As we reach the midway point of Season five, the chess pieces are moving once again in episode 5 of The Expanse, ‘Down and Out’. *Warning: Spoilers Lie Ahead!*
It’s very much a transitional episode this week, developing several plots from the opening explosive salvos, before everything starts to move again. The lull before the storm. It is also now becoming clear how some the threads will meet up and when/if the crew of the Rocinante will come back together.
Each of the four main cast get some time here, but primarily ‘Down and Out’ follows Naomi (Dominque Tipper) and Amos (Wes Chatham) in their particular storylines, while Holden (Steven Strait) and Alex (Cas Anvar) play smaller roles.
Even though they are smaller, those plotlines are no less important, as Alex and Bobbie (Frankie Adams) are investigating Admiral Sauveterre’s (Tim DeKay) ship as it heads off to meet with a Belter faction. After following stealthily in The Screaming Firehawk, they witness the handover of some MCRN frigates to embellish Marco Inaro’s (Keon Alexander) navy before they suddenly get pinged by Belter radar and must flee. This they manage to do, but not without having to jettison their core, leaving them stranded. It’s a small plot development, but an important one, as it pulls together a couple of threads and leaves them in a position to connect with yet another. Hopefully this will be Drummer (Cara Gee) reconnecting with the main cast, as she is such a key player and interesting character.
Similarly, Naomi and Holden’s stories come together very suddenly, but extremely critically for the Rocinante. Naomi has been held by Marco on his ship, after Filip (Jasai Chase Owens) impulsively brought her aboard. Marco is somewhat disappointed in his son, and can tell that her presence is a distraction that will cause issues. This becomes apparent quite quickly, as Naomi has no interest in joining their side, and while failing to get close enough to Marco with a weapon, does manage to warn Holden that the Rocinante has been sabotaged. Tipper is fantastic here, showing the conflict she feels between wanting to get to know Filip and save him, but also knowing she has to stop Marco.
Back on Tycho, Holden definitely finds Naomi’s message a surprise, but it’s absolutely a timely one. They were about to head out in the Rocinante after the Zmeya, and it would have exploded had they started the reactor, in the same way the Marco sabotaged the Augustin Gamarra. This definitely puts him on the back foot and will delay his return to the fight. It’s also probably very bad news for Sakai (Bahia Watson) as she was clearly responsible.
While not a huge amount happens here on Tycho, we do get to see some more evidence of the changing attitude between Belter’s and Earthers, as the old hatred is no longer hidden when Sakai is being interrogated. There can be no doubt for Holden and Bull (José Zúñiga) that everything is now much more volatile.
Possibly the most interesting section in ‘Down and Out’ is Amos and Clarissa’s (Nadine Nicole) escape from the depths of the prison. With one of the asteroids hitting close to the facility, there are catastrophic results which ends up with much of the prison being destroyed, except the very lower levels. Like the Poseidon Adventure or the Towering Inferno in miniature, we get the interesting escape of a rag tag group up a maintenance ladder. With Amos insisting that he brings Clarissa, the guards have no choice but to go along with it, and an uneasy truce is called.
As is always the way though, a compromise must be made, and they have to use Konecheck (Boomer Phillips) for his strength to get through lift doors and the panels to the ladder. True to form, there is a predictable betrayal at the end of all that, but it is a satisfying sequence and can be forgiven. It is a shame though that it appears to be the last appearance of Rona (Natalie Brown), the conscientious guard who has to wrestle with family versus duty, as she seemed like a great character.
As always, The Expanse is a brilliantly crafted, character driven drama, whether it is full of action sequences or more mundane scenes. So far this season we have effectively had 5 episodes where the main cast are all split up, but at no point has that seemed odd or even a problem. The overarching plot is organically developing and beginning to place all the relevant pieces on a collision course. Brilliantly executed, this remains the best of sci-fi on TV right now.
