When Andromeda comes across two relatively primitive ships that appear to have fought till they exhausted fuel and weapons both are brought on board in separate hangers. Each has one person on board who explains that they are on either side of a planetary civil war that has gone on for generations. Of course each side blames the other... General Lach, of the northern race accuses the southerners of unleashing biological weapons that have infected most of the North while Southerner Zara claims the North attacked the peace-loving South while denying the use of such weapons. An attempt to get them to talk goes horrible wrong when Lach bites Dylan, infecting him with the disease. It acts faster on him because he is a heavy-worlder. In an attempt to find a cure Rhade accompanies Lach to the northern settlement while Beka and Harper go with Zara to the southern encampment; before they can get the data that might help things go wrong and it looks as though they will be caught up in a major battle.
This was a pretty solid episode even if the ideas explored were hardly new. Interestingly neither side really emerges as victim or oppressor; each is as bad as the other in a war whose true origins have been lost in history as the hatred grew. Guest stars Kandyse McClure and Peter Wingfield put in solid performances as Zara and Lach; they make the viewer believe that each character believes in the righteousness of their cause and genuinely hates the other. When we finally learn the truth behind the illness it does seem a little far-fetched, as does its cure but it fits in with the obvious moral of the story... it is better to live together than die apart. Whether the two sides will ultimately do that is far from clear though. Overall a decent stand-alone episode.
This was a pretty solid episode even if the ideas explored were hardly new. Interestingly neither side really emerges as victim or oppressor; each is as bad as the other in a war whose true origins have been lost in history as the hatred grew. Guest stars Kandyse McClure and Peter Wingfield put in solid performances as Zara and Lach; they make the viewer believe that each character believes in the righteousness of their cause and genuinely hates the other. When we finally learn the truth behind the illness it does seem a little far-fetched, as does its cure but it fits in with the obvious moral of the story... it is better to live together than die apart. Whether the two sides will ultimately do that is far from clear though. Overall a decent stand-alone episode.
