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 crew face threats large and small on their journey to get Lionel Polanski, sole survivor of the Scopuli. Miller decides it’s time to take the search for Julie off of Ceres, and Chrisjen’s brilliant plan to keep an eye on Fred Johnson has just bit her in the ass. Let’s dive into “Windmills” – – and as always, spoilers within.
Kate’s Five Thoughts
1. It’s Just A Little Crush
The last episode purported that Detective Miller’s obsession with finding Julie Mao was because he was in love with her. While that’s certainly plausible, allow me to offer up a different theory. Remember that while Miller is from Earth, and is (oh wait – was) paid by Earthers, his life and ties are to Ceres. Anderson Dawes remarked on their first meeting that regardless of his Earth blood, he is a Belter. I think Julie’s devotion to the OPA has struck a chord in Miller, reminding him of what he can do for his adopted home, perhaps even more freely now that he is without paying work. Could Julie be the inspiration to bring him further into the cause? He leaves to go to Eros to learn more about her from her docked ship (that’s also running up a very large bill), but I suspect he’ll also learn more about himself as well.
(A further point on this: those looks between Octavia and Miller when he declines her offer to join him on Eros suggest to me that his choice was made out of love for Octavia, and that’s the woman who has the hold on his heart. That’s not a look – – on a lingering hand-hold – – that you just give a friend or a casual lover.)
2. The Universality of Motherhood
Chrisjen Avasarala does not bond with people easily, outside of her own family. Those non-familiar relationships are more commodity than anything, the “what can I get out of this to further my goals” kinds of relationships. But the bond of motherhood does not fit in to this pattern, and in meeting Holden’s mother Elise (a conversation where we also learn more about Holden), the two find some common ground in their devotions to their sons. Both women pushed their children down paths they thought best: Chrisjen into the life of public service, Elise into a life outside of the farm. Both children fought their parental guidance tooth and nail. And while one still lives while the other has died, two very different women can find community and camaraderie in the love they share for their progeny. It’s that camaraderie that actually breaks Chrisjen’s heart when she finds out a black ops team is on its way to take out Holden when he reaches Eros.
3. Didn’t Think That One Through, Did Ya?
Remember when Chrisjen wanted to borrow a spy from Carlos Davila to keep an eye on Fred Johnson and his OPA dealings? (I hope so – – that was last week.) We meet that spy, Kenzo Gabriel, when he stows away on the Rocinante in the hopes of getting out of town as he’s gotten into a spot of trouble with the Johnson crew. Why is he in trouble with Fred Johnson? Because his other hustle (government jobs don’t pay well, you know) is stealing tech from Tycho Station for Davila Aerospatiale. Guess who owns that company? Carlos Davila.
Another brilliant moment for the “it’s all connected” files! You know what that means, right?
It’s so clear Amos is going to snap soon. He pushes back against every order given to him. He’s eager to pull his trigger finger on the Martians if they attempt to board the Rocinate by force. He’s quite eager to lock Kenzo up in the brig. Some of this can be attributed to his upbringing (a less than comfortable one that was hinted to be in brothels and involving sex work), but there’s latent anger at being left out of the loop regarding Holden’s decision to log the distress call the Cant received back in that first episode. The anger bubbles over so much in this episode that Naomi’s tasked by Holden to keep him in line, or he’s gone at the next port.
5. Donkey Balls
Evading the MCRN boarding skiff for inspection with code words straight out of an SAT book (plus one that had to have been contributed by the pre-teen child of one of the writers) is probably one of the more brilliant moments of slapstick on this show so far. Alex’s fumbling at how to make these words into a coherent, natural sentence in order to convince the skiff that they’re in fact a black ops ship is improv gold. Though I do wonder: how, after two decades in the MCRN, did Alex not know how to do this himself? While he did see one of his MCRN captains use this tactic (so it wasn’t fully unknown to him) – – wouldn’t have this been part of whatever passes for basic training in the 24th century? I have a pal whose husband is a JAG (Judge Attorney General) for the US Navy and he still had some light basic training because (in my friend’s words), “if the ship is going down, even the lawyers (and other officers) should be able to do more than push paperwork.” So Alex not knowing this procedure himself outside of observation does surprise me, because it feels like it would have been a component of MCRN basic training.
Afterthoughts
– Farewell Miller’s hat, we barely knew thee.
– Chrisjen’s winter ensemble on her trip to Montana is so fabulous, I want it for myself, and I want winter to come just so I can wear it. Frank will tell you that I am very much a summer girl (even when the weather tries to kill me, like it has been this past week in the Northeast), so for me to say this is a big deal.
– There is finally a direct reference to Don Quixote in this series – – it is one of the books that Elise has on display in her home.
Frank’s Five Thoughts
1. Avasarala’s Visit
This episode gives us one of the iconic images used to market the first season of The Expanse – Avasarala dressed in a gorgeous orange sari with a red coat against a snowy backdrop. It’s a brilliant flash of color against the mostly drab settings we have seen so far in the show (sadly, this version of our space future is very gray). The reason for this scene is that we have Avasarala visiting Holden’s parents’ ranch in Montana. We learn a bit about Holden’s family in “Remember the Cant”, though we only meet a couple of them here. The illustrious Under-Secretary ventures out from her New York offices to try and figure out what kind of man Holden is. This leads to a point and counterpoint discussion with Mother Elise (played by the impeccable Frances Fisher) where we get hints of why Holden continually bucks against authority and is drawn to difficult causes. In a lesson of unintended circumstances, Mother Elise is able to deduce from Avasarala’s presence and questions, that Holden did not die on the Donnager, like everyone suspects.
2. Basic Income
At the start of Avasarala’s visit to the ranch, she is warned by her security detail that they are unable to keep her safe on the ranch, and she responds about knocking the security guide “back to Basic”. What does she mean by this threat?
The idea of a universal basic income has been floating around for a little while, but discussions on the matter have gained steam in the last few years. In the universe of The Expanse, it is very different, and is considered more of Basic Assistance than a basic income. People on Earth are given the option of seeking employment or Basic. Basic is not money, but rather access to a limited level of free services like housing, meals, and healthcare. Additionally, education beyond age 16 is not included. Anyone that wishes to attend college is required to work a job for two years before they can go. This is to weed out the people who get an education and then just go back to living on Basic. It starts to be easy to see why people moved out the admittedly harder life in the Belt and the Outer Planets.
Continued below3. The Churn
Continuing with this episodes tour of life on Earth, we learn about the concept of The Churn from Amos, our cuddly sadistic teddy bear. As a tip to fans of the books, The Churn is the name of a novella set in The Expanse that focuses on Amos’ past. I haven’t read the novella, so I won’t go much into it there, but I did want to look at how Amos presents the Churn in the show. It’s a rather bleak philosophy that comes from his rough childhood and criminal past in Baltimore. Life is something that happens all around us, and it will continue to happen whether we survive it or not. We have gotten some hints of Amos’ background before, and this just continues to complicate his character. He easily could have been just a muscly stooge that was good with engines, but The Expanse doesn’t run like that. We got some depth here, and it will just get deeper.
4. Donkey Balls
Hands down one of the funniest lines in the entire series, and one that Cas Anvar still hasn’t let go. As funny as the line is, it helps the crew of the Rocinante face yet another serious obstacle. Remember the little incident with the asteroid miner last episode? Yeah, the one where the aggrieved miner fired a load of rocks at a Martian patrol ship? Well, now the Martians are on high alert and aggressively defending their borders. From the outside the Rocinante looks like a typical gas hauler, just doing its rounds. But the Martians would have to be blind to not recognize it as a missing Martian gunship if they happen to board. Guess what, an inconvenient radio transmission sent by Avasarala’s borrowed spy attracts the Martians’ interest in the Rocinante and they are selected to be boarded and searched. The crew frantically tries to figure out what to do, and the captured spy points out that the Martians typically have sealed codes to identify undercover ships running black ops in the Belt (there is a lot to unpack there). This triggers a memory for Alex and he remembers his captain standing down in a confrontation because they received a message that just said “Donkey Balls”. The only problem is, the Rocinante’s sealed codes are… well sealed and no one knows the 24 character pass code to open the vault.
5. Brains over Brawn
While the Rocinante is about to be boarded by the inquisitive Martian skiff, we get an interesting range of responses from her crew members. Amos is the first to go the mattresses – arming up and positioning himself in front of the airlock to prevent anyone getting on board without his permission. Alex just sorts of freaks out. Holden tries to calm everyone down, saying that no one is going to die, they’ll figure this all out, and it will be alright. Naomi, in her typical humble fashion gets down to engineering the vault open. Everyone else has tried brute force, but ultimately it is her brains that unlock the vault and allows the Rocinante to wave off their uninvited guest.
Additional Thoughts
– A scene between Amos and Holden does a lot to further Holden’s path towards captaincy. Amos accuses him of always trying to do the “right” thing, but it makes him hesitant and unwilling to face challenges.
– Miller’s story moves forward a little, with him cashing out and following his last lead off Ceres to the asteroid Eros. So we finally start to see our stories converging a bit.
– The episode ends with the Rocinante reaching Fred Johnson’s coordinates and there is an uncharted rock floating there. What will they find?
– Donkey balls. [Kate: we are never going to get tired of saying this.]
We’ll see you next week for “Salvage!”
