[SCIFI Series] The Expanse

I don't understand why they would ever trust some random person telling them to come to him. The only people, as far as they know, who might know where they are, are the guys who just destroyed the Donnager.

They need to dock someplace. They can't stay out in space forever and all the other stations are owned either by Earth or Mars. That is the only place they can dock and be assured they won't be caught by whoever destroyed the Donnager. They also know who he is and that he isn't aligned with either faction.

Aliens... Like every sci-fi, they bring in aliens...

They don't exactly bring in aliens. It's a bit more complicated than that.
What I really like is the politics involved in everything, and I grew to like the characters.

I don't think the books ever adequately explain why the gunmen were there. The henchmen sorta imply they followed the crew to the hotel, but if it was them, then 1) how did they lay a trap, and 2) how did they know to follow Holden? What I figured at the time was that the henchmen were acting as police and sent to investigate the shootout, then found Julie's body and recognized it for the protomolecule they were supposed to be receiving that went missing. I figured later in the book they'd explain the shootout, but that never happened.

The bad guys' secret base

I hate Miller now though. I think I still lack insight, but just from what I know and from his perspective, for all he could know... Killing the Dresden Guy was fucking stupid!

Deus ex Miller in later books

Was that a humanoid protomolecule that attacked? The UN marines were shooting at it and running away from it towards the martian line? The ships looked metallic, though, confusing ending.

Is Chrisjen trying to manipulate Errinwright to turn on Mao?

Yeah it was, shit's adaptable and freaky

and regarding avasarala, im pretty sure it was just as much a threat to errinwright as it was to get mao out of the game. I'd at least feel threatened as fuck if i was errinwright, that's for sure

threatened, and slightly turned on

All that cloak and dagger stuff from Mars makes it seem that thing on Ganymede was not protomolecule related but some new Mars weapon.

Why did Fred Johnson ban the Roci and its crew from Tycho station?

Because they said that if they find the protomolecule they will not bring it back to Fred.

So Drapper performed like brainwashed due to pills or strange device inside her medal, or even both? Or was it therapy in previous ep? Cause it means Mars want's to hide their knowledge of protomolecule
I guess that's how you can add her to Rosi squad with big reasoning

I thought it was just a conscious decision deriving from sense of duty. It might not be them trying to hide the protomolecule though, it could just be they don't wanna admit that they have no idea wtf is going on and thus losing leverage

Positive it was due to Draper's sense of duty. I think the Martians just don't believe Draper about the Seventh Man. Mars wanted her to tell their version of the story to avoid war. Mars won the battle over Ganymede so if they admit fault and make reparations Earth can accept peace without losing face. That makes enough sense to me without needing protomolecule conspiracy in Martian government.

It seems highly likely Errinwright is going to try to throw Avasarala under the bus.

also R.I.P the Spy heroic death kinda

It closes the arc of the second book. Some of the plotlines are a bit further along and into book 3, and others are changed significantly (often for the better: the whole Erinwright - Avasarala - Esteban - Mao drama/spygame was far better worked out on TV than in the book).

One thing that was changed is Prax's story (a bit in the details, but so far not in how it affects the outcome). Do we think Strickland injected Mei with the protomolecule, and that will lead to further complications later in the season? Or is it a "happy" ending, as in the books? With them having the protomolecule launch from Venus (as in the books), there doesn't seem to be any need for her to be infected for the overarching plot, but the TV version does thrive more on the character-driven drama than on the abstract developments in the universe... which is more what the books center on, and while the Rocinante crew definitely play pivotal roles, they are far more plot devices than people, whereas the TV series centres far more on them as people.

What was the point of these italians? Does it have connection to the rest of the show besides presenting martian border control as a threat?

Anyway, that was just a side question: More important is that I struggle to make sense of what was going on with the scopioli and the anubis (I hope theses are the same names in the original version as in the german one):

1. So what starts everything is Juli Mao on board of the scopioli trying to intercept a science vessel (supposedly carrying a secret weapon, turning out to be the blue cyberspores) from Phoebe to ......... where exactly near the edge of the solar system?
2. However, the Scopioli then gets attacked and taken over by the anubis which was...... secretly escorting the science vessel?
3. The anubis then leaves the scopioli to send a distress signal while the science vessel disappears? Why would they do this? Am I completely misunderstanding something here and the science vessel never existed/was just a bait and all of this was made to happen by Julies Dads corporation to start a war?
4. But then how did the blue glow get on board of the anubis where it was later found by Holden and his crew?
5. And where did the crew of the anubis go? Absorbed by blue glow?
6. How did Cutty, I mean, Fred Johnson learn about the location of the anubis?

So in the end every single charade Miller was telling to Holden made sense, kinda. Rookie was a pilot of a starhelix jet crashed into the ring (clean up the corners and come slowly, if you come too fast - the room eats you, so ring is a "room"). At this point Miller somehow nested into those small chunk of protomolecule on a ship with permanent death/life cycle? As he said, he's only an "investigator" now and want's a ride. He's a tool and he finds things, but what does it even mean, it's like he became a protomolecule probe to float in open space.

"It reaches out 113 times a second but nothing answers, so it builds the investigator, but he does not find, it kills the investigator over and over again. And then it build the investigator again and again. Until he finds a door, what wasn't there before "

And now we know "they" or "it" exists, since they "killed" Miller when he exceeded boundary conditions whatever it means. As for the rest he said, sector 18 and unlicensed brothel must also mean something or it was just a memory flashback? Give me next episode

Bobby stays with Rosi crew?

Amos prison break hype!

What I wonder about the reaction to the stealth-asteroid threat, and maybe I misunderstood a few things here:
1. Why would these stealth-piercing "watchtowers" be pointed only at mars in the first place? Even if their point is to prevent an attack by mars, is there any reason to assume mars would be unable to launch stealth missiles from ships, satellites, or other bases like the one where Bobby was attacked by that hybrid, so essentially anywhere in the universe?
2. Avasaralas reactions seemed...... inconsistent with the gravity of the situation, at least initially? Like, "yes we should do something about it but only if it does not endanger my own career". What happened to "Earth must come first", or was that always just a convenient slogan to discredit those who opposed her (it's a while since I watched the earlier seasons, so my memory of some details might be off)? She didnt even try to save her family? My impression is that she was primarily concerned about saving what was left of the influence she once had, even if that meant risking the lifes of virtually any inhabitant of earth in the process.

Only at episode 4 rn, but only the admiral backed out. She had no options left until the attack which proved her right.

Ashford died.

Basically it's watching her shuffle around for a while tinkering with objects I don't understand as a casual viewer from 2021, for a brief payoff when she accomplishes something she has to explicitly tell the audience. Do we really need "The Martian: Expanse edition" with tech we don't understand?

the editing of the Naomi-related storylines just feels bizarre. It feels like the end of that Drummer sequence is supposed to have a revelation that she's still alive-but we know that. We even know exactly what she was doing on the ship, since we saw it through to its completion. It seems like at one point they were planning to not tell us Naomi made the jump to the second ship for another episode, and have the Roci and Razorback pursuing her while we as the audience could feasibly think she was dead, but then they chickened out.

Marco Inaros has become too evil. It doesn't fit with the overall morality of the show.
He's slowly lost his ambiguity because they wanted Naomi to seem more abused.

peaches

and his death