THE EXPANSE (S1E07): "Windmills"

The seventh episode of Season 1 of The Expanse is called "Windmills." It first aired on January 19, 2016. I saw it on my DVR a few days later.  Here (finally!) is my reviews of this episodes.

S1E07: Windmills.

The title of the episode is clearly another reference to Don Quixote ("tilting at windmills") and one of the primary sequences in the episode involves finding out more about James Holden's homelife (directly from one of his eight(!) parents, including his birth mother, played by Frances Fisher). Avarasala goes to the farming collective in Montana where Holden was raised to see if she can suss out whether Holden is the intentional source of the political instabilities which appear to be inexorably pushing Mars and Earth towards a war in space. She decides that he is not, but when she informs her boss Errinwright of this, he tells her that he has already approved a black ops team to assassinate Holden as soon as he reaches Eros. 

Back on the Rocinante the crew discovers a stowaway (who happens to be the spy who is giving Errinwright his information about the whereabouts and future destination of Holden and company) and there are several tense moments as Holden and the crew have to decide whether they are the kind of people who toss people out into the vacuum "just to be safe." Happily, they are not, and the spy repays their trust by helping them figure out how to get out a jam when they are able to (barely) avoid being boarded by a Martian Congressional Republic Navy (MCRN) ship and expose Rocinante's status as a former MCRN vessel.

Meanwhile on Ceres, Miller makes his move, deciding to cash in his chips (literally) as he takes what may be years of ill-gotten gains and bribes as a morally flexible law enforcement official to buy a ticket to Eros. A buddy tells his that even though there's no sign of Julie Mao's ship, a shuttle from the ship that ran into her ship, the Anubis is currently at Eros, so Miller takes the plunge.

HIGHLIGHTS

• The sequence on the Rocinante when the MCRN is approaching and they have to figure out the key words ("Donkey balls!") was amusing and thrilling simultaneously
• There are actual windmills out on Holden's homestead in Montana and they are quite visually compelling

LOWLIGHTS

• The farewell scene with Miller and his ex(partner? girlfriend?) didn't work as well as it should have. They never seemed to have much chemistry, so even though she saved his life this season it's not that surprising he rebuffs her request to go with him to Eros.

GRADE: 8/10.

THE EXPANSE (S1E05): "Back to the Butcher"

I previously reviewed the first four episodes and am planning on blogging every episode of the show this season. The Expanse is a television adaptation of the science-fiction space opera books written by James S.A. Corey, one of my favorite authors.

The fifth episode of Season 1 of the Syfy's The Expanse's is called "Back to the Butcher." 

S1E05: Back to the Butcher.

The episode again starts soon after the previous one ended, with Havelock in a hospital room, which is quite surprising since we saw him get a meter-long spike through his chest. His survival is not explained and we see a confrontation between Holden and Havelock's girlfriend, the Belter hooker Gia, in his hotel room.

Back on the Martian ship MCRN Tachi we see that Lopez is dead and that Amos has a horrible fracture with a piece of his bone sticking out of his leg. They appear to magically fix Amos's leg and even though no one in the Solar System should know where they are somehow they receive a message from Fred Johnson of Tycho Station. In a series of flashbacks, the episode depicts events from 12 years before in Colonel Fred Johnson's career when he was a United Nations Marine and ended up responsible for the deaths of hundreds of civilian Belters after a tense standoff over resources on Anderson Station. For this Johnson is known as "The Butcher of Anderson Station," (This explains the title of the episode; a significantly different version of the events of Anderson Station was told in a novella written by The Expanse author Corey that was released between the publication of the first two books, Leviathan Wakes and Abaddon's Gate.)  

Back on the Tachi, the crew is very impressed with how clean, sleek and powerful the ship is. However, Alex and Amos learn how famous Holden is throughout the system by tapping into a video feed from Ganymede which depicts news reports of the rioting on Ceres Station and shows images of Holden with the now-famous battle-cry "Remember the Cant!" In fact, that is exactly the phrase which the guy who put the spear through Havelock said in another viral video.

Meanwhile back on Ceres, Miller continues to track down Julie Mao instead of trying to find the person who attempted to kill his partner. In fact, he gets tempted by OPA bigwig Anderson Dawes who has the guy who did it in an OPA safe house, whose location he will give to Miller if he agrees to an exchange of information in the future, because he also wants to know Julie Mao's location, since "she was one of ours."

Back on the Tachi Naomi confidently follows Col. Johnson's instructions on how to change their ship's transponders and the entire crew sighs with relief when MCRN Tachi becomes Rocinante. For book readers this is an important moment because we know that the Rocinante becomes the space ship that our crew of four principals uses for the next five books.

Overall this episode was much more low key than previous episodes (but in a good way, since for once the crew was not in mortal danger).

HIGHLIGHTS

• The interior design of the Rocinante is incredibly impressive!
• The decision to include the back story of Fred Johnson was a nice one, since he will become an integral part of the story moving forward
• The set dressing and all the little details on Ceres Station (which we see as Miller tries to trace the whereabouts of Julie Mao) are really amazing
• The look on Holden's face when he finally gets to have a cup of real coffee!

LOWLIGHTS

• No Chrisjen Avasarala :(
• The lack of explanation of how Havelock survived
• I think they could have done a more nuanced job in depicting the events which led to Johnson getting his name as the Butcher of Anderson Station.

GRADE: 8/10.

CELEBRITY FRIDAY: Cast Picture and New Trailer from SyFy's The Expanse

As ComicCon is happening this week SyFy is using this occasion to ramp up promotion for the new television show called The Expanse based on the series of books by author James S.A. Corey debuting on the cable network this December. At the top of this post is a picture of the cast representing the crew of the Rocinante: (from left to right) Dominique Tipper as Naomi Nagata, Wes Chatham as Amos Burton, Steven Strait as James Holden,  and Cas Anvar as Alex Kamal.

In addition to this cast photo, the show also revealed a kick-ass new trailer hosted exclusively at Entertainment Weekly.