"The Honey Offering"

by David E. Sluss

19 May 2001

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CYNICS CORNER RATING: 8.0 (B-)

GOOD THINGS OF THE WEEK: It's strange. Going into this series, I would have figured that the Nietzscheans would be the least interesting race. Indeed, I wrote them off as Kazon-Lite early on. But they have turned out to provide the most entertainment value in the series thus far. Go figure.

MULTIPLE PERSONALITIES OF THE WEEK: Will the real Dylan Hunt please stand up? Is this guy a pathetic idealist who thinks that peace, love, and giving away flowers at airports will restore the Commonwealth, or a Machiavellian loose cannon willing to destroy the galaxy in order to save it? I don't know, and I'm not entirely certain the writers know for sure either. The characterization of Hunt has been erratic since day one. Showing the progression of Hunt from naive sap to cold, calculating political strategist might be reasonable and appropriate for the series, but that's not quite what we've gotten. Instead, Hunt seems to go back and forth from week to week, and sometimes even within an individual episode. It seems to be, I'm sorry to say, a case of Janeway Syndrome. We may also have a bit of Kirk Syndrome too, as it is Hunt who collects the horny offering this week. I guess he's given up on temporal hoohah reuniting him with Sara...

CONTINUITY OF THE WEEK: This series has been looking a little more tightly plotted of late, and I do appreciate the references to past events, particularly Tyr not wanting to be seen aboard the Andromeda by the Drago-Kazov. It's hard to believe at this point that the Drago-Kazov don't know that Tyr is aboard the Andromeda. If nothing else, the Sabra arranged Ellsbett's transport with Tyr, and presumably would know who he was; if the Dragons found out about the transport, surely they would have learned which Nietzschean arranged it.

CONTRIVANCE OF THE WEEK: Do you really believe that Hunt could evade a fleet of Drago-Kazov vessels in a cargo ship, and then manipulate two other fleets into fighting with them? I'm not sure I do, but I'll grant that it's a worthwhile development in the Andromeda universe, something we haven't seen in a while. I also have to say that the Sabra's initial plan to have Ellsbett atomize the wedding party seemed fatally flawed to me. Unless they've got more twists in the DNA than they should, wouldn't the Jaguars be just a little bit suspicious when no one from the bride's side showed up at the ceremony?

PSEUDO-ANDROMEDA CLICHE OF THE WEEK: It's kind of ironic to see the Andromeda's crew, whose vessel has been invaded or taken over in about half the episodes so far, using a fake takeover as a strategy. It's a credit to the Nietzscheans that they didn't fall for it (or that they were observant enough to see the Maru leaving Andromeda's shuttle bay).

TECHNOLOGY CREEP OF THE WEEK: There might be something of a trend in Andromeda of technology seeming novel or new when it is first shown, but later appearing to be run of the mill. For instance, Andromeda's avatar, created in "To Loose the Fateful Lightning" seemed to be something that was not standard High Guard issue. Later episodes, such as "The Mathematics of Tears" and "Star-Crossed" imply that avatars are everywhere. Similarly, Harper struggled to the point of collapse to build a footprint magnification system in "D Minus Zero," but later episodes, including this one, suggest that you can get them at your neighborhood True Value.

TECHNOLOGICAL GLITCH OF THE WEEK: Andromeda fails to notice that Ellsbett broke out of the Observation Deck. Hunt must have bought surplus Voyager Shuttle Bay Door sensors at the last drift.
  

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This review is copyright © 2001 David E. Sluss
Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda is a trademark of Tribune Entertainment