Andromeda Episode 56: The Dark Backward

Trance looks at different possible outcomes of a scenario involving a rampaging space knight.

Episode Summary

This episode is from Trance Gemini’s point of view; she looks at all the possible outcomes of a particular scenario, and attempts to find the optimal path. In other words, it’s an excuse for a time loop/Groundhog Day episode.

The scenario the Andromeda crew faces in this episode involves the arrival of a multidimensional space knight. This is a man of few words, but he’s obviously an asshole because most of Trance’s outcomes end with him murdering everyone and/or destroying the ship.

The outcome that Trance chooses at the end of the episode involves her telling Captain Hunt to have Andromeda slipstream away before the space knight is able to get on board. This seems to work at first, but the knight still appears, so Hunt just opens the airlock and kicks him out into space.

Thoughts

Other sci-fi shows with time loop episodes, like Star Trek‘s Cause and Effect and Stargate’s Window of Opportunity, are careful to prevent the constant repetition from becoming stale; they include character development, a sense of mystery, or comedic moments. That wasn’t the case here.

Because the entire loop was centered around such a short amount of time, all the episode’s focus was on the crew’s attempts to thwart the rampaging space knight. It felt like watching someone fighting a boss in a video game, losing, restoring a saved game, and tying over and over again.

I did like how that the knight guy – “The Scourge” is apparently his name – was a formidable foe. He was supposedly working for the Spirit of the Abyss, but that connection was cut from the episode. But I got a sense of dread every time he appeared, so that was a small victory for this episode. Way different than Delenda Est, where the seemingly badass villains were treated like jokes by the Andromeda crew.