Let's start with the good news......

       As a way of introducing a new character, reprising the story, and setting the scene for the series, Mantrid is not all bad. Sorry, that should read 'not at all bad'. I think. True, there were some minor contradictions - it was the GigaShadow's being pulled through the fractal core that destroyed the beastie, not the Lexx' ocular parabola, for example - and it might have been less intrusive to have the explanations (of who and what Kai is, etc) in the prologue rather than dotted through the story. But these are small points. In the main, it was, I think, a reasonably promising start......

       Sorry to sound so undecided. I know that the exigencies of creating a series of one hour episodes mean that the pace has to be much faster than in the more leisurely pilot films. And I appreciate that the Beans have their own 'agenda' (to use a term I really loathe..... What's wrong with the good old straightforward 'ulterior motives'? Far more descriptive!) - that much was made clear in the 'Special' that was, with a masterstroke of dreadful timing on Sci-Fi Europe's part, shown immediately before Mantrid. (Or am I just old-fashioned enough not to want to know what to expect before I sit down to watch a programme? Yeah, I know - I didn't have to watch it. And I tried hard not to, I really did.... But you try videoing a programme and taking out the commercials without watching it!!). And I also know that it's very rare for anything to live up to our normal expectations - I deliberately tried not to get too excited, just in case. Nevertheless, I found Mantrid curiously..... downbeat. Not exactly wholly disappointing, but not something I feel compelled to watch again, either...... It will be interesting to see what the next episode is like.

       On the face of it, this episode has some interesting things going for it. A termite-mound of a prison on a frozen moon: a wonderfully bizarre villain (even with that peculiar times 4 'off-the-shelf' accent and acting that teeters just on the right side of ham-on-wry) - lookit, even less of a real body than Kai! Talk about frustration. No wonder he's somewhat less than completely sane.
       And my, hasn't the Lexx grown? Our young bug has obviously been listening to his human crew: one glance at his 'fetchingly redesigned' interior is enough to convince us that it might even, now, actually be comfortable......

       It certainly looks more organic than before. And Zev's new and wilder hairstyle is more fitted to her character than heretofore. It's rather a pity that her character has undergone some changes as well........
       Why should she feel impelled to bribe Stan with promises of sex, when all she really needs to do is simply tell him what to do? It's always worked in the past. She doesn't need to resort to this kind of distraction. And if the worst came to the worst, she's more than strong enough to prevent him from activating the template......
       Actually, thinking about it, Zev's strength has never been fully defined. She was able to pull herself free of the prisoner harness and escape from the transformation device back on the Cluster (IWHS), and to pull Stan one-handedly up onto the Lexx' bridge (SuperNova), yet in Eating Pattern a couple of Klaagyans were able to subdue and bind her...... Then again, in GigaShadow she happily took on the regenerated clerics....
       Oh dear - internal inconsistency. Is this is what was meant by the series being more truly represented by Eating Pattern than by the other three films - or is it simply a matter of hormones......

       But I digress. And confess myself a little disappointed. I'd become used to Zev as the almost-perfect female role-model for the coming age, strong, self-assured, independent - seeing her descend to the level of a prick-tease saddens me, no matter what the motivation. (With Kai watching, too. Personally, I wouldn't have thought this was a good way to demonstrate your love for anyone, regardless of their state of being.) It's unnecessary. It does not bode well for my enjoyment of the rest of the series......

       Stan, on the other hand, is a treat. As lecherous, vain and inclined towards self-preservation as ever (I refuse to call him a coward. He isn't a coward. A coward would not have taken a moth and, placing himself in some considerable danger, flown into the prison to rescue Zev and Kai. He'd have wrung his hands and bewailed the situation and - probably - have vacillated until it was too late). And his character is developing. OK, most of his decisions are still motivated by concerns for his own safety, but at least he has the wits to question Kai's sudden change of behaviour. And he seems far more at home as the captain of the Lexx than he did before, and less inclined to be boastful - at least with his crewmates.
       790? All I can say at this stage is that he seems even more irritating than before. And less able: he can only calculate the precise point at which the neutron star's mass must be adjusted with a margin of error of 7-84%? (Did I hear that right?) 17 times out of 20?? What's happened to him?
       As for Kai - so that swirly-eye effect at the end of GigaShadow is now explained: it was to keep the 'shadow essence' safe until a new host could be found. Is that it? Kai was just a carrier? What an anti-climax........
       I'm still hoping that wasn't the end of it. But I'm prepared to be disappointed on this one.

       On a more positive note, there's a significant amount of debate on the subject of life and death in Mantrid. Zev keeps insisting that Kai is "coming alive" because he seems to be acquiring 'motivation' (daft reasoning, if you ask me....): in answer to Mantrid's question she defines being alive as "capable of waking up and killing people" - though to be fair to her she was talking about the GigaShadow larva at the time... I can't help but feel, though, that as part-Cluster Lizard, this may very well be her definition of life!! And Mantrid comes out with probably the most significant comment to date (and one which I suspect with be given form later in the series, and not just with regard to the human-insect-machine hybrid he becomes):-

       You notice he doesn't mention death.....

       And we've learned some useful - and maybe interesting - things. Firstly, as some of us had surmised, Kai really doesn't have many of the normal human life-processes left. He has no heart: he doesn't breathe: he has no stomach: he doesn't produce body-heat. Much of his brain doesn't function. And if I'm right, he's also lacking a lot of other physical attributes (see Brunnis and the Brunnen-G : the end of Part 1.....) He is also not quite as all-powerful as first appeared, although it did take an Insect Civilisation survivor to deplete his strength.
       The Cluster was mostly comprised of silicon, which may be what replaced the carbon in the assassins' bodies (see The great 'Inorganic/Decarbonised' Debate.)
       The bugs can use electricity as a weapon.

       So we leave the Lexx and it's motley crew in the Light Universe, followed by the metamorphosed Mantrid, looking for a congenial planet...... Does this mean they're not returning to the Dark Zone?.......

       How come Mantrid had some shadow essence? He wasn't a Divine Shadow. Does this mean there may be other sentients in the Two Universes with shadow essence too?

       If I've understood the episode correctly, the only way Mantrid could transfer his own essence into the vessel he'd built was by using an Insect's transduction organ. But the chances of an Insect coming his way must have been impossibly remote. So was he just blindly optimistic? And if only Insects have the transduction organ, how do Divine Shadows pass the essence down from host to host?

       And WHY change the colour of the essence from purple-black to white!?

       It will be interesting to find out exactly what it is that Kai "must enjoy"........

       Finally, it's a little too early in the series for me to feel inclined to risk proposing possible arcs and mini-arcs. I think the life/un-life/death debate may continue, and I'd hazard that the new Mantrid hybrid will be a regular feature. I'll get back to you on the rest......