The return of an old enemy forces Nahla to confront her own mistakes as the cadets and instructors undertake a seemingly impossible mission to save the Federation, while defining the future of Starfleet. 

Picking up directly from the end of the previous episode, the season finale of Starfleet Academy pulls out all the stops with its behind-the-scenes creatives, with a teleplay by Alex Kurtzman and Kirsten Beyer from a story by Noga Landau and Gaia Violo, directed by Olatunde Osunsanmi. And even if everything is resolved in a familiar way, it feels solidly Star Trek.

The saucer section of the Athena has separated from the main hull, with all eyes on finding a way to punch through Nus’ wall of death and get a message to Admiral Vance. But if they get it wrong, they’ll detonate 80,000 cubic light years of space, killing 160 billion people.

The trouble with stories where the stakes are so ridiculously high is that you already know the outcome, and it’s just a case of waiting for the smartest person in the room to come up with the best ‘it’s so unlikely that it might just work’ scenario. And they do. And everything is sorted, ready for season 2. On reflection, it’s been a hit and miss year, the best episode by far being Come, Let’s Away, which would have made for a better season finale.

Verdict: A solid, if uninspiring, end to the year. With the second season already wrapped, let’s hope the sophomore year builds on the strengths of its rocky first outing. 7/10

Nick Joy