After a slightly more cohesive episode of The Expanse last week, many viewers were eager to see where this ambitious story would head next. Not surprisingly, we started in right here at home on Earth. We hadn’t seen much of Chrisjen’s character over the past couple of weeks so it was about time she was brought back into the fold. And as a bonus, I like the way it happened. She’s looking to acquire a spy on Tycho station in order to spy on Fred Johnson, and is willing to do whatever it takes to get there. While I’m glad this brings her one step closer to the central arc, Earth’s plot and Chrisjen’s character is still the part of this show that I’m least interested in. She really should have a few more levels to her by this point in the series.
The survivors of the Canterbury, or I guess I should start calling them the crew of the Rocinante now, have arrived at the space station. Fred Johnson makes a pretty solid first impression if nothing else. Of course, he has an agenda of his own and is more than willing to strong arm his new guests into submission. As usual, Naomi has a plan. The dynamics between the crew have been developing a little further as we get to see them have one another’s back in this episode, and almost break apart when they learn that Holden was the one to get them into this situation in the first place.
Johnson’s plan involves using what happened on the Canterbury in order to build up a little more sway for the OPA, and a big part of me wants to trust Johnson (even if he’ll always be Tyreese in my head) as he’s turning into an interesting character. He also has no problem stealing a data chip from the dead Martian lieutenant’s body which I’m sure will lead to some fresh new piece of intrigue.
Detective Miller wakes up as a captive of the OPA. Most of his role in this episode is continuing to obsess about Julie Mao, this time with the people she had worked with at the OPA. This show is definitely starting to tip its favor toward the underclass belt workers, as witnessed by this week’s subplot involving a familiar pair of asteroid miners being taken advantage of by anyone and everyone. It’s a close call, but Miller survives the encounter thanks to Octavia, who I’m glad we’re getting to see more of. She’s also slowly being won over by Miller’s unconventional charms. And Miller has finally made some actual progress on the season’s mystery… it’s about time! It all comes down to Phoebe station and who’s looking to start a war. It all comes too little too late when Miller is promptly fired. So I guess that’s one step forward, two steps back.
Even now after the sixth episode, I want to like this show far more than I actually do. It has become a little bit more watchable over time, but I’ve given up all hope that this will become one of the new greats in the science fiction TV genre. Thankfully there will always be near countless episodes of Star Trek, Battlestar and Stargate to watch to keep us entertained.
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