Hello Multiversity TV bingers! For this year’s Summer TV Binge, I’m tackling the SyFy/Amazon show The Expanse, based on the novels by James S. A. Corey. My boyfriend Frank joined me for our look at the first season, and as we move into the second season, I’m flying my own Rocinante all alone.
Miller and Johnson come up with a (cunning?) plan to destroy the proto-molecule, and Avasarala makes some connections. Let’s dive into “Godspeed” – – and as always, spoilers within.
1. Secrets
The episode opens with the revelation that Fred Johnson promised could help Chrisjen at the end of “Static” – – a stealth ship. But not just any stealth ship, one with dead bodies on it, dead people who used to work for Protogen. And Protogen is owned by one Jules-Pierre Mao, engineer of the protomolecule. You can hear terror and glee mixed within Chrisjen’s voice as she orders her associate to get that stealth ship out in the open. Glee in making the connections and taking action that can stop and unnecessary war, terror in the gravity of her actions and the consequences they could have long-term.
If she has any other reservations, she doesn’t show it when she and Errinwright question Mao, sans legal counsel. The cuts from her lips flow sharp and deep, putting her suspicions out in the open while being polite. No doubt she’s put a hitch in his giddyup.
2. That? That Was Your Cunning Plan?
Fred Johnson brings Space Starsky and Hutch (aka Miller and Holden) back together, pairing them up for the 23rd century equivalent of the group project (you know, the one where you get paired up with someone you can’t stand). The mission? A controlled explosion on Eros (with bombs around the docks) followed by a not-so-gentle nudge into the sun with the Nauvoo (Space Mormon Cathedral Ship). This allows for the proto-molecule to be destroyed with microscopic risk of it spreading. And if the Space Mormons get (rightfully) mad about using their ship in this endeavor (side note: they do), well, Fred still technically owns it.
If they still show Blackadder in the 23rd century, I can just about hear Holden and Naomi wondering, “is this just like another one of Baldrick’s cunning plans?” (Also: if you’ve never watched Blackadder, go take care of that and come back. You’ll get to see early Hugh Laurie doing comedy, and it’s brilliant.)
Funny side note: When I was doing the shell text for this post, before I even watched the episode, one of my faux headings was “Detective Miller Does Something Stupid.” Does art imitate life?
3. No Longer Good Enough for Government Work
The tete-a-tete with Errinwright, Chrisjen, and Mao has left Mao pissed. While Errinwright claims Chrisjen is just “posturing,” Mao’s got that hitch in his giddyup and sees his careful house of cards falling down, thanks to his “top dog in a bureaucracy filled with idiots.” He knows the threat Chrisjen provides, but how can he take her out? By taking the government out of the equation.
Privatization of war is on the horizon. No doubt Mao has read the history of Blackwater and wants to avoid a repeat of history, thus cut out the government whose only goal is to save themselves.
4. Doors and Corners
At least Miller remembers to take his own advice from the season premiere: “Doors and corners are where they get ya.” He runs off course to explore an air vent and door, gun in hand, only to find . . . a body in a hacked airlock, bathed in proto-molecule. His ship? The Marasmus, the name of a humanitarian medical ship that the Rocinante found on Eros. The Marasums survivors, still convinced the Rocinante is Martian military, refuse to retreat, even has Holden pleads with them that they too may be infected. The final decision on their fate is not one Holden wanted to make. It brings up a question Frank and I have discussed during our catch up of Fear the Walking Dead: at what point does the need to survive trump the need to show mercy?
5. Don’t Want to Miss a Thing?
Continued belowIn a scene straight out of the end of Armageddon, Miller pulls a Bruce Willis and stays with a bomb damaged from Marasums debris that will not remotely detonate in order to manually do the job – – condemning himself to death. As he watches the Nauvoo hurtle towards impact, presumably seeing his life and Julie Mao flash before his eyes . . . the Nauvoo misses. But no one changed the ship’s course. Eros changed its course.
The work of the proto-molecule? We’re sure to find out.
Afterthoughts
— Is a spacewalk better than sex? Can we get some empirical evidence on this?
— It’s a shame the Nauvoo is going to take a hit from this mission; its exterior is stunning.
— Of course Amos likes this plan. Because it involves destroying things. And he likes destroying things. Reaffirms the fact that I still don’t trust the man with my houseplants.
See you next week for “Home” and tell me what you thought of this episode in the comments!
