YMMV / Star Trek: The Next Generation S1E18 "Coming of Age"

• Captain Obvious Reveal: An accident supposedly interrupts Wesley's psychological test, but it turns out that the accident is the test itself. It's quite easy to see coming due to the fact that it is in the middle of a Starfleet facility but there's no alarms or assistance.
• Epileptic Trees: Considering that Mordock's opponents in the Academy admissions test are Wesley (intelligent, but young and inexperienced), Oliana (who seems completely out of her league several times during in the test) and T'Shanik (who comes across as somewhat condescending and over-confident), some fans have theorised that the test was essentially rigged so that Mordock would win and thus become the first Benzite in Starfleet, with Wesley nearly proving a Spanner in the Works by coming close to equalling or even beating Mordock's results. When Mordock protests that Wesley should have won, Chang only makes a vague reference to "other matters" that pushed Mordock ahead.
  • A very easy argument that fans can see if that Wesley was brushed off simply because he's not legally an adult at age 15 (going on 16 which is apparently the legal age for joining Starfleet). No matter how good he is at the testing part, Starfleet might reasonably believe that is too young to join for a human.
  • Another consideration is that there may be a fear of Wesley advancing too quickly for his own good. Gifted students who experience little difficulty early on may have difficulties dealing with failure later on in their lives. Presenting Wesley with failure now is a chance for him to experience such disappointment and learn from it, rather than letting it cripple his development by occurring too late.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: Rondon insults Wesley by calling him a Mellanoid slime worm. Thirty-four years later and we find out they're actually adorable little purple blob monsters◊. That purr. Someone needs to work on his insults...
  • Fridge Brilliance: Zaldans hate human forms of courtesy, similar to Klingons and Tellarites. Mellanoid slime worms are sweet, passive creatures. Rondon would consider the comparison insulting.
• Special Effects Failure: Either that, or someone at the station put up a full-size artwork that looks almost, but not quite, like a corridor.

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