t the end of last season, Dylan (Sorbo) and his crew finally managed to bring the Commonwealth together, but an alien invasion threatened to destroy the new union. To stop the invasion, Beka (Ryder) and Tyr (Cobb) on the Maru sent a bomb into a dimensional tunnel to try to close it. They were successful, but when the Maru returned to the Andromeda, both Beka and Tyr were missing. As the third season begins, Dylan is searching a damaged Maru, looking for the missing members of his crew.
There is no sign of Beka or Tyr. Trance believes they are still in the tunnel, so Harper comes up with a device that he hopes will drill energy into the tunnel to reopen it. While the tunnel does open, something goes wrong. Dylan is forced to destroy the device, and the tunnel closes.
Dylan decides to reenact the events leading up to Beka and Tyr's vanishing, but ends up in the path of debris that threatens to destroy the Maru. He makes a hasty retreat back to the Andromeda, only to be joined by Beka and Tyr, who walk in as if nothing had happened. They immediately take up their posts and seem just fine. But as the rest of the crew quickly learns, something is odd about the pair, and when Beka makes a mistake that nearly sends the ship into the dimensional tunnel, it becomes apparent that things are not what they appear to be.
With Beka and Tyr's behavior becoming even more erratic, Dylan and the rest of the crew realize that an outside force is present. If they don't stop the ship before it gets drawn into the tunnel, figuring out what happened to Beka and Tyr will be the least of their problems.
In space, no one can hear you meow
Season three will kick off a major shift in the storyline for Andromeda, with producers promising to focus on more stand-alone stories with lots of action. The season premiere, "If the Wheel Is Fixed," certainly appears to focus on the crew, even though the mysteries about what the heck is really going on are not addressed. While the resolution of the story is weak, Ryder as Beka and Cobb as Tyr have a grand time playing it bad. They probably both smile more in this episode than they have in the previous two seasons, which definitely proves that bad guys really do have more fun.
While the episode is entertaining on a character level, the plot has too many holes as to what's going on, Harper's devices continue to be too convenient in saving the day, and more than one odd element is just thrown in. So what's up with the cat, which just appears and then disappears with no mention of why it's there?
Some of the story elements of "If the Wheel Is Fixed" are a problem; however, the dialogue is entertaining and the actors obviously are enjoying their parts. Sorbo has grown into the role of Dylan nicely, as have all the actors with their roles. With her transformation last year, Trance has become a much richer character, and this episode offers some interesting and mysterious tidbits about her.
Andromeda's producers have been struggling with the tone of the series since the beginning. Things have definitely gotten lighter over the run, but even in this episode the balance doesn't feel quite right. Viewers shouldn't have to guess why mystical forces are causing mischief and why cats are appearing and disappearing. It takes away from the light, action-oriented mood when you have to worry over confusing details. However, bad girl Beka and bad boy Tyr make this episode well worth watching.
