Mad to Be Saved

In the opening scenes Andromeda helps rescue a ship fleeing an infamously oppressive planet; that isn't the end of the problems by a long way. Firstly the ship is rapidly losing air and the bay doors are jammed open so they can't just breathe Andromeda's air. Dylan and Tyr manage to save them but it soon becomes apparent that there is something very wrong with the survivors; most of them appear to be mentally unstable; to the extent that they take Harper hostage and do things that threaten the safety of the whole ship. If that weren't enough it seems likely that one of them isn't what they seem to be; s/he way be the doctor who's experiments on the group cause them to act as they are.

This was a solid episode with some surprisingly scary moments. It starts well with the exciting rescue; during these early scenes it is hinted that there may be something may be wrong with the survivors but it isn't too obvious too soon. Once they are saved there some unnecessary romance between Dylan and one of the survivors before things get interesting again. Once Harper is taken hostage there is a real sense of threat; the people holding him aren't bad per se but they are somewhat deranged and there is a sense that they could harm him at any time... especially when they are waving power tools near him. Later on there are a few nice surprises before the satisfying conclusion.