Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4’s finale flashes back to right before TNG when Wesley Crusher made his biggest mistake in Starfleet Academy.
Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 4 Finale – “Old Friends, New Planets”
Summary
- Wesley Crusher’s character is somewhat redeemed in the season 4 finale of Star Trek: Lower Decks, as it shows him raising concerns about a dangerous maneuver despite being ignored.
- The decision to bring back Nicholas Locarno but not Sito Jaxa in the finale was intentional, as resurrecting Sito would undermine the impact of her death and the character development of Lt. Beckett Mariner.
- Lower Decks offers fans the opportunity to see the characters of Sito, Locarno, and Nova Squadron before they made the fateful mistake that shaped their futures, while also emphasizing Wesley Crusher’s knowledge of the right choice despite making the wrong one in “The First Duty.”
Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4’s finale flashes back to just before Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton) made his biggest mistake at Starfleet Academy in Star Trek: The Next Generation, and it offers a bit of redemption for Wes. The main story of Lower Decks‘ season 4 ender sees Lieutenant Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome) stop her disgraced former Starfleet Academy classmate, Nicholas Locarno (Robert Duncan McNeill), from threatening the United Federation of Planets with a stolen Ferengi Genesis Device. But “Old Friends, New Planets” starts with a cold open that flashes back to more idyllic times at Starfleet for everyone, including Wesley Crusher.
When Star Trek: The Next Generation started, Wesley Crusher was a boy genius who often intuited the solution to crises, irritating Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and the audience. But Picard did grow fond of Wesley, promoting young Crusher to Acting Ensign and sponsoring his application to Starfleet Academy. Unfortunately, Wesley didn’t succeed at the Academy as Picard and his mother, Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) hoped. Wesley, a part of the elite group dubbed Nova Squadron, participated in covering up the tragic, accidental death of his classmate, Joshua Albert. After the group came clean, Nick Locarno took full blame and was expelled, while Wesley and the others had their academic year stricken.
Near the end of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Wesley left Starfleet entirely to pursue his true destiny as one of the Travelers.
Lower Decks’ Flashback To Before TNG “The First Duty” Redeems Wesley Crusher
Wesley tried to be the voice of reason.
Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4’s finale begins by flashing back to “Starfleet Academy 13 years ago” (2368), right before Nova Squadron performed the forbidden Kolvoord Starburst Maneuver at commencement that led to Joshua Albert’s accidental death. The focus of the flashback is seeing an enthusiastic teenage Beckett Mariner as a Cadet doting on her friend and idol, Sito Jaxa (Shannon Fill), who was killed in the line of duty years later in the Star Trek: The Next Generation season 7 episode “Lower Decks.” But during these halcyon days at Starfleet Academy, Nova Squadron are the big men and women on campus, and they are all under the sway of the charismatic Nicholas Locarno.
To their credit, Joshua Albert and Wesley Crusher both raised their concerns to Nick that the Kolvoord Starburst Maneuver is an incredibly dangerous gambit. Even after Mariner joins the gang, Wesley relentlessly runs calculations on his PADD and points out that Nova Squadron has to run “way more hours in the simulator” to pull off their stunt without incident, a concern Locarno immediately dismisses. But at least Wesley was trying to raise objections and back them up with facts, even if they were ignored. It doesn’t excuse Crusher from joining the cover-up of Josh’s death. In fact, it’s clear Wesley knew better all along. But Wesley tried to be the voice of reason, if not strongly enough, and that does count in Crusher’s favor.
Why Lower Decks Bringing Back Star Trek” TNG’s Locarno But NOT Sito Was Right
Sito’s death has great significance to Star Trek and Mariner.
When Nicholas Locarno was revealed as Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4’s villain who attacked non-Federation ships and kidnapped their crews, some fans naturally assumed Lower Decks would reveal that Ensign Sito Jaxa was somehow still alive. However, Lower Decks showrunner Mike McMahan exclusively told Screen Rant that bringing Sito back to life in 2381 was never on his agenda:
That would be a type of fan service. To me, that would be disrespectful to a storyline that had a lot of impact on me. And it would feel good, but also a little hollow. Metaphorically, undoing that [death] for the sake of an animated comedy instead of using the weight of it for character development, that was never on my radar. It would have gone against how I see Trek canon.
Locarno’s story from Star Trek: The Next Generation “The First Duty” was still unfinished, but Sito’s death was a meaningful one to Star Trek and to Lt. Beckett Mariner, in particular. Losing Sito was a defining moment in Mariner’s life that altered her Starfleet career, and resurrecting Sito would damage that poignancy. Instead, Star Trek: Lower Decks gave TNG fans the gift of showing Sito, Locarno, and the rest of Nova Squadron before they made the crucial mistake that decided their destinies, and it also showed that Wesley Crusher knew what the right thing was, even though he made the wrong choice in “The First Duty.”
