S04.E03: Subduction

[raven]

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New alien threats emerge on Ilus as Naomi battles health challenges on the planet. Bobbie searches for a missing person on Mars. Avasarala faces a new challenge in the UN.

Airdate 2019.12.13

Keep your discussion to this episode only - thank you!

[thuganomics85]

Alas, the Martian drug kingpin wasn't played by Giancarlo Esposito sadly, but Paul Schulze is still good for playing scummy baddies!  But it sounds like he's actually working for the OPA or whoever the highest bidder actually is?  Bobbi really should have taken Chrisjen up on her offer!

Speaking of Chrisjen, she's got a rival for the throne... err, chair in the form of this Nancy Gao character, who wants Earth/Inners to explore and colonize the Ring Worlds, and doesn't care for Chrisjen's slow and cautious approach.  Man, Chrisjen diving in the world of politics is going to be scary as hell!  But if the debates are televised, they better have someone hovering over the censor/bleep button or just cut their losses and have it be TV-MA!

I know you think you're the shit Murtry, but you really don't know what you've gotten yourself into with Amos.  But I have to imagine you'll learn the hard way!

How much farther will Naomi push herself, until she does irreparable or even possibly fatal damage to herself?

Oh, Holden!  I have to imagine the whole "Shoot a missile as the weird pro thing!" plan is only going to be a temporary solution.  Elvi probably is right that what is below the planet is the main problem.

No Drummer or Ashford for this one, but I'm sure there is plenty more coming up in future episodes! 

[AnimeMania]

For a space soap opera the scope of the episodes so far is very narrow. There is so many new worlds to explore, why is this show making me feel claustrophobic right now. I am missing the wide open spaces filled with twinkly lights. I hope we head back to the stars soon, I am losing interest in petty bickering, human and political.

[Holmbo]

If I was an Earther in the Expanse verse I'd probably vote Gao over Avasarala. Sure, exploring the new system is very dangerous, but people are desperate, and it's not like Avasarala offers any alternative.

A good compromise might be to survey planets as quickly as possible and if they find a system without apparent pm they can do additional studies of that one, and communicate to everyone that this planet might soon be open for colonization. Then divide that system up for everyone who wants to explore. I can't imagine the explores are more than max i million people total. They could fit on one planet no problem.

[AnimeMania]

I have come to the conclusion the a launchpad explosion couldn't cause the damage we saw to the landing shuttle. The shuttle took several minutes to crash land, either it was not going very fast or it was very high in the atmosphere when shrapnel started tearing through the hull. An explosion on the ground that could reach the shuttle in the atmosphere would have to be so large that it would have destroyed most of the settlement as well as, all the settlers would have hear/known about the explosion. I am not sure how high the shuttle was since nobody seemed to have any trouble breathing. 

If I was writing the script, I would have said that a small rocket carrying a tiny communication satellite was exploded in the the path of the incoming shuttle.

[Tachi Rocinante]

I think it was both the nanobots and an explosion.  They didn't look too hard once they found the blasting cap or whatever.

Bobbie's subplot is interesting so far.  Many ways it could go.

I'm going to stop after the next episode for a few days.  I usually binge only when I'm trying to make up time.

[wanderingstar]

Murtry on a rampage is SC.ARY. This show always gets the best guest stars. Burn Gorman has been great on this show.

Esai's statement to Bobbie ("Someone with your training and skillset could make a lot of money") made me chuckle.

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If I was an Earther in the Expanse verse I'd probably vote Gao over Avasarala. Sure, exploring the new system is very dangerous, but people are desperate, and it's not like Avasarala offers any alternative.

I kind of agree. I mean, 50% unemployment ain't nothin' to fuck with. I'd get it if people just want to try their luck on the other side of the Ring Gate.

[tennisgurl]

Really, there has to be some kind of middle ground for the Earthers between "lets just go running right into the unknown" and "lets hide from this amazing new possible opportunity" because as much as I love Avasarala (and this place will most certainly turn out to be very dangerous) I dont blame people for thinking that her stubbornness is keeping them from a better life. I mean, I guess this is why she is sending the Rociante crew down to check the place out, but she better get moving faster! 

As soon as Murtry shot that Belter, you could tell that Amos saw him for what he was right away. He really has a sixth sense for evil people. Not that this is apparently ending his friends with benefits thing with his second in command though!

Normally I would resist the urge to immediately set something I dont understand on fire, but I dont really blame Holden for wanting to stop the big scary space cyclone from coming near people who are already on the verge of some kind of blood bath.

Edited December 18, 2019 by tennisgurl

[Haleth]

Nancy Gao and Murtry... they're messing with the wrong people.  I keep thinking of all the gifs on twitter wrt the kerfuffle on the View the other day.  Girrrrrl....

[Danny Franks]

Yeah, Murtry might be a psycho, and I'm sure his second in command is going to end up dead because of it, but he's biting off more than he can chew with all those Belters and with Amos.

"Amos, keep a lid on the situation."

"Okay, you want me to shoot Murtry?"

He usually finds the most direct solution to a problem, doesn't he?

I think Elvi is definitely in over her head as well. She's there purely for science, but is likely to be seen as just another Inner, by all the colonists. So far, I like Lyndie Greenwood more in this than I have in anything else I've seen her in. Her relatively innocent interest in the science of Ilus is a nice counterpoint to all the tension and simmering violence.

I like the conceit of a few people actually being focused on the important things, while most are obsessed with petty rivalries and fighting for power. That's always been a key part of this show, and sadly one of the truest examinations of humanity on television.

And Chrisjen has her own fight on her hands. Good old politicians, always picking the wrong time to make their play for power.

Hopefully this is the end of Bobbie's involvement with Esai. I'm not interested in the whole trope of people being trapped and coerced by gangs. I can see how it's likely to feed into the larger storyline, but I'm happy to skip over all the details.

[Joimiaroxeu]

It's funny how much more I'm liking Amos this season. The guy just gets right to the point. "Does that mean we're not fcuking anymore?" "How about now? I'm free right now?" In both cases the person he was talking to backed down like he figured they would, at least for the moment. Priorities.

[JZL]

I'm free right now-- because I AM THAT GUY!

🙃

[wanderingstar]

On 12/14/2019 at 4:41 AM, thuganomics85 said:

Man, Chrisjen diving in the world of politics is going to be scary as hell!  But if the debates are televised, they better have someone hovering over the censor/bleep button or just cut their losses and have it be TV-MA!

I don't know how I am just seeing this comment, but it gave me a hearty chuckle.

[Eulipian 5k]

Wait, what? “Two of ours was put in the recycler ...” ??? WTF? Why? The water? The carbon? For food? Pass on the Soylent Green.

[Holmbo]

1 hour ago, Eulipian 5k said:

Wait, what? “Two of ours was put in the recycler ...” ??? WTF? Why? The water? The carbon? For food? Pass on the Soylent Green.

Good question. Do you think they actually recycled them? Or did she just use the phrase because it's synonymous with dying in Belter culture?

I suppose there could be some spiritual aspects of the recycling.

[Ziggy]

7 hours ago, Eulipian 5k said:

Wait, what? “Two of ours was put in the recycler ...” ??? WTF? Why? The water? The carbon? For food? Pass on the Soylent Green.

 

5 hours ago, Holmbo said:

Good question. Do you think they actually recycled them? Or did she just use the phrase because it's synonymous with dying in Belter culture?

I suppose there could be some spiritual aspects of the recycling.

This was mentioned in the first season.  I don't remember which episode (but I might look it up later, if I have time), but there was the doctor from the morgue who talked about recycling a body. It was the individual Miller found who had an identity scrambler inside his body.  Miller had been investigating Julie.  Anyway, it was mentioned then.  I got the impression he would use the recycled remains for soil, but I definitely could be wrong.

[Eulipian 5k]

1 hour ago, Ziggy said:

I got the impression he would use the recycled remains for soil, but I definitely could be wrong.

Didn't think of using them for mulch, but still, that would need a lot of dead people, why not burn or bury them, they're on a 'new' planet with lotsa room for a cemetery of the  "Founders".

On another necromancy note, Drummer spoke about bodies from the UN colonist ship "disassociating"? What do they do with spaced bodies; just space junk? Nothing can decay in space and the expanse is large.

[Holmbo]

On 1/9/2020 at 2:23 PM, Ziggy said:

 

This was mentioned in the first season.  I don't remember which episode (but I might look it up later, if I have time), but there was the doctor from the morgue who talked about recycling a body. It was the individual Miller found who had an identity scrambler inside his body.  Miller had been investigating Julie.  Anyway, it was mentioned then.  I got the impression he would use the recycled remains for soil, but I definitely could be wrong.

Yes, in space they defenitly recycles them. But on a planet it wouldn't be necessary to keep such a tight loop. That's why I was wondering if there's an actual recycler set up. Might be Belters would find burial disrespectful.

 

 

[Ziggy]

13 hours ago, Holmbo said:

Yes, in space they defenitly recycles them. But on a planet it wouldn't be necessary to keep such a tight loop. That's why I was wondering if there's an actual recycler set up. Might be Belters would find burial disrespectful.

They are called belters, but they were living on Ganymede. Guess they didn’t bury their dead there? Interesting.

[AudienceofOne]

On 12/15/2019 at 11:45 PM, AnimeMania said:

I have come to the conclusion the a launchpad explosion couldn't cause the damage we saw to the landing shuttle.

I'm pretty sure we saw the bottom being torn off the ship and the people inside still seeing black, that suggest they were still quite high when it happened. I'm not convince by the landing pad theory either.

[Holmbo]

On 1/12/2020 at 6:32 AM, Ziggy said:

They are called belters, but they were living on Ganymede. Guess they didn’t bury their dead there? Interesting.

Oh right, I forget they're all from Ganymede. I think same principle would stand for any artificial ecosystem though. But now when I think of it, maybe they need to keep real tight loops on Illus too. Since the rest of the biosphere is extra solar, maybe  it wouldn't even decompose a body if they buried it.

Edited January 13, 2020 by Holmbo