Andromeda Episode 13: Music of a Distant Drum

An amnesiac Tyr crash lands on a planet occupied by Drago-Kazov Nietzscheans, whom he must outrun and outwit if he is to protect his mysterious coffin prize.

Episode Summary

On some planet controlled by the Nietzschean Drago-Kazov Pride, a single human mother and teenage stepson complain about life under their harsh, genetically-engineered oppressors who bully them and steal their fish all the time.

They find a crash-landed Eureka Maru in their backyard. Its pilot, Tyr, is unconscious but slowly wakes up. “Who am I?” He asks. Oh no, not an amnesia story.

Tyr’s Lost Memory

The mom, hoping for a reward, wants to tell her Nietzschean overlords about Tyr, but Tyr prefers to remain hidden for now.

Tyr goes out to check the Maru’s cargo hold and finds a huge coffin-sized container, but because he doesn’t remember the password to open it, the container’s contents remain a mystery.

Upon Tyr’s return to the mom’s house, he finds a trio of Drago-Kazov Nietzscheans (“Dragans”) harassing the mom and son, and trying to steal their fish. Tyr beats up the antagonizers and they run away.

Gradually, Tyr regains more and more of his memories. He was afflicted by a memory-targeting nano-virus in the Maru, and his heightened immune system is fighting back – in time his memories will fully return.

Tyr Fights the Dragans

The Dragans come back to look for Tyr and follow him to the Maru, but he takes them by surprise and beats them up. Tyr then takes the coffin container to a cave and finally remembers the password – inside are the mummified remains of the first Nietzschean, Drago Museveni. It had once belonged to Tyr’s Kodiak Pride, but was stolen by the Dragans. Tyr is repossessing it.

We get some more fighting between the pursuing Dragans and Tyr, who finally regains the rest of his memories. In the end, Beka and Dylan are able to locate Tyr and pick him up.

Thoughts

I wasn’t crazy about this one. As soon as we opened with the crashed Maru and amnesiac Tyr, I let out a huge sigh. The rest of the episode was fairly pedestrian, with Tyr running, keeping his MacGuffin safe, and fighting the people after him.

The mom and stepson were a welcome break from the violence, giving us a glimpse of life under Nietzschean rule, but at the same time they too felt cliché – especially the son, with his whole “Nietzscheans killed my father, let me at ‘em, let me at ‘em” attitude.