The Expanse Season 3 Premiere!
They say third time’s the charm and with The Expanse, it’s no different. War has finally come to the galaxy. Everyone is on the brink trying to protect their own butts in a time of political uneasiness and violent uprisings. Lines are being drawn and friendships are being tested. The adventure of life and death has begun.
The Rocinante aka Contorta
The third season finds the crew of the Roci (now known as the Contorta now that everyone in the galaxy is after their heads, and they needed a new name to hide) at ends with Naomi after they learned she gave the same of protomolecule to Fred Johnson so The Belt would be an equal player in the war since both Mars and Earth have the protomolecule. To me this seemed out of character for Naomi especially since she originally wanted it for a chance to use it as a vaccine, but It also shows that she too has flaws and biases towards Earth and Mars as a belter herself. .
After cleaning up the goo left behind by the protomolecule/human hybrid who hitched a ride when they were searching for it on Ganymede and they were able to luckily blow up. With all of the tension, we see once again Holden’s anger issues come into play. He goes into the galley and finds Naomi, who he basically ignores, and starts making coffee. She leaves, and with the coffee pot not working – he takes his anger out on the carafe and destroys it. Prax comes in and tells him he should have tea instead.
While Holden’s working out his anger issues, Naomi brings up going to Tycho to lay low while the inners fight their war, bringing up the fact that Johnson owes them – which the rest of the crew agrees to. This makes for an interesting plot for the season that they have only there to go for safety.
During the night, Holden finds a suspicious ship that’s outside of Ganymede and might have something to do with Prax’s missing daughter Mei. They all decide to go to Ion (the station/ship) instead of Tycho, not listening to Naomi, who their still shutting out. We see that self preservation of Naomi again – which is a contrast from before. I’m led to believe this is because, after all she has seen including the hybrid, that she is finally letting fear settle in. Hopefully the others will soon realize all of this – and help.
Earth
Meanwhile on Earth, Sadavir Errinwright clinches his claws into the mind of Secretary General Gillis, and talks him into making the first declaration of war against Mars. He’s not done there, as later he has a private meeting with Gillis – where he drives the final nail into his mutiny against Chrisjen Avasarala. He convinces him that it was her that had a part in Eros and was actually working with Mars to destroy Earth. To me, this makes him the person that the inners and the belters have to fear the most.
The Guanshiyin
Roberta, Cotyar and Chrisjen, and a pilot/mechanic are still stuck on Jules-Pierre Maos ship and are running out of time to live as Earth fleets have come to blow up the ship. Luckily, Roberta is a very resourceful young woman and is able to get her and Chrisjen off the ship, in a small two seater, which Chrisjen hated the thought of using.
Chrisjen also didn’t want to leave Cotyar, which was nice to see how much she cared for him. She, with her smart thinking, was able to get proof of Sadavirs’ treachery, which her and Roberta plan on relaying over satellite. Meanwhile Cotyar and the Pilot leave on the vessel Chrisjen used to get there. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that he comes out of this alive – he is a very interesting character and there’s not much better than him and Chrisjen bantering back and forth.
Tycho
The Roci isn’t the only place with people on edge, as Johnson tells Drummer that he has some of the protomolecule. You can see that she’s unhappy, but it seems to make her more mad that he told Dewey (who tried to kill her and others on board Tycho) about it and asked for his help – and to top it all off – he asks her to go get the Nauvoo and to make good with the Mormons, pissing her off even more.
I believe it also pained her personally because she thought he wasn’t going try to save the belt via weaponry, and that he didn’t care she was still hurt. I hope they can fix it because I personally ship them.
All in all, I think this was a great episode and I think this will be an amazing season. Plus the fact both Earth and Mars are talking about Eros and Venus so much, and after what happened to the science crew in season two, it will be interesting to see what happens with them. Especially now that the whole galaxy knows about the protomolecule!
Before you go…
An unpopular review of the TWD finale