“I heard you had some interesting times out there as usual.
We should set up an interview.”
“Never, ever, ever again.”
The penultimate episode of the Expanse, Season 6 Episode 5 was another homerun.
It began with action and then set up the pieces for the finale with some tear jerking scenes.
As always, next week cannot come soon enough.
As usual, the episode began on Laconia.
Cara brought her brother to the Strange Dogs, and they fixed him.
Sort of.
His eyes are different.
And he now sees things that he never saw before.
He asked her “what does it mean to be on substrate?”
So basically, Xan is now proto-Xan.
Nevertheless, Cara was excited to have him back.
Only time will tell how others such as his parents and the military respond.
In terms of the main plot, it began at the Ring.
Mars sent 6 ships there, and they destroyed the Free Navy outside the ring with ease.
They then gave a warning to Medina and were prepared to take it out as well, but unfortunately
for them, Marco’s Free Navy had set up 6 big railguns around the Ring Station.
And the 5 Railguns that had sight of the Sol Ring destroyed all 6 of Mars ships.
Since Drummer had raided his supply depots, the Railgun victory at the Ring was much needed.
It boosted morale.
So they busted out the liquor to celebrate.
But Rosenfeld noticed that Marco wasn’t drinking, so she showed him a video of Filip’s
speech, and it made him proud.
However, while all that was happening, Filip went on a spiritual journey of his own.
Filip’s new friend Tadeo had sent out a transmission in an attempt to find out if
his brother on Ceres was okay.
That transmission endangered them all by giving their enemies the opportunity to locate them.
So Tadeo was locked up.
But the empathetic side of Filip came out.
Filip reached out on his own and found out that Tadeo’s brother had died in the explosions.
When he told Tadeo, he broke down.
Because Tadeo was on the crew that had set up those bombs.
So Tadeo effectively killed his own brother.
Now Filip is wondering more than ever what he will do if, or rather, when he sees his
mother again.
So basically, Marco’s fleet had a big win at the Ring Gate.
And the video made Marco proud.
They are on their way to the Ring, and little does he know, Filip is more conflicted than
ever going into the finale.
And Filip was not the only one.
Naomi’s insights paid off.
Their friend Elvi from Ilus looked at Naomi’s data and concluded that there is some sort
of mass-energy threshold that precedes or perhaps triggers the event that has caused
ships to go missing at the Ring.
So Holden went to Avasarala and he warned her.
Holden even suggested that they reach out to Marco since the danger from this unknown
is arguably more important than their war.
Long story short, Avasarala wasn’t buying it.
But one thing is for sure … this mystery appears to be a Chekhov’s gun going into
the finale.
And so is the new armor on the Rocinante.
Amos was also very conflicted this episode due to Holden.
Holden didn’t even know that Amos had gotten off their ship until Clarissa told him.
So Amos went off and did what Amos does.
He went to bars and brothels.
But this time was different.
When Bobbie found him, Amos told her that he didn’t know if he was gonna go back to
the ship.
Because he was not cool with Holden having deactivated the warhead.
Nevertheless, Bobbie gave him a great pep-talk, which boiled down to the fact that they are
family.
And family sticks together.
So fingers crossed, Amos will be rejoining the family for the finale.
“You wanna come with?”
“With you?
Or with you?”
“Whatever.”
Speaking of family, when Drummer bailed on Marco, two of her family left her.
Another was killed.
And now, Michio has chosen to stay behind on Ceres with Josep as he recovers from his
amputated arm.
So in various ways, Drummer has lost her entire family.
But that’s where Naomi came into play.
Naomi reached out to Drummer so as to reconnect.
But Drummer game her the silent treatment.
Naomi knows Drummer well enough to know that that meant that Drummer did not want to meet
with her.
But Naomi went to her ship anyway.
As a friend.
And also to ask for Drummer’s help.
Mars told Avasarala that they need to intercept Marco before he gets to Medina Station and
the Railguns, but Avasarala did not want to abandon the people of Ceres.
However, Bobbie told her that it is time to fight, and Drummer showed up with supplies
for Ceres.
So Avasarala became both willing and able to rejoin the fight.
But the Joint Fleet had lost a lot of ships.
They are now scattered and outnumbered.
So they need help.
Drummer now has 8 ships and the support of her people.
So Avasarala reached out to Drummer when she arrived and invited Drummer onto her ship.
But Avasarala is not her friend.
So Drummer understandably denied her.
But then, Avasarala risked her own life by stepping off of her ship and walking out into
public on Ceres.
Granted, she had a number of armed guards.
But still, it was a risky move.
Many of the Belters have reasons to hate Avasarala for who she was.
But Avasarala has changed.
She is no longer the woman who tortured a Belter down on Earth.
She is a woman who is looking to end the war as quickly as possible so as to minimize the
amount of human lives lost.
But she can’t do it without Drummer.
Drummer arrived to Ceres with the stolen supplies.
So although Sanjrani made an attempt at painting Drummer as the Inner’s pet, Drummer was
a hero.
And most of the Belters would probably agree.
So Drummer has the support of her people.
Drummer has 8 ships capable of battle.
Drummer has the wisdom to see that even though Avasarala is an Inner, she is a better ally
than Marco Inaros.
Drummer has the courage to put aside past transgressions so as to make an alliance with
the Inners.
And above all else, Drummer has the compassion to put her own life at risk for the sake of
Michio and Josep, for Naomi, for the sake of all humans, Belters and Inners alike.
Team Drummer.
“I loved you because you were builders.
I wanted to build something together.”