Season two’s premiere of The Expanse takes up after the wholesale slaughter that took place on Eros in the season one finale. Holden and Miller are being treated for their exposure and after a long period are given injections by Naomi. These “patch” injections will need to be taken for the rest of their lives and neither man will be able to procreate, she says.
The Phoebe organism turns out to be in that locked device. Amos and Naomi work together to open the thing and they they hide the stuff in the middle of an abandoned asteroid mine.
Miller and Amos work out their issues with one another. Joe is still angry at Amos killing his friend but after Burton almost strangles the life out of the former cop, aka Star Helix, things settle down.
Back on Earth the U.N.N. quickly proves that space is still dirty, but this time around it is the political double-dealing, war mongering and back stabbing that makes the atmosphere so bad. Avasarala almost dies, hires a spy and struggles to stop the war before it can begin.
Avasarala not only hires a spy, she orders him to put her in contact with Col. Johnson (an act of treason). Johnson actually joins Holden’s crew to invade the space station and learn the secret of the alien virus.
We meet a new character, one Gunny Draper; a tough and nigh on unstoppable Martian bad-arse who looks to be a force to be reckoned with this season. She does not get to do too much in this two hour premiere but it is clear that she will be going up against Holden’s team sooner or later.
The big shock, and a move that almost pushes the Earth and Mars into full scale war, was the Martian move to blast Phoebe Space Station into space debris. The missiles, which just missed the U.N.N. vessel, were used to destroy any evidence of the parasitic experiments that took place there.
Once the crew board the vessel, they learn that the parasitic creature, considered to be A) proof of alien existence and B) “the first shot,” was released to help develop a cure. As the lead scientist pleads his case to continue the work, Johnson looks close to agreeing with the man.
Miller cuts the discussion short by shooting the scientist mid argument.
The brilliance of this two episode premiere of The Expanse, was its execution. The first half of the open was pretty much expository in nature. We are brought up to speed on where everyone is at and the discovery of just how close this world is to war.
The second half, aka episode two, built up the suspense of the Roci being used to breech the space station. It allowed the colonel to join forces with Holden and his crew and gave Miller a chance to get a bit of payback and closure.
The former cop also shows that he can lead just fine. Although his followers in the infiltration operation are a bit trigger happy. This was an excellent start to season two of The Expanse.
We are shown the relationship developments between Holden’s group and Kamal’s progress as a pilot. The scenes with the simulation training and then the actual battle between the Roci, the stealth fighter and that cannon, were spot on and resulted in some edge of the seat viewing.
Thomas Jane, Steven Strait, Cas Anvar, Dominique Tipper, Wes Chatham and newcomer Frankie Adams are killing it in space. While back on Earth, Shohreh Aghdashloo rules supreme as Chad L. Coleman wears his rebel hat brilliantly.
Season two looks to be as addictive as season one. The Expanse airs Wednesdays on SyFy. Do not miss this outstanding science fiction mystery.
Cast:
- Thomas Jane – Joe Miller
- Steven Strait – Jim Holden
- Cas Anvar – Alex Kamal
- Dominique Tipper – Naomi Nagata
- Wes Chatham – Amos Burton
- Frankie Adams – Bobbie “Gunny” Draper
- Shohreh Aghdashloo – Chrisjen Avasarala
- Chad L. Coleman – Col. Frederick Lucius Johnson
- Nick E. Tarabay – Coytar
