The Expanse Review: Immolation S03E06

We’re almost at the halfway stage of season 3, in The Expanse, with episode 6: Immolation. (BEWARE! This review contains SPOILERS!)

With this season still having a 100% approval rating on ‘Rotten Tomatoes’, it was something of a surprise this week to hear the news that The Expanse had been cancelled by SyFy.  This season it seems that the networks have been especially harsh, with more than one high profile show being axed.  In the case of The Expanse, which is only on SyFy in the US, but distributed internationally by Netflix, there is hope that Netflix may pick it up due to the existing connection.  This wouldn’t be too farfetched an outcome, as has been seen with NBC picking up Brooklyn Nine-Nine after Fox cancelled it; although in that case Universal Television (part of the NBC group) are one of the production companies behind the show.  We wait with bated breath.

In this week’s episode, there is a bit of a shift away from the political wrangling, and more of a focus on the proto molecule.  What political wrangling there is, revolves around the video evidence of Errinwright’s (Shawn Doyle) treason, supplied to Anna (Elizabeth Mitchell) by Chrisjen (Shohreh Aghdashloo).  Seemingly horrified by Errinwright’s betrayal, Secretary General Gillis (Jonathan Whittaker) has him arrested, but not before Errinwright has his moment of vitriol about Gillis’ character, to Anna.  Initially, this seems like it is fuelled by his resentment at being caught, and Anna is happy that she was able to get Gillis back on the right path, but soon after, it becomes clear that Gillis is exactly who Errinwright caricatured him as; Anna is suitably horrified with Gillis’ attitude and realises that Earth may still be in deep trouble.  All three actors here are great, and each one conveys the switching emotions perfectly.

Away from Earth, the Rocinante’s arrival on Io is slightly too late, and the UNN Agatha King, commanded by Admiral Nguyen (Byron Mann) has already launched the hybrids towards Mars.  All the Roci crew can do is try to shoot a few of the pods, while they continue into the research complex to find another solution.  The futility of their efforts here is well played, and helps to drive their resolve through the episode.

As in other scenarios, the crew have multiple objectives, but how they all support each other’s priorities is nicely written, with there being genuine concern for the solar system as a whole, as well as each other; Holden (Steven Strait) for instance is concerned about rescuing the children, especially due to their promise to Prax (Terry Chen), but is also worried about the protomolecule reaching Mars, from a wider perspective.  Similarly, Alex (Cas Anvar), with his Martian heritage, is extremely driven to find a solution to help his homeworld, and goes to the Agatha King in the Razorback, accompanied by Naomi (Dominique Tipper), as she knows he can’t do it alone.

Although they are unsuccessful in stopping the pods, they do manage to find the transponder codes, so they are no longer hidden, and discover that Kotyar (Nick E. Tarabay) is on board.  With one of the pods having impacted the side of the Agatha King, the whole ship is now infected, and the only course of action is to blow it up, which Kotyar does, sacrificing himself.  While this is a logical conclusion, it’s a shame to lose Kotyar, as he was an interesting character, and one of the few to challenge Chrisjen freely.

The assault on the Io research station is as you would expect, with Mao (François Chau) and Strickland (Ted Atherton) being the self-serving villains they are, and trying to make a break for it with the children.  For a second it seems that Mao is going to have a sliver of decency, but then orders his employees to fight to the death, thus condemning them; the only way Mao doesn’t end up looking as bad as he could have done, is due to Strickland being an even bigger nightmare.  Thankfully for us, and Prax, Amos (Wes Chatham) is there to serve out some justice, as they see it.

I am in two minds about the battle that ensues between Draper (Frankie Adams) and the hybrid that is let loose by Strickland, as I’m not sure whether it shows that the hybrids aren’t as invincible as we were led to believe, or that Draper is more badass.  Having seen how the Roci crew handled a hybrid, I suspect it’s the latter, but we do have to note that this may not have been a fully developed hybrid.  It has also been mentioned to me by others, that there is a difference between the books and the series, where Draper learns more about the hybrids before encountering them, so that might bridge the gap.

Back on the ship, with the Rocinante out of ammunition and with Mars maybe not having enough firepower to destroy the remaining pods, Naomi brings out a leftfield suggestion that may work – asking Fred Johnson (Chad L. Coleman) to use the missiles he stole.  Part of me did think that between the two fleets there should be a workable solution, but doing it this way does bring the Belters nicely back into the story, and effectively saves Mars, without exacerbating the tensions between Mars and Earth.  The protomolecule however still has the last word though, as a strange craft emerges from Venus, so humanity’s squabbles may become a minor issue.

As we have seen all season, this was a tightly written and engaging episode.  We’re not even halfway through the season, and already there has been a lot of good plot, so I don’t know what will come next and suspect that there will be many more surprises to come.  If the show fails to get picked up by another network though, I don’t know if we will get a proper conclusion, as no doubt everything has been filmed already.  Here’s hoping for a reprieve.