Andromeda
"The Pearls That Were His Eyes"

Airdate: December 11, 2000

Calling at a space-station in order to acquire some spare parts, the crew manages to pick up the latest news, weather reports, and personal mail. Of particular note amongst the personal items is a vid-mail from Beka's 'Uncle Sid' who seems to be in some trouble, and is asking for her help. The only problem is that the message is 3 years old. (Don't you just hate it when your mail gets lost in cyber-space?) Oh yes, and the weather reports tell of a huge storm heading straight for the ship.

Dear God, what's happened to Button?! Oh, shut up. The Forever Knight fans totally got that joke.

Despite all the above, and Dylan actually coming out and saying 'I don't want you to go' (Why can't more men be open with their feelings like this, hmmmmm?) Beka takes off on the Eureka Maru to find her father's old partner and see what she can do to help him. Trance stows away and goes too; because she doesn't want Dylan to worry. Which prompts him, when he finds out what she has done, to tell Tyr and Harper, "Now I'm worried." (Not only a little bit cute, but smart too! -- and do please note -- I only said a 'little bit cute').

Ending up at the planetary headquarters of one of the merging companies, Beka and Trance set about finding Sid. This is, of course, where all the fun begins. Not only do they not have any decent information to go on, but they have to fight off drug addicts who are also your typical kind of male bad boy too. (Why is it that male petty criminals are all sexist and stupid?) Then when they do find their man, he isn't where, who or in quite the sort of situation Beka expected. Meanwhile, back on the ship Dylan and the others are having their own kind of fun trying to deal with more petty criminals for spare parts and avoid the coming storm to boot.

This episode, despite being quite dark in plot, was lighter in tone and execution, and fun to watch. Having John de Lancie on board as the main guest star didn't hurt either, though I did keep having 'Q' flash-backs. We got to find out a little more about Beka's past and how her drug-addicted father influenced her life, and once again, Trance Gemini actually seemed to be useful. (Ooops -- Sorry Linda, should have warned you there. Take a few deep breaths, you'll be fine in a moment or two).

There could certainly stand to be more episodes like "The Pearls That Were His Eyes". Although it was based around an idea that has been used before, it was fun, quite well-paced and much better than some of the previous outings for the show. Even the cutting back and forth between Beka' and Trance's situation, and the happenings on the ship did not detract too much from things.

Again, there were some nice little twists that weren't as easy to second guess as they have been in past episodes, and the interaction between the crew was more fun and seems to be getting easier. The actors seem to have settled nicely into their characters now, and even as annoying as some of those characters can be they are starting to feel more real.

There's just one more thing I'd like to say here. Does anyone know where I can get my hands on some of those nanobots? I've always fancied being a redhead, personally.

-- Muriel 'Mogs' Moore

Andromeda airs at 8pm GMT Mondays on Sky One in the UK and is syndicated in North America so check your local listings for show times.

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