As we enter the second half of season five of The Expanse, the battle lines are being drawn in episode six – ‘Tribes’. *Warning: Spoilers Lie Ahead!*
Much of this episode revolves around various factions sizing each other up and trying to ascertain the best next move for survival, whether that be on Earth or in space. For Amos (Wes Chatham) and Clarissa (Nadine Nicole) that is especially true, as they trudge through the wilderness from the wreckage of the prison towards some kind of salvation. They have formed their own ‘tribe of two’ as he puts it and he is focused on their lives at the expense of others.
This is a return to his youth, and following on from the scenes in Baltimore earlier in the season continue to show us more about how Amos thinks. He’s a fighter with a past, and that past has always been hidden a bit in previous seasons, but this time around his inherent charm is being backed up by a certain amount of pathos. Clarissa is most definitely a ‘bird of a feather’, albeit with a very different upbringing, but in contrast to Amos’ cold determination she struggles with what she has done. Self-doubt and guilt plague her, and she wonders about whether bad people can live good lives, while also trying to convince herself she’s not a monster.
The discussion between Amos and Clarissa over their individual moral quandaries and the nature of good vs bad people is exceptionally well written and continues the character development that The Expanse is so good at. Together they can help each other despite their flaws, but also may be the only ones who can understand or comfort the other. Even with this level of mutual understanding though, Amos realises that he needs an outside force keeping him true, and that Holden (Steven Strait) fulfilled that role. That Amos yearns to get back to his crew hopefully means that Clarissa will follow and this dynamic will continue for some time.
Hard choices and moral quandaries are also in evidence in ‘Tribes’ with the belter factions, as Marco (Keon Alexander) gives Drummer’s (Cara Gee) small band a choice to join him. Phrased as an open choice, her crew know full well that the choice is essentially made for them, due to Marco’s declaration of war on the Inners. Any belter will be seen as the enemy, and even if they did go their own way, Marco couldn’t be trusted not to kill them himself.
This puts Drummer in a tricky situation, but it’s great to see she hasn’t lost any of her bite as she stands tall in front of Marco and his goons. She has consistently been a fantastic character and that is in no small part to Gee’s excellent performances, which have driven her forward. Not having read the books, I am led to believe that Drummer plays a much smaller role there, but can’t imagine the TV show working the same way if that was the case here also.
Elsewhere, ‘Tribes’ shows smaller manoeuvres happening, with Chrisjen (Shohreh Aghdashloo) finding herself back in the thick of things after meeting the acting Secretary-General David Paster (Sugith Varughese – Transplant). While she’s been out in the woods for a bit, Paster recognises that he’s out of his depth, so sensibly brings her back into the cabinet. From here she will undoubtedly cement her position and rekindle some of her power base. As is always the way with The Expanse though, she isn’t portrayed as a simple political operator, and they start this section with her trying to find her husband on Earth who may be lost in the attack. The scene of her trying to recompose herself is exceptionally well done, and just adds to depth of the character.
Holden, once the focal point for a lot of scenes, essentially just gets to start up the Roci and head out from Tycho after the Zmeya. They do add a small button on his scene though, with him looking at an unread message from Naomi marked ‘in case it all goes wrong’, which is a nice touch.
Much more involved is the one bit of space battle we have in ‘Tribes’, with Bobbie (Frankie Adams) and Alex (Cas Anvar) successfully defending themselves from a belter ship. It’s great that these two get some action after a lot of time being smaller parts of other episodes. There is much more to come here, and hopefully Bobbie will be back in the armour again.
Each week this show continues to provide compelling drama, and somehow keeps the quality high beyond what you would expect. While the praise that it gets in reviews may sound like a broken record, the fact that that can be the case is also worthy of note, as it is unusual. If the second half of this season keeps this level up, we will have been spoiled.
