Can I tell you all how happy I am that The Expanse isn’t ending yet? This two-hour finale was, for the most part, great, but if the story ended here I’d be crushed. The episode packed a ton of suspense and heart into its all-too-brief run time, but then ended on a cliffhanger that’s equally exhilarating and terrifying.
There’s wayyyy too much to recap here, so I’m going to try to hop through the most salient bits!
Meanwhile, on the Behemoth
All the action is on the Behemoth! Ashford’s dangerous gambit of spinning the drum has worked, and the Behemoth now has enough gravity to allow the injured crews from all ships to heal. This is great, but also means that only about a third of the entire fleet’s people are OK and walking around. This becomes important extremely quickly.
You see, the physicist, Dr. Kolvoord, has an idea. If they use the Behemoth’s communication laser, they might be able to get a message back to the solar system beyond The Ring. Kolvoord analyses the data, while Ashford talks to his shiny new prisoner: James Holden.
The technical term for Holden at this point is bugfuck crazy.
Or at least that’s how he seems. At least two Martians have questioned him, and he repeats the same story when Ashford takes his turn. Miller appeared to him. Yes, that Miller. Yes, he knows the man is dead. Miller’s been telling him things, and then he got to see flashes of what happened to the civilization that created The Ring. Whole solar systems were burned out, like the proto-molecule beings were “cauterizing a wound.” But no, they’re not aggressive—they simply don’t care. Our solar system is just another anthill to them, and if we’re not extremely careful we’re going to get stepped on.
Ashford, who has seriously mellowed since his time trapped with Drummer, listens calmly. He’s nice to him. Then he comes out and announces that the man’s mind is gone.
In the meantime they’ve sent a nuke up, hoping the interference from the blast will allow the other ships to move again. But really they do this…because humans, even this far into the future, are kind of dumb when it comes to their love of big explosions. Kolvoord soon realizes that this has been a mistake, as the station begins to pulse with a new and threatening energy. He estimates that whatever’s going to happen will happen in the next seven hours, and Ashford remembers Holden’s line about civilizations ending like a wound being cauterized, and realizes that their system is going to end, that day, if they don’t find a way to stop it.
It’s here that Ashford comes up with an idea that seems great, like exactly the heroic sacrifice we should all be willing to make. Don’t they have an enormous laser? They’ll use the laser to slice through the Ring! That will seal it off from the system, and protect their home from the aliens.
“And trap us here forever,” Captain Kunis points out.
“No one on the other side will know what we did,” The Martian captain, Lucas, adds.
“And we’ll save the human race. Not a bad way to die,” Ashford says.
The other two agree with him.
This is where the low staff number comes into play. Ashford calls for everyone possible to help rewire the ship so the power is directed into the laser, but with so few people, it all takes a lot longer than it should.
Which is why the human race survives.
Because here’s the point where the show makes good use of Ashford’s sometimes annoying arc. After all of his bluster, he’s really an old beat up guy, mourning his daughter, looking back at his life with a lot of regret, and looking for a way to give everything meaning. He wants to leave the world a better place. Now, he sees his chance to make the grand sacrifice and save everyone, and it feels noble, and probably even more exhilarating than terrifying. And it’s completely wrong. Because he doesn’t understand that Holden is correct, and that the second the laser touches The Ring their solar system will still be “cauterized like a wound.” His attempt to save humanity will be its ending.
Luckily there are three other plot threads!
Holden’s chucked in the brig, with Bobbie still protecting him from her two Martian crewpeople who just want to kill the hell out of him. (This remains boring.) Clarissa has also been thrown in the brig, so she finally gets to meet her nemesis face to face—not that he has any idea who she is, or why she starts laughing when he introduces himself with “Hi, I’m Jim. What are you in for?”
Naomi’s brought Amos and Alex over to the Behemoth with her, and negotiates some engineering work in exchange for getting to see Drummer. Amos and Alex help out with some of the wounded refugees, which leads to my favorite friendship of the entire series: Amos and Anna!
Watching her work with the wounded, he realizes that she is his opposite point. Unlike most people who overthink things and whine a lot, they each simply identify things that need to be done, and then do them without much complaint. It’s just that she runs a clinic for refugees (because somebody has to) and he, um, kills people (because sometimes somebody has to do that, too). I don’t think she quite sees their connection the same way. He wanted to kill Clarissa because it’s easier to get rid of the terrorist than leave her dangling like the system’s worst loose thread; Anna refused to let him because it shouldn’t be up to humans to dole out justice. But Anna also admits that she wants Clarissa to pay for leaving Tilly to die. She’s not a whited sepulcher, she’s open about her anger and lack of forgiveness, but she also recognizes that she needs to rise above that anger. It’s that transparency that intrigues Amos. Anna even goes one further, going down to the holding cell and admitting to Clarissa that, “I didn’t want to think of myself as the kind of person who wanted vengeance.”
Drummer has decided that re-growing her spine will take too long, and builds herself mechanical legs! Naomi helps! There should probably be a lot more recovery time involved here! (I am now going to call Drummer “Drummer Maul.” I hope that’s OK.) The two of them head downstairs to talk to Holden, and he and Naomi have a sappy reunion which, finally, I bought into. After two seasons I’ve finally accepted their love or whatever. The actors sell it, it’s fine. Now Holden tries to tell Naomi about the end of everything, etc., and suggests that maybe Miller will talk to him again if everyone leaves him alone.
So they split, and watch on the surveillance camera. Clarissa listens one cell over. Holden pleads with Miller to come back and tell him what to do, and we see from Naomi and Drummer’s perspective as he talks to an empty room and seems to get answers from it. It’s a great choice that underscores how insane this whole scheme must seem to outsiders. Obviously we’ve been seeing Holden see Miller. He appeared to us, too. But none of the other characters see or hear anything but a hysterical man yelling at air.
But Naomi is a True Holden Believer, so when he tells them he has a plan, she goes for it.
His plan? Bugfuck crazy.
Basically he wants them to power the ships down and float in the dark until the Ring decides they’re not a threat. Then it will leave them alone.
Ashford rejects this idea immediately, and I can’t even blame him. So they go underground… or at least as underground as you can when you’re in a spaceship. Naomi mobilizes Amos and Alex—they’ll need to tell everyone on the fleet what’s going on, so that there isn’t a panic when the lights go out. Amos calculates their combined skill sets, and enlists Anna, who might stand a better chance of calming everyone. But how to get the message to the masses? Well their old friend the documentary filmmaker, Monica, is broadcasting a sort of underground news program to the fleet, so they’ll have to convince her to help!
Which, well, Amos immediately starts talking about how he doesn’t care that they hate him cause he has no emotions, so Anna steps in, calms everyone down, an appeals to Monica’s civic duty. This works.
So now there are three tense plots playing out: Holden, Naomi, and Drummer Maul in a desperate race to shut down the Behemoth on its lowest levels; Amos, Alex, Anna, and Monica broadcasting out of a hidden bunker to tell the other ships to power down and soothe the fears of the crews; Bobbie and her team tracking the rogue broadcast; Ashford’s lapdog Diogo chasing Holden and Naomi. In the meantime all hands with any electrician backgrounds are brought on deck to help direct power to to the laser… including hands that belong to Clarissa.
Aw, fuck.
And then Ashford, who has fully committed to being the patron saint of lost causes, releases her from her chemical restraints so she can think more clearly.
Aw, fuck.
Bobbie and Alex talk to each other, but the other two Martians go rogue and start shooting. Bobbie has to take one of her own team out, while Amos shoots the other, and Bobbie’s hit in the crossfire.
Meanwhile Anna and Monica just keep broadcasting, with Anna’s voice turned up to full Yacht Rock levels of smooth to keep everyone calm. Diogo is still chasing Holden, Naomi, and Drummer Maul, and DM grabs Holden’s grenades and attempts yet another goddamn sacrifice play—what is it with you Belters? Do you all want to die?—but Naomi cuts that crap off by dropping an elevator on Diogo.
The lights on the other ships blink out.
The laser powers up, fires, and misses. The Ring begins to glow.
Holden and Naomi make it to the deck, and Holden, all other options closed, appeals to reason. Just this once, can they try something other than violence? Rather than lashing out, and proving to the intelligence behind The Ring that they’re a threat, can’t they try the peaceful route?
Ashford tells his people to shoot them, but Clarissa, having listened to Anna, and overheard Holden’s desperate need to fix everything, has finally turned. She bites one of her super soldier serum capsule, knocks Ashford out, and yanks the Behemoth’s power just as she’s shot herself. The Behemoth goes dark. All the ships have gone dark. The Ring goes dark.
Until…
Tiny black disks appear on the comm screens. But wait those aren’t tiny at all—they’re portals to other systems. System after system, hovering in space, waiting for a ship to pass through.
The episode ends on Holden in another vision, naked on a beach, looking at all the portals that have just opened up and talking with Miller about how scared he is. Miller just needs a ride, kid.
Random Thoughts Floating in the Void of Space
- See, this is why I still love this show. For once the nonviolent solution is rewarded, and the giant White Man Sacrificing Himself to Save Everyone trope is waved away. Even Holden isn’t sacrificing himself, he’s forcing himself to be vulnerable in a different way, and hoping that trusting Miller and cutting all the lights is the right path.
- BUT. From Ashford’s perspective, he’s doing the great noble thing. And there’s no way to disprove Ashford’s perspective other than believing that Holden’s vision is correct. There’s no real bad guy here. Everyone’s just doing their best with the information they have. And even the alien intelligence isn’t evil: it simply doesn’t notice the humans.
- Also? Anna admitting her own vanity, knowing that her desire for vengeance is wrong, owning the fact that both her desire for vengeance and her desire to rise above it are both equally wrong, because neither one is coming from a place of love or forgiveness.
- I love love love Holden-as-Visionary. I think a lot of my issues with Holden came from the idea that he’s basically a young (very pretty) pup, who suddenly ends up a captain, with a crew, and partnering up with Naomi. But now that he’s been kicked around by the universe and essentially had to submit to Miller’s visitations and to the Kwizatz Haderaching of the station, he seems like he’s earned all the dewy-eyed emotion. He makes a good reluctant mystic.
- And holy crap the expression of relief on his face when Naomi comes into his cell? And the way he can’t even get up for a second? That moment made their whole relationship worth it.
- So, um, what’s the deal with these space holes? Is there certain death on the other side? Is anyone else bothered by the fact that they look like Wile E. Coyote should chase the Roadrunner through them? Maybe Sam Neill’s going to sail in from the Event Horizon universe? Loki’s going to fall through one cause he annoyed Dr. Strange again?
- I’m kidding, but seriously these are terrifying, yes?
- Anna and Amos’ conversation in the bunker was such a great pre-battle talk. Her telling him: “Hate is a burden—you don’t have to carry it with you” and his instant reaction of telling her he’s not going to let anyone hurt her, ooof. It’s such a good encapsulation of their positions. She’s going to counsel him, and he’s going to allow that, but he’s also going to kill for her if he has to, because people like her need to be the ones that make it out, but those people only make it out because of people like him. It’s so wonderfully twisty.
- It’s also just nice to see him have another friend!
- What does everyone think of this as a finale? Did it answer enough question? Raise new, better ones? I think a few elements were a bit rushed, but I was honestly impressed that they covered so much ground in their tow hours—not to mention all the emotional work with Anna and Clarissa.
Book Notes for Book Nerds
Quick poll: Did Holden actually talk to Miller, in that scene on the Behemoth? Or did he already figure out what they needed to do and pretend to talk to his imaginary friend because that was the story so far, the story he’d finally convinced everyone else about: that Miller was how he figured stuff out. But there’s no protomolecule on that ship, like there is on the Roci—nothing for the molecule to communicate with. Maybe the ship was just close enough to the station, but maybe not. I love that you can read that scene two ways: Either we’re not shown Miller because the showrunners are emphasizing how bananas Holden looks… or Miller wasn’t really there.
Buy the Book
Static Ruin
There’s a moment in this episode that I didn’t expect—I should’ve!—that I adored: The exact, precise moment when you see Amos reset, with Anna as his new external morality center. He’s made it pretty clear that though Naomi is family, he can’t see her the way he used to, and then along comes Anna, who, like Leah says, also does what needs to be done. She just does very different things. That scene when he tells her he won’t let anything happen to her is so good; all the props to Wes Chatham for giving Amos so many more layers than he might’ve had.
Bookwise, this finale … it kind of has all the things! Rearranged and rejiggered and held together with TV duct tape, but all the things. I’m guessing I wasn’t the only one who got reeeeeal stressed when Drummer headed back down that elevator shaft—and then real happy when Naomi dropped the elevator. (Peace out, rockhopper kid, we won’t miss you.) I still wish this all could’ve taken longer (though I assume they wanted to wind up Abaddon’s Gate in case there wasn’t going to be a season four); I still wish we’d had more time to slow down and develop some of the characters. But the changes, and the mashing-together of different roles and moments, is done so well: I love that it’s Amos who takes Anna to Monica, having realized she can calmly talk people through just about anything. I love the scene with Naomi helping Drummer with her mecha-legs; you can see Naomi’s reluctance, that she knows her friend needs to heal, and you can also see her accept that it’s not her choice to make. I think it was wise not to harp too much on forgiveness for Clarissa; we see all of that in actions rather than dialogue.
I’d been skeptical of the need to have Bobbie on the station, but she’s so vital here—though I’m not convinced that Roberta Draper would start blindly firing into a space that she knows is occupied by a journalist and a pastor. Martian training aside, everything we’ve seen her go through suggests she wouldn’t do that so easily. It was all set up to make her turn on her fellow Martians again, which, following episode after episode of those two having nothing to do but be suspicious, was a little clunky. But I accept it, because it means she’s on the Roci at the end, along with Anna and Clarissa, and without even meaning to I mentally rewrote the ending of the book so that it’s Clarissa who’s going to buy the Roci from the Martians (not Tilly, RIP). It all comes even more full circle that way.
In conclusion: THOSE GATES, THOUGH. How fast can they make season 4? Who should they cast as Murtry? We need someone who can do the world David Straithairn did this season with Ashford—someone to bring the nuance that book-Murtry lacks. Will we get Havelock back? Is it next season yet? —Molly Templeton
Leah Schnelbach can’t wait for next season! Come talk to her about space holes on Twitter.
Molly Templeton is on Twitter awaiting your casting notions.
It felt like there was an odd discontinuity between the first and second halves where Ashford was concerned. In the first half, he came off as entirely a good guy striving to do the right thing, and yet suddenly at the start of the final hour, all Our Heroes were conspiring against him as if he were the bad guy and he was sending troops to kill them. It wasn’t really clear where that sudden conflict came from, why they just pre-emptively decided they had to go around him rather than bringing Holden’s proposal to him. Sure, he thought Holden was nuts and probably would’ve said no, but it felt like the scene that would’ve actually established that for the lead characters, as opposed to the audience, was missing.
And it’s odd that such a discontinuity arose, since both parts were co-written by Abraham & Francks, along with showrunner Naren Shankar on part 2. I would’ve expected it to flow more smoothly.
Also, it seems implausible that just shutting down their reactors would not merely cancel the station’s automatic defenses, but would cause it to completely open up all the gates and give them full access. I mean, if you’re a security guard and someone’s approaching you with a gun, the fact that they put the gun down won’t lead you to immediately hand them all the keys to the building. There should be quite a few steps of verification between “Maybe not imminently trying to kill us after all” and “Totally okay to give the run of the place.” But maybe that’s explained by Holden’s narration at the end suggesting that “Miller” was playing them all along to achieve this outcome. Maybe it was some sort of test they had to pass to prove they were capable of working together for a peaceful goal, or at least for mutual survival.
Still, I liked the finale overall, since it did seem to have a more optimistic flavor than the show has tended to have before. Even the core conflict was between people who were all trying to do what was best for everyone but disagreed on what that was. They also did some good work with the interiors of the Behemoth, the tour of its various components and areas. Some nice visuals there, and fairly well-handled physics.
However, I can add one more to the list of this show’s few departures from good science, along with the damn magnetic boots. Namely, a laser beam that’s visible in the vacuum of space. Boo. Surely we’ve all seen enough real laser beams by this point that we know the beam itself is usually invisible, so it’s annoying that fiction clings so strongly to that conceit.
This was a great episode, I loved it. And this is the first time I didn’t dislike Anna. Maybe because she was mostly with Amos, and his character is the best. I laughed out loud when Amos walked up to Anna, who was sitting next to a dead guy, and says “You know he’s dead, right?”. Fantastic.
Supposedly the actor who played Havelock will be busy with the Magnum PI reboot. Given how successful the Ashford TV characterization turned out, I hope they cast an great actor for Murtry. Otherwise, he’s just a basic black hat.
Excellent fakeout by splatting Diogo with the elevator. Considering Drummer inherited Bull’s spinal injury, I was worried she wouldn’t survive. Another case where the actor’s performance elevates the character. Drummer’s PoV was one of the least interesting things about Book 7. Now with Cara Gee playing her? Very promising.
@CLB: you’re right about sensing dissonance in Ashford’s motivation. This likely resulted because the scripts were written by the original writers. Perhaps they couldn’t completely let go of their book version, who achieved Ahab-like levels of paranoia and monomania. Some of it was a result of a brain injury (I think). It was also nice that the TV version survived.
You’re also right about a missing piece when the stargates open. It’s actually Miller who does that once he gets past the Station’s security protocols, which are basically on automatic. Once the aggressive humans stand down, Miller gets access. The entity is continuing its role as Investigator which carries over to season 4 and the first alien planet we’ll explore.
Another thing the show has left by the wayside is the tumors in Holden’s body which resulted from his exposure to the PM on Eros. The meds he’s taking play a role in Book 4. They showed a clean bill of health earlier this season, but it’s the reason Holden can see Miller and others can’t. Btw, the blob of PM still on the Roci has quite a range, as in, orbit down to planetary surface at least.
The 1300 new gates are specifically 1337 in the books, which is a Leet speak in-joke. Some gates are permanently closed after the station cauterized the systems “infected” by the threat to the PM civilization.
Speaking of tumors earlier, Anna’s hypothetical reference to Clarissa about the cause of her behavior was a bit of foreshadowing.
@3/Sunspear: But my point is, both episodes were scripted by the original writers, yet the way Ashford was portrayed seemed to go abruptly darker at the very moment part 1 gave way to part 2. If the two parts’ writing credits hadn’t had any writers in common, then the discrepancy might’ve been explainable (although the showrunner is supposed to rewrite every episode to maintain consistency regardless of the credited writers), but it was Francks & Abraham on part 1 and Francks, Abraham, and Shankar on part 2, so it’s odd that it changes in the middle. I wonder if a scene was cut for time.
Re: Miller, now that you mention it, I suppose Holden’s dialogue did sort of lay the foundation for the idea that Miller needed the defenses shut down so he could gain access to do what he did, but that could’ve been made clearer.
The books make it clearer (because they show Miller’s side of the conversation), that by turning off all the reactors, Miller (or rather the bit of protomolecule code that’s using Miller’s personality as a suit) can ‘convince’ the station to come off it’s lockdown mode, but that will also open “all of the doors”.
Hopefully whatever ate the builders of the protomolecule is either as long gone as the builders, or won’t be interested in humanity (yeah right).
At least we can be sure that whatever threats the human race faces, we’ll deal with it by splitting into warring tribes with petty arguments and short-sighted grudges. (And in The Expanse.)
What stood out for me was that they had Drummer take over the role of Carlos in the book, who was also injured and walking around in a mech suit. But in the book Carlos actually went through with his sacrifice, whereas Naomi solves this by throwing an elevator.
@1/CLB: Maybe the laser was visible because the space inside the ring isn’t a complete vacuum? Of course the real reason is because we have been conditioned to expect space lasers, phasers and whatever the Star Wars universe uses to be visible so if we don’t see it we think it isn’t working. (Should a light saber be invisible in a vacuum?) Also when they missed the Ring they (and we) wouldn’t know why or by how much.
Also, I hope Terry Chen is signed up to play Prax in season 4.
@7/C Oppenheimer: “Maybe the laser was visible because the space inside the ring isn’t a complete vacuum?”
I could’ve bought that if the beam had only been faintly visible, instead of the cliche of a solid bright line of light.
“Of course the real reason is because we have been conditioned to expect space lasers, phasers and whatever the Star Wars universe uses to be visible so if we don’t see it we think it isn’t working.”
But that’s exactly why it’s strange to see in The Expanse, a show that mostly tries to get space physics right instead of falling back on the usual lazy screen cliches. It’s weird to see a fanciful element like that in a show that generally eschews the fanciful.
“(Should a light saber be invisible in a vacuum?)”
Have we ever seen anyone using a light saber in vacuum? Anyway, Star Wars has never pretended to be anything other than pure fantasy, so there’s just no comparison to a hard SF show. Just because two shows are both set in space doesn’t mean they’re in the same genre, any more than The Dresden Files is in the same genre as Chicago P.D.
“Also when they missed the Ring they (and we) wouldn’t know why or by how much.”
Of course we would. Everybody who’s ever used a laser pointer knows that you can see where it’s aimed by the spot of light where it hits. You don’t need to see the beam to see the point of impact. This is everday experience for modern audiences, so it shouldn’t be confusing to them.
Yeah, but if they missed we wouldn’t see the point of impact because the beam wouldn’t be striking a solid object.
No, probably not. To the extent that we ever got any explanation of the physics, they’re supposedly made of plasma contained in a shaped magnetic field, so they’d be visible wherever. Also they’d probably cook the user with the ambient heat, but eh.
Was there a foreboding moment at the very end where Holden went through the gate membrane? It seemed like there was a split second of a moment there that was supposed to mean something but it was so vague and momentary I couldn’t quite connect it to anything in the book or screenplay so far.
@9/Crane: “Yeah, but if they missed we wouldn’t see the point of impact because the beam wouldn’t be striking a solid object.”
If you see someone shoot a gun at a person and the person stands there unaffected, do you need to see the bullet’s trajectory to know that it missed? In real life, an object struck by a powerful laser beam would give off a blinding flash of reflected light. If the show had established that fact earlier, then the absence of such a flash would be enough to show that the beam had not made contact. The subsequent line of dialogue about the beam missing would’ve further confirmed it.
Besides, the beam might’ve missed the ring, but it would’ve struck the blue cloudy interface at the edge of the bubble. We saw before that there is a physical edge there, that something striking it would just cease to exist. So it would’ve been easy enough to animate some kind of ripple/glow effect where the beam struck it.
For generations, filmmakers have been faking bullets by faking their effects at the point of impact. Even knife throwing has long been faked on stage and screen by having a spring-loaded knife pop out at the point of impact without anything actually being thrown, on the principle that the knife travels too fast for the eye to track. Audiences understand that the weapon has affected the target without needing to see anything pass between them. If we know audiences can understand that about knives and bullets, why do we assume they’re incapable of understanding the exact same thing about energy weapons? Especially now that laser pointers are part of most people’s everyday experience?
@10/Remillard: Yeah, there seemed to be some glowy thing that flashed past Holden as the interface passed through him.
Yeah, I suppose it’s some sort of foreshadowing or lampshade, but I really couldn’t figure out what it might be implying.
As for the laser, I laughed when that happened, but just sort of carried on. It’s a visual trope and with a show that usually tries to get the physics more correct than not, it stood out. Still, my colleague who usually picks up on all sorts of weird physics incompatibilities didn’t even mention it so perhaps it’s simply gone into the hindbrain where it’s simply an accepted error (like ship engine sounds playing during exterior shots of a spaceship.)
I have to confess I did get confused with the whole proto-Miller thing, I couldn’t understand why he’d need Holden to do anything when I mistakingly thought he is Station. So, he’s a mix of protomolecule and miller, right? But a separate entity. For a long time I thought he embodied all the knowledge of the protomolecule but he’s just as much in the dark about the original builders and what happened to them as anyone. I like that and it looks like we’ll be getting a lot more proto-Miller P.I. next season.
Yeah. While they try for scientific accuracy in a lot of things, sometimes you just have to obey the rule of cool. So, visible lasers and roaring engines in external shots. In terms of violations, these hardly rate.
Haven’t read the books, but just prior to the wave hitting Holden as he passed through Miller said “I need a ride”–so I’d wager this is directly related.
@12. Remillard: I saw the ring/stargate passage as foreboding too. Odd that Holden was alone. Even stranger that he was shirtless on the alien planet in his vision. (Strait: Dammit. I’ve been working out all season. I wanna show my abs!) Also, he wouldn’t have seen any other gates in the sky, of course, not even the one leading to that system. There’s a new Gold Rush starting and humans still don’t know all the Station’s rules. The physics of ring travel will be important by the time they get to adapting Nemesis Games. But maybe they’ll show more consequences before that. They also have to set up the Laconian faction somehow.
@13. politeruin: Perhaps think of the PM as artificial DNA. It has blueprints and instructions to build things, but isn’t necessarily sentient. There is decision making on a level humans would consider intelligent, but so far anyway, no living entities behind things. Miller isn’t even the first version we saw. He’s many iterations later, which accounts for some of his absences as he’s continually destroyed and rebuilt because he doesn’t conform to the PM’s Investigator protocols. I guess his human blueprint introduces a chaotic element that tends to get sidetracked.
The PM was dormant in our system for a long time (2 million years?) Not sure why it needed the rocky material from the inner planets, when it could’ve used the much closer moons of the gas planets. Once the Ring opened it’s gate, it found out it’s civilization was gone. Hence building Miller and using physical means like riding the Roci to go investigate what happened.
@14/Hammerlock: That’s just it — I don’t think visible lasers are cool. I think they’re an outdated cliche, a relic of a time when people didn’t have enough firsthand experience with lasers to know better. I also don’t think it’s cool to perpetuate a cliche — I think it’s routine and unimaginative and dull. Finding an innovative way to depict something that’s also a smart and accurate way — that, for me, is cool.
@15/Sunspear: I assume Holden was nude in the vision, and that it’s because his clothes aren’t part of him. The vision was in his mind, so he was there, but nothing outside of him was.
Leviathan Wakes took a season and a half. Caliban’s War took a season (latter half of 2 and first half of 3). Poor Abaddon’s Gate got approximately half a season. This is the reason why Holden’s plan looked so crazy to viewers and why some of the stuff like the opening of the gates was unclear. To be fair, those bits of the book which were excised and that would have explained all this worked really well in the book but probably wouldn’t have made for good TV because of being too exposition-y.
@1.ChristopherLBennett I don’t agree at all about Ashford changing character. He was consistently shown as well-meaning. It’s just that once our perspective centered on the teams carrying out Holden’s plan in the 2nd half, he WAS an antagonist from their points of view. But he was still doing what he thought best, and from his point of view they were putting his plan at risk for something crazy. Frankly, if I’d been Ashford I wouldn’t have bought into Holden’s plan either. The only people who did were either people who had reason to trust Holden directly (like Naomi) or people who trusted people who had reason to trust Holden (like Drummer). Clarissa now trusted Anna (who trusted Holden). Ashford had no reason to trust any of them (except Drummer, and he could write her input off as loyalty to Naomi) and bet the farm on a crazy plan like that. I find it quite plausible that Holden & Co. understood that up front and didn’t waste time approaching him. They knew how crazy it sounded.
Some book spoilers:
@17: Bill: At this point, I’d say Cibola Burn (still not sure what Cibola is) shouldn’t be extended more than a season. The settler stuff isn’t that interesting in and of itself. The later exploration of ruins and the planetary cataclysm is, but not sure how they’ll do that on a TV budget. Then again, it’s now Big Daddy Amazon paying the bills.
As I’ve said elsewhere, Book 7 retreads some of the action on the Behemoth, soon to be renamed Medina Station. Truncation or compressing the action this season actually helped the suspense. Ashford is still alive. Drummer’s presence alters things. So who knows, maybe the series will diverge from the books more and more. Maybe they won’t do the stupid time jump, or at least shorten it…
@17/Bill: As I said, it wasn’t so much that Ashford changed character as that the heroes were suddenly at odds with him at the start of part 2 without it being clear how and why that happened. Yes, later on in the episode, it became clear that his motives were still good, but I’m talking about that transition between the last minutes of part 1 and the first minutes of part 2, and how they don’t quite feel like they fit together, like there’s some missing scene in between them where the other characters realized Ashford wouldn’t help them and they needed to go behind his back. The fact that that conversation was skipped over created a sense of a sudden change in the dynamic, like we missed something between the two parts.
@18/Sunspear: Cibola was one of the legendary Seven Cities of Gold that the Spanish spent so much effort futilely searching for in New Mexico in the 16th century. I imagine it’s a metaphor for humanity’s quest for the riches opened up for them by the portals.
I need to watch it again, but I think there’s a moment in the scene where Holden and Naomi come into the bridge where you see Ashford blink, and think ‘oh shit, I got it wrong’, and then decides to bull ahead regardless. I think he realises that he might be wrong about the laser, but that he’s got so much invested in it, that he can’t back down now (hasn’t he already shot his replacement chief engineer at this point?) Sunk Cost Fallacy on a grand scale.
I loved this double episode in general, despite the pacing and the constant second guessing about how they would rejig the book narrative (oh, Drummer, they really had me worried for a minute!) Amos and Anna are a delight, as are Holden and Naomi back together (and on an emotional level and not just for the cute butt!) I suspect that Strait is a better actor than a lot of people give him credit for, it’s just that Holden is maturing slowly into a more nuanced person than the arrogant self-righteous guy we met in Season 1. It reminds me a lot of the criticism that Emilia Clarke got at the start of Game of Thrones for being flat and unanimated, when that’s exactly where her character was, traumatised and numb.
Also, goodbye Diogo! You really turned into SmirkBoy this season, which is a shame because you used to be a rather likeable character.
I thought there was something hinted at, between Drummer & Naomi.. from the handball scenes in earlier episodes, to the tension shown when Naomi talks to Holden, while Drummer listens in. I could just be looking for something though…
I was generally happy with how this turned out.
But I have to ask: What was the image/thing/entity that Holden saw in transition space?
I know the story is leading us to think it’s the mystery threat the protomolocule makers were wiped out by, but is it?
Also with these systems described as habitable does that mean they were less damaged by sterilization protocols than we were led to believe?
@22/Felix: Only the infected systems were sterilized, as Earth would’ve been if Holden and the others hadn’t stopped Ashford. The rest of the thousand-plus systems in the network are still intact.
@11/Christopher L Bennett: Miller says he needs a ride. Something blue flashes toward Holden just as the interface passes his eyes. Holden’s eyes look strange. Ominous music. I think we saw Miller getting on board his ride: Holden.
What the show hasn’t brought up is that Amos isn’t actually Amos. His real name is Timmy, a former enforcer for the real Amos – a crimelord in Baltimore, Maryland. A hacker friend of Timmy’s created a fake ID for Amos, with Timmy’s DNA profile in the record. He also setup a job for “Amos” on the Moon. That’s in the short story “The Churn”, set some time prior to “Leviathan Wakes”. That’s why Amos is so matter of fact and (usually) emotionless and logical when it comes to violence. It’s pretty much exactly how Timmy was in the short story.
Love the show and wish we had more episodes in each season. I honestly don’t know what to think about Holden anymore but I hope he’s still the same Holden and not something possessed. Loved that Miller was back and hope he stays. Wondering what’s going to happen with Bobbie, I think she’s on the Rosi for good now. Hope so any way. Looked like Clarissa and Anna were still on the Rosi too, when they could have easily switched to another ship. Looking forward to the next season!!!
@21: I noticed that, too. Seemed like something more than them just being besties.
The show could change things about Naomi’s character, as they already have for other characters, sometimes significantly. She has no interest in other women in the books. Neither does Drummer. However, show Drummer is an amalgamation of a male character, Bull, who received the (fatal for him) spine injury and Ashford’s second-in-command Michio Pa (not yet introduced on the show), who is in a multiple marriage with both men and women and also serve as her crew. It’s like if the Roci crew were married to each other. Pa’s favorite partner is another wife.
Holden is and will still be himself. He just carries a Passenger now.
Here’s a SPOILERY look at concept art for season 4:
Expanse season 4
And a wiki about the planet they are going to, also SPOILERY:
Ilus
One thing I didn’t remember was that the settlers are from Ganymede. Also, Ilus was Ganymede’s brother and the founder of Ilius, which later became Troy.
I enjoyed the episode – especially the elevator crushing the ***hole Belter and preventing Drummer from sacrificing herself. I also loved Alex’s line to Bobby, in response to her comment that Holden may have been changed by the protomolecule – to the effect of “He’s trying to save the world and sacrifice himself while doing it – looks like Holden to me.”