Rating: 7/10

Synopsis

Miller continues his search for Julie Mao, and finds some telling new clues. Meanwhile, Holden and his crew’s fight for survival could ignite a war.

Review

You know, revisiting this series, there are a lot of implications for what follows in Season 5. It makes me appreciate just how well the writers keep a lid on making sure they don’t go off-script with this adaptation of the series’ books. It also makes me appreciate just how well the acting is done here. You will see glimpses of Belters revolting against Earthers, cursing, mouth with foam and spit. They don’t like Earthers or Martians for that matter. The attack on Canterbury is a message sent by Holden in a fit of rage, that is broadcasted in the Belt. Holden alleges there’s a bigger conspiracy here. Belters and Earthers hear this message as they travel around, and it becomes a spark. A very dangerous spark. (He can be badass when he wants to be.) This alerts Chrisjen Avasarala, the Secretary-General, who is one powerful lady. She is the definition of badass female. She’s calm, quaint, and smart. Very smart. She is on a mission. She’s convinced that Mars and the OPA are working together. That one day, the OPA will declare war against Earth with the help of Martian technology. And why not? Earth has grown distant from both planets, and couldn’t really care what happens if one world dies or the other perishes. Her supposed interrogation of the OPA messenger is against human nature, it’s against every protocol of the Geneva Convention. But as this is a fictional sci-fi show, and that since Earth sent a bunch of people outside into space, those people became Belters. They felt distant, abandoned from their mother earth. It is no doubt that the Belter who’s interrogated mentions this. Chrisjen is also navigating complex political scenes that I don’t want to spoil too much.

Chrisjen has to be applauded for understanding the motives of the OPA. The OPA has a stirring population of Belters that they’re waiting to revolutionize. It’s no secret that water is rationed in the Belt. Breathing natural air is impossible to get because it’s space. The main thing is that the Martians haven’t really adapted Mars to liveable breathing space. These clues I’m giving have big implications over the following episodes. It’s not so much of a spoiler, it’s a realistic outlook of what humanity would be doing should we ever get the tools to colonize earth and space. We will become divided, we will form new races, new slang, new divisions. Humans won’t remain united and the profit for greed will triumph over humanity. You can see Detective Miller uncovering a bigger plot of Jules Mao’s daughter’s disappearance, and we get to see more of the Belter World in this episode. Miller is such a good character I liked his parts more often than not.

That said, what I didn’t like so much in this episode was the five surviving members of the Canterbury stuck in the shuttle Knight. Shed, Amos, James, Alex and Holden, and Naomi. I’m purely going on the technical viewpoints. For example, they’re crossing a debris field. The debris hits the ship but doesn’t cause real damage as I think it should have. The other thing is they’re always operating on four hours of oxygen. There were some elements of cliched dialogue, and the hostility shown between the five members of the group was good. Shed had a good panic attack and Holden was able to put a stop to it. Now that’s good acting. Very good acting. Oh! And Amos has a fascination for being led under female leaders. He’s a strong dude, but he’s someone you don’t want to mess with. Once he declares Naomi to be the Captain, she’s the Captain. Holden’s and Naomi’s attitude doesn’t change throughout the episode and their chemistry is hostile. Very hostile. Keep an eye out for that. If it’s one thing the Expanse does well, it keeps the tension up. It makes you want to believe in the characters. It makes you know you’re going to want to cry over this character. So the production team, the writing team, the cast and the actors do an excellent job!

Oh, and then the Martians arrive when Naomi and the team have their mess sorted out.

I wonder what new mysteries will be uncovered now that the Martians have arrived?

Read on for next’s week review!