Episode 1 of The Expanse Season 5 starts with scientists who find some mysterious new asteroids.
They’re excited by their discovery – but these rocks are not a natural accident.
The ship is attacked by a team led by Filip – the son of Marco Inaros and Naomi.
Cause Marco and his Belter extremists have launched asteroids to hit Earth, coated in
stealth tech so they’re invisible.
Looks like one of them broke up near the sun, and these scientists detected the fragments.
So to keep the attack secret, Filip kills the scientists, and blows up the evidence.
One of Filip’s men gets stuck, and Filip leaves him to die.
So how will Naomi react when she learns that her son has grown up to be a ruthless murdering
extremist, like his dad?
And will these rocks be stopped before they hit Earth and kill millions?
This attack was foreshadowed from the start.
In Season 1, Avasarala said she worries about “people who throw rocks”.
A Belter said a “hail of stones” “will one day come crashing down through” Earth’s
“precious blue skies”.
This attack expresses centuries of Belter resentment for their oppression by the inner
planets.
On Tycho Station, the Rocinante’s in for repairs.
The new chief engineer, Sakai, says the ship is badly damaged, partly because they used
a rail gun as a thruster last season.
But she says the Roci was built strong by the “dusters”.
Duster is a slang term for ‘Martian’ used by Belters and Earthers.
Just as Belters are called “skinnies”, and in the books Earthers are called “squats”.
But one of Naomi’s best friends is Martian, and she asks Sakai not to use this derogatory
slur.
In Book 3, Anna says that these kinds of words are dehumanising.
When groups think of each other as dusters and skinnies instead of as people, it justifies
cruelty and conflict.
These tribal factional divisions and their terrible consequences are what this show is
all about.
Way back in Season 1, Naomi asked Fred to help her find Filip.
Now he delivers, and for the first time in years, Naomi sees her son’s face.
Naomi left Marco cause she didn’t want to be involved in his terrorism.
But she always felt guilt that she couldn’t take Filip with her.
Now might be her chance to save her son.
On the news, people are flooding through the Ring gates to colonise the new worlds beyond.
That’s thanks to Nancy Gao, the new Secretary-General of the United Nations, who beat Avasarala
in the election by arguing for faster expansion to the new worlds.
Avasarala argued that it’s too dangerous for people to settle these distant unknown
planets full of dangerous alien technology – like, Ilus almost blew up, the Ring almost
wiped out the solar system, Eros almost destroyed Earth.
And they’re already finding more protomolecule structures on these new worlds.
So are the rewards worth the risk?
Holden sees Monica, the journalist from Season 3.
She’s investigating reports that someone in the Belt is secretly experimenting with
the protomolecule.
In Season 2, Dresden and Cortázar said the protomolecule has the potential to transform
and empower humanity.
But it also could destroy us.
Monica says Holden has a responsibility to protect the world from alien threats – but
Holden refuses her and leaves.
Holden constantly wrestles with feeling responsible to save the world.
Time and time again he tries to let go of leadership and heroism , but every time, he
comes back – Holden can’t stop himself from saving people . It’s how he was raised,
it’s who he is.
Fred Johnson admits to Holden that he and the OPA are experimenting with the protomolecule.
Holden says it’s too dangerous, and brings up the artifact on Ilus.
The protomolecule and the Ring were created by an alien civilisation called the Builders,
but some other entities killed the Builders using these artifacts.
Elvi is studying the artifact, and she says it seems connected to human consciousness.
Holden has a special connection to the alien technology thanks to the ghost of Miller.
So when Holden goes through the Ring, he sees these entities.
It looks like they exist in like the warp space between the wormholes of the Ring.
On Fred’s table, there’s a tesseract or four-dimensional cube, which might hint that
these entities are somehow inter-dimensional.
Whatever they are, Holden says they’re angry, and he fears that messing with alien technology
could wipe out humanity.
Fred says it’s probably fine bro and that Holden should relax, go build a farm, take
up yoga, cause if Holden’s always worrying about death and destruction, is he really
living?
On Mars, Bobbie investigates a conspiracy – she believes that powerful people in the
Martian military are selling weapons to the Belt.
Avasarala is funding her investigation.
Then Bobbie gets a message from Katlin.
Katlin was the wife of Esai, who trafficked stolen Martian tech last season.
He did this in the hope of providing a better life for his wife and children, like a Martian
Walter White.
But this conspiracy was bigger and more dangerous than he realised, and Esai was killed.
So now Bobbie helps Esai’s family by giving them money for a new life beyond the Ring
– maybe she uses Avasarala’s money.
So this is a kind and generous act by Bobbie to fulfil Esai’s dying wish.
Hopefully the world that Esai’s family go to is safer than Ilus was.
Alex flies to Mars in the Razorback – this was Julie Mao’s racing ship, that Bobbie
and Avasarala once used.
When Alex was in the Mars Navy, they said he didn’t have what it takes to fly their
best ships.
So now, Alex comes back and shows off his sweet ride to the people who said he wasn’t
good enough.
He’s back on Mars to try to reconnect with his ex-wife Talissa, and his son, Melas.
Alex had left his family behind to go be a pilot – for a while, they thought he was
dead.
Alex said he loves Talissa and Melas, but feels that flying on the Roci, and doing good,
is more important to him.
But last season, Alex met Lucia, and saw her struggle to keep her family together.
So now Alex wants make peace with his own family.
He visits Talissa, and tries to apologise, but she doesn’t wanna hear it.
He was gone for too long, she’s moved on, and she doesn’t want to deal with him.
So he calls his son Melas, and tries to be a Dad, he says “I love you” – but his
son doesn’t say “I love you” back.
So Alex does what anyone would do, and starts drinking.
The bar has a Texan cowboy theme – they play country and western music sung in Chinese.
Because many of the original settlers of the Mariner Valley on Mars were from China, East
India and Texas – and clearly the Texan aesthetic stuck.
Alex meets with Bobbie, but she’s not in the mood to hang out.
She’s.. preoccupied with the massive military conspiracy thing, and she talks about the
dying dream of Mars.
Now that the Ring is open, people are leaving Mars to go colonise new worlds, unemployment
is rising, it’s like the planet is dying.
In the book, they call it a “Ghost world”.
Alex talks about persisting to reconnect with Talissa and Melas, but Bobbie says he’s
gotta let it go.
Maybe Alex needs a new purpose, a new home.
Maybe every Martian does.
Amos takes a ship towards Earth.
He’s going to Baltimore, because a woman he knew there called Lydia has died – we
saw him looking up Lydia in Season 2.
On the ship, he looks meaningfully at this sleeping older woman – she’s about the
same age that Lydia would be now.
The show hasn’t revealed anything about Lydia yet – just that she’s someone who
looked after Amos when he was younger.
Some thugs try to shake down the ship’s passengers for money.
So Amos threatens violence.
He talks about how he can hold his breath for a long time, because on these ships, if
there’s a fight, the crew uses knockout gas to put everyone down.
Amos is saying that if they get gassed, he’ll just hold his breath and beat up these thugs
anyway.
The passengers say Amos shouldn’t have antagonised those guys – they would rather pay the protection
money than risk violence.
Amos put them in danger.
That’s the thing about Amos and violence – he says that it’s pragmatic, that he’s
solving problems and surviving.
But sometimes, Amos just gets people hurt, including his friends, and himself.
He goes and beats up the thugs with his fists and feet and a toothbrush, then in the shower,
he looks hurt but cleansed, there’s dark organ music playing like some ominous church.
Amos didn’t fight these guys to protect the passengers, he says he did it for himself.
At this point in the book, Amos feels physically unwell, and he thinks he’s getting sick.
What’s really happening is he’s grieving Lydia, but Amos is so repressed and detached
from his emotions that he can’t directly feel them.
His emotions just come out through his body, and through violence.
The only way he knows how to feel better is to hurt people.
On the way to Earth, Amos is intercepted by Avasarala.
She mentions the time that Amos taught her how to walk in mag boots.
Amos had said it’s like walking in pumps, like high heels, and she asked why he knows
what that’s like and he said he “didn't always work in space”.
It sounds like just a funny lil throwaway line, but it actually hints at Amos’ traumatic
past.
He’s mentioned before that he grew up around brothels.
He says he’s known paedophiles, and people who exploit children.
And that when he was five, he lived in a basement.
Amos suffered a horrific traumatic childhood.
Returning to Baltimore means facing the past, and reflecting on the man he became.
Avasarala sends Amos on his way.
Since Nancy Gao became Secretary-General, Avasarala is still in government, but not
as powerful as she once was.
This guy Admiral Delgado brings her evidence that Marco destroyed that science ship earlier.
But they don’t know why.
Will Avasarala find out Marco’s plan before the rocks hits Earth?
The scientists who saw the rocks mention checking their data with scientists on Luna – where
Avasarala is now – so maybe that’s how Avasarala will find out about the asteroids.
Avasarala’s main goal has always been to protect her home.
And Marco’s attack threatens everything she’s fought for.
Naomi tells Holden that she’s found her son Filip.
She’s going to go see him, try to save him, and she’s going alone.
Cause this’ll be a delicate and dangerous and personal reunion, with a Belter extremist.
Bringing Holden would only complicate the situation – he’s a famous Earther hero
who’s completely unable to not get involved in things, so she leaves him behind.
In Season 3, Naomi told Holden that she won’t leave him again, that they’re “Together
till the end”.
But like Alex and Amos, Naomi needs to face her past, alone.
And with all his crew gone, Holden is alone too.
Holden grew up with eight parents.
He’s always been around family and friends in the Navy and the Cant and the Roci.
Now, he’s “truly alone for the first time in years”.
The title of this episode is Exodus.
It refers to the flood of colonists leaving their homes for new worlds, and it refers
to Alex and Amos and Naomi leaving the Roci for their own quests.
What trials and tribulations will they face, and how will they be changed?
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