S02.E12: The Monster and the Rocket

[rozen]

On 4/16/2017 at 3:30 AM, rozen said:

Looks like

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Julie re-built Earth on Venus. Hope she and Miller are eating proto-cotton candy and riding ferris wheels all day.

 

Uhh, I didn't see the preview, they literally showed this on the episode when the probe drops in ^_^

I swear, between this and the GOT forums I get spoiled more by the mods spoiler tagging my observations and guesses than by book readers, lol.

[jhlipton]

On 4/17/2017 at 2:14 PM, MissLucas said:

Holden comes across as much less of an Ahab.

More of a Starbuck, then?

[MissLucas]

2 minutes ago, jhlipton said:

More of a Starbuck, then?

Ack!!!!! No! *says the only person in the universe who hated Starbuck - ducks for cover now*

On a more serious note I just find the Ahab reference not apt because Ahab was obsessed with something that hardly mattered to the fate of the world/system - unlike Holden who so far has risked his and his crew's life several times not for simple revenge but a far greater goal.  And Holden is aware of what he's doing - he was concerned and shocked after he had ordered Alex to chase Eros at all costs (it's noteworthy that he felt that way although the crew was okay with his order).

[jhlipton]

I haven't read Moby Dick (or seen the movies) so my knowledge of Starbuck extends only as far as his name, so it's fine with me if you hate him!

[WildPlum]

Yikes, posted in wrong episode, sorry!

Edited April 20, 2017 by WildPlum
meant to post in ep 13

[Clanstarling]

18 minutes ago, doram said:

I don't know --- but seeing Julie's dead boy with all those... things... growing out of her body was enough body-horror for me and enough motivation for Jim Holden to go slightly crazy at the idea of more the proto-molecule out there, infecting people. 

I read the book after watching - and I don't want to see all of that on screen, ever. It was so vivid in the book that I thought I'd actually seen some of what I thought most horrifying on the show. So I'm with you there.

[raven]

2 hours ago, doram said:

Errinwright isn't Chrisjen's boss. They are both undersecretaries.

Errinwright is the Undersecretary, second only to the Secretary-General.  Avasarala is the Deputy Undersecretary under him (Errinwright).

Theoretically Errinwright has more power but that is debatable.

[Holmbo]

On 2017-04-14 at 4:34 PM, Clanstarling said:

I also thought they did a nice job of making it look like Errinwright was going to commit suicide, between the lingering look at the blood on his neck, the talk with his son, the letter, and even up to drinking the last swig when his Martian counterpart was dying. Then he explained there was a poison that could be targeted to a specific individual. Chilling.

I totally missed that. I was so sure he was killing them both and very confused about why he didn't collapse too. That whole plot might be over my head. I didn't understand what his message was at the end. The way I read it is he wants (or claim to want) to protect earth by keeping Mars from having the protomolecule.

On 2017-04-16 at 11:40 AM, MissLucas said:

*We haven't had many non-evil scientists on this show so far. Avasarala's guy on the Arboghast comes to mind and she did listen to him, but of course she's awesome.

 

I'm not sure I like the feel of that guy. This episode had two conversations about European explorers and their encounters with native Americans. In one Holden and Alex talked about how their experience of this protomolecule people is like how it was for native Americans to encounter Europeans and that maybe they are doomed. In the other the Elon Musk guy talked to the captain about how awesome exploring is and talks admirably about Magellan for being a great explorer who "met giants in Patagonia". No mention that he enslaved some of those "giants" to take with him and they all died. To me the difference in perspective might tell us something about the priorities of these characters. Maybe some people will see the protomolecule as a kind of transcendence while others see it as the end of the world.

On 2017-07-04 at 4:02 PM, doram said:

I wept at the whole scene. Naomi's faith. The belters proving to themselves what they're made of. The big guy giving his chance to Naomi. It reminded me of a similar plot in the 100 and I wept at that, too.

That show did have some great gems (maybe still does, I haven't kept up with it). I almost wanted Naomi to stay just so that the scene could have even more emotional weight. It felt a bit like cheating that everyone who died were unknown characters.

Even though I really liked that scene I feel like the death and destruction on this show might be getting a bit to much for me. If everything keeps going this terrible it might be better for everyone to just surrender to the protomolecule and see what happens.

[WatchrTina]

Just checking to say that I'm on a re-watch binge because I realized that had forgotten too much to really follow season 3.  I'm so glad I decided to re-watch.  Enough time has passed and the plot of this show is so complex that it's like watching again for the first time.  And I love this board because I came here to comment on how much I love Bobbi for snarfing down those cucumber sandwiches only to find that opinion already voiced many times.  I also rewound the last scene a couple of time (watching at my desk on an iMac that gives me a better picture than my TV) to try to figure out what that was I glimpsed as the Roci flew by in the last scene. So I'm pleased to see that topic discussed here too.

 But no one has asked this question yet:  why was the Roci flying around with an open door?  Or are we supposed to think that whatever it was we glimpsed forced the door open and no one on the Roci noticed?  Oh well, I'll hand-wave it away.  If I can look past that incoming Mars ship getting blown up . . . somehow . . . and none of the ships surrounding Ganymede reacting, I can look past anything.

Is Mars REALLY going to let everyone left on Ganymede smother?  They have to know the air filters are failing.  There have to be distress calls going out.  Almost no one on the Mars ships understands what is going on or what the Martians are trying to retrieve from Ganymede but they have to know people are dying down there due to the "cascade" that Prax talked about.  Isn't Ganymede a shared outpost of Earth and Mars?  Wasn't Bobbi patrolling the "border" when that fateful attack happened?  If so, wouldn't the Martians want to save "their" people from a collapsing space station?  And if they choose not to -- if they let all those people die how are they going to explain it?  Yeah, that scene between Naomi and big guy brought me to tears but damn, what a wanton waste of human life -- to let all those non-combatants die when Ganymede is surrounding by warships that could rescue them.  Damn.

Edited April 25, 2018 by WatchrTina

[wanderingstar]

Also doing a rewatch, and this is still my favorite episode from season 2. The scene where Chrisjen, Cotyar and Bobbie all set off for Mao's ship is such fun ("If shit hits the fan out here, I expect you two to get me out of it!") I could watch that scene all day long. 

Champa's speech to the Belters on Ganymede is also a highlight of this episode. I loved that whole sequence trying to get people organized and to get on to the Somnambulist. Naomi was a gem in this episode.

Edited May 25, 2019 by Gillian Rosh

[Holmbo]

On 5/26/2019 at 1:42 AM, Gillian Rosh said:

Also doing a rewatch, and this is still my favorite episode from season 2. The scene where Chrisjen, Cotyar and Bobbie all set off for Mao's ship is such fun ("If shit hits the fan out here, I expect you two to get me out of it!") I could watch that scene all day long.

The ABC team is so much fun! Have you seen this video?

There are scenes from season three in it so I'm only posting it here cause you said you're rewatching.