The Expanse: Paradigm Shift

March 3, 2017 8:23 AM - Season 2, Episode 6

With Eros gone, the show shifts gears.

We learn something of the history of the Epstein Drive and see the fallout of the destruction of Eros on the crew of the Rocinante, back on Earth and in the belt. Holden orders the protomolecule sample to be destroyed but Naomi only pretends to do so. We find out who has the missing nuclear missiles. Meanwhile, the routine agricultural patrol by the Martian marines on Ganymede becomes much less routine.

posted by fimbulvetr (46 comments total)

I feel like the producers are doing way more work than they have to putting out a science fiction adventure show, when they could have just made a show called "Let's Put Shohreh Aghdashloo in the Most Beautiful Outfit in the World Week After Week" and I'd have watched as many seasons of it as they'd care to crank out.
posted by Parasite Unseen at 9:35 AM on March 3, 2017 [33 favorites]

I got a bit lost in the Ganymede orbitals at the end there. Who opened fire first? It looked like the Earth vessel shot at that orbiting (I'm going to say) mirror array, then the MCRN vesel shot back at the Earth vessel, thinking they were under attack, but it's possible they didn't have time to return fire.

On the ground, it's more straightforward - the Earth marines got driven into Martian territory by those husk-zombies, a firefight broke out, and the husks finished off who was left. I think.
posted by Mogur at 10:51 AM on March 3, 2017

Btw, loving how far Holden has developed. Now he can look someone dead in the eye and lie to their face.

This ep, in general, is showing us all the major players when they bring their A game and aren't working completely in the dark and just reacting. I like it. I can see how they got to where they are, and looking forward to the next developments.
posted by Mogur at 10:54 AM on March 3, 2017 [1 favorite]

Could not stop laughing at the "like a sister" conversation.

Can't decide whether Avasarala's speech was overly dramatic or just awesome. Maybe both.
posted by asperity at 11:24 AM on March 3, 2017 [9 favorites]

I think it's cool that they've added the running flashbacks to the discovery of the Epstein drive.


At the same time, and perhaps it's because of my age, I can't help thinking this:

Dear Mr. Kotter,

Juan will not be in school today, because he invented a new kind of propulsion system and has been caught in a high-g burn.

Signed,

Epstein's Mother.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 11:33 AM on March 3, 2017 [28 favorites]

Were those stealth ships at Ganymede?
posted by rhamphorhynchus at 2:14 PM on March 3, 2017 [1 favorite]

> "Let's Put Shohreh Aghdashloo in the Most Beautiful Outfit in the World Week After Week"

E! Network, let's get going on this. You don't realize this, but you've always wanted to get into science fiction.
posted by Sunburnt at 2:17 PM on March 3, 2017 [5 favorites]

Just as a general observation--> I love this show!!!There's not a single wasted scene (although still waiting on the Epstein payoff). Hell, there's hardly a wasted instant.

Also, on re-watch, the Terran marines were definitely being chased by a single husk-zombie (which Bobbi's HUD tagged as "foe"). I still can't figure out who started shooting in orbit.
posted by Mogur at 3:03 PM on March 3, 2017 [4 favorites]

I loved Avasarala's look at Errinwright just as she's about to go, which says "I got you." And also how Errinwright's voice broke while lying.

I read the conversation as "I know you're in on this, and what I am supposedly going to do about Mao is what I'm going to do to you if you don't turn him over."

Because really, how hard can it be for a senior advisor of the Earth government like Avasarala to look up Mao's phone and address?
posted by zippy at 3:18 PM on March 3, 2017 [3 favorites]

Mogur: the Earth marines got driven into Martian territory by those husk-zombies

I'm a bit lost - is from the book or did I miss a key scene that explained the "husk-zombies"?
posted by bluecore at 3:37 PM on March 3, 2017

I'm a bit lost - is from the book or did I miss a key scene that explained the "husk-zombies"?

The scene is from the books, but Bobbie just calls it the monster.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 4:17 PM on March 3, 2017

Yeah, sorry, I swiped "husk-zombie" from Mass Effect. I haven't read any of the books.
posted by Mogur at 4:22 PM on March 3, 2017 [1 favorite]

Yeah, they look sort of like the zombie things from the Mass Effect games. Since they're made of human beings altered by weird space monsters, not far wrong.

On another note, WTF just happened guys??
posted by fiercekitten at 5:25 PM on March 3, 2017

I just remembered Jules-Pierre Mao telling Errinwright that he was going to find another patron for his project.

If he carried through on this, he'd need someone with a lot of influence, who can make things happen, and has no problem with the ends justifying the means.

Besides someone on the Mars or Luna governments (have we met anyone in those positions?) the candidates would be Avasarala, Fred Johnson, and maybe Anderson Dawes?
posted by zippy at 5:27 PM on March 3, 2017

The zero gravity effects for the Epstein flashbacks was a bit better, but the acceleration effects couldn't go there. Appreciated his arm breaking as a consolation prize. That Epstein hadn't done pre-burns or remote burns before (or that the efficiencies achieved were at least two orders of magnitude greater than he had expected) strains credulity for the sake of story.

Absolutely love that hat cop (Miller) is now a cultural icon (at least, if only to Diogo). It's been so long, I can't remember if this was in the novels (and was it supposed to be the same Diogo who pulls the stunt later, after the big event?).

Amos tooling that belter and wasn't even breathing hard, then just walks off as if nothing happened. I thought that the "like a sister" conversation was hillarious, too asperity, but I like this scene for the economy of character reveal. The "three kinds of people" conversation was... less good.

I have a strange huge affinity for seeing gas giants in the local sky - got a nice dose of Jupiter porn this episode. The space combat is pretty stylized, but I don't know if Newtonian realistic space combat could be very entertaining. Sort of like submarine battles only that when stuff doesn't happen, it doesn't happen for much much (much much) longer and when stuff does happen it happens far faster and more lethally. Most spec fi for this level of technology combat generally posits that these extraordinarily brief windows of activity would primarily be controlled by computers given human-programmed parameters beforehand.

mogur - the homology to Mass Effect's Husks is remarkably apt. Mass Effect was released in 2007, Leviathan Wakes was released in 2011. Given Corey (Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck), I'd be surprised if they weren't huge fans of the Mass Effect games.
posted by porpoise at 7:14 PM on March 3, 2017 [1 favorite]

I don't know what changed but I'm getting serious Billy Bob Thornton vibes from Steven Strait all of a sudden with this episode.
posted by jason_steakums at 8:36 PM on March 3, 2017 [1 favorite]

I get what happened on the ground at Ganymede, but I'm so confused about the space battle. Were those Mars or Earth ships shooting up the solar array? And why? Or stealth ships? Or ships under the control of the protomolecule? Who shot first? And what happened to the people on the Mars ship; why did the captain just die without any apparent injury?
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 9:28 PM on March 3, 2017 [1 favorite]

I feel like we'll flash back to Bobbi's battle next ep so not posting any speculation or book references here, but surely that's not all we see.

And about Avasarala's outfit: we paused and studied the TV up-close this week staring for nude mesh marks under that applique breastpiece. Wardrobe, y'all motherfuckers bringing some Grade A Couture game to the Syfy channel! If that's where the budget went instead of Ganymede, I'm good with it!
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 9:33 PM on March 3, 2017 [7 favorites]

And what happened to the people on the Mars ship; why did the captain just die without any apparent injury?

I thought he got hit with a round that tore through the ship, like poor Shed.
posted by jason_steakums at 9:36 PM on March 3, 2017 [3 favorites]

I think that the confusion about who started shooting who on Ganymede is kind of the point - everyone is so freaked out about being attacked by other human factions that they don't see there is another force at play here.
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 11:13 PM on March 3, 2017 [3 favorites]

qxntpqbbbqxl - that is exactly where the writers want you to be.

Earth: what the fuck is going on?!
Mars: what the fuck is going on?!
Mars expedition to Gandymede: we thought we knew what the fuck was going on, but what the fuck is going on?!
Tyco: we thought we knew what the fuck was going on, and we think that's what's going on

Rocinante: there's a problem
Draper: oh shit.

OPA: what the fuck is going on? we thought we had this? (pssst, what about that "other " thing?!)
Mao-Kwikowski: oh shit.
posted by porpoise at 11:46 PM on March 3, 2017 [5 favorites]

It's so sweet of everyone to pretend Holden is in charge.
posted by bq at 7:37 AM on March 4, 2017 [14 favorites]

The confusion over who shot at whom on Ganymede is part of it. Sometimes, confusing your audience is a good thing.

I really, really wanted to see the firefight instead of "something's coming" immediately followed by grisly aftermath. I'm hoping we get it in flashback or...um....maybe video playback or something since Bobbie clearly survived.

Put me down as NOT liking Avasarala's speech - it would have been better for her to be cold and menacing instead of ragey. She doesn't do ragey. She does ice. It's her voice - it's too low and husky to go up into 'anger' pitch, y'know?
posted by Thistledown at 5:32 AM on March 5, 2017 [6 favorites]

I guess the solar array / mirrors around Ganymede were the power source for the moon, so whoever was destroying them was doing it to rob the PM of its power source (like shutting down the reactor on the Scopuli). That would mean that whoever that was had a good idea what they were dealing with.
posted by rhamphorhynchus at 9:54 AM on March 5, 2017 [1 favorite]

I guess the solar array / mirrors around Ganymede were the power source for the moon

The mirrors were there to concentrate and bounce sunlight down to the greenhouses on Ganymede's surface. Ganymede's magnetosphere shields the surface from (most) of Jupiter's radiation, making it the only place in the belt capable of supporting large scale agriculture. The same radiation protection also means it's a common destination for pregnant belters.

We're not sure who destroyed the mirrors yet or why. It could have been an actor hoping to deny energy to the pm zombie or it could have been done with the intention of completely destabilizing the belt.
posted by nathan_teske at 10:45 AM on March 5, 2017

On re-re-watching this episode, I think the marines would have realized the UN forces were routed and fleeing something about a second after the cut. They were 2km away and running, which would give the marines a good minute or so to observe, absent other distractions like having to dodge lethal space debris.

And that unarmed, unlicensed drone? I am pretty sure they would have shot it out of the sky out of an abundance of caution. Especially with their advanced Martian gear labeling it only as of "unknown" origin.

Also what sense does it make to put four MCRN and six UN marines on the ground in full unprotected view of the armed ships? In a battle wouldn't they all be toasted immediately?
posted by zippy at 8:35 PM on March 5, 2017

Isn't their function in this instance to show the flag for sovereignty purposes and be a tripwire?
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 8:51 PM on March 5, 2017 [4 favorites]

It seems to me that their commander has pounded into them the thought that they should do absolutely nothing to aggravate the UN. I don't think it is strange that they would give weird things that happen the benefit of the doubt.
posted by Quonab at 10:11 PM on March 5, 2017 [3 favorites]

I'm getting serious Billy Bob Thornton vibes from Steven Strait all of a sudden with this episode

This. He is still my least-favorite casting choice in the whole show. I am just not buying that his Holden has the necessary charisma to be who Holden is. He's too petulant and sulky.

And I also wasn't a huge fan of Avasarala's ACTING!!! speech. I too would have preferred a quieter, more "fuck you I've got your number" version.

Can't wait for the next episode. Still one of the best shows on TV, everyone is bringing their A game.
posted by biscotti at 5:30 AM on March 6, 2017 [1 favorite]

Here's the thing about Holden: prior to Kit Harrington's turn as Jon Snow, it wouldn't have worked for me at all, but now I've been conditioned to accept it because there's an existing archetype.

And Holden is absolutely, positively, 110% Jon Snow In Space. That would be true even if one of the authors wasn't GRRM's assistant, which he is.

So we're watching the Jon Snow character arc play out from the top, only this time it's a little more believable because instead of somehow convincing a couple hundred hard-scrabble arctic warriors to follow him, he just has to convince:

1) The girl who is in love with him and who, while absolutely more intelligent than him, has made it clear she doesn't want to make big life and death decisions for other people.
2) The guy who will follow said girl anywhere, but is increasingly willing to also accept Holden as a surrogate conscience.
3) The fairly passive guy who is willing to take orders from anyone who lets him continue to fly something sexier than an ice freighter.

Which is kind of a gimme as far as leadership setups go. Steven Strait's performance is actually note-for-note perfect in terms of matching the character's idealism/pragmatism transition and general growth in the books. The only thing he's lacking is the physicality - in book 4 (easily the weakest in the series, btw, but power through it because 5 is the best), we get a Holden-fangirl PoV and her detailed description of him is more country-singer-esque than anything. A 50/50 blend of Wes Chatham and Steven Strait would just about fit.

But it feels pretty unfair to hold that against Steven Strait.
posted by Ryvar at 11:14 AM on March 6, 2017 [11 favorites]

Love this:

Avasarala: "I have a file with 900 pages of analysis and contingency plans for war with Mars, including 14 different scenarios about what to do if they develop an unexpected new technology. My file for what to do if an advanced alien species comes calling is three pages long. And it begins with Step One: Find God."
posted by zarq at 2:11 PM on March 7, 2017 [9 favorites]

> The same radiation protection also means it's a common destination for pregnant belters.

And gravity. Gravity aides a few elements of delivery, and of course a baby that doesn't at least partly grow up in gravity will never develop the bone-mass necessary to cope with gravity later in life.

> I am just not buying that his Holden has the necessary charisma to be who Holden is. He's too petulant and sulky.

Agreed. He seems to be embracing Holden's "I have MAJOR INDIGNATION and I think a GRAND GESTURE is what'll MAKE PEOPLE TAKE NOTICE!"-side, though.

> Holden is absolutely, positively, 110% Jon Snow In Space.

Ty Franck, one of the writers, is George R.R. Martin's assistant, so there may well be more overlap between Holden and Snow than we can ever really know.
posted by Sunburnt at 2:35 PM on March 7, 2017

Isn't the idea that Holden doesn't actually have charisma or leadership abilities sort of what they showed in this episode? After all Naomi lied to him about destroying the protomolecule sample.
posted by dilaudid at 8:04 PM on March 7, 2017 [2 favorites]

Here' the thing I don't buy about Holden: everyone else in the crew, or in the show for that matter, is adept at things, has skills, and in the case of the crew of the Roci, damn good skills. All Holden seems to be able to do is brood and kind of talk like Batman lite. I don't buy him as a leader, and he's shown no skillset that would have engendered the respect of the very competent people he works with.
I did read the first book, and Book Holden was given a physical presence, an air of command and a decisiveness that was believable, but the show has failed at conveying this both with casting the pretty boy and with his portrayal.

As far as the show itself goes, it's beautiful, and the best sci-fi on tv in quite a while, but for my money BSG did the best space battles, in the pilot. Those vipers.
posted by OHenryPacey at 11:35 PM on March 7, 2017 [3 favorites]

I'm impressed with how they worked in the Epstein short story, intercutting it with the show. Specifically the theme on how new technologies can change humanity. First the Epstein Drive, now the protomolecule. Only, um, awkward...

Apologies for the book question, but can anyone remind me if the captured missiles are in the book? I don't remember them.

I agree with Thistledown that the Avasarala speech was not great. I don't mind that she showed anger, it's a very fine and controlled anger, a tool. I just think Aghdashloo didn't quite deliver it right. Perhaps she over-rehearsed it but it came off kind of vaudville, a bit too much. Perhaps if she'd gone with quiet anger instead of loud anger.

QFT: Holden is absolutely, positively, 110% Jon Snow In Space. I'm down with brooding pretty boy with implausibly perfect muscles. But Naomi is a way more interesting girlfriend than Ygritte. And Amos is too huggable to be Rattleshirt.
posted by Nelson at 9:18 AM on March 8, 2017 [1 favorite]

Yes, iirc, the "missing nukes" was a thing in the books and gosh, was Earth ever so pissed.
posted by porpoise at 10:05 AM on March 8, 2017

I just think Aghdashloo didn't quite deliver it right. Perhaps she over-rehearsed it but it came off kind of vaudville, a bit too much. Perhaps if she'd gone with quiet anger instead of loud anger.

So I will admit I am pretty far down the THIS SHOW CAN DO NO WRONG I CAN RETCON ANY MISTAKES YOU MIGHT THINK YOU SEE!!!!! rabbit-hole but:

I liked that bit, because the way I saw it was someone delivering a quiet-anger speech she'd rehearsed in her head a bunch but in the moment getting worked up and actually furious and not quite being able to contain it.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 11:23 AM on March 8, 2017 [8 favorites]

Here' the thing I don't buy about Holden: everyone else in the crew, or in the show for that matter, is adept at things, has skills, and in the case of the crew of the Roci, damn good skills. All Holden seems to be able to do is brood and kind of talk like Batman lite.

Holden is captain by default.

Alex has to fly (and shoot).
Naomi doesn't want the job, she said so at the end of season 1.
Amos?

Wa kapawu du mowteng was bossmang kapawu. A ship needs a captain, especially a gunship. Someone gotta give orders and expect them to be obeyed. Even on an ice hauler, the captain gives an order, the XO expects the crew to snap to.

Daniel Abraham has said in podcasts that Holden's story arc is the longest of any of the main characters. I suspect we'll see him develop leadership as the show rolls out.

But yeah, right now he's captain by default, and he could be a lot better.
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 12:14 PM on March 16, 2017 [1 favorite]

Holden is captain by default just like Cyclops is the leader by default. He's the only one who's not special.
posted by bq at 1:43 PM on March 16, 2017 [2 favorites]

Avasarala's outburst in this episode is a fucking work of art.
posted by turbid dahlia at 3:53 AM on March 23, 2017 [2 favorites]

Also there are a lot of croaky voices in this series.
posted by turbid dahlia at 3:53 AM on March 23, 2017

I found it kind of weird how in S1 it wasn't at all clear that Holden was the captain, him even calling Naomi the captain a couple of times, but in S2 everyone was deferring to his decisions (at least to his face). I guess if Naomi decides that Holden's the captain, or rather that she doesn't want to be the captain so who does that leave?, then Alex and Amos will follow her lead but felt like an abrupt shift.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 1:04 PM on September 14, 2020

Can't decide whether Avasarala's speech was overly dramatic or just awesome. Maybe both.

I just thought "Let's sic her on the Trumps".
posted by Paul Slade at 2:42 PM on November 25, 2020 [2 favorites]

And that unarmed, unlicensed drone? I am pretty sure they would have shot it out of the sky out of an abundance of caution. Especially with their advanced Martian gear labeling it only as of "unknown" origin.

Dear 2017 zippy, you may be surprised to learn how differently your comment reads at the end of 2020.
posted by medusa at 4:38 PM on December 25, 2020 [2 favorites]

Also, WTF is up with the Ganymede space zombies?!?!
posted by medusa at 4:39 PM on December 25, 2020

I think they assumed since it was in their zone, it was a Mars-affiliated agricultural drone and blowing it up would be ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
posted by sixswitch at 10:00 PM on February 22, 2021