The Cynics Corner

Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda

"It Makes a Lovely Light"

by David E. Sluss

30 May 2001

 
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THE BOTTOM LINE
: Except for the drug plot, this was a pretty decent show. The bad news is that there wasn't much other than the drug plot.

CYNICS CORNER RATING: 7.0 (C-)

GOOD THING OF THE WEEK: High marks for direction this week, as the goings-on during the rapid-fire slipstream jumps come across as suitably manic and increasingly out-of-control.

RECYCLING OF THE WEEK: The script provides another contrived opportunity to use that "Black Hole" footage from the pilot again. Surely it wasn't so expensive that it needs to be amortized in every other episode, can it? A Cynics Corner Preview of future episodes:

  • Andromeda's crew visits the Milwaukee drift in orbit around a Black Hole.
  • Andromeda's crew investigates a new source of fuel found only in proximity to Black Holes.
  • Members of Andromeda's crew are split into good and evil halves after straying too close to a Black Hole. Maximilian Schell guest-stars.

CHEAPO PROP OF THE WEEK: I hope that laser saw was meant strictly for laughs. Because if that was supposed to be a real tool - well - that would suck...

DOPE OF THE WEEK: No, not Flash, but Captain Dylan Hunt, who is the last person on the ship to notice how wired and fidgety Beka is, and indulges her desire to continue piloting longer than is safe. Just when you think Hunt isn't totally out of it, thanks to episodes such as "The Honey Offering," he pulls stuff like this...

DOPER OF THE WEEK: So Beka's a junkie after all. I don't know if I care for this development, but I suppose that in large measure it depends on whether this is pursued in the future. They talk a good game in this episode about how Beka will be fighting Flash addiction for the rest of her life, but if she's her chipper old self next week, and every succeeding week except for the occasional episode in which this character trait is pulled out of the drawer like Picard's flute, what was the point? In the meantime, we're stuck in this show with earnest speeches about how bad drugs are (not quite as eye-rolling as Star Trek: The Next Generation's "Symbiosis" but nearly so) and hammy-acted withdrawal scenes, many of which duplicate what we already saw in "The Pearls That Were His Eyes."

SEE-SAW OF THE WEEK: In parallel to Hunt's weekly flip-flops between dumbass and master tactician, we have a crew which at times seems loyal to a fault and other times outright treasonous. You'd think whatever fragile trust Hunt and Andromeda had in Beka and her crew would be dampened for more than one week by the fact that they kept some of these overrides in place. Is Hunt going to keep letting Beka have the ship for weeks at a stretch? Is Andromeda going to let Harper continue to fool around with her systems? Probably...

INSECURITY OF THE WEEK: Beka is locked in her quarters, or somewhere, to dry out. But they leave a weapon in the room so she can shoot Rev? Andromeda doesn't notice weapons fire, or Beka leaving her quarters? Paging Starfleet Security...

MYSTERIES OF THE WEEK: Another non-clue to Trance's origins is provided, in that extended slipstreaming seems to harm her. Best guess, since she never seems to have been affected by slipstream before, is that she was faking, but these various teases, always accompanied by that "Trance Music," is wearing thin. Rev suggests darkly that there might be something sinister behind Tarn-Vedra's disconnect from the rest of known space. I'll buy that: they saw how corrupt and inept the Commonwealth had become and pulled the umbrella on themselves.
  

Previous: "Star-Crossed"
Next: "Its Hour Come
'Round at Last
"
NEXT WEEK: How can anyone survive Andromeda's season finale? And that includes viewers.

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