From: wombat@eng.umd.edu (Jose Gonzalez)
Subject: Re: Lynch's Spoiler Review: "The First Duty"
Date: Tue, 07 Apr 92 21:15:23 GMT
Organization: University of Maryland, College Park, College of Engineering
Keywords: TNG, Wesley, Academy
Originator: wombat@coke.eng.umd.edu

In article <1992Apr7.001430.13295@cco.caltech.edu> tlynch@cco.caltech.edu (Timothy W. Lynch) writes:
>WARNING:  The following article contains critical spoiler information about 
>this week's TNG episode, "The First Duty".  Those not wishing to be caught 
>off-guard by spoilers before seeing the show are advised to stand clear.

>My, that was surprisingly good!

Not surprisingly, I was hoping it would be this good!  (-:


>Well, now that that's over...
>
>Y'know, I'm really starting to wonder why series *dedicated* to "courtroom 
>drama" don't attract me more.  This was, in some ways, the functional 
>successor to "The Measure of a Man" and "The Drumhead" in its focus on a 
>particular investigation; and like the above two shows, it was highly 
>enjoyable.

It wasn't quite as good as the those two, but it was without a doubt the
best Wesley episode to date.

>We all knew that Wes would come through with the truth eventually.
>BUT:  I didn't expect him to stonewall as long as he did, or to refuse to 
>answer a *direct question from Picard*.

I was cringing during that scene.  We're not used to seeing Picard biting
off the head of his crew this way, but Wesley is, for all intents and 
purposes, his *son*, so it made sense.

>I, for one, had a feeling from the preview and past experience that Picard 
>was somehow going to end up intimately involved with the investigation.  
>Fortunately, he didn't.  Yes, the Enterprise certainly got involved--but they 
>didn't have to, and Picard's request to formally assist was turned down 
>outright.  Picard decided to help because "Wesley's one of our own"--a rather 
>strong acknowledgement and indication of the depth of TNG's relationships.  
>Nice.

Yeah, that line struck a cord in me as well.  
>
(Along 
>similar lines, her reaction to hearing of Wes's accident seemed very right as 
>well; knowing it rationally, but falling apart deep down anyway.)

I don't know about that scene.  I could see what she was *trying* to do, but
I think she did too much of it.  I was getting apathy from her when that was
clearly not intended.  
 
>(Incidentally, Wes's choice could have been made much easier, and *wasn't*.  
>Picard could well have pointed out that even if Picard *did* speak and was 
>contradicted, Wes would be working under a cloud of suspicion for years if 
>not decades after graduating, and he damn sure wouldn't be able to serve 
>within a kiloparsec of the Enterprise.  

I doubt this, Picard would have forgiven him, regardless of what he said.  He
would have been dissapointed in him to be sure, but he knows what kind of
character he has, and one mistake (even a big moral one such as he would have
been making) is not enough to make Picard abandon Wesley.
 
>Most of the guest cast were good.  My main objection here is to Richard Fancy 
>as Satelk--he made a truly miserable, and *dull*, Vulcan.  I think this was 
>an acting (or maybe directing?) problem more than one of the writing; his 
>actual questions seemed to be fairly short and to the point.  His demeanor 
>and tone of voice, however, screamed anything BUT Vulcan to me.  Not a good 
>choice.   

I thought he did a decent job for the tact that he chose.  I don't assume that
all Vulcans are going to be unemotional.  People comes in all varieties, and
Vulcans do as well I'm sure.  Perhaps he's simply a Vulcan who chose not to
study the disciplines quite as strongly.


>And finally, we have Wes.  Written to perfection, for possibly the first 
>time.  And performed to perfection, for possibly the first time.  I don't 
>know precisely what I can say here.

I don't know, I thought his character was handled perfectly in "The Dauphin"
and "Final Mission."  And Wheaton has always done a nice job with the material
he's been given.  
>
>The best example of this, and in fact the best character interplay I've seen 
>in months, had to be the Picard/Wes scene in his ready room.  I could not 
>stop watching--literally.  The scene, more than anything else, illustrated 
>just how strong Picard's fatherly feelings are for Wesley, and just *how* 
>upset and let down by Wes's actions he was.  I honestly thought for a second 
>when Wes chose not to answer (a shocker in itself) that Picard was going to 
>slap him.  (Of course, Picard's patented Withering Stare is much worse...
>I can't praise this scene enough.

Agreed, best scene of an episode with lots of good ones.

>Finally, the conclusion was nice to see, in that we saw that actions *do have 
>consequences*, and that Wes *did* get taken down a few pegs for his rashness. 
>I know an awful lot of fans who have been wanting for years to see Wes 
>actually do something wrong and get nailed for it, and I rather suspect Wil 
>Wheaton's felt the same way.  This did it, in spades.  (As a corollary, of 
>course, if everything's fine and dandy with no references to this next time 
>we see Wes, I shall be quite displeased.)  

Yeah, I was surprised at the harshness of the punishment.  Short of expelling
him, this is the worst thing they could do to him.  Depending on how shallow
his friendships are right now, he could be looking at some rough times ahead.
 
>--I'm trying to figure out exactly what school "the game against Minsk" 
>referred to.  Is there another campus for the Academy, or is this a 
>completely different *type* of school?  Any ideas?

Well, the military acedemies now play against normal colleges nowadays, I don't
see why this would change.

>TOTAL:  Looks like a 9.  Very nice.

Ditto.  Solid but not perfect.


-- 
Jose Gonzalez
                       Spock- "In your own way, you are as stubborn as another
                               captain of the Enterprise I once knew."
                       Picard-"Then I'm in good company, sir."  
Newsgroups: rec.arts.startrek.current