And so we arrive at the finale. Finally.
Ten episodes of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy later, we finally reach the moment where everything is supposed to come together. The season’s plot threads — Caleb’s missing mother, Braka’s threat and the Omega mines, the Athena’s fate, and the cadets finding their place — all converge.
A good finale can save a shaky season. It can reframe earlier episodes, reward patience, and deliver a memorable payoff.
Episode 10 does not do that for Starfleet Academy.
Instead, it delivers a finale that feels rushed, clumsy, and built on convenient quick solutions. It borrows from older Trek again, fumbles its character arcs, and ultimately resolves its central conflict far too easily.
Let’s break it down.
The Convenient Signal of Destiny
The episode opens with a problem that gets solved almost instantly.
There’s apparently now a convenient two-minute window that allows communication with Starfleet and Admiral Vance. At the same time, Braka is conveniently using a single signal source to control the entire Omega minefield.
Now, I’m willing to accept technobabble. Star Trek has always relied on it.
But good Trek technobabble usually feels like a puzzle the characters must solve.
Here, the puzzle pieces are already lying on the table.
Paul Giamatti Deserves Better
Let’s talk about Paul Giamatti again.
He clearly loves being part of Star Trek. You can see it in his performance. Even when the dialogue is clunky or modern in tone, he tries to inject life into it.
But the writing fails him. Badly.
Braka should be a memorable villain. Someone with ideological conviction or terrifying intelligence.
Instead he’s saddled with awkward lines and inconsistent motivation.
And then there’s that haircut.
Those ridiculous noughts-and-crosses (tic-tac-toe) patterns shaved into his head finally get explained. The writers clearly realised viewers would be asking “what on Earth is that about?” and decided to add a backstory.
But the explanation arrives so late that it feels like a patch rather than character development.
The Doctor’s Holo-Emitter
One interesting moment is the appearance of the Doctor’s mobile holo-emitter.
Fans will remember this device from Star Trek: Voyager, where the 29th-century technology allowed the Doctor to leave sickbay and move freely around Voyager.
Seeing it again is a nice nod, but it’s again just more nostalgia bait.
The Doctor and Reno use this holographic projection technology to simulate the Athena’s destruction, fooling Braka’s forces.
This idea clearly echoes a Voyager tactic, where holographic projections were used to deceive the Kazon.
And again we see that Kurtzman-era pattern: Borrow from older Trek.
Unfortunately, the execution here raises questions.
If the fake Athena is supposedly destroyed by an absolute barrage of enemy torpedoes… are you telling me the real Athena wasn’t hit at all?
The saucer section is still right there.
Holo-emitters also project photons and light. They’re not a cloaking device. And they don’t deflect sensor readings.
And why is an 800 year old mobile holo-emitter needed anyway? The ship has it’s own emitters, clearly, as the Doctor exists without his mobile holo-emitter activated.
And the Athena’s shields are down on a panel, yet seconds later, Reno says “shields protected us from…” – there’s just no logic or continuity in the writing.
“Not a Captain” – A Misunderstanding of Command
At one point, cadets address Reno with “Aye, Captain.”
Reno responds: “Not a captain.”
This is meant to be humorous. It is not.
It also demonstrates the writers misunderstanding Starfleet command structure.
In Star Trek, the ranking officer on the bridge is effectively the captain while in command.
This has been discussed in multiple episodes across the franchise.
So the line lands as awkward rather than clever.
The moment is also framed with Power Rangers-style reaction shots of each cadet, which feels wildly out of place in Star Trek.
The Federation on Trial… Sort Of
Braka, part of the Venari Ral, broadcasts a message across Federation space using the previously captured secondary hull or drive section of the Athena.
Apparently this pirate faction now operates the “Venari Ral News Network.”
Yes, really.
Space pirates now run a galaxy-wide news network.
Okay.
Anyway, Braka declares the Federation guilty for the destruction of his home world.
The idea of putting the Federation’s actions on trial could have been fascinating.
Star Trek has explored Federation moral ambiguity before — brilliantly.
Think of “In the Pale Moonlight” from DS9, where Sisko wrestles with the cost of bringing the Romulans into the Dominion War.
That episode worked because they treat the moral argument seriously.
Here, Braka’s “trial” is essentially just a speech.
No legal process. No meaningful debate. No tension.
Just a villain monologue.
Genesis Gets the Captains Chair… and Needs the Toilet
So, Genesis finally gets her big moment in the captain’s chair.
This should be a significant character milestone.
Instead she says: “Wait… I think I need to pee.”
This is the moment.
The culmination of her command arc.
And it’s played as a toilet joke.
It reminded me immediately of Luke tossing his lightsaber over his shoulder in The Last Jedi — a moment that undermines decades of myth for the sake of a gag.
Again, the problem isn’t just bad attempts at humour. The problem is tone.
Character Growth That Isn’t Growth
This finale highlights one of the biggest issues with the entire show:
The characters don’t grow.
They simply change depending on what the current episode requires.
Take Darem. Across the season he’s been:
- A bully
- A misunderstood cadet
- A comic idiot
- A supportive friend
- A bully again
That’s not development. That’s inconsistency.
It feels like different writers working from slightly different character notes each week.
Set Reuse: Welcome Back
The show continues its obsession with reusing the Athena’s Atrium set.
Every episode seems to find a new excuse to film scenes there.
Then we get a scene where Reno and Caleb must repair the warp core.
And somehow the warp core is now located in… the same corridor that was used earlier in the episode as an airlock.
Yes, it’s not the main core and is probably a secondary core, but the set reuse is painfully obvious.
Classic Trek reused sets too, of course.
But they redressed them creatively.
Here, the repetition is obvious enough to break immersion.
The Omega Miracle Solution
The cadets discover a solution involving Rubin particles.
Which conveniently will neutralise the Omega mines.
The Doctor communicates this miraculous discovery while glitching and speaking utter gibberish.
This entire sequence feels rushed and forced. It’s there purely to wrap things up quickly.
Omega was once one of the most dangerous substances in Star Trek.
In Voyager, the Omega Directive required Starfleet captains to destroy the molecule at all costs because it could permanently destroy subspace.
Here, the solution to that power just appears from the Doctor.
Problem solved, apparently.
Caleb’s Emotional Break (Again)
Right in the middle of a crisis, we get another Caleb and Tarima romance moment.
“It’s you. It’s always been you.” Ugh.
This pauses the episodes main storyline completely.
It’s melodrama at the worst possible moment.
JJ (Kelvin) Trek Visual Echoes
Later, the Athena saucer drops out of warp inside a nebula, rising heroically through glowing gas clouds.
Which, funnily enough, in the script they discuss hiding in the clouds, yet the visual shot is of them exiting the clouds.
I mean, visually it looks impressive.
But it also makes no sense and it feels very Kelvin Timeline, reminiscent of cinematic shots from Star Trek Into Darkness.
This just reinforces how much modern Trek leans on spectacle rather than narrative substance.
Discovery Reference (Because Of Course)
There’s also a quick Discovery reference explaining why that ship cannot assist.
Again, the show continues tying itself to Discovery even though newer viewers may not understand the reference.
Who is this show for?
Newer audiences won’t know and older Trek fans just sigh at the mention of Discovery.
Direction Matters
This episode, the second part of the finale, is not directed by Jonathan Frakes. You can tell.
It is instead helmed by the director behind the abysmal Section 31 “film” that we were all tortured with in 2025 (a review for another time).
It shows.
The camera spins constantly.
Drone shots circle conversations.
The intention seems to be to inject energy into static scenes.
Instead it just becomes disorienting.
Frakes tends to elevate weak scripts where possible. The director of this episode does the opposite.
The Final Confrontation
Caleb arrives alone in a shuttle to confront Braka.
Tarima uses her now-magical abilities to locate Caleb’s mother using emotion and telepathy across large distances of space.
Ake explains the truth: Braka’s father ignited the atmosphere of his planet himself.
The evidence? The colour of the Federation weapons fire. And some dribble about the mined materials.
Braka then tries to trigger the Omega mines with a big red button in his hand.
No worries. The cadets have already neutralised Omega-47.
Starfleet warps in.
Problem solved.
Just like that.
The Ending
We get the now-traditional modern Trek shot: Ships flying heroically while the original Star Trek theme plays.
It’s clearly meant to trigger nostalgia, but nostalgia only works when the story earns it.
And, no cliffhanger?
What’s really surprising is that there isn’t one.
Season two has already been filmed, so perhaps they didn’t feel the need.
But why not end the season with a dramatic unresolved moment?
Something to 100% bring your viewers back.
Instead everything wraps up neatly and very easily.
We don’t get resolutions to some plot threads either, like the Doctor and his glitches. That’s just left as resolved off screen, which is lazy and I hate that.
Final Thoughts
There are two positives:
- The CGI remains excellent.
- It’s finally over.
Everything else about this show just falls short.
- The writing is weak.
- The characters are inconsistent week to week.
- The humour is misplaced.
- There’s too much teen drama.
- The designs of ships, creatures, and places are not great.
It just isn’t Star Trek.
This finale fails to deliver the emotional payoff the season was building toward.
Final Score
Major Reshoots Required
And spoiler alert for my series review, but unfortunately, that’s also the score for the entire season.
Star Trek deserves better.
Maybe it’s time for new leadership — someone who understands what made Trek work in the first place.
People like:
- Terry Matalas
- Seth MacFarlane
- Berman and the old gang
That’s what we need. A return to the Berman-era.
What fans really want is simple:
- New Trek in the 24th or 25th century.
- Exploration.
- Strange new worlds.
- A future that inspires again.
- Hope.
- Writers that know Trek and care.
This Starfleet Academy version of Star Trek… it isn’t boldly going anywhere other than being relegated to unwatched content that hides in the bowels of a streaming service.
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