Andromeda Episode 2: An Affirming Flame

Andromeda is still in proximity of the black hole; Captain Hunt deals with the scavengers, and now their hired mercenaries, trying to take over his ship.

Episode Summary

We pick up where we left off in the last episode, with Captain Dylan Hunt attempting to fend off the scavengers hoping to commandeer the Andromeda. He has a run in with Tyr, the Nietzschean mercenary, but escapes the confrontation with his life.

The other members of the scavenger team (Beka, Harper, Rev, and Trance) express their discontent with the mission and how they didn’t expect to have to fight anyone. Gerentex hears them and shoots Trance, killing her to make an example.

Dylan continues tangling with Tyr and the other mercenaries Gerentex brought aboard, while on the Maru (still in Andromeda’s docking bay) Harper sticks a cable in his neck hole in an attempt to hack Andromeda’s systems. He meets Holo-Andromeda and is easily overpowered.

Escaping the Black Hole

A fed up Gerentex leaves in the Eureka Maru and pushes Andromeda towards the black hole.

Having been left behind on Andromeda, Beka, Rev, Tyr, and a revived Trance ally themselves with Hunt. They launch and detonate Andromeda’s full complement of Nova Bombs, and use the force of the explosions to push themselves out of the black hole.

Now free, Andromeda catches up to the Eureka Maru and recovers it and Harper from Gerentex, whom they dump in a life pod.

Later on the Andromeda, Captain Hunt asks Beka and the others to join him in reviving the Commonwealth. They say yes, and the series begins…

Thoughts

This episode was an improvement on the previous one; it was less scattered and more coherent. Even then, however, I found the fights between Hunt and the mercenaries to be a snore, and Gerentex wasn’t a particularly captivating villain. Now that we got all the necessary set up complete, we’re left with a ragtag crew in a fancy ship out on a quest. Andromeda Ascendant? More like Andromeda Descendant of Blake’s 7.

Characters

Dylan Hunt

I still feel he’s a fairly bland do-gooder character. Hopefully he’ll be fleshed out more, but it wouldn’t be a total loss if he wasn’t. He’ll be the glue that holds the other, more interesting characters, together.

Rommie

I like the concept of the ship having an avatar. Reminds me a bit of Holly from Red Dwarf. I’d like to see more sentient, self-aware starships in science fiction television.

Beka Valentine

So far my favorite character. Reminds me of the Battlestar Galactica remake’s Starbuck (and not just in appearance). I wonder how she and Hunt, both captains with different styles of command, will work together.

Tyr Anasazi

The typical strong, silent warrior character like Star Trek’s Worf and Stargate’s Teal’c. Though he seems to be a bit livelier in demeanor. He’ll probably be one of the show’s more interesting characters.

Seamus Harper

Reminds me of a proto-Dr. McKay from Stargate. He’s full of himself and incredibly boastful. McKay grew to become endearing, but I fear Harper will grow to become annoying. I do like his neck port; very techno-futurist.

Rev Bem

I’m on the fence with him. He has the most alien appearance, but seems a little one-note and has a cartoony voice; I desperately want to like him, but I’m afraid he too might grow tiresome.

Trance Gemini

I like how they play up how mysterious she is – no one knows her species or how exactly she revived after Gerentex shot her. Hopefully the answer to these mysteries won’t be a letdown.