The Expanse Season 1 Episode 8 The Earthbound plot, which usually suffers from too much distance from the main action, does finally reach into the lives of our protagonists as a gang of thugs hired by the Secretary tries to take out Holden and his team. The action scene at the end of the episode was made more realistic by the limited ammo and the necessity of Miller’s intervention. His rescue made him and Holden necessary allies for the time being, but it was nice to see the mistrust remaining, especially considering Miller’s negative opinion of Holden’s accidental celebrity with the Belters. The interaction of Miller with the Mormon on the transport was also enlightening on two fronts. It gave viewers a feel for Miller’s Ceres-bound life and reminded everyone about the Navoo, whose journey outside the solar system, while exciting in itself, has not shown itself to be related to the main mystery yet. The Expanse has always been very good at allowing its audience to push the puzzle pieces around even before they’re ready to be placed. In fact, the whole exploration of the stealth ship was expertly paced. From the approach to the asteroid to the docking with the well-hidden derelict, Anubis, viewers were on the edge of their seat throughout. Amos escorting the Earth spy around the bridge was fraught with potential conflict, and Naomi’s and Holden’s reaction to the encrusted core was felt through the screen. Even Alex’s drone finding all the airlocks open felt like a nice extra touch to the scene. The “previously on” footage notwithstanding, it was a little difficult to track what the suicide of the Mars ambassador meant to the larger picture other than making Chrisjen feel guilty for using him to further her own goals. A more interesting small detail was Fred Johnson trying to hack into the data card he found on the Martian soldier’s body. In the end, the OPA’s involvement, with or without Johnson, is simply more interesting than Earth’s opinion of the matter. For more speculation and discussion of The Expanse, check out Den of Geek’s new podcast, Sci Fi Fidelity! The inaugural episode contains discussion of this great show (27:08) as well as an interview with Naomi Nagata herself, Dominique Tipper (47:54). Check it out below and subscribe on SoundCloud, Stitcher, iTunes, or TuneIn.
