Sitting in my casa, reading the reviews of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, I was reminded of a few truths in life. One of those truths is that my yard is out of control. I really need to get off my ass and trim my weeds and mow the lawn. It’s like fucking Jurassic Park out there. The other, more frustrating truth is this: J.J. Abrams must never get the keys to a major franchise handed to him again.
He fucked Star Trek and now he’s fucked Star Wars. He nearly fucked Mission: Impossible. What franchise will this monster come for next? John Wick? Fast & the Furious? He must be stopped.
If you’re feeling burned by Mr. Abrams I have grand news: The Expanse is still amazing, and it has the exact amount of J.J. your viewing diet requires: 0%.
Things are less than amazing on the planet of Ilus. Episode 4 picks up after Murty and his security force have essentially implemented martial law. They have zeroed in on the saboteurs who destroyed the landing pad in Episode 1 and they are exterminating anyone they deem a threat. The best fictional evil is the kind that sorta has a point. Call it the Thanos Principle. Murtry believes the Belters in the camp are plotting against him and his people – and to be fair, some of them are – and once he confirms who the plotters are, he kills them without remorse. The fact that he’s not wrong about the conspiracy amongst the belters gives him cover so he can do the killing, which honestly appears to be his real goal. We find out later that Murtry has some serious financial goals attached to eradicating the Belters. The only thing standing in his way is Holden and his pesky morality.
But there are bigger problems. Proto-Miller has been poking around, waking-up the long dormant machinery on the planet in his search for what killed the race that created the gates. The problem with turning on machinery that has been asleep for tens of thousands of years is that some of it is unstable. Sometimes things go boom. For instance, an island archipelago that houses a series of enormous thermonuclear reactors might go critical, causing a mega explosion/shockwave/tsunami that endangers everyone on the surface. This event might also cause the planetary defenses to overreact and turn off all fusion reactors around the planet, to include the ships in orbit. You know, things like that.
The colony has hours to find a shelter that can withstand 200mph winds and an inland flood that could last for days. The ancient ruins are the only place that fits the bill. A tense sequence follows where not everybody in the colony makes it. Those that do are hit with a double set of middle fingers: two alien species are threatening their lives; one is infecting their eyes and slowly making everyone in the colony go blind (except, curiously, for Holden); another alien critter, a kind of slug, stirred-up by the tsunami, secretes a slime that acts as a neurotoxin that is instantly fatal to humans – and there are many thousands of them descending on their camp in the ruins where they are so blind they can’t see them creeping around. So, suboptimal to say the least.
Back on Earth, Avasarala is finding that running for office sucks. In short order she goes from being the runaway front-runner to having a coin flip chance. Part of her problem is an ongoing power play coming from Marco Inaros and a breakaway faction of the OPA. Avasarala’s handling of two separate incidents quickly backfire and leave her leadership in question. She’s also dealing with the fact that she’s a political animal with a cold disposition. She’s not above using the death of her son as a political tool to help her in the polls, and this alienates her biggest supporter – her husband.
Let’s talk about Marco Inaros. As a reader of the books, I was really looking forward to his introduction, and let me tell you…I was pretty underwhelmed. Marco is played by Keon Alexander, who does a fine job, but the scenes and lines he is given are a little on the meh side. In the books Marco is charismatic to the point of messianic. So far in the show he is a bit of a wuss. Again, I know what’s coming, so there’s time for the show-runners to crank his part up before next season, but still, a little bit of a bummer.
Speaking of bummers, poor Bobbie is having a time of it on Mars. Her nephew is an idiot who gets himself tangled with a group of criminals who are taking advantage of the exodus from Mars and stealing everything not bolted down. Once she gets that taken care of she finds herself tangled with the exact same group and presented with a choice: get framed for theft of Martian property, or join the bad guys and become a thief yourself. This is the biggest departure from the books that I have a gripe with: Bobbie Fucking Draper is a Martian to the core. She would never sell her planet out for a few extra bucks. This is by far the weakest plotline this season, which is a shame because Frankie Adams is still bringing the goods in the role. Hopefully this nonsense is just setup for future events and not some filler bullshit.
Back on Ilus things have gone from bad to worse, but our ensemble of heroes are resourceful and determined. The Belter ship in orbit is in a rapidly decaying orbit and the crew of the Rocinante have devised a plan to tow it to a higher, more stable distance from the planet, but it will cost them the majority of their own emergency batteries.
Planetside, Doctor Okoye (Lyndie Greenwood) has figured out that Holden’s immunity to the eye parasite is his regular injections of anti-cancer meds. Check out Season 1 if you want to know why Holden has a cancer problem. Also, can we get to the day when you can have a “cancer problem” like you got a common cold? That would be dope. Looking at you scientists.
Everything is coming up roses. Then Holden gets a vision of Proto-Miller, who has been conspicuously absent for some time, and let’s just say he looks, well, insane. It would appear that interacting with ancient alien technology has a cost, even for a ghost.
Eight episodes down, two to go. I have to say that I was very worried going into this season. Cibola Burn was the first book in The Expanse series that challenged the formula of spacefaring swashbuckling and took a more nuanced there’s-a-big-galaxy-out-there approach to the story. I loved it, but had concerns about its translation to TV. My fears were misplaced. The show runners and actors on this show know what’s up, and more importantly, they know how to forge a story that serves fans without being fan service. Maybe J.J. Abrams and folks at Disney should take a few notes.
Talk at ya later.
Averil Dickerson 