AKA: Menacing Martians, Belligerent Belters, Pernicious Politicians
OVERVIEW
Media type: TV show
Streaming service: Amazon Prime (paid)
Genre: Sci-fi, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Content warnings: Gore, body horror, cosmic horror, violence, sex scenes, coarse language
SUMMARY
We cut straight to Ceres, where Holden’s broadcast at the end of the previous episode has been repeated across any screen that’ll host it. Anyone and everyone gathers around, news comments on it, it’s all the rage – “rage” being the operating word, here. Holden’s managed to make a powder keg even worse by pouring petroleum on it, but Havelock’s having none of that. Instead, he’s paying to see a prostitute… and learn Lang Belta from her???
Lang Belta continues to fascinate, by the way – a significant part of expressing oneself in the language involves gestures, an exceptionally useful thing to know when all you have is visual on one another because the cheap comms on your crappy space suits have decided to shit the bed again. Slowly, but surely, Havelock starts to get it! Unfortunately, his lesson is interrupted by a summons from Corrupt Cops, Inc, who are, for all intents and purposes, gearing up for war. There are going to be water riots, and they need to keep the peace.
Miller is, of course, way more interested in the Mao case, to Shadid’s chagrin. She claims it’s not important right now, but Miller disagrees entirely: the last ship she boarded, the Scopuli, was the one sending out the SOS that the Canterbury was destroyed answering. Now, more than ever, that case matters, in our two plotlines starting to collide at a significant fraction of c. Shadid is having none of it. Mao’s not on Ceres, so it’s way outside Corrupt Cops, Inc’s jurisdiction, and therefore, Miller shouldn’t be touching it with a 10 light-second pole. There are bigger problems to deal with right now.
Aboard the Donnager, the wayward crew of the Knight is processed by the Martians. Our intrepid pilot, Alex Kamal, seems to set off some kind of special alert, but he joins our group regardless as they’re led away. Holden can’t resist getting a crack in at what I can only assume is the Donnie‘s captain, though. The crew are taken to the Donnie‘s holding area and manhandled into the holding cells, Holden protesting that they should be getting legal counsel to uncaring Martians – Amos takes exception to Naomi’s treatment and leads a valiant attack on a Martian Marine, only to get tasered for his trouble. Dude’s got more bravado than brains. For reasons unexplained, possibly related to the special alert, Alex is taken away by the Marines to parts unknown. Holden really doesn’t like this, demanding to know where one of his crew is being taken, but the Martians remain silent. Shed declares, simply, that they’re all going to die.
Short, cowardly title sequence once again. Bring back my beautiful long title sequence!
Holden’s message is a hot topic even on Earth, as Chrisjen discusses the matter with Errinwright and a man that I can only assume is an admiral in the UN’s space force, based on his clothing. Identified as “Souther” by the subtitles, he questions just why Mars would blow up an ice freighter. Avasarala claims that Mars, for whatever reason, wants to destabilise Ceres in advance of their mighty war fleet coming in to “pacify” the station, throwing in a crack at the UN governer on Ceres for good measure. Avasarala advocates for a strong response to Mars’ supposed bullshit, something like redeploying the fleet – this, to me, sounds like trying to put out a powder keg by throwing petroleum on it, which Souther agrees with! He’s smart and level-headed, so I really hope he doesn’t resign his commission over a moral issue, or get killed leading an attempted mutiny aboard his ship, or something.
After the meeting, Avasarala goes to have a chat with the Martian ambassador, Franklin Degraaf, apparently a very old friend of hers based on the fact that he calls her “Bubbles”. After a quick catch-up, the two get right down to business discussing the Canterbury incident, and more importantly, what Mars has told him – sweet fuckall. Since he’s got nothing really to do at the moment, Avasarala invites Frank and husband to have dinner with her and her husband. As she turns away, invitation accepted, that almost practiced smile of Chrisjen’s falls away almost instantly, replaced by grim determination.
Ceres! The same Belter from the first episode is, yet again, inciting violence, reminding the gathered Belters about how much the Inners dislike them. Honestly, I really can’t blame him. Miller, meanwhile, is accosted by the most stereotypical Mormon I’ve ever seen ever, inviting him and Havelock to a Mormon comedy night. I… can’t imagine something I’d want to attend less, purely intellectual curiosity aside, so it’s fair game when Havelock gives his captain’s pain-in-the-ass name as his own. Miller catches onto Havelock’s little scheme and tells the nameless Mormon to be really annoying, which I think is the first moment where Miller actually, like, respects Havelock.
After they’ve dealt with the annoying Mormon, the pair continue on to our gaunt Belter, Miller interrupting his speech and delivering one of the worst, most incredible lines in TV history.
You’re so fucking awful, Miller. I love you. Sending Havelock off with Mister Inciter, Octavia comes over and berates Miller for a bit, to which Miller complains about the captain taking him off the Mao case. Asking, but more telling Octavia to take over keeping the peace for a bit, Miller runs off to God-only-knows-where.
The Donnager! Holden surmises that his little broadcast must have gotten somewhere, based on the rough treatment the Martians are giving them. Shed, again, is not optimistic for their chances. Naomi wonders aloud who’ll crack first, passive-aggressively implicating poor Shed as the weak link. Holden is having none of it, reminding the gang that the Martians are almost undoubtedly listening. And, speaking of Martians, here comes a particularly nasty-looking one, leading Holden away to an interrogation room. And holy fuck, his interrogator is creepy. Let’s ignore the man-bun, a hairstyle which I will forever be against, and go straight for the Creepy Pills he takes that make him get really, really intense. Despite the fact that we’re pretty explicitly shown it lets him pick up on micro-expressions (a provably false lie detection method), I like to think that the pills are a kind of placebo. He takes it and gets really intense, and the subject is like “oh shit he can tell if I’m making shit up by the way I twitch my eyelash” so they give a confession. Either way, it seems hella unethical and prone to false positives.
Damn, this guy just takes a pill without swallowing. He’s hardcore. His pupils dilate, and he gets right to work.
We get some fascinating info on Holden’s family in this conversation: apparently he’s a full genetic mix of all eight parents, for one thing. For another, apparently they’re a group of folks that got together to have one kid to stop the government taking their land or something? Eminent domain gone mad, talk about. Then, they get into the real meaty shit: why Holden destroyed the Canterbury. Wait, what? Is that some kind of weird interrogation tactic, accusing folks of something they definitely didn’t – couldn’t have! – do? The topic rapidly shifts to Holden’s time in the UNN, where apparently he tried to punch out his CO for ordering him to do some bad shit. That’s not a way to get respect in Space Fascistia, valuing service over doing the right thing.
An interesting little detail is mentioned in the description of the Cant‘s route between Saturn and Ceres, wherein allegedly, the ship made a stop at Phoebe. This really confuses Holden, because he definitely didn’t visit a random rock orbiting Saturn. Holden protests, asking why the Martians destroyed the Cant, when Commander Creepy turns it right back around on him: how long has he known that Naomi Nagata is an OPA operative? Visible confusion crosses Holden’s face, but Commander Creepy goes on. He makes a lot of good points: Naomi has not one, but multiple degrees in engineering, advanced fusion engine design, and yet she’s assigned to a bucket. In space. Nobody aboard the Cant is there because they are a happy, well-adjusted person, and the advanced nature of Naomi’s knowledge hints that there’s definitely more to her than meets the eye. Despite all the evidence, Jim rejects the idea out of hand, but the interrogator thinks he’s buying it. He’s then escorted back to his cell.
Ceres! Graffitos saying things like “REMEMBER THE CANT” are starting to pop up all over the station, such as in the dockyards, where Miller appears, demanding a search of every last piece of cargo present. Apparently there’s some “dangerous contraband-type shit” in them. Nobody enjoys this. Talking to a nearby OPA Belter with some very harsh commentary on Miller’s choice of hat, Miller reveals the true nature of his mission to the dockyards: get the attention of Anderson Dawes, apparently some big OPA hotshot if the vibes are to be believed.
Avasarala’s house! The gang are having a lovely time at a dinner party, where Frank Degraaf’s partner, Craig, talks about the wine they’re drinking, from their vineyard on Mars – apparently watered with greywater from their house’s systems! Arjun is mildly horrified at the idea that he might be drinking their, ahem, leavings, because as far as wine goes, it’s actually pretty damn good. Fortunately, the vineyard’s irrigation hasn’t yet entered its partnership with the house’s plumbing, so the wine is urine-free. Of course, Arjun is taking the piss (haw haw), because as we all know, greywater doesn’t actually come from toilets, but from laundry, showers, and bathing. Toilet water goes separately!
Arjun, sensing a need for Frank and Chrisjen to talk alone, invites Craig to play a short game of cricket. Once the two are gone, Chrisjen reveals the true purpose of her invitation: a quiet leak to Frank that her people caught an OPA agent transporting MCRN stealth materials, directly claiming to the Martian ambassador that Mars – or somebody in the Martian hierarchy – is in bed with the OPA. He doesn’t think it’s possible, but Chrisjen continues her line regardless, her true ruthlessness coming out to play as she more or less throws a friend she’s known since she was a child under the bus for her own, savage agenda. Christ, she’s a terrifying woman.
Back aboard the Donnager, Shed tries to build a rapport with the Martian Marines holding the Knight‘s crew prisoner. Amos, meanwhile, gets right to antagonising the Marines, something you never want to do.
Shed is having none of Amos’ antagonisation, recommending some kinda analgesic, but Amos triples down – amazingly, the Marine has about all the reaction of a Buckingham Palace guard, for the most part. Fortunately, the Marine doesn’t get to deliver on his promise of giving Amos another beating, instead receiving orders to take Naomi for a meeting with Commander Creepy. Jim, meanwhile, is taken to meet Alex, who has had… something of a makeover, now wearing the fineries of the Mars Congressional Republic Navy. Holden immediately assumes that Alex is helping the Martians, but Alex protests: they’re just respecting his service, unlike what Holden did with his own CO. As his chats with the (other?) Martians made him realise… Alex doesn’t know a damn thing about Holden’s life. He still refuses to believe that Mars blew up the Cant, citing how easy it was to find the distress beacon aboard the Scopuli – no self-respecting Martian laying a trap would make it so obvious that it was Mars behind everything. Jim’s not having any of it, questioning who did plant it. Alex offers an easy answer, with a question in itself: “who stands to gain?” And, indeed, who would gain if Mars and Earth decided that they’re tired of having their war cold, and put it in the microwave to heat up for a minute or two? The Belt. And who’s (allegedly) an OPA operative, formerly working aboard the Cant?
Back at Ceres, Miller has dutifully remained in place for what must have been several hours, watching the dockyards as Star Helix crawls through it, undertaking a very thorough contraband sweep. He’s fortunate enough, in fact, to be witness to a very one-sided brawl between a Martian and some Belters, beating the crap out of the poor Duster until Miller gets their attention. The Belters apparently refuse to top up water tanks belonging to Martian ships, in some kind of misguided revenge play. Miller calls for backup from local Star Helix assets, riling up the Belter dockworkers. It looks like things are going to turn to blows…
Anderson Dawes sure knows how to choose his moments! He comes in roaring, demanding that the Belters hand over the water that the Martian ships so desperately need. “Milowda na animals,” he states, Lang Belta for “my people are not animals!” The Belters have every right to be angry – they should be angry – but acting like animals will just confirm the way the Inners look at them. A citation of the Golden Rule, the doctrine of reciprocity present in basically every major religion and more than a few secular schools of thought, known to most folks in Western spheres as “treat others the way you want to be treated”. This works, very well! With the rabble dispersing, Dawes introduces himself to Miller.
Walking and talking, Dawes bemoans the recent lack of a Star Helix presence in the Ceres dockyards of late. As this isn’t Miller’s assigned area, Dawes demands of him his purpose there. Miller responds in true Miller fashion: “Juliette Andromeda Mao”, the case he shouldn’t be chasing but seems to have consumed his every waking moment. Dawes professes no knowledge, asking if she’s related to Jules-Pierre Mao, corporate backbone of the system. Miller retorts that Dawes helped her crew up the Scopuli – and to make his point, mentions the prevailing narrative that the Martians destroyed the Canterbury, not-so-subtly implicating Dawes in the destruction and misery following.
Dawes, now understanding Miller’s interest in Julie, asks how much the Mao family is paying to find her – less for judgemental reasons, and more to see if he can squeeze a quote out of Miller for his services. Dawes does his best impression of me, trying to radicalise somebody he’s only just met to The Cause. Miller claims that Dawes did exactly the same to Julie, radicalising the woman into dying for the Belt, which Dawes subtly rejects. With thanks for preventing bloodshed at the docks, he and Miller toast.
Back aboard the Donnager, and it’s time for Naomi to meet Commander Creepy. The creepy drugs come out, and the interplay starts up once again with another mention of Phoebe. Clearly, something bad went down on the moon. Naomi, apparently, doesn’t believe in causes anymore, and refuses to be the Martian scapegoat for the Cant‘s destruction, despite the fact that the woman is almost tailor-made for the role. Creepy asks Naomi why she left the Canterbury with the Knight‘s crew, and Naomi gives the official line. Creepy doesn’t buy it – most distress calls are of a more pre-emptive nature, because once the pirates are done with responders, the poor idiots that picked it up will be wanting to send a call of their own. Creepy theorises about who did log the call: if it’s not Amos, not Alex, not Shed, and not Naomi… it has to be Jim. He then proceeds to come up with some crazy theory that Holden and Naomi are working together on this little terrorist plot.
The rest of the crew, meanwhile, are reunited – most likely as part of another Martian ploy to weasel information out of them. Amos is taken aback by Alex’s new regalia, but Shed seems more interested in the fact that joining up with the Martians is apparently an option. Not that they’d take you, Shed! Holden asks what everybody spilled. Amos, predictably, said very rude things to them; while Shed babbles on and on about everything he… babbled on and on about, including stuff he probably made up towards the end, before bringing up the little factoid about Naomi’s continuing OPA membership. Amos doesn’t buy it for even a nanosecond, because he knows exactly how this shit works: interrogators will say all sorts of things to get under your skin, giving an example of Shed’s supposed history to prove his point. Shed, sheepishly, confirms the veracity of that statement, and Naomi returns! Amos immediately asks if she’s okay. Everyone else is much more interested in whether she’s with the OPA. Naomi is rather offended, as would I be if somebody said I was a member of a communist terrorist group (I’m not, for the record, thank you friendly GCSB agent watching my writing).
Alex tries to be the voice of reason: military folks don’t like to play games forever, and as soon as they think the gang is of no further use, they’ll probably toss them into a Martian labour camp forever, using this as a (pretty good, admittedly) reason to come clean. Holden challenges Naomi on her decision to prevent the Knight from chasing down the Mysterious Shape – a pretty easy decision, given that it would have been a light shuttle chasing a warship, something that a pathetic little tin can would never have managed with its delta-V of “sweet fuckall”.
Holden counters that the Mysterious Shape might have been crewed by friends of Naomi’s. Amos warns him to watch what he’s saying, only succeeding in getting Jim to change targets: even more so than other crew members of the Cant, Amos is a total enigma, except for his total deference to Naomi’s command. Naomi counter-counters that, as far as plans go, sitting aboard a misbegotten crap heap like the Cant for five years is pretty damn miserable. Alex supposes that Naomi is a Manchurian Candidate, an idea allegedly proved unworkable by the CIA’s MKULTRA project, of all things, and The Expanse’s ‘verse doesn’t seem much more capable in terms of mind fuckery like that. Amos really doesn’t like this, grabbing Alex in a chokehold. Holden doesn’t like this, offering to the watching Martians his knowledge, but only if he speaks to their Captain. This earns an instant response from the crew, Commander Creepy striding in and ordering Amos to stop being a dick. With Naomi’s insistence, Amos lets go of Alex, and Creepy takes the opportunity to lead Holden away to see the Donnie‘s Captain.
A conference of high-end UN authorities reveals that Chrisjen’s plan has borne fruit, Frank Degraaf urgently sharing the “information” that Chrisjen “shared” with him – thus triggering a lot of worry at the high end of MCRN command. Incidentally, this reveals the presence of three more stealth tech labs than UN intel knew about, but far more importantly, Chrisjen figures out that they were taking inventory of their stocks. In other words, it definitely wasn’t Mars, around the asteroid, with the stealth frigate; and Mars is definitely not in bed with the OPA, and very much didn’t destroy the Canterbury. Souther raises a salient, and now, mildly terrifying question: who did?
Back aboard the Donnager, we enter the CIC, an almost bunker-like structure among several other bunker-like structures, presumably located within some kind of citadel (a hardened structure within a warship, designed to offer protection to critical systems and magazine spaces) buried deep inside the Donnie‘s hull. The CIC, by comparison, is a very small room, maybe four stations facing outwards from the Command Station at the centre, an almost Trekkian design if not for the lack of viewscreen or a Centre Chair. One wonders where the Captain sits if they have to go into maneuvers and require crash couches…
The Donnie‘s captain is not happy with things, and demands that Holden send a message going back on his previous statement before things turn to war. Holden makes a counter-demand, requesting the safety of his people before he says anything. Captain Cross repeats her demand, adding on that he state that it was Naomi’s doing. This is a line that Holden refuses to cross, stating his disbelief, thus leaving the Martians and Holden at an impasse.
The Captain shows Holden some new information: namely, an engine plume from a ship hard decelerating towards the Donnager, one that’s been inbound ever since the Donnie heard their distress call. It’s not one of theirs, it’s definitely not one of Earth’s, and it doesn’t want to return any calls. She reckons that the mysterious ship, whatever it is, is Naomi’s getaway driver. Holden’s face, stony, belies his doubts of Naomi’s motivations.
On Ceres, Miller sits in his apartment, quizzing the computers for the Scopuli‘s movements after it left Ceres. They shut off their transponder not long after leaving, making it anybody’s guess where they went next. Using subsequent sightings of the ship, he puts together a list of possible destinations. Then, he goes through incident reports from the docks tagged to her name. One in particular stands out – the incident recounted by the dock worker he spoke with earlier. Pulling an ID, he makes plans to pay a visit to the man that Julie beat the shit out of, before he’s interrupted by a critical alert from his co-worker. A riot’s starting in the Medina, and it’s all hands on deck.
Down below, Octavia bemoans the lack of riot gear – an idea vetoed by Captain Shadid, who didn’t want to inflame a riot in progress. Havelock points out how stupid an idea this was, before another alert comes in: skirmishes in a nearby sector, right next to his girlfriend’s brothel. Miller, annoyed, sends Havelock on his way. Octavia, meanwhile, puts on her best jackboot impression, ordering the protestors to piss off.
Egged on by a presumed Martian, the smoking barrel of petroleum vapour has just had simmering embers thrown at it. Things are thrown, the Martian is assaulted, and our shit-stirrer for the past two episodes leads a chant. “Remember the Cant! OPA!” What little Star Helix presence is available quickly finds themselves overwhelmed by the mass of Belters.
Back on Earth, Chrisjen endures a tiny fragment of the fallout of her betrayal of Frank. Chrisjen tries to bribe him with wine, but he’s too upset. He can’t move to his beloved Mars, a planet not afraid to dream of greater, a planet dedicated to the common goal of turning the red planet green. Chrisjen tries to justify what she’s done with what feels like a familiar refrain: “Earth must come first”. Frank can’t do anything else now: the Martians have revoked his access, and he can never return to the red planet, punishment for his alarmist actions. Chrisjen tries to make him feel better, claiming that they may have stopped a war. He recounts a story from Chrisjen’s youth, where the young Chrisjen demanded to be included in a regular game of cards. The young manipulator played, until it was her turn to call the game. There, she told the assembled of a card game, dealing a hand before declaring the true intent of the game: “whoever gets to the tree at the end of the yard first, wins”. Apparently she has a penchant for pulling the rug out from under folks, playing one game while passing it off as another. While her father was proud, Frank was utterly terrified for Chrisjen, a feeling that he hadn’t understood for decades. Not until her terrible betrayal. She will do anything to win. Craig is afraid that that attitude will get Chrisjen killed. Their relationship severed, Frank walks off, leaving Chrisjen almost tearful.
Back on Ceres, Miller walks through the aftermath of a riot, people injured and property damaged. Of particular interest is a man killed during the riot, that perfectly matches the image of the man that said he would be Julie’s sherpa on that weird dating app. Meanwhile, Havelock is elsewhere, when he finds himself totally alone… except for a group of three Belters, speaking threateningly at him. Havelock attempts to defuse the situation, speaking Lang Belta, but this only amuses the ne’er-do-wells. More ruffians appear behind Havelock, and the leader of these bandits delivers an ominous message: “It’s not over, Earther. It’s just beginning.” The assembled bad folks force Havelock against a wall, before driving a metal stake into his chest.
“Remember the Cant,” says the ringleader, before walking away, leaving Havelock to die, struggling for breath as he hangs against the wall. The only sounds are the thrum of the station’s machinery, and an occasional announcement of curfew over the PA.
End episode.
TRIVIA
- Franklin Degraaf’s storyline and character did not appear at all in the original books! Much like the majority of Chrisjen’s content in the first season, it is entirely original to the show.
- During Miller’s studies of the Scopuli‘s flight path in his apartment, the comet 67P is shown. This comet is famous for being the target of the ESA’s Rosetta mission in 2014.
- Over 200 actors took part in the riot scene on Ceres!
- The virtual set for the Donnager‘s hangar bay is the second-biggest on the show, topped out only by the catwalk set seen in the next episode.
DEE’S THOUGHTS
A delectable mix of interrogation drama, political thriller, and cop show is the order for today, and oh, it is so very yummy. Three very separate, yet slowly converging plots, doled out at an almost perfect pace. This is probably my favourite era in the show, if I’m being honest, where Chrisjen scrambles to figure out who the hell is behind the attack on the Cant, Holden and gang are trying desperately to stay one step ahead of the Martians, and Miller is… doing whatever the hell Miller does. Although they show up again in shades, the political games are less front-and-centre from here on out, something that makes me very, very sad.
Next episode is my favourite of the season, though. You’ll see why.
Overall, I think this episode deserves a look at the Donnager again out of ten!
