TL;DR – An episode where we delve into Amos’ past, and my heart breaks a little

Disclosure – I paid for the Amazon Prime subscription that viewed this series.

Mother Review –

This season the show has done something a little different compared to the last season. Instead of dropping all the episodes at once, the show is giving us the first three episodes and then doing a weekly release after that, much like the last season of The Boys. Which means this is the last of the three opening episodes that we will look at today.

So to set the scene, everything is coming to ahead as forces move throughout the Solar System with carnage on their minds. Here there becomes a race to find out the information in time and get it to the right people. But none of that matters to one person because Naomi Nagata (Dominique Tipper) just wants to save one person, her son Filip (Jasai Chase Owens). Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

In many respects, this is an episode that revolves around one thing, family. For example, after searching to find their place in the world Drummer (Cara Gee) has finally found her’s as both a captain and a member of a pod of intertwining relations. But for Drummer, there is one bond that still pains her, and that is Klaes Ashford (David Strathairn) who’s death weighs heavy on her soul. Indeed, it takes Oksana (Sandrine Holt) to remind her that it was not her fault, and she can’t blame herself for it. We have seen Drummer mostly as a font of confidence, but here we get to see her in grief and pain and discovering that ‘there are better ways to grieve’. I should also take this moment to point out that the lighting in this episode is amazing.        

Meanwhile, on Tyco Station, James (Steven Strait) is doing what he does best and create families where ever he goes, this time a crotchety Fred Johnson (Chad L. Coleman), and a recently almost kidnapped Monica Stuart (Anna Hopkins). It is here where we start to see that many of the allusions of safety that people had were not founded on solid ground. Fred should have complete control of his station, and he doesn’t … not even a little. Another person finding that have limited influence is Chrisjen Avasarala (Shohreh Aghdashloo) who has finally put all the pieces together as to what might be happening. Still, no one will listen to her because she burnt all her bridges with the current administration. Indeed when the final confirmation, she needs finally reaches her, it is all a moment too late.

Finally, where the title of this episode gets its name comes from the story of Naomi trying to amend for her past. The instigating event for this meeting has been changed a lot from the books. In the books, it is Marco (Keon Alexander) that calls asking for her help with Filip. The books use this as our introduction to Marco and how much of a duplicitous douche canoe he really is. However, on the show, we already know he is a duplicitous douche canoe, so it makes sense to change it, and I also like how it gives Naomi a little bit more agency over what happens.   When she arrives at Pallas Station, she runs into two spectres from her past Cyn (Brent Sexton) and Karal (Olunike Adeliyi) who still ride with Marco. It is like a switch that has been flipped, and Naomi is transported to a time when all was joy, but nostalgia comes with rose-tinted glasses for a reason. They, along with Filip, have stayed with Marco, and thus have only ever heard his side of what happened. So it is clear why Filip feels resentful towards Naomi, and it hurts as the audience watching it because you know 100% where he is coming from even if you also know it is not a fair indictment on Naomi. Between this and Timothy in the Churn, The Expanse is doing an excellent job of breaking my heart.  

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Twitter Here, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

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Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of The Expanse
Directed by – Thomas Jane
Written by – Dan Nowak
Created by – Mark Fergus & Hawk Ostby
Based on – The Expanse by James S. A. Corey (Ty Franck & Daniel Abraham)
Production/Distribution Companies – Alcon Entertainment & Amazon Studios
Starring – Steven Strait, Cas Anvar, Dominique Tipper, Wes Chatham, Frankie Adams, Cara Gee, Keon Alexander, Jasai Chase-Owens & Shohreh Aghdashloo with José Zúñiga, Michael Irby, Sandrine Holt, Brent Sexton, Anna Hopkins, Bahia Watson, George Tchortov, Olunike Adeliyi, Lara Jean Chorostecki, Carlos Gonzalez-Vio & Chad L. Coleman