by Kbear! on February 18, 2017
Connecting the dots
Chrisjen Avasarala (Shohreh Aghdashloo) is looking at the photos of the derelict stealth ship. The last episode Fred Johnson (Chad Coleman) had sent her the location of the ship. The photos show dead crewmembers, they are able to identify them as employees of Protogen, one of the companies Jules-Pierre Mao (Francois Chou) owns. She tells the officer near the ship to push the ship in the traffic lanes. The UN can “find” it that way.
I see you
Mao looks at the news reports, his company’s assets frozen while the UN investigates his company’s connection to the stealth ship the UN found in the traffic lanes. He has a meeting with Chrisjen and Sadavir Errinwright (Shawn Doyle) at the UN. Chrisjen is politely but thoroughly questioning Mao. He pretends not to know what is going on. He has such a huge company; he can’t possibly know what each division is doing. He pretends not to know anything about the project at the Phoebe facility. Errinwright tries to back him up. Chrisjen isn’t having any of this. Mao promises to investigate all the charges. Chrisjen reminds him that whatever happens because of Protogen’s involvement, the blame falls on him. Errinwright looks perturbed at Chrisjen’s boldness.
Mao and Errinwright discuss the meeting with Chrisjen. Mao astutely observes that Chrisjen has figured out that Mao and Errinwright are working together on this conspiracy. Errinwright is too thick to realize this is true. He thinks he has things under control. Mao threatens Errinwright that he will find someone who can do the job.
You again
Back at Tycho station, James Holden (Steven Strait) and Naomi Nagata (Dominique Tipper) walk into Colonel Johnson’s office to find Josephus Miller (Thomas Jayne) waiting for them. Holden is again outraged at Miller’s presence, but Fred tells them his and Miller’s plan. They are going to take the Mormon generation ship Navuoo and shoot it into Eros like a bullet and knock it off its orbit into the sun. Both Holden and Naomi are outraged; Naomi can’t believe the Mormons will go along with this since it is part of their religious pilgrimage. They need the Rocinante to give protection to the mission. They are dropping off men to place bombs on the Eros docks so no one can land on the asteroid. Mars has removed their ships from around Eros so anyone can get on it. That means the crackpots from Protogen can retrieve data from their “experiment” or collect the Protomolecule for other purposes. Persuaded that their plan is the right thing to do to protect the system, Naomi and Holden join the mission.
Destiny’s ship
The station’s security staff forces the Mormons off the Nauvoo. Fred and Miller give them some half-assed reasons for commandeering the ship. The also jam their comms so they can’t communicate to the rest of the system what is happening to them. While all of this is going on, Miller sees Julie smiling at him. Naomi comes up and says it is about Julie. It is more than that; Miller wants to make sure the Protomolecule doesn’t hurt anyone else. They need to get rid of it. He knows that Naomi will do the right thing about the sample they hid.
Fred’s staff have done their calculations about targeting the Navuoo at Eros. It’s time to launch the ship, as they begin the sequence Fred says, “You were meant to go to a new sun, Godspeed.” Swarms of tug rockets come out to help steer this massive spaceship from dock. The Nauvoo engines fire up and the ship leaves Tycho. It is a beautiful sequence.
Less talk please
The Rocinante and the ship carrying Miller and OPA members have reached Eros. Diogo (Andrew Rotilio) is excited to be on the mission. He is chattering away and annoying Miller. He is used to being in space so this isn’t a big deal to him, but Miller never left Ceres until now. They are making a spacewalk to the dock and placing the bombs on the dock. Diogo is graceful when he leaves the ship; Miller nearly kills himself getting off the ship. On board the Rocinante, Holden says if feels like they are covering up a crime. Amos Burton (Wes Chatham) sardonically agrees. Alex Kamal (Cas Anvar) notices the Martians could be heading their way but they are too far away to stop them. The crew notices there are heat signatures from Eros and they pick up voices. They spot a ship on the docks. They notify Miller and his crew and go to investigate.
Please don’t make me do it
The ship on the docks is on a humanitarian mission to help the people left on Eros. The doctors found out they were dealing with a biological weapon. They want to broadcast this news to the rest of the system. While setting up the bombs, Miller sees something and goes to investigate. One of the doors is open. When he goes in he finds a dead body, it is one of the doctors and it looks like the Protomolecule affected the doctor. Miller reports it to Holden. Holden warns the ship with the doctors not to broadcast their findings or try to leave since they may be affected. The ship leaves the dock so Holden is forced to launch a missile and destroy the ship. The debris from the destroyed ship heads back where Miller and Diogo are. They take cover but Miller’s suit is punctured. He is able to fix it. He finds Diogo near the bomb. The detonator was damaged and Diogo has his finger on the switch so it won’t go off early. Miller doesn’t have much to live for so he sends his younger companion away.
The crew checks to see if everyone got off, they are relieved to hear Miller’s voice until he explains he is still on the station with his finger on the detonator switch making sure it doesn’t explode right now. Miller is at peace with his decision as he sees the Navuoo headed his way. The Navuoo appears to change course and miss Eros. That’s not what’s happening, Eros has changed course!
***
WTF! Eros changed course, the Protomolecule has somehow changed the asteroid’s course. Cortazar told Amos, Colonel Johnson, and Holden there was a countdown on Eros. I guess the countdown was for sending Eros out of its orbit towards, guessing Earth. The Protomolecule crashed into Phoebe instead of Earth; it might be trying to finish its mission. We have Miller on Eros and the Rocinante in hot pursuit. What can they do to stop Eros? If it’s heading towards Earth Chrisjen and the UN get involved. Will Chrisjen finally meet Holden and his crew?
The Martian marines were skipped this episode. Their story hasn’t developed any stakes yet so I didn’t miss them. Chrisjen continues to impress. The way she handled Mao and Errinwright was a work of art. Mao is sharp so he knows that Chrisjen is on to them. Errinwright is an errand boy and is out of his league. It’s going to be fun watching Chrisjen and Mao match wits. Mao is very rich and dangerous so Chrisjen needs to be careful. He knows she is a danger to him and any man who can sacrifice his daughter isn’t going to have any problem doing worse to someone else. There were many sacrifices attempted this episode and none of them mattered. The Navuoo is just floating out in space. Holden killed the crew of doctors for nothing. Soon everyone is going to know about Eros. Miller trying to sacrifice his life is for naught, he’s still alive because the asteroid he wanted to push into the sun changed course and is on its own mission. What is happening is bigger than they are and they are going to need divine assistance. Better get back on the Mormons good side.
Grade: A-
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