Andromeda: S02E15: Dance of the Mayflies
An epsiode review by phoenixfire31
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“Blink and it’s gone, Ulatempa Poetess |
Beka is still giving mouth to mouth to the guy but Trance tells her that he’s gone. The drift gets hit again and Rommie shields the little girl with her body as stuff begins to fall. Dylan checks a woman’s pulse realizes she’s dead and he closes her eyes. The drift starts to groan and is having trouble staying together. “Dylan promise me after we evacuate this place we’ll get whoever did this,” Says Rommie “Deal,” says Dylan. The nameless enemy ships are now closing in on Andromeda’s position. Dylan tells Tyr to start firing on the incoming ships and then tells Rommie to hurry up and get off the drift so that they Andromeda can get away. Rommie runs onto Andromeda just in time carrying the little girl in her arms. Andromeda takes off as the drift explodes behind them. Now the unknown ships are following and firing at the Andromeda. “I try to be a good semeritan and this is the thanks I get” says Dylan as he looks at Rommie who is still holding the little girl.
Harper and Tyr are on command, “Oh, boy getting shot at by an unseen enemy nothing worse, unless it’s an unseen enemy,” says Harper sarcastically as they get his by another barrage of missiles. Andromeda then realizes that the enemy is the Than. “What, I thought bug people were our friends,” asks Harper to know one in particular. “Which is why I take great stock in paranoia,” says Tyr. The Than have apparently updated their weapons and are causing major problems on Andromeda. Tyr asks Dylan if he should prepare to fire. Dylan tells Tyr to prepare only, the Than are still their allies. Dylan opens a com channel and asks the Than to break off pursuit but he is ignored. “Just once I’d like to meet someone in space with some manners.” Says Dylan as the Than continue to shoot.
A bunch of the refugees from the drift are in bad condition but Trance, Beka and Rommie can’t deal with all of them at once and are swamped with the sick. Beka feels like this is wrong they have hundreds of injured people but every one of them is unconscious, the Than must have attacked with biological weapons. Rommie opens up a communication channel with Dylan and tells him about the virus, she doesn’t think that it is airborne but she’s filtering for it just in case. Dylan wants to know how so many people could have been infected if it wasn’t spread through the air, Rommie is gonna work on it.
Andromeda is still getting fired upon by the Than. Harper is all about fighting back but the Than have practically launched an entire fleet to fight the Andromeda and winning that fight might not be so easy. The bugs are also staying far away just exchanging missiles with the Andromeda. Dylan tells Tyr to head into slipstream and then tells Harper to seal himself in the Maru. Harper (for once in his life) doesn’t want to run away, “How many times do we have to go over this you immune system sucks,” Dylan tells Harper. “Yes sir bravely running away sir,” says Harper dejectedly as he heads the Maru. The Than are still firing on the Andromeda and Tyr shoots back, but weapons weren’t the only the things the Than updated they also increased their shielding and Tyr only does minimal damage. Fortunately enough damage was done for Andromeda to be able go into slipstream and run away. The bad news is they took a lot of damage, Andromeda is now crippled, half-blind and leaking fuel.
In the medical deck they are still loosing people. The injuries they can deal with but the virus is another story. They still don’t know how the virus is transmitted not through air, touch or blood. Bekawho’s looking kind of” not well wants to know what the symptoms are. It’s fun stuff like dry mouth, cramps, nausea and other ickyness. “Check, check and check,” says Beka after the symptoms are listed. Beka even has a few extra symptoms to list. She’s been infected by the virus and only has a few more hours before the virus puts her in the big sleep. Trance has learned that the virus travels through the nervous system, the least used nerves go first, so the brain is last to go, and things will get much worse if Beka falls asleep.
Harper it seems has disregarded orders and is back on the Andromeda, he’s taken some protective cautions though, he’s covered from the neck down and is wearing a gas mask. Everything on the ship is trashed. Andromeda comes in as her holographic self and wants to know what Harper is doing. “Rommie it’s a good thing I love trashy ladies or I would be tempted to trade you in for a newer model. Maybe a super model.” “Men” says Andromeda. Andromeda reminds Harper that he is supposed to be hiding from the virus. Harper however doesn’t feel like hiding and is going to fix the Andromeda instead, “Besides,” says a smirking Harper, “I’m wearing protection,” Holographic Andromeda just rolls her eyes and leaves. Harper tells Dylan and Tyr that at the moment he can only get one thing working. Dylan and Tyr decide on slipstream so that Andromeda can at least run away. Meanwhile they decide to hide in the tail of an Asteroid in case the Than find them. Have you ever noticed how in scifi shows there’s always a convenient asteroid to hide behind.
Rommie is walking down a corridor where the drifters are lying unconscious. Rommie is telling her robots what to do with the bodies, weather they should be put in body bags or sent to the medical deck. Holographic Andromeda comes in and the two start arguing about a man who is still breathing but is brain dead. Holographic Andromeda tells Rommie in this annoying tone that Rommie is being too emotional. Rommie is upset because Humans are so weak, while Holographic Andromeda is quick to point out that she and Rommie with good maintenance could last a thousand years. But Rommie says that they have no purpose without people on the ship. Holographic Andromeda says that, “When these are gone others will come to take their place,” ouch. But Rommie says that, “They’re not interchangeable,” thank you.
Andromeda is now matching the asteroids speed and hiding in it’s tail. Tyr is thinking that the Than are after the drifters so maybe if they “offload” the passengers AKA shoot them into space, then hopefully the Than will back off. Dylan tells Tyr that Beka has been infected, “should we dump her as well,” asks Dylan. Tyr changes his tune and says that maybe a drifter or a corpse might have the cure for Beka, and Dylan was hoping for the same thing.
Beka and Trance are in the medical deck and Beka isn’t looking so good, she’s lying down all sweaty and weak, and she’s starting to drift off, Trance tells her to stay awake. But Beka tells her that she’s tired, Trace decides to get a stimulant to keep Beka awake. Beka doesn’t want a stimulant, “Me stimulant bad mix,” remember her flash problems, Trance tells Beka that she needs it, “I always need this, every day,” says Beka, she doesn’t want to live through the virus only to be an addict again. Beka says she can stay awake without the drugs if Trance will help her. Beka is told to keep talking so Trance will know she’s ok.
Now we get a shot of the hallway and it’s filled with body bags. one of the bag’s starts to move creepy then the zipper on the body bag begins to move creepier then a dead guy gets out of his body bad creepiest. Then a bunch of people get out of their body bags ahh ten miles past creepy time to run away.
Beka is trying to stay awake and she asks Trance why she is gold colored now. Trance tells her to guess, and gives her ten tries. “First guess, you’re a completely different person?” asks Beka. “That’s it,” says Trance. “really?” asks Beka. No but Trance has found a key to developing a cure, but hasn’t found the cure itself. Trance makes a call to Dylan to tell him about her discovery, but before she can list the details one of the dead drifters starts to attack her. Dylan can hear Trance struggling and wants to know what is going on. Trance tells him that the patients are attacking. Andromeda tells Dylan that she isn’t getting any pulses or breathing from the patients, and their bodies are at room temperature. That’s all normal for corpses remarks Tyr, but Andromeda tells them that the corpses are trying to kill the crew of the Andromeda. “You’re surprised?” asks Tyr, “That’s what you get for incessantly trying to help.” “The ungrateful dead,” remarks Dylan. Andromeda tries to use her internal defenses to deal with the zombies but a few seconds after they are shot down the dead guys get right up and going again. Back in the medical deck Beka manages to get her gun and shoot the dead guy who was attacking Trance and some other dead guys that wanted to join in the fun, but just like their other dead friends these guys just get back up and keep fighting.
Dylan leaves Tyr in command and starts heading through the ship, “This is creepy,” he says as some angry dead guys try to do some damage. Rommie meanwhile is going to go and help Dylan. But holographic Andromeda tells her that Dylan wants Rommie to try and find a way to kill the dead people, a little redundant. Rommie tells her holographic self that she is going to do what she does, and that saving Dylan is the most important thing, holographic Andromeda says that Rommie is letting her emotions cloud her judgment wow holographic Andromeda is really annoying today.
Dylan is being attacked by a bunch of dead people and they get a good hold on him. “Rommie why are the dead trying to kill us, or kiss us?” asks Dylan as a dead guy goes in for a smootch. But it’s not your every day make out session because a mist starts coming out of the guys mouth and is going toward Dylan’s, fortunately Dylan manages to get out of the hold before the mist can get to him. Dylan makes a ship wide announcement telling the crew that the virus is transmitted through spores passed in the mouth and he tells them to keep the dead drifters away from their faces.
Trance is not winning her fight with the dead guys and is being held down by them. Dylan comes in to help but is to late and Trance is infected. Dylan goes to help and Trance kisses him thus infecting Dylan. Trance’s voice is now a lot deeper and she stands up and says, “We are the Bou’kore.” Dylan wants to know what happened to Trance. Trance or the Bou’kore tell Dylan that they have done what they always do. Trance takes a look at Rommie and tells her she’s next. Trance attacks Rommie and Rommie throws her across the room, a throw that should have totally incapacitated Trance, but Trance pulls off a stellar landing and the Boke’ore in Trance is now admiring it’s new body. “We can’t wait to experience yours,” says Trance to Rommie eww creepy.
The Than are now getting closer, and Tyr yells angrily at Harper to get moving. But the dead guys have come into the room where Harper was working. only they don’t go for Harper, instead they go towards where Harper was working and start to mess with the ship.
Dylan wants to shoot Trance, but Beka doesn’t want him to. Beka asks Dylan how they will ever get save Trance without her body. But Dylan doesn’t know what’s up with Trance, or how the Bok’ore could take over her body that quickly while it is taking them hours to take over Beka’s. Rommie tells Beka and Dylan to leave that she’ll take care of Trance. Trance isn’t so sure, apparently the Bok’ore have never failed when they decide to take over a people. Trance says that the Bok’ore want their shells/ bodies. Trance tells them that the Bok’ore are forever. “You’re like mayflies, you here then your gone.” Says Trance. Dylan helps Beka who is looking worse by the minute get out of the room and Trance and Rommie start fight.
Meanwhile power on the Andromeda is at 10% and slipstream still isn’t working, Harper can’t get close to anything because the Bok’ore are in the way. The Than are getting closer. The Bok’ore now have fixed the slipstream drive and are running away from the Than. Beka falls unconscious and only has thirty min, before she becomes Bok’ore, Dylan sets the ship to self destruct in thirty min. that way the Bor’ore won’t be able to hurt anyone else. “Don’t worry Beka, I’ll take care of you. one way or the Other,” says Dylan as he locks the unconscious Beka in a room and goes to see if he can do anything about the Bok’ore.
Then suddenly Andromeda goes into slipstream, only it wasn’t Harper that fixed the slipstream, it was the Bok’ore. “The walking dead are repairing the ship,” says Tyr. Harper is spying on the Bok’ore that are enacting repairs and one of them gets shocked and doesn’t get up. Harper tells Dylan and the two realize that a lot of electricity will kill the Bo’kore about 10,000 volts should do it. Dylan changes his force lance to the recommended voltage but he’s only gonna get 3 shots per force lance. Dylan loads up on the force lances and goes to deal with the Bok’ore. Harper also sets a trap and deals with the remaining Bo’kore who were doing the repairs.
Dylan is shooting his way through the ship and kicking some Bok’ore ass. Meanwhile Trance and Rommie are still fighting, Trance hits Rommie hard, and Rommie tumbles through a hallway and her some of her parts are showing. Dylan comes and Rommie looks at him and says, “Trance is a lot stronger than we thought.” Rommie goes to keep fighting but Dylan tells her to go get repaired, that he’ll deal with Trance. Five min. until self-destruct. Dylan tells Trance that it’s over and that maybe he’ll take pity on them and drop the Bok’ore off on some rock. Trance tells him that they’ve already won. Not really says Dylan because the ship is gonna blow up and then no one wins. Then the self-destruct sequence is turned off, only Dylan didn’t do it, the Bok’ore had gained control. “We are the Bok’ore, we contain the memories of every shell we have ever occupied, 50, 000 years of history. We will survive.” The Bok’ore now have plans to take control of the solar system.
Dylan is wondering how the Bok’ore were able to take over Trance so quickly, it usually takes a few hours. Dylan tells the Bok’ore in Trance that maybe Trance was never alive, so maybe if he shoots the Bok’ore in Trance with the voltage then Trance will be back minus the Bok’ore bit of a gamble.
The Than are getting closer and Tyr releases mines from the Andromeda and takes out quite a few Than fighters, but some still remain. Tyr tells Andromeda to leave, but Andromeda is confused because of the Than that are left, leaving them behind is a very un-Tyr like thing to do, and Andromeda wants to know why he is letting them go, but Tyr doesn’t know.
Trance wakes up on a bed with Dylan sitting waiting for her, fortunately Trance wakes up as Trance. “You freak me out you know that, you really freak me out.” Says Dylan as Trance again comes back from the dead. Dylan tells Trance about how the Bok’ore can be killed with electricity, and that was the piece Trance was missing in finding the cure. Dylan tells her to get moving because Beka is almost out of time.
Later on only 3 of the Bok’ore are left and are in the slipstream drive, the crew of the Andromeda finish them off including an all better Beka. Dylan is wondering where Trance is and she comes in behind Dylan and gives him an unexpected shot in his arm. “all better,” she says, “I hate shots,” says Dylan rubbing his arm. The ship is cleared and Dylan has the records of what happened sent to the Than so they won’t destroy the ship. Now Dylan has only 1 unresolved issue, “Trance are you dead or alive,” asks Dylan. “Yes.” Says Trance simply.
Rommie and Dylan are talking alone. Rommie is worried because she is almost indestructible but he is not. “I care about you, not just as a captain but as a person,” Rommie is worried about loosing Dylan. Dylan promises Rommie that she’ll never loose him. Rommie wants to know how people live like this how nothing is permanent, not even love. Then Dylan says, “Love doesn’t die. It’s the only thing that lasts forever.” “When the universe ends and the last star burns out the only thing left will be love,” oh my goodness I could marry Dylan right now. Rommie tells Dylan that she doesn’t understand. Dylan gives Rommie a kiss on the cheek and as he is leaving says, “yes you do.”
What a perfect ending to a great show. While it created new questions instead of answering old ones it was still really great. We got to see Tyr talk about being mean and then do a good thing and we learned that Trance is dead” or alive” or both. Rommie came very close to telling Dylan about her feelings, but the last scene makes you think that maybe he already knows.
I give this one 43,000 out of 10 what did you think?
The “Dance of the Mayflies ” episode review is © 2002 phoenixfire31.
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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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