The First Duty

Duluth was a very fun trip yesterday and I really enjoyed myself! That being said I think the town is slightly overrated and is not that exciting but it is really pretty up there. I went with two of my friends and we went to Gooseberry Falls, and Canal Park in Duluth. I kind of blew my diet yesterday but it really wasn’t that bad and it was worth it to have some fun and good food with friends. I had the most exquisite caramel apple from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Company, It was covered in caramel, coated with pieces of chocolate covered English toffee and then it was coated again with chocolate. WOW it was good and totally worth the $9 price. Today I went golfing and had pretty much the worst game ever in the history of the sport, it started bad and just got worse as the game went on. By the fourth hole I legitimately was hoping that it would start down pouring or lightning or something just so I could get off the course. I finished the game and tried to improve my attitude by the end and it came around a little bit.

Elliptical Machine- Calories: 657, Miles: 3.72

The First Duty

The Enterprise is making its way back to Earth so that Picard can give the announcement at the upcoming Starfleet Academy graduation ceremony. While en route Picard receives a signal from the academy that there has been an accident during a flight team practice and Cadet Wesley Crusher has been injured. He has survived with only minimal injuries but another cadet on Nova Squadron has died. An inquiry of the four remaining Nova Squadron cadets, Crusher, two female cadets and their leader Nick Locarno are put through a hearing. Picard and Crusher come to watch the inquiry and support Wesley if they can in any way. Crusher plays the usual supportive mother believing that her son can do no wrong. Picard is supportive but also cautious about the whole procedure. Through the hearing it is revealed that the five cadets were to do a specific flight plan but that they had deviated from the plan mid course and didn’t inform the Academy of the change. They also reveal that they were flying only on sensor readings and not using visual confirmation as well, which is very odd. It is at this time too that Lacarno reveals that he thought the dead Cadet was not up to par on his pilot skills and that he caused the accident because he was not ready for the task, but they kept him as he was their friend. The cadets then have a meeting and discuss how they are going to continue covering up their wrong doings, because they have been withholding information but not lying up till this point. They agree to keep lying but Wesley finds this hard to do. Picard then talks to Wesley and informs him that he has figured them out and with some additional information knows the crew was attempting a forbidden maneuver. He makes a prolonged speech about duty and impresses upon Wesley that he must tell the truth or else it will be done for him. In the end Wesley admits to his wrong doing and the squadron is reprimanded and held back a year while Lacarno is expelled from the university. In an interesting side plot Picard gets to revisit with an old “friend” from the Academy a man named Boothby who was the groundskeeper. This man has apparently had a real impact on Picard and this man is also where Picard learns that there is something wrong going on with the members of Nova Squadron.

This episode is truly one of the best of the season and the series in general, it provides character development, intrigue, and despite the court room drama style it is very fun to watch. It is nice to also get a look at Wesley Crusher as he has grown up over the few seasons he has not been around for and that he is growing up to be a pretty decent guy. Also of interest is that when writing Star Trek: Voyager they wanted to add a character who was a "Nick Lacarno" type to the show and even considered just putting him on the show. When this proved to costly because he was written by an outside writer they named the character Tom Paris but hired the same actor to play who played Nick Lacarno to play him, Robert Duncan McNeill.

The fifth season really is one of the best the show put out and it continues to be fun to watch.