Amac Productions

Corruption? In Starfleet?

WHAT?!

I have a problem with Rimmick.

I have a problem with him wanting to join the Enterprise as well. Which – you know – I get that this is a wonderful ship to serve with an excellent crew and captain. It’s the flagship.

Who wouldn’t want to serve aboard the Enterprise?

Even with all the shenanigans it gets into.

However, dude, read the room. You just interrogated the entire crew like you were trying to catch them in lies and corruption. Making insinuations. Like – sir – you did not make a good impression on anyone on the Enterprise.

I don’t think you’d be very welcome.

Despite the nice atmosphere you find there.

That atmosphere is lovely because they all work well together. Like last episode, Riker didn’t get mad when a kid just slammed into his leg running through the ship. It happens. He just smiled and carried on, joking about it later when people wondered why he was limping.

Or that the reason he was crashed into in the first place was because Picard called him to the bridge so he could see for himself what they had been following. A legend that everyone wanted to prove true. Riker was so happy to be included in the findings.

I loved his smile when he joined Picard and that he wouldn’t want to miss it.

I love that Picard knew this about his first officer and called him to join the excitement. Because he took the time to know Riker.

To also understand that while Starfleet is a job, it is also a calling. That people get into because they’re curious about the universe. They want to explore and meet people and understand the space they call home. It’s more than a job. It’s an interest.

These people play games together. Live together. Nearly die together. Geek out together. And spend a lot of time cooped up together. They need to be able to get along. And Picard fosters that.

He may not personally interact with his crew outside his duties as much as I’ve seen Pike do on Strange New Worlds. But he cares for them in his own way.

Allows them to be themselves. To joke and be friendly.

They play games and take time together.

It’s not quite the found family thing we see a lot today. They all still take it like a job and with the idea that they will not be together forever. One day Riker might move on to become a captain somewhere.

In this episode, Picard is offered a promotion.

Their days aboard the Enterprise are numbered. It’s part of being in Starfleet.

You get stationed on a ship. You get promoted or maybe you get married and move with your spouse to another ship. It’s part of the job. And I love that they accept where they are right now.

They make the most of it and enjoy it together.

Because the best part of things, what makes things special, is that they end.

And while we might not want them to end, I think this crew has a great understanding that they can enjoy the now. And they’ll enjoy the future too, come what may. But there’s no need to mourn the now before we have to.

So, no, Rimmick, I don’t think you have the right vibe for the ship.

Because everyone there is capable of having fun while working. And you don’t appear to have that. You take yourself and everything around you far too seriously from what I can tell. Whereas no one aboard the Enterprise takes anything more seriously than they need to.

Like sending a box of Chinese handcuffs as a ‘friendly’ thank you.

Or turning into Sherlock Holmes to problem solve.

He did his job, but he’s too stiff for the Enterprise. He needs to loosen up before he comes to a ship like this.

Meanwhile, the point of all of the finger pointing and attempting to find corruption aboard the Enterprise had a point. Which is great, because it felt like a witch hunt before.

And I really appreciated how everyone handled their interviews.

No one lied or exaggerated anything. They simply stated the facts and their interpretation of them. Since they have to make calls out in the middle of space with the Prime Directive as a guide. However, it doesn’t have the answer to every problem. As we have seen. Picard and the crew just do the best they can with what they have at the time.

It’s easy to judge it six months down the line and say he did the wrong thing when you’ve had six months to think about things. And in some cases, like Wesley nearly being executed, he didn’t have six hours to think it over.

They were honest and truthful but also incredibly loyal to Picard.

They believed he did the best he could. Maybe it’s not the right thing. Maybe he sort of broke the Prime Directive. Maybe he’s not perfect.

But he is a good captain. A just and fair one.

Making the best of what he comes across.

I really loved how the crew backed him up. Again, it comes across as mature and caring while still presenting valid facts and arguments. Sure, they may have lost their tempers here and there.

But who wouldn’t when faced with someone looking for corruption from the last man I would ever expect to be corrupt?

However, the point of this witch hunt was to rule out Picard and his crew as corrupt. Which Quinn did. Thus, he wants Picard at his side to help him because he suspects there’s something going on in Starfleet HQ.

Which is just maddening to me. I didn’t think this system could be corrupt.

But then again, anything large enough can be corrupted. It happens.

However, I just thought we were so far past that at this point in the world of Star Trek. But we’re not. And I’m not sure how I feel about that. Because I was enjoying a simple adventure story about a group of like-minded individuals(Starfleet) exploring the universe and encountering some weird-ass shit.

This is fun to me.

I don’t want a multi-arc corruption story.

On the other hand, I’ve been super – pleasantly – surprised with the quality and care of the show as a whole. So maybe they’ve nailed it and everyone else has just been falling short with their corruption stories. Just trying so hard to be Star Trek: The Next Generation.

I’m really curious to find out! Onto the next!

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