of 10
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