YMMV / Star Trek The Next Generation S 7 E 19 Journeys End

• Accidental Aesop: Despite Picard's deeply internalized progressive mindset, he's being held personally responsible for the brutal actions of his ancestors. The episode seems to, perhaps unwittingly, support the notion of inherited guilt, sometimes called "ancestral sin."
• Captain Obvious Aesop: The solution of simply leaving the colonists to fend for themselves under the Cardassian regime is obvious right from the beginning. It makes you wonder why the Federation was so insistent on forcibly removing them from the planet in the first place.
• Franchise Original Sin:
  • Much like how "Paradise" over on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine had prefigured the anti-technology aesop of Star Trek: Insurrection, the Trail of Tears allegory that also prominently featured in that film's plot also appears here. However, it mostly takes a backseat to Wesley's story, is treated as an unfortunate side-effect of some political wrangling rather than the Native Americans having some divine right to be there, and Picard's reluctantly obeying his orders until he's able to broker a compromise is more in-character than his instantly siding with the Ba'ku, so the allegory generally rankles fans much less here.
  • The episode is also the starting point of a lot of mysticism and stereotypes regarding Native Americans, something that would become a major complaint about Chakotay's character and backstory on Star Trek: Voyager. While it obviously doesn't justify the use of the Magical Native American trope, such a research failure with a one-off story was seen as less of an issue than something involving a main character. Additionally, the fact that the character who took Wesley on his vision quest turned out to be the Traveller in disguise at least allowed for the implication that this was something that Native Americans didn't actually do in reality, before Voyager insisted over and over again that yes, it was.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • Wesley telling Picard "Maybe I am sick of following rules and regulations! Maybe I'm sick of living up to everyone else's expectations! Did you ever think of that?!" gained even sadder Reality Subtext when Wil Wheaton revealed that he got forced to go into acting by his Abusive Parents.
  • Additionally, Gul Evek's remaining son's life would be in extreme jeopardy a few years later with the events of the Dominion War on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine The Cardassians are implied to have suffered extremely heavy casualties being used as cannon fodder by the Dominion.
• Narm: It's a bit silly to see Wesley and the Traveler walking away with peaceful smiles while a riot resumes immediately behind them.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic:
  • We're supposed to sympathize with the Native Americans for getting unfairly kicked off their land yet again even as we sympathize with the Federation for trying to avert a war in which millions may die. But the writers made the curious choice to note that the Native Americans knew before they settled on the planet that it was claimed by the Cardassians. This completely undermines the Native Americans' moral position, since they're the ones stealing land from a Cardassian perspective. The writers apparently didn't grasp the implications or the irony, because neither the Cardassians nor Picard use this against them when arguing for their removal.
  • Plus the fact that they are simply being relocated for their own safety. And yet they treat their attempted relocation as being equivalent to an incident that led to many Native Americans being slaughtered. Hard to feel sorry for them when they have to be so hyperbolic to make their case. They also lose points for invoking ancestral guilt on Picard.

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