Andromeda: S02E06: All Too Human

An epsiode review by Hollydays

Our intrepid hero Dylan sets out once again to save the day after the planet Mobius joins the New Commonwealth in order to get help defending itself from a neighbouring world Machen Alpha.

Machen Alpha has a nasty ship called the Basilisk that can vaporize planets. Mobius had neglected to tell anyone of this neighbourly dispute when it had signed on (of course). Machen Alphas past disputes have included the obliteration of a planet of two billion A.I.’s.

Rommie has infiltrated Machen Alpha to meet with an informant who may have info that would help Mobius. Tyr, Rev Bem, and Harper are sitting nearby the city under water in the Maru. Rommie looks particularly hip today. She is modelling a tight black body suit, long black leather jacket, flippy hair and Goth make up. I didn’t like the makeup and hair, but my husband commented that the hair was rather flirty and sexy (yes, he lost a husband point).

Meanwhile, Dylan and the Andromeda are speeding over to Mobius in order to provide some protection from Machen Alpha. Unfortunately they find out that the Basilisk task force is ahead of schedule and will be deployed in 48 hours instead of the original two weeks.

Rommie has met up with the informant, Phillip Kim.  He looks like a nervous professor type and he won’t give her the info as promised because he thinks she will just abandon him there. Rommie is confused about how  to continue and contacts the Maru in her head while still talking to Kim. Harper advises her to unzip her shirt a little further as that would work for him 🙂  While Rev Bem advises her to calm him down by reiterating her good intentions, Tyr tells her to either take the info from him or knock him out and drag him to the extraction point.

Rommies conversations are interrupted by her picking up the sounds of security people in Kim’s hallway.  She pushes him onto the couch and starts kissing him (rather forward on a 1st date). The security team bash in the door.  They don’t buy the kissy face scene and accuse Rommie of being on the Mobius payroll. They attempt to take Kim into custody. Rommie saves the day with some wild Matrix like moves but takes some weapon fire. After kicking all of the security bums, she grabs Kim and tells him to not “puke on the way down”, and “BAM!” through a giant round window they go.  Kim lived in a very high high-rise….I think I would have puked (or something).  Luckily, she has an anti-grav device on her belt and she slows their descent enough to land lightly on the ground.  At this time Kim notices the damage she has received from the fight, her guts are showing. He realizes she is an A.I. and starts pleading with her not to kill him!

At Kims apartment the big security boss, Carter, is surveying the damage. He surveys the damage and states the she must be an android.

With the security forces closing in on their location, Rommie tries to calm Kim’s fears of her and get them on the move.

The Maru crew are waiting patiently for Rommie and keeping themselves busy with preparing the ship to leave. Harper is sucking back a lot of his anti-maggog hatching medicine. Tyr sarcastically announces that they had better hurry as the security people have detected Harper’s undetectable hack into their satellite and they are coming to kill them.

Rommie tells Tyr to take off and she will hide Kim until Dylan can come back to extract them. The Maru attempts to get its butt outta there but gets hit and sinks into the ocean.

Phillip Kim doctors up Rommies wounds. He confesses that he designs ships and helped to design the Basilik task force but it wasn’t intended to destroy entire planets but to protect theirs. Apparently after the fall of the Commonwealth his planet had turned to A.I’s  to help solve their problems. At first it worked but the merciless logic of the A.I.’s led to human resentment.  The humans rebelled and drove the A.I.’s off the planet.  (The humans later destroyed the planet with 2 billion A.I.’s on it and were now going for Mobius.)

Tyr contacts Dylan and tells him that the Maru is sinking into a trench in the Ocean. Dylan can’t help at the moment as the Basilik task force is preparing to destroy Mobius and it’s 4 billion people. Rommie becomes visibly upset when she can no longer communicate with the Maru due to the pressure affecting the AG fields. Her emotional response surprises Kim.

The security force is laying depth charges against the Maru. Tyr starts to freak out but Rev Bem assures him that if Harper can repair the ship they can still accomplish the extraction and get out of there. After sucking back another shot of meds, Harper collapses on the ground.

Rommie and Kim argue as they move along. Rommie wins kim over finally when he discovers that she is not just an android but a ship. He has always wanted to be able to talk to the ships he designs. Kim decides to trust her and gives her the information disk. It shows that Machen Alpha’s entire research program emanates from one undamaged Maggog swarm ship with a point singularity weapon. Kim tells her that this ship greatly advanced their technology so that they could destroy the A.I.’s but he cannot understand why his government is now targeting Mobius since there are no A.I.’s there.  Rommie decides to get into that facility where the ship is being kept. Kim tells her that even he does not have clearance to get in there but she looks unperturbed.

Over to Mobius: the Baslisk has destroyed Andromeda’s drones. Beka is shocked that they are using the point singularity Maggog technology.  Dylan looks devastated.

On the Maru, Rev Bem has come up with a plan. He suggests filling the Maru with water to balance the pressure and use the air system to propel the ship to the surface. Tyr points out that he cannot hold his breath as long as Rev can but Rev tells him that they will use the EVA suits. YEY! Tyr and Rev run over to the suits, only to find a note from Harper to Harper to repair the suits. only one of the suits is working. OH NO! Rev tells Tyr that Maggog can live without air for 30 minutes. That leaves one suit for Harper or Tyr. After a brief dilemma, Tyr shouts that “Harper will drown!”.

On land, the security forces have caught up to Rommie and Kim. A little ball rolls forward and when it stops it projects a holo version of Carter. He coolly tells Rommie that he is here to ruin her day (yuck, who cut the cheese) and tells them to surrender immediately. Rommie’s response is to kick their butts once again. Kim decides to help her out and gets killed by one of the stray shots. Rommie coldly tells Carter that he just made a big mistake as now she has no target to protect she has no limitations. “You just started a war!” declares Rommie whom quickly disappears.  Carter looks worried…very worried.

On the Maru the air is getting thinner and thinner. Rev Bem will not let Tyr sacrifice Harper even though Tyr is using his best logic to try and turn the situation in his favour. After all Harper is infested and dying anyways. Rev won’t budge. Tyr waves a gun at Harper and tells Rev Bem that if he killed Harper right now there would be no debate at all to which Rev Bem responds, “perhaps, but that forces me to wonder why you have not already done so?” Tyr knows his line of reasoning is exhausted.

Back to Mobius: Dylan prepares to shoot everything he’s got at the Basilisk but it is too late, a volley of point singularity shots are heading for Mobius with nothing Andromeda can do. Beka thinks quickly and opens up a slipstream near Mobius and the P.S. shots fly on in. Except for the earthquakes and volcanic activity in response to the portal opening up so near to the planet, Mobius is saved!

Meanwhile, Tyr has decide to give Harper the EVA suit. The new plan is that Tyr can go without oxygen for twelve minutes, after that he will allow himself to drown hoping that the coldness of the water will put his body into a state of hypothermia, thus hoping that Rev Bem will be able to revive him when they reach the surface. Tyr is making the greatest sacrifice of all, putting his survival in someone else’s hands (esp a Maggog!). He looks scared spitless.

Carter meanwhile, has decided that Rommies next move will be within the information systems and he’s right. We see her in VR hacking into the system and deciding that the best way to get the security guards to desert the maggog ship area is to activate an explosion in their fusion reactor. Carter has a data port like Harper on his neck. He jacks into the system and confronts her. He tells her that he won’t let her blow the fusion reactor, as that would kill 700,000 people. She shoots back that he and his people have no trouble allying with the Maggog who are already responsible for millions of deaths and probably millions more to come never mind the planets the Machen Alpha is destroying. Carter has no response so Rommie proceeds to shut down the computer networks for the civilian defence system, traffic control, water treatment, etc. Agitated Carter declares that she is making “them” right.

Rommie asks him “Do you realize what happens when a human attacks an A.I. in the information universe?”.

“Nothing.” She answers herself then gives him ‘da boot outta there.

Rommie initiates the reactor overload and the people scurry on out. Rommie strides on into the compound only to come face to face with Carter.

Meanwhile, Rev Bem is tying Tyr to his bed and leading Tyr through the coming difficulties of the cold and darkness. (Tyr tells him to get on with it). Rev continues talking about how some cultures would take this opportunity to express any regrets they may have. Tyr loses his cool and asks him if he would like to measure him for his coffin too. “You make my skin crawl. Get way from me!” he shouts at Rev Bem. Rev kindly replies that “…in the darkness to come, you are not alone. Remember that.” With that he goes off and floods the ship.

Back at ground zero, Rommie and Carter face off rather nicely. Rommie uses her force lance and Carter absorbs it like she feed him Wheeties. Ah Ha! Carter is an Android too. He reveals that he is one of the A.I.’s who stayed and plays human in order to protect the people of Machen Alpha. He feels that the Machen people are smart to make a deal with the Maggog as it is their only chance for a future. Rommie and Carter do some flying-through-the-air martial arts, Rommie throws her force lance at Carter, which he mistakenly catches. She had set it to overload…….bam! no more Carter (well, there are little pieces  of Carter….everywhere).  Rommie shuts off the fake fusion overload alarm.

The Eureka Maru has surfaced! Rev Bem successfully revives Tyr. After spitting out a lungful of water Tyr asks “The boy?” (awwwwww!)

Harper is alright but the defence forces are bearing down on them. Their only defence is….a maggog swarm ship! Rommie politely asks them if they ordered a ride.  Rev Bem is delighted! “Ah, you see! Not only is there a Divine, but he has a twisted sense of humour!”

The Andromeda races back to Machen Alpha knowing that the boys would not have lasted this long when the monitors light up with the Maggog swarm ship heading their way…towing the Maru! Rommie asks permission to board.  Dylan pulls a quirky smile  and states “Sooo, that’s different.” Beka agrees.

Harper tries to thank Tyr for his sacrifice but Tyr gruffly responds that it will never happen again.  Harper promises to be more careful with his meds.

Rommie is very upset that her target did not make it and that it is her fault. Dylan awards her “The Order of the Vedran Empress”  (his own medal). The medal falls within the exact cut of her shirt. She protests that she doesn’t deserve it because her mission was a screw-up but Dylan reminds her that she got her crew out alive and the information they needed – and more importantly got them an undamaged Maggog swarm ship for Harper to play with.

What a great episode!
I’d rate this one 800000000000000000000 out of 10,

What did you think?

The “All Too Human” episode review is © 2001, 2002 Hollydays.
Not for reproduction without the authors express permission

The names, characters and everything else associated with Gene Roddenberry’s Andromeda TV series are the property of the Tribune Entertainment Company. All rights reserved.

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