Ten Thoughts on The Expanse‘s “Salvage”

Hello Multiversity TV bingers! For this year’s Summer TV Binge, I’m tackling the first season of the SyFy/Amazon show The Expanse – – and for this, I’m enlisting a little help in the form of my boyfriend, Frank, who is a big fan of the show and its source books by James S. A. Corey. What’s going to make this fun? As I said, he’s a big fan of the show and has been watching it from the beginning, whereas I’ve never watched it before. Two people with different perspectives watching the same show, who also happen to be dating. Hilarity is bound to ensue.

The Rocinante makes it to the coordinates Fred Johnson provided and find themselves in a bit of a mystery that eventually extends to Eros – – and crosses paths with Detective Miller. Back on Earth, Chrisjen’s still working her way out of the Holden pickle when she receives some devastating news. Let’s dive into “Salvage” – – and as always, spoilers within.

Kate’s Five Thoughts

1.  Mea Culpa, Y’all

So I made a bit of a mistake in last week’s recap in my theory regarding Detective Miller’s obsession with Julie Mao. In that theory, I had mentioned that Miller was from Earth but just living on Ceres. Here’s where the benefit of watching this alongside a veteran comes in to play – – Frank kindly reminded me that Miller is in fact born and bred Ceres; it’s just his paycheck that comes from Earth.  Apologies for the error, y’all – – seeing as I had a birthday last week and hit one of those numbers with a zero at the end, we’ll write this off as a very senior moment.

Error aside, my theory on Miller’s obsession still stands.  Julie serves as a reminder that Miller’s life is, until now, rather insular. It calls him to seek a bigger purpose in this world, to live rather than to simply exist. Does he often go about this in the most logical or safe way?  Oh hell no. This man is one who, by his own admission, prefers to trust his gut over his head – – the latter is what gets you into more trouble.  I’m apt to disagree with that at times (sometimes jumping in head first gets you into more trouble), but I have to admire Miller’s passion. Lesser detectives (and lesser men) would have thrown in the towel by now.

2. Amos (Again) (Naturally)

Last week I wouldn’t have trusted Amos five minutes with a houseplant. This week . . . well, I still don’t trust him five minutes with a houseplant, but at least he had me laughing a few times. Calling Kenzo Gabriel “Tweetybird” when the group is investigating the stealth ship left at Fred’s coordinates. (Side note on our “friend” Kenzo – – that’s some sly but underhanded contact lens camera tech he’s got there. If you’re sharing a room with him, sleep with one eye open, if you know what I mean.) Upon seeing the stealth ship (the Anubis) that we later discover is the same kind of ship that obliterated the Cant and the Donnager: “I kinda wanna shoot it.” For once, Amos, I agree with you. And you made me chuckle, which proves you have a heart and a soul in that borderline psychotic personality of yours. I still won’t trust you with my houseplants, though.

3.  Funeral for the Cant

One thing we really haven’t seen this season is closure for the survivors of the Cant upon the loss of their ship and crew. It’s not like they had time for this or anything, with getting captured by the Martians, escaping from a Martian ship under attack, and being under the thumb of an OPA demagogue. Blowing up the Anubis after their investigation, with Holden softly saying “Remember the Cant,” as its debris scatters through space, provides a nice form of closure, a funeral of sorts, a time to honor their lost colleagues and friends. I’m glad to see the Rocinante had time to grieve their fallen.

4. Chrisjen

Let’s talk about Chrisjen Avasarala for a moment, because all her chickens are trying to come home to roost, but the fox keeps creeping into the henhouse and stealing the eggs. She’s desperately trying to convince the UN that killing Holden and covering it up as random violence on Eros is a Really Bad Idea. She’s all for investigating Fred Johnson and Tycho Station, but she knows Holden is innocent. The UN is not believing this. And if that wasn’t enough, she gets the news that Franklin DeGraaf, the former Martian Ambassador (remember him?) is dead.  By his own hand. The look on her face is not only for grief for the loss of her friend and colleague, but guilt for her actions that led down this path. In case you don’t recall (or were too lazy to click on that link above): Mars was initially accused of blowing up the Cant.  Chrisjen convinces her friend (in a scene that is so slimy you will want to take a shower afterwards, and then take another) that there’s no way Mars could have done this, but the UN is going to make a formal declaration of same tomorrow, so we need some proof. DeGraaf, clearly spooked, starts making inquiries to come up with the evidence to support Chrisjen’s claim. BUT: the source of that information was classified, and now the fact that someone was seeking out this classified information (and of course, the information) is public knowledge. As a result, DeGraaf lost his credentials, and was banned from Mars, leaving behind a Martian partner. He blamed Chrisjen for this turn of events and ceased their friendship. And now, he is dead by suicide.

Actions have consequences, Chrisjen. Actions. Have. Consequences.  Let that sink in.

5. More Mysteries Than Answers

At long last, the Rocinante and Detective Miller collide on Eros, and it’s far from graceful. (There’s a shootout involved.) Both are after the same thing – – Lionel Polanski – – though their conceptions of Lionel are very different. This is an odd sort of marriage as neither trusts the other, so it’s a pure marriage of convenience so that both can get the answers they seek.  Don’t expect any post-investigation drinks at the Blue Falcon Hotel bar. (Probably also because after that gunfire, there isn’t much of any hotel bar left.) This marriage of convenience leads to both finding “Lionel Polanski” – – but not in the way either one expected.  And I’m leaving it at that because while we do have a spoiler warning at the top of this post, this is a revelation that you have to see for yourself.

Afterthoughts:

– Someone is talking sense into Miller for a change – – his old pal Inspector Sematimba. He knows Miller won’t listen, but he damn well tries anyway.
– So that WASN’T Miller’s hat after all.
– MORMONS! IN! SPAACEEEEE!
– The sound mixer on this episode deserves an award for building this wonderfully eerie sense of solitude mixed with dread with the echoing footsteps through the Anubis during the investigation by the Rocinante. The tension those footsteps built chilled me to the bone.
– At this point in the season, we have small insights into the backstory of the Rocinante crew . . . except Naomi. Holden is trying his darndest to learn more about Naomi’s past, but she isn’t budging. This is something I want to explore more in Season 2.

Frank’s Five Thoughts

1.Convergence

Throughout this season we have been following several different strands of story, some could be seen as connected, while others were a bit farther apart. We have seen some overlap, such as with the Rocinante crew and Fred Johnson or Holden and Avasarala. But what’s up with Miller? We knew that he was investigating the case of the girl that we last saw screaming in the cold open of the first episode, but what does that have to do with ice ships and Martian battlecruisers blowing up? This episode begins the process of answering that. The Roci finds the same ship that Julie Mao was on at the very beginning, though they do not know about her. They are still looking for Fred Johnson’s contact and find information that the contact may have headed to Eros. Yep, the same Eros station that our friendly detective boarded a transport for at the end of last episode. After blowing up the derelict stealth ship, they head off chasing their lead to Eros. Which leads to them being rescued by Miller, who has discovered that the contact person the Roci has been seeking is a cover identity for Julie Mao. And just like that, several of our major stories converge in time to lead us into the final episodes of the season.

The derelict ship discovered by the Rocinante at Fred Johnson’s coordinates appears to be none other than the stealth ship that destroyed the Canterbury. Amos discovers and mispronounces the ship’s name in the computer in a humorous scene. If the name, Anubis, seems familiar to the viewer, it’s because it is similar to the name of the ship Miller tracked to Eros (similar because the Eros ship is the Anubis’ missing shuttle – remember, convergence?). Anubis is also the name of an Egyptian god of the dead, which seems particularly apt considering the amount of death this ship has brought so far. In Egyptian mythology, Anubis is the god responsible for weighing the hearts of the recently deceased souls and determining if they continue to the afterlife or get eaten by a crocodile. Is this more metaphor, or is the ship named that because it sounds cool?

3.The Creepy Blue Stuff

When the Roci’s crew venture aboard the abandoned stealth ship, they discover an odd new substance in the engine room of the abandoned stealth ship. It behaves oddly, enough for Holden to even suspect that it may be alive! The Expanse has commonly been described as Game of Thrones in SPAAACE! and it’s easy to see that with the maneuvers and counter-maneuvers of the various factions at play. That is all about to change as we are introduced to the latest piece on the game board. What is this stuff? Is it alive? Is it alien? What is it doing?
(Spoilery note: I really dislike this stuff from a narrative point of view since it draws attention from the very human and very interesting wranglings of the solar system. At the same time, I understand its importance at driving the plot the writers wish to tell.)

4. Next time I’m staying on the ship!

I had to laugh at Alex’s shell-shocked reaction to the sudden violent gunfight that broke out in the hotel lobby. He obviously was not comfortable in that situation, especially considering the way he almost shot a curious guest that opened his door. So, it’s probably safe to say that Alex is going to stick to the ship from this point forward. It’s not safe out there for a Martian homeboy!

Avasarala continues to be a lesson on unintended circumstances. We discover in this episode that her earlier gambit to discover whether Mars was involved in the original attack on the Canterbury has led to the former UN Ambassador to Mars (and her former friend) to commit suicide after he was banned from Mars, losing everything he had worked for. Additionally, she was the one that originally put a spy on Holden (burning another bridge with an old friend in the process), but was unable to pull him back after she learned more of Holden’s character. This same spy has now been largely appropriated by Avasarala’s rival, Errinwright, who has sent a kill squad after Holden and the crew of the Rocinante. Despite being a master manipulator, she can make some serious missteps.

Afterthoughts:

– It is a sad and gruesome end that found Julie Mao. What impact will this have on Miller, who has basically sacrificed his entire life chasing her down?
– We are left with a couple of mysteries going into the penultimate episode – what did Fred Johnson see in the battle data from the Donnager’s demise? What is in the safe the crew found on the Anubis? What is the creepy blue goo going to do?

We’ll see you next week for the first part of our two part season finale, “Critical Mass!”