The Expanse – Season Two Episode Recaps
The Expanse – Season 2 Episode Guide
Check out our episode guide for The Expanse below courtesy of SyFy.
- 01 Feb 17 Safe
- 01 Feb 17 Doors & Corners
- 08 Feb 17 Static
- 15 Feb 17 Godspeed
- 22 Feb 17 Home
- 01 Mar 17 Paradigm Shift
- 08 Mar 17 The Seventh Man
- 15 Mar 17 Pyre
- 22 Mar 17 The Weeping Somnambulist
- 29 Mar 17 Cascade
- 05 Apr 17 Here There Be Dragons
- 12 Apr 17 The Monster and the Rocket
- 19 Apr 17 Caliban’s War
At a base on Mars, gunnery sergeant Bobbie Draper and her fellow Marines undergo training, before getting orders that they’re about to be deployed. Bobbie takes one last look at the crater around her, then looks at a projection of what it will look like after 100 years of terraforming. “Someday.”
Up on the Rocinante, Holden and Miller are still recovering from the radiation poisoning they got in the first-season finale. Holden is still having nightmares about the blue protomolecules, dreaming they infect him and Naomi.
Down on Earth, after speaking on television and placing the blame for the Donnager attack on Fred Johnson, Chrisjen Avasarala nearly gets killed in an explosion on a transport that was meant for her.
The Rocinante crew is still learning about the protomolecule. Like where did it come from, to start. Is it evidence of life from beyond the solar system? They decide to send it out to space to destroy it, but Naomi wants to use it to create a vaccine to save the people of Eros.
On Mars, Draper and her crew get their mission: to secure Phoebe Research Station, which had been reported by the Donnager as having been attacked. Draper is loudly hoping for payback against Earth, but her commanding officer, Sutton, cautions her about the grave danger of a war between Mars and Earth.
On the Rocinante, Miller, finally sprung from sick bay, runs into Amos in the kitchen, and Amos thinks they ought to work out their problems sooner rather than later. Like how Amos shot and killed Miller’s pal Sematimba. Amos explains his good reasons, but Miller isn’t having it and punches him. Bad idea. Amos loses it and nearly kills Miller, before Naomi shows up and makes the save.
At the UN meeting, Errinwright strongly pushes to have Earth ships head off the Martian vessels that are currently mobilizing (like Draper’s ship currently deployed to Phoebe). Dissenting voices say that de-escalation is the way to go, but when a silent Chrisjen is asked, she says she concurs with Errinwright.
Convinced that she is being set up as a scapegoat by Errinwright, Chrisjen recruits an old friend of her son’s, Cotyar, for her security detail … and to be her spy inside the UN.
As Naomi and Holden work outside the ship to prep the rocket that will shoot the protomolecule out into an abandoned asteroid field, they go off comms to have a heart-to-heart about how freaked out Holden seems by what they saw on Eros. Later, Holden and Naomi get out of their space suits, and they both look REAL good, so they jump on each other and give in to their attraction.
The ship that Draper and her crew are on fires their missiles (a surprise to the soldiers onboard), while back at the UN, Errinwright presses that the Earth ship, the Nathan Hale, should fire back at the Martians. Chrisjen speaks up, though, and says this sounds like saber-rattling, not an actual attack. It turns out that she’s right; the Martians weren’t firing on the Hale … the missiles strike and destroy Phoebe Research Station.
Figuring that the Rocinante crew needs something good, Alex has cooked them a proper lasagna dinner. One by one, they all show up and break bread and tell stories and enjoy themselves. Even Miller.
Sutton explains to Draper that they didn’t fire on the Hale because the Hale had them massively outgunned. Draper wonders if the mission to avoid a war with Earth isn’t a backwards way of thinking.
At the UN, Earth officials are arguing about how to respond to the Martians destroying Phoebe Station. Admiral Souther is adamant that Mars won’t attack them and that a trade embargo will suffice, but Errinwright (at Chrisjen’s nudging, but a nudging that is clearly indicative of a larger move she has planned to get in good with Errinwright) suggests targeting a radar station on the Martian moon Deimos. Souther refuses to go along with this aggression and resigns his post rather than be relieved of it.
At Tycho station, the Rocinante makes its return after going rogue, and Fred Johnson is not happy with them at all. But after everything the Rocinante crew has seen, they — Naomi and Miller especially — aren’t having it. They tell Fred everything that happened on Eros.
Holden tells Fred that the people who carried out the Eros experiment beamed their data to a communication station. If they’re ever to avenge Eros, they need to take that station.
After helping introduce some Belter refugees from Eros to their new surroundings on Tycho, Alex grabs a drink with Amos and airs out his guilty feelings about not saving enough people. Amos is stoic, saying they got out and that was enough. Alex has more survivor’s guilt to work out, but when he turns back to Amos, he only sees the beautiful woman Amos paid to listen to Alex’s moaning in his stead.
Holden and Naomi work on the ship. He’s also working out his guilt, while Naomi has some anger she’d like to work out on the people who did this. Holden also wonders if Amos will be okay finding out that he and Naomi are together.
Meanwhile, Fred is having a hell of a time keeping the new Eros Belters in line. He needs to recruit 50 good fighters for the mission to Thoth Station, where they’ve tracked the bad guys that infected Eros with the protomolecule. But the Belters don’t want to follow orders. Fred isn’t about to let dissension and treachery tear his operation apart, so he blows one agitator out of an airlock.
Alex is running simulation missions to prepare for the raid on the communication station, but he keeps failing. Meanwhile, Miller volunteers to be part of the assault team. “Somebody’s gotta keep these idiots from shootin’ each other.”
Chrisjen arranges to meet with Admiral Souther at a fairly swanky bar. She explains that Deimos was as harmless a target as they could have hoped to go after, but Souther is in no mood to deal with her. She wants to know about Fred Johnson, though, and Souther tells her that Fred went rogue all those years back because the UN manipulated him into attacking Belters who’d already surrendered. “He’s an honorable man who held onto his soul, and that’s a tough thing to do in this line of work.”
The freighter ship Guy Molinari approaches the Thoth Station, conveniently hiding the Rocinante behind it in its radar shadow. Aboard the ship, the Rocinante crew silently prepare for battle.
Meanwhile, Miller is in with the attack squad in the boarding pod (really just an old FedEx shipping container). Miller hates space and hates people and basically hates his life right now. And that’s before the high-spirited Belter named Diogo (remember him from last season?) recognizes him and starts chatting him up. Miller responds by puking.
Well it’s a good, old-fashioned firefight as the Rocinante approaches Thoth Station. There is weapon fire coming from all over the station. Amos has to leave the deck to go fix a breach on the ship’s thruster.
After the first of the breaching pods gets destroyed by fire from the station’s asteroid cannon, Amos fixes the thruster just in time for the Rocinante to get on the move and take out the cannon and clear the way for the second pod.
Miller’s pod lands safely. Seconds after the soldiers emerge, Diogo is shot in the head, much to Miller’s dismay. The good news? It was a gel round so Diogo survived unharmed. “Invincible me!”
Miller and his team find a room on the station that houses six people who all seem to have their heads networked together. For what purpose, Miller doesn’t know. But when they’re unplugged, they go absolutely crazy, and all but one end up shot by the pod team. Miller manages to keep one of them alive.
Miller finds another room with a man poring over scientific data. It’s Dresden, last seen on Eros. Miller arrests him as Fred shows up, but Dresden tries to defend his actions of unleashing the protomolecule on Eros. He says the protomolecule could ultimately unlock all human possibility if they can figure it out.
Dresden offers to switch his loyalties to Fred’s organization if he’ll let him continue his research. He doesn’t much care who owns the project so long as he controls the research. Fred appears to agree, but Miller takes matters into his own hands and shoots Dresden in the head. So. That’s one solution.
Following UN orders, Earth missiles target and obliterate the Martian moon of Deimos, killing 17. Reacting to the strike, Bobbie Draper’s marine unit is on edge and spoiling for a fight. Meanwhile, back on Earth, Chrisjen warns Errinwright not to underestimate Mars’ resolve.
Back on Tycho, the surviving crew of Thoth station are brought in as prisoners. Miller is also handcuffed, for killing Dresden. Holden is furious at Miller and tries to attack him, but Fred and Naomi pull him off. Fred tells Miller to pick a ship that’s departing Tycho and be on it.
Later, Holden is still fuming to Naomi, saying they fought to take Thoth station for nothing, thanks to Miller. Naomi defends Miller, asking whether they were going to deal with Dresden instead? Holden says they now have to clean up Miller’s mess.
Things are tense in Draper’s marine unit. Private Travis is taking abuse from Privates Hillman and Sa’id because he was born on Earth (in Texas, specifically). Tensions boil over into fisticuffs, and when Bobbie takes an accidental elbow as she tries to break it up, she punches Travis square in the face on reflex.
Fred wants to interrogate the one surviving researcher they unplugged from the mind-meld data hub. His name is Paolo Cortazar, a specialist in nanoinformatics. Holden tries to make an emotional appeal to him, talking about how hard it must’ve been for Cortazar to watch his mother die of a degenerative disease. But Cortazar is practically emotionless. And he pledges his loyalty to Dresden.
Since returning from the mission, Alex has become obsessed with running and re-running simulations from the mission, trying to see how he could have saved that second breaching pod that was destroyed.
Miller’s been exiled from the Rocinante, so Diogo offers to let him crash at his place. Which is decorated like a college dorm. Diogo jams out to some hot new EDM-sounding tune that he says is based on a decrypted data stream coming off of Eros. Meanwhile, Miller gives himself a trendy new haircut and is haunted by visions of Julie Mao.
Elsewhere, Samara and Naomi blow off some steam, playing racquetball and then dancing it out at one of Tycho’s hot dance clubs.
Bobbie Draper gets a talking to from Sutton after her knockout punch turns out to have injured Travis. He didn’t snitch on her, though. Sutton intuits that this wasn’t about infighting but about Draper’s frustration at not being able to go to war. Echoing Chrisjen’s earlier warning to Errinwright, Draper says “We can only be pushed so far.”
Per her request, Cotyar has found Chrisjen a secure channel to send a message to Fred Johnson. He asks her to consider if she’s really ready to commit treason.
The message Chrisjen sends to Fred tells him that she was lying all those times she denounced him on TV. She tells him she needs his help, plus any kind of evidence that could avert war. Samara warns Fred that the Black Sky will come after him if they find out he’s colluding with anyone at the UN.
It’s learned that Cortazar and his fellow researchers were modified so that their brains could no longer feel empathy. Later, Cortazar continues drawing diagrams on the windows of his cell. Amos pays him a visit, and instead of confronting him, he tries to speak logically of what they saw when they found Julie Mao’s body. Cortazar explains that the protomolecule was transforming inside her.
Miller prepares to leave Tycho and comes upon the recruiting station for the Nauvoo, the giant ship that’s supposed to carry all the Mormons out past the solar system. Perhaps Miller is thinking about converting?
Amos has figured out the key to getting Cortazar to talk: just engage him about the research he was doing. He can’t resist talking about it. So Holden engages him by talking about his observations of the protomolecule on the Anubis. He asks Cortazar if he can control it. Cortazar says the only way he can is by getting access to his research.
Fred joins Amos and Holden in interrogating Cortazar. He plays the recording of the data stream that was the basis for the music Diogo was rocking to. It’s coming from Eros. It’s pulsating voices from Eros, chanting something, counting down. Cortazar thinks they’re building something.
Chrisjen gets a response communication from Fred Johnson. No message, just the location of a stealth ship.
Holden tells Naomi about the pulse coming from Eros and says that what they left behind on Eros isn’t over yet. And he’s going to need her help to do something about it.
After the dustup earlier, Draper extends an olive branch to Travis, and Hillman and Sa’id follow suit. They’re all four Martian strong together.
Miller pays Fred Johnson a visit, as they have both managed to come to the same conclusion: Eros needs to be destroyed, for the good of all. But how can they destroy a whole asteroid? Miller got a great idea just today: they’re going to use the Nauvoo to do it.
The coordinates Fred Johnson sent to Avasarala last week were to a derelict stealth ship floating in space. After looking into it, Avasarala and Cotyar discover that the ship is connected to Protogen and Jules Pierre Mao. She thinks this is connected to why Mars wanted Phoebe station destroyed. She tells Cotyar to have the ship pushed to where someone will find it.
Fred gathers Holden and Naomi together with Miller to explain Miller’s plan to ram Eros with the Nauvoo ship in order to send it careening into the sun and this making sure no one ever gets on Eros again. Fred says they need the Rocinante’s help to destroy the docks on Eros. Holden thinks the plan is insane, but Fred insists it’s the only way.
The derelict ship gets found and linked to Mao pretty quickly. Both Avasarala and Errinwright have Mao to the UN to grill him about it (even though Errinwright is secretly in league with Mao and Avasarala is secretly plotting against him).
On the pretense of a radiation leak, the Nauvoo is evacuated, though the head Mormon can tell that Miller is up to something. “This is our temple,” he practically pleads. “This is part of God’s plan,” Miller answers.
Miller preps for the space mission. Fred even gives him a gun. Naomi them confronts Miller and asks him if he’s doing all this for dead Julie Mao. Miller reminds Naomi that the Roci crew his some of the protomolecule out in space and he hasn’t said anything. So they both have their reasons.
And so the Nauvoo is unmoored from Tycho station and sent blasting off on a course for Eros.
That meeting earlier with Avasarala has really gotten under Mao’s skin. He tells Errinwright that he thinks she’s on to them. Errinwright disagrees, and the two men argue over whether their partnership is worth preserving.
The crew of the Guy Molinari — Miller and Diogo among them — have to space-walk onto Eros and then plant bombs on the docks to ensure that no one can get onto Eros ever again. Miller, as usual, hates space.
Back on the Rocinante, Alex spots a ship called the Marasmus that shouldn’t be there. They send a drone to investigate and end up communicating with the crew, a humanitarian mission to care for the victims of Eros. Holden needs to chase them off of Eros before any of them can get on and infect themselves.
On Eros, Miller and Diogo are chatty (too chatty for Miller’s liking) as they place the bombs. Miller warns Diogo against placing too much faith in the OPA … or in anyone. Diogo brushes it off, though.
Miller then comes upon a hatch door and sees a body in an air lock. It’s one of the doctors from the Marasmus.
On the Rocinante, a frantic Holden orders the Marasmus to turn themselves around and return with them. They could be infected with the proomolecule, which case the whole sol system is doomed. “Don’t make me kill you,” Holden pleads to himself.
The Marasmus won’t turn around, however, and Holden is forced to give the order to destroy the Marasmus.
Debris from the Marasmus goes hurtling towards Miller and Diogo, and Miller’s suit is punctured. After a frantic moment, he’s able to patch himself up.
The problem is, one of the bombs was damages in the debris, and now Diogo must hold down the detonator or else it’ll explode. If it does, it’ll ruin the whole Eros mission. Miller decides to make the supreme sacrifice and takes the bomb from Diogi and sends him to finish the job. Miller’s going to go down with Eros.
Miller relays the bad news to the Roci about the bomb and his intentions to stay with it while it detonates. Naomi says they can rescue him, but impact with the Nauvoo is iminent. There’s no time.
Miller is resigned to his fate as he watches the Nauvoo approach for impact with Eros. But at the last second, the Nauvoo goes soaring past its target. How did the Nauvoo change course? It didn’t. Eros did.
Miller and the Rocinante crew are both trying to grapple with the fact that Eros moved to evade the Nauv00. But there’s little time to marvel: powered by the protomolecule, Eros is heating up and moving fast.
Back at the UN, everybody’s going crazy with the reports that Eros is on the move. Avasarala tries to cool down any notions that Mars is behind it. And things get even more tense when they find out that Eros is on a collision course with Earth.
Seeing that he still has this malfunctioning nuke on his hands, Naomi gets a wonderful terrible idea: Miller can crawl into the bowels of Eros, plant the bomb, and hopefully destroy the protomolecule.
Errinwright wants to order a massive missile attack to take out Eros before it reaches Earth. But what of the “biotoxin” that killed all those people? There’s no time to worry about that. Meanwhile, Avasarala wants to make sure Mars doesn’t take the missile launch as an act of aggression.
Miller climbs up into the bowels of Eros station. He has a close call with re-setting the nuke timer, and then he starts hearing voices. He’s also starting to see pieces of the protomolecule floating all around.
As both Fred Johnson and the Rocinante crew look on with worry, Earth launches their massive missile strike towards Eros. But as the missiles make their way across space, suddenly Eros disappears from radar. Chaos descends again.
The UN is freaking out, but Fred sends them a message: Eros is off the radar, but the Rocinante still has visual on it. It’s still there. They can guide the missiles to it, but Earth must give Fred the controls for the missiles. At the UN, Avasarala advocates for Fred and wants to communicate with the Rocinante crew.
Holden relays a message back to the UN, asking Avasarala to trust him with this mission. The request works: Avasarala vouches for Holden to the Security Council.
On Eros, Miller is getting closer to the center, and the protomolecule is all around him. With a ticking clock now on them, Naomi tells Miller he better move his ass.
As the missiles and the Rocinante start to give chase, Eros starts accelerating again. The Roci can’t afford to lose a visual, so Alex kicks on the afterburners. He warns the crew that if they keep increasing the Gs, they’re all going to end up unconscious (or worse). Holden gives the order: full speed ahead. As Avasarala observes from Earth: They’re going to stay with Eros even if it kills them.
Everyone on Earth is evacuating the planet. Avasarala gets on the phone with her husband, and they fight through the comm delays to say what might be their last goodbyes to each other.
On Eros, Miller starts to make out the voices he’s hearing. It’s Julie Mao. As her “catch me if you can” echoes in his ears, he comms to Naomi that he thinks Julie’s consciousness is still alive in the ship. He thinks when the protomolecule infected her, she infected it back. He thinks SHE’S the one steering the ship right now.
Miller wants Alex to “tap the brakes on the Roci” and stop chasing Eros. Eros will find a way to evade the missiles regardless. Miller thinks he can get “Julie” to stop Eros herself. Alex assents and taps the brakes. As Eros speeds away, Fred agrees to trust what Holden is doing and sends the Earth missiles out into space.
Miller makes it to the Blue Falcon, where Julie was first infected with the protomolecule. There he finds Julie – or rather her consciousness inside a body made of protomolecules. He wakes her up and makes a proper introduction.
Miller tries to convince Julie to steer the ship off someplace safe. Julie doesn’t think she can control it. She just wants to go home, only she can’t. Miller tells her she’s not alone, places her hand on the nuke, and takes off her helmet. He kisses her, and they wait in each other’s arms.
Avasarala on Earth, Fred Johnson on Tycho, the crew aboard the Rocinante – everyone looks on as Eros guides inself into a collison with Venus. With Miller and Julie Mao aboard, the asteroid station explodes upon impact with the planet.
137 years ago, back when Mars was just a colony under UN control, an engineer named Solomon Epstein was tinkering with the jalopy of a space ship that he owned. Initially just trying to marginally improve fuel efficiency, Epstein hits the drive button and immediately begins traveling far faster than he ever imagined. Narrating the flashback, Epstein says his discovery changed everything.
Back in the present, the UN security council is grappling with what Eros has done. Colonel Janus thinks it was a test of a new Martian fuel drive, a notion that Avasarala scoffs at. Whatever it is, Janus says, Eros represents the “greatest technological leap since the Epstein drive.” They plan to send a team to Venus to investigate.
Holden sends a message home to his mother, telling her he’s okay and how proud he is of his crew (especially Naomi). Later, he and Naomi continue to debate over whether or not they should destroy their sample of the protomolecule.
Holden and Naomi stand in front of the rest of the Rocinante crew and make the big announcement that they’re seeing each other. After a pregnant pause, Amos and Alex erupt into laughter and say that Alex lost the bet. Amos is surprisingly cool with all of this.
Alex then pulls Holden aside to point out that 30 of the nukes that Earth sent have not been shut down. Where are they now? Well, they see that they’ve been caught by a giant space net. Guess whose net it is…
137 Years Ago: Epstein’s fuel-burning breakthrough was great for mankind but kind of terrible for him, as he’s now speeding off into space at Gs that will surely kill him. He tries to reach the panel to turn off the burners but he can’t.
Avasarala has dinner with Dr. Michael Iturbi, who was present at the earlier UN meeting. The two of them seem to have some kind of romantic history, but she shuts that down quickly. He’s fascinated by what’s happening with Eros, and his theory as to why it did what it did is essentially what actually happened, so he’s on the ball. He asks Chrisjen to find a way to get him onto that transport to Venus. He offers to be her eyes and ears there if she does.
On Tycho station, the Roci crew gets a heroes’ welcome. They see that Diogo has already begun evangelizing Miller as the hero to the Belter masses.
Holden and Naomi speak to Fred Johnson about the 30 missing nukes. Fred doesn’t so much see it as a problem because he’s got them. Holden thinks they ought to jettison the missiles and tell Earth and Mars about the protomolecule. Fred counters that the nukes can be good bargaining chips, and as for the protomolecule, the safest thing they can do is keep Earth and Mars in the dark.
Alex, enjoying his hero status, chats up a lady but runs afoul of her husband. This starts a brawl, but Amos shows up out of nowhere and beats the husband down. He’s bunking at the brothel next door, see.
137 Years Ago: Epstein makes a last-ditch effort to signal his wife, but he can’t reach the signalling device. Things are looking grim.
After Fred tells Holden that he’s going to need to pick a side as things escalate, Naomi goes to see Fred as well. She thinks they should tell the people everything about what Miller and Julie did on Eros. Not the protomolecule stuff; just how an Earther/OPA member and a Belter came together to save humanity. That story has value. Fred agrees.
Later, the Roci crew debates whether they should destroy their protomolecule sample. Alex says they should give it to Mars, which earns him a heap of side-eye from Belter Naomi. Ultimately, Naomi drops her objections and agrees with Holden and Amos that they should kill it.
Naomi launches the protomolecule out on a torpedo on a course to the sun. Alex tracks its movements according to plan, but we see the torpedo suddenly power down, unbeknownst to anyone.
137 Years Ago: Epstein is about to die – of a stroke, most likely. But he voices over about his discovery and how it would allow Mars to finally break free of its colonial limitations, travel out into space, mine the asteroids, and colonize the belt.
Avasarala finally confronts Errinwright about Mao, and how she knows Errinwright is working with him. She says they need to know what Mao knows and cut a deal with him. Avasarala goes OFF on Errinwright, saying that she will threaten to ruin Mao’s family if they don’t bring him forward.
On the Roci, Alex comes upon Amos defacing the Martian flag (erasing Deimos since it’s not there anymore) and starts beef with him. He’s still mad about the bar fight and Amos treating him like some damsel in distress. Amos matter-of-factly says he does see Alex as weak and in need of protection. Alex, as you might imagine, objects to that assessment.
Naomi gives Drummer a hand in disabling the countermeasures on the pilfered nukes. They bond some more over being Belters.
On the shared US/MCR station of Ganymede, Bobbie Draper and her marines patrol the border zone. While in a communication blackout, they spot gunfire on the UN border line. Suddenly, the marines’ comms are jammed, and six marines appear to the charging at them. If it’s a battle, Draper has been ready for this for a while. But upon closer look…is something chasing the UN marines?
Suddenly, there’s gunfire everywhere. Ganymede station is attacked by unknown parties. Everyone in Draper’s unit gets gunned down, as does her commanding officer. Draper’s the only one left to see the approach of the attacking figure … and its looks alien.
As bloody snowflakes fall, with everyone around her dead, Bobbie Draper is rescued from the massacre on Ganymede by Martian forces.
On Earth, the UN is getting choppy reports of the attack. With UN and MCRN forces both having fired, it’s all being treated as a humanitarian crisis. Naturally, the UN council thinks it was a Mars attack, though Avasarala argues for communication and de-escalation. The Secretary General asks her why she never ran for office. Avasarala: “I like getting shit done, and I like having my head attached to my neck.”
On Tycho station, where they’re taking in refugees from Ganymede, Naomi and Holden look on as Anderson Dawes shows up, loudly proclaiming that all refugees are welcome on Ceres. Holden and Naomi appear to disagree on whether Dawes is a good guy or not.
Draper has been picked up by the MCRN ship Sirocco, under the command of a man named Thorsen. He wants to know what happened on Ganymede. Draper recalls the six UN soldiers running towards them … and then there was a seventh. Draper gets too upset as she recalls the attack and needs to be sedated.
While handing out relief supplies, Amos gets shoved by a kid protecting his mom, and he’s thrown for a loop. He visits Cortazar and asks about the brain procedure that removed his empathy. Cortazar thinks Amos should do it; stamp out that last bit of vulnerability (and humanity).
On Tycho, Fred Johnson convenes an OPA conclave. He says Belters must unify in the face of the Earth/Mars conflict. They can finally have a seat at the table if they make themselves instrumental in the peace process. He suggests Anderson Dawes, a born Belter, as their representative. But when Dawes speaks, he pivots away from Fred’s ideas. He says Inners will always subjugate Belters in peace.
During the meeting, Holden spoke out in support of Fred. Later, Naomi tells him he should’ve stayed quiet. She says the sight of Holden and Fred, two Earthers, trying to lead the Belt is a bad look.
Draper’s out of sick bay, but she’s still being questioned by Thorsen about what she saw. She can’t make sense of that seventh man, running behind the other six. She then remembers the drone that flew obverhead before the attack. Thorsen clearly wants Draper to say that Earth initiated the attack, and Draper is definitely willing to lay this on Earth’s doorstep.
Dawes meets with Naomi and Holden. He tells them that Belters will never unite under Fred Johnson; his days on Tycho are numbered. Dawes also tries to appeal to Naomi’s Belter nature to get her on his side.
Draper is visited by a Captain Martens, the ship chaplain. He tells Bobbie he served with her father, then tries to get her to talk about what she saw. She mentions the drone again, but Martens says there is no evidence of any drone.
Dawes continues his sweet-talking tour of Tycho’s Belters by sidling up to Drummer, with whom he appears to share a romantic past. He’s trying to get her to tell him about this secret weapon that he thinks Fred has.
One more attempt to get Draper to remember. She’s hooked up to brain sensors as Thorsen questions her again. This time, Martins observes unseen from another room. Now, Draper remembers that the seventh man was chasing the other six. They were shooting at him. She says the seventh man wasn’t wearing a space suit.
Fred comes to Holden and tells him that Cortazar is getting new data streams, meaning that there is more protomolecule out there. Fred wants to get his hands on it so he can hold it as an advantage.
Dawes meets with Diogo in his little dorm room. He flatters Diogo and his Belter nature, so Diogo eagerly spills about the scientist they captured on the research station. Dawes is more than intrigued.
Draper is awarded a purple heart for her bravery, but there’s more: Thorsen tells her she needs to go to Earth to testify at the Earth/Mars summit. And he instructs her to say that Mars fired first. And no more talk about that seventh creature either.
Holden investigates a strange noise and sees that Cortazar has been dragged away by Dawes’s delegation (including Diogo). Dawes’ ship takes off, and Alex and Naomi, who are already on the Roci, give chase.
Alex skillfully shoots out Dawes’ thrusters, but Naomi is reluctant to attack a fellow Belter as they prepare to board the ship. Only Dawes isn’t there. Diogo walks out as a decoy. Dawes is gone, with Cortazar in tow.
A survivor of the Ganymede attack wakes up among his fellow refugees. They’re on a rescue ship in the Belt, and there aren’t enough supplies to go around. The man, Prax, is looking for his daughter, Mei, who was at the clinic in Sector 4 during the attack. He sees a familiar face, Doris, who tells him that Sector 4 was destroyed. Mei is gone.
On Tycho Station, Diogo is in custody for helping Dawes escape with Cortazar. Fred Johnson grabs Diogo by the throat and leans on him for information, but Diogo is defiant. He tells Fred to go back to Earth, his real home. Holden demands to know how Dawes was able to escape. It seems that he had some kind of inside help, and a few eyes look to Drummer with suspicion.
Dawes sends a message to Fred, accusing him of lying about having destroyed the ProtoGen weapon (the Protomolecule). Dawes chalks this up to Fred’s Earther nature. The Belters, Dawes says, refuse to be under anyone’s thumb. He pledges to hand Fred’s secret weapon over to his fellow Belters.
On the rescue ship, Prax and Doris lament their refugee status. It’ll take a generation to rebuild Ganymede. Where can they go now? Doris proposes the notion that Mars could use a couple agri-techs like them. Prax is reluctant but agrees. Doris thinks they could start over together and touches his hand, but Prax pulls back.
On Tycho, Naomi secretly checks on the location of the Protomolecule torpedo she hid out in space. She briefly considers sending it to Ceres, but reconsiders.
In some secret corner of Tycho, a group of Belters, including rabble-rouser Staz and Edin, listen to a bootleg feed of Dawes’ message to Fred Johnson. They seem especially interested in this weapon Fred kept from them.
On the refugee ship, the Earth-bound and Mars-bound ships are here. Prax attempts to board the ship for Mars with Doris, but the Belters in charge won’t let him because he’s not an Inner by birth (he was born on Ganymede). They say goodbye through the door, and it looks okay, until the Mars-bound refugees are suddenly shot out of the airlock! “Inners wreck Ganymede” says one of the guards as Prax looks on in horror.
Naomi and Samara are checking the exterior antennae on Tycho for signal records of Cortazar’s communications so they can find out where the Protomolecule is. While they do, Drummer tells Naomi about how she and Dawes found Fred on Ceres and recruited him. Drummer tearfully expresses her loyalty to Fred. The women then find out where the Protomoleule signal was coming from: Ganymede.
Prax ends up on Tycho station, still in a daze from what he’s seen. He tries to report the crime the Belters on the refugee ship committed, but he doesn’t even know the name of the ship he was on. There’s nothing the doctor can do about it.
Holden and Naomi put their heads together to figure out how the Protomolecule ended up on Ganymede. They find a ProtoGen connection in one Dr. Lawrence Strickland, a pediatrician in a clinic on the station. They see a photo and identify one of the men with Strickland as a survivor on Tycho station: Prax.
While Fred and Drummer have a disagreement about refugee placement, Staz leads a group of Belters to storm the control deck, aided by the Edin, who appears to be the Tycho crew member leaking information to Dawes. Fred and Drummer are taken captive as Staz demands the stockpile of nukes.
Holden and Naomi find Prax among the refugees and grill him about Strickland. Prax says Strickland is merely his daughter’s pediatrician, though he also calls him a “gifted geneticist.” Naomi takes Prax at his word, and in searching the footage from Ganymede, they see Strickland take Mei out of the clinic. Prax, realizing his daughter might be alive, begs Holden and Naomi to take him with them.
Staz threatens to kill people if Fred keeps stonewalling him. Staz prods Drummer to join them, but she refuses. So Staz shoots her in the gut!
On the Rocinante, Alex finds Amos and tells him people need their help. Amos, still feeling out of it and considering getting the Cortazar procedure on his brain, says he doesn’t feel like it, and he and Alex get into a fight. Alex and Amos get back on the same page once they learn about the attempted coup. Amos space-walks to a switch where he kills the oxygen to the control deck. As Staz, the rebels, and Fred all begin to pass out, Fred is able to knock Staz’s gun away from him.
Holden and Alex lead the charge onto the deck, where they capture the rebels. He tends to Drummer first, and as he leads her away, she grabs Alex’s gun and shoots both Staz and Edin in the head. So there ends that uprising.
In the aftermath, Amos welcomes Prax to the Roci, Holden and Naomi pledge not to keep any more secrets, and Fred tells Holden that if he leaves to search for the protomolecule on Ganymede, he won’t be welcome back on Tycho. Holden expresses his doubts that Fred will even be in charge when he gets back.
22 Mar 17 The Weeping Somnambulist
The Weeping Somnabulist is a relief ship en route to Ganymede. They’re suddenly boarded by a crew with space helmets on. Turns out, it’s Holden and the Rocinante crew, who need to commandeer the ship so they can get onto Ganymede and search for Dr. Strickland.
Meanwhile, Bobbie is on an MCR drop ship bound for Earth. The Martians are told to prepare for the switch to Earth’s high-gravity environment. They need to take pills, and still when they land some are pukey. Welcome to Earth!
The UN ship Arbogast is approaching Venus, on a fact-finding mission about Eros. Onboard, Colonel Janus and Dr. Iturbi verbally spar about their conflicting worldviews. Janus thinks Iturbi will twist the facts to suit his beliefs in alien life. The two men are interrupted by a signal from a Martian ship.
The Roci crew is still docked with the husband-and-wife crew of the Somnambulist. Neither of whom are thrilled to see them there, though the wife, Melissa, is the angrier of the two.
Prax records a message to Doris’ family expressing his sadness over her death but his gratitude for her helping him get off Ganymede. He goes to send it but he’s not authorized. He angrily asks Amos if he’s a prisoner on the ship.
On Earth, the summit has begun. Earth shades the Martians about their struggles responding to Earth’s gravity. Both sides posture their way through a moment of silence for the lives lost on Ganymede.
On the Arbogast, the Martian ship is not responding to communication requests. Janus broadcasts a message that they are on a scientific mission, and if they’re messed with, any aggression could be seen as an act of war.
After getting tipped off by Amos, Prax demands answers about the Protomolecule. Holden tells him enough, then Prax says that his daughter, Mei, has a genetic disorder, one Dr. Strickland was helping her with. So what’s the connection between Strickland, the Protomolecule, and Mei’s disease?
Reluctantly wearing her Purple Heart, Bobbie testifies before the panel. As instructed she lies and says she and her team mistook an Earther training exercise for aggression and fired first. One of the Martian bigwigs on the panel offers up the late Private Travis as a scapegoat who fired first, and Bobbie goes along with it. Avasarala, however, is eyeballing Bobbie the whole time. She’s clearly suspicious that Bobbie isn’t telling the whole truth.
Afterwards, Bobbie is angry about throwing Travis under the bus, but Martens tells her that Travis, in death, may have averted a war by taking responsibility.
At the U.N., the Secretary General tells Avasarala and Errinwright that Mars is offering reparations for Ganymede as part of a settlement. And while he instructs Errinwright to “squeeze those arrogant Dusters for everything you can get,” Avasarala is skeptical that Travis seems like too perfect a scapegoat. Errinwright tells her to leave well enough alone. What are the odds she does that?
With Alex staying behind on the Rocinante, Holden, Naomi, Amos, and Prax pilot the Somnambulist. Melissa says Holden’s going to get them all killed.
Just as the Earth/Mars hearings are about to close, Avasarala asks to question Bobbie again. She meanders in her questioning a bit — snapping at the Martian minister of defense that she’s going “wherever I goddamn like” with this — with the intent of making Bobbie feel guilty for incriminating Travis. She gets Bobbie off guard, and Bobbie eventually mentions seeing the figure who wasn’t wearing an evac suit. Martens interrupts, earning him an epic clap-back from Avasarala, but the interruption gets Bobbie to revert to her story. Travis fired first. He panicked.
On the Arbogast, the Martian ship appears to be shadowing them. Janus and Iturbi resume their argument about the possibility of alien civilizations, but they’re interrupted by visuals of the Eros impact crater on Venus.
Later, Iturbi communicates to Avasarala that they’re seeing biological compounds in the atmosphere on Venus above the Eros crater that should be impossible. “Eros changes everything,” muses Avasarala. “Just like a soldier on Ganymede without a suit.”
While Alex parks the Roci behind a moon to observe Ganymede, the Somnambulist lands among MCRN patrols. The ship is boarded by some opportunistic dock workers who want to take their usual cut from the Somnambulist haul. Only this time, they want everything, including the ship. There’s a tense stand-off, with the pirates holding a gun to Santichai and Melissa’s heads.
Holden and Naomi burst out of hiding, and there’s a gunfight that leaves the pirates dead, but also Santichai. Melissa is inconsolable, devastated. She orders Holden and his crew to get off her ship, and heavy with the weight of guilt, they do.
On Ganymede, the Rocinante crew deal with their guilt over the shootout that led to the death of the pilot of the Somnambulist. Prax is looking very wary of being connected to these guys. Holden, Naomi, Amos, and Prax find out that Mei and Dr. Strickland are not marked among the dead on Ganymede. They then tour the blasted agriculture dome where Prax used to work.
On Earth, the negotiations with Mars are as tense as ever. Avasarala doesn’t believe Draper was talking crazy when she mentioned the man without the space suit. In Draper’s quarters at the Martian embassy, Martens hollers at her for her testimony. She asks if she can see the ocean before she’s sent back to Mars, but Martens snaps at her that she’s to stay put.
As soon as Martens is gone, Bobbie begins to try to pry her room’s windows open.
Errinwright is increasingly agitated as he pores over Bobbie’s testimony and the evidence from the attack.
Holden and Naomi question relief workers about Dr. Strickland and ask about signs of the Protomolecule. Naomi tells Holden this doesn’t feel like Eros. Holden wonders if it just hasn’t started yet.
As Amos and Prax investigate the damaged plant life, Prax is accosted by someone he knows, who accuses him of cowardice. Prax tells him he’s looking for Mei, and he’s told to seek out someone named Roma, who might know.
Errinwright, looking stricken, goes to see Avasarala. He tells her he believes Ganymede was a test for a weapon that was made by Jules-Pierre Mao. He knows this, he says, because he’s been working with Mao. He tries to justify that this was about trying to keep Earth safe, but Avasarala won’t let him off the hook so easily. He hands over all the information he has and says he thinks Ganymede was just the beginning.
Bobbie is finally able to get her window open, and she climbs out and scales/tumbles her way down and out into the unsure environs of Earth.
On Ganymede, the Roci crew finds Roma, who is hoarding supplies and running his own corrupt little barter system. He’s initially obstinate towards requests for help, so Amos starts beating the hell out of him. Naomi and Prax stop him from killing Roma, so instead Amos pulls out a gun and gives Roma a choice: help them or die.
Cotyar reports to Avasarala that Bobbie has escaped the Martian embassy. She sees this as a huge opportunity to find her first, and she instructs Cotyar to see that the Martians are slowed down in their efforts to find Bobbie.
Bobbie is loose in New York, walking around shanty towns and looking for the way to the ocean. She’s also struggling to walk in Earth’s gravity. A friendly face offers to help in exchange for her bone density pills, which he can barter for medicine to help his people. This man, Nico, shows Bobbie how to walk like an Earther and points her towards the ocean.
While Roma searches the database for Mei, Naomi tells Holden how much she’s bothered by the crew’s recent turn towards violence. “Every shitty thing we do makes the next one that much easier,” she says.
Meanwhile, Prax inspects the plant life, which is dying out because of improper watering. He tells Amos that once the plants go, the whole ecosystem will go. Amos says Ganymede is too important to the system’s food supply. Prax says Ganymede is already dead.
While all this is going on, Alex is straight chilling on the Roci, singing along to country music and drinking zero-gravity beer. Suddenly, there’s an MCRN announcement that there’s a no-fly zone over Ganymede. Bad news.
Roma finds video of Strickland and Mei walking towards an old part of the station where there are no cameras. What lies there? Who knows?
Bobbie makes it to the ocean and sits at the water’s edge. There, she’s approached by Avasarala and Cotyar. She shows Bobbie a photo of the Protomolecule hybrid creature who rushed her on Ganymede, part of the evidence Errinwright gave her. She tells Draper it was part of a Martian test of a new weapon. Bobbie doesn’t believe it and says Avasarala is the enemy. Avasarala says they can’t afford to be enemies, but Cotyar pulls her away as Martian officials are approaching.
05 Apr 17 Here There Be Dragons
In a flashback to before the Ganymede attack, Dr. Strickland is walking with Mei and another woman, as we saw in the security cam footage. As he passes a plant, he sneakily snaps off a leaf and keeps walking.
Back in the present, the Roci crew (minus Alex) retraces those steps and finds the tunnel to the old Ganymede station. Naomi tries to prepare Prax for the worst. He tells her she’s never lost a child, but she says she has, and it took her a long time to get over the guilt.
On Earth, Draper is getting chewed out by Martens for escaping the embassy. She is demanding the truth about the Protomolecule hybrid she saw on Ganymede. She yells that he lied to her. He yells that she’s jeopardized the future of Mars. He also tells her she’s no longer a soldier and to prep for the trip home.
On the Arboghast, Janus and Iturbi look on with concern as an MCRN ship continues to shadow them. They also continue to try to drop probes down into the Eros crater on Venus, but the probes’ signals all disappear before they reach the surface. Iturbi suggests they break protocol and drop lower before releasing their last two probes, and after some debate, Janus concedes.
Errinwright tells Avasarala he has an idea to leverage Jules-Pierre Mao’s family in order to get Mao to make contact. Avasarala tells Errinwright he’s going to be a scapegoat at the hearings about the Eros disaster unless they can find Mao. And even if they don’t, Errinwright should use the hearings to atone for what he’s been a part of.
As the Martian drop ship enters Earth’s atmosphere to pick up Draper and Martens, it suddenly reverses course and returns to space. It seems the UN got wind of an OPA plot to bomb the transport, and Avasarala put a hold on the pick-up. So Draper and a suspicious Martens return to their quarters.
Alex and the Roci are still hiding out behind one of Jupiter’s moons amid a no-fly order. Suddenly, there’s an MCRN alert about a ship, the Karakum, that’s been granted clearance to land on Ganymede. Alex surmises it’s some kind of black-ops deal; he needs to get down to Ganymede first, and he plans a wildly ambitious slingshot-around-a few-moons plan to get the Roci down to the surface without detection.
In another flashback, this time at the beginning of the Ganymede battle, Strickland and the other woman, Umea, bicker about how this field test of theirs has gone horribly wrong and could trigger a war. Mei speaks up and wants her daddy, but Strickland manages to talk sweet to her and give her an injection before leading her along to the next place.
The Roci crew continues to track through the tunnels as the air cycler shuts down in the station. Prax begins to explain the “cascade effect” like he did to Amos last week, but Amos interrupts with the short version: “Means this station is fucked.” Prax spots a vial of Mei’s medicine and surmises that Strickland is keeping Mei alive. Holden says they keep going.
Draper requests to see Martens, who is in his room, receiving a message about the Karakum landing on Ganymede to pick up “Caliban.” She again demands the truth and then attacks him, angry that her team was killed for a weapons test. She makes him show her proof: Project Caliban was a field test; he shows her footage from the drone she saw that night. “It was for the good of Mars,” he says.
Draper knocks Martens out and manages to also knock out a security guard. She makes a run for the perimeter fence around the Martian embassy, but she’ll never make it. So she gives herself up…to UN authorities. She’s requesting political asylum.
Alex begins his elaborate plan to slingshot around various moons and land on Ganymede. He’s actually doing really well until he almost runs straight into an MCRN ship. He manages to slip behind one of the moons and escape detection.
Draper has been brought in to see Avasarala, who jokes about Draper creating a diplomatic incident. Draper tells Avasarala that she was right – the Protomolecule hybrid is a weapon, and right now it’s up for sale, and Mars is in line to buy it. She hands over Martens’ information on Project Caliban, and Avasarala sends Cotyar off to analyze it.
The Roci crew has reached a door, and they can hear people on the other side. Prax asks Amos for a gun, which Amos reluctantly hands over. When they bust in, it’s the woman Umea and some other scientists eating pizza. Umea wants to talk it out, but Prax spots Mei’s backpack and makes a move, so there’s a shootout. Umea escapes, and Amos gets shot in the shoulder.
Jules-Pierre Mao has sent Avasarala a message, so her plan to get him to resurface worked. He wants to set up a meeting with Avasarala, but Cotyar thinks it’s clearly a trap. Avasarala may well agree, but she’s already arranged to meet.
On Ganymede, Prax sees a pod chamber with a frozen child inside. It’s not Mei, but he’s still freaked out. What are they doing to these children?
Before they can figure it out, someone throws a grenade into the room the Roci crew are in. Amos acts quickly to throw it back out the door, and the explosion out there is followed by screams of pain.
In the aftermath of the grenade, the Roci crew sees that something was able to break out of captivity. A Protomolecule hybrid? Holden sees Umea, mortally wounded, and she tells him they molded the Protomolecule “…in our own image. And there’s a lot more where she came from.”
Suddenly, Alex shows up outside the air lock. He’s here to pick the crew up, but Naomi tells Holden she’s staying. She wants to do some good, and helping the Somnambulist to evacuate the survivors on Ganymede is a start. Holden tells her to keep Amos with her, and they kiss goodbye.
Alex calls Holden over and points out the Protomolecule hybrid staring back at them from out on Ganymede (without a space suit of course). “Suit up,” Holden tells Alex and Prax. “We’re going to hunt.”
12 Apr 17 The Monster and the Rocket
On Earth, Undersecretary Errinwright spends time with his young son. He’s clearly haunted by the testimony he’s going to have to give to the panel on Eros. As he tries to impart lessons about growing up like “listen to your heart,” you get the feeling he’s not planning on being around for much longer. Still, he tells his son that everything is going to be okay.
The Rocinante — with Holden, Alex, and Prax aboard — takes off from Ganymede and begins scanning for the Protomolecule hybrid creature that escaped. They find it in the AG dome, and while Holden wants to eliminate it, Prax thinks it could be — or once could have been — his daughter. The two men argue, but Holden doesn’t want to hear dissent. Alex is forced to take evasive maneuvers to avoid MCRN detection, though, and they lose the signal on the hybrid.
Avasarala tries to assure Errinwright that the hearing will be okay. She also tells him about her upcoming meeting with Jules-Pierre Mao. Errinwright tells her to make him a peace offer, as it may be their only chance to “stay in the game.” He truly believes Mars will use the Protomolecule to destroy Earth, and he tells Avasarala to convince Mao of the same.
On Ganymede, Melissa, the captain of the Weeping Somnambulist, is trying to herd refugees into ships when Naomi approaches with an offer to fix the Somnambulist. “You people are shit magnets,” Melissa scoffs, but Naomi correctly points out that Melissa needs her. Time is short for Ganymede.
Avasarala — along with a bickering Bobbie and Cotyar — prepares to leave for her meeting with Mao. She’s nervous about traveling off planet, and Cotyar teases her. Bobbie is pissy about being there in the first place. Avasarala: “Any sh*t that goes down, I expect you [two] to get me out of it.” Cotyar distracts her with his misgivings about this meeting with Mao.
Meanwhile, Errinwright is in his office and signs what appears to be a suicide note and then lingers over a vial of what appears to be poison.
Having evaded detection, the Roci approaches the AG Dome. Alex tries to maneuver the ship inside the crumbling structure, and Holden tells him to keep pushing. They see the hybrid and fire upon it. They miss, but Prax goes nuts. He and Holden have another argument, and we see that Holden is crazed about eliminating this hybrid before it can do any more damage.
On Ganymede, Melissa is having trouble controlling the crowd of refugees, who try to overrun her. Amos tries to help with crowd control, but they ultimately have to shut the doors. The pressure is on for Naomi to fix the ship soon. Amos, who is still bleeding, needs a shot of painkiller. Melissa informs Naomi that the ship can hold 300, but they only have air enough for 52 people. There are over 100 refugees, and they’re all going to rush onto the ship once those doors open. Naomi says they can take off with 100 and then send the overflow to the Roci when they rendezvous, but Melissa isn’t banking her oxygen on the Roci being there. Melissa doesn’t think they can open those doors at all, but Naomi is adamant. “We’re not f**king leaving those people here.”
Martian defense minister Korshunov meets with Errinwright in his office, where they attempt to negotiate over what to do about Bobbie Draper and her defector status. Errinwright stresses, “Let’s not let the next war become our last war.” Korshunov makes the case for new technology as a game changer. It could shave a century off of their terraforming efforts, if nothing else.” But while the meeting has appeared to be civil, suddenly Korshunov drops to his knees, clearly having been poisoned by Errinwright, who monologues about a poison they discovered that only affects Martians. “You were right,” he says. “One of us has to lose.”
The unrest on Ganymede continues. The big muscle guy whom Melissa hired for crowd control is turning on her, and the hordes might bust down the door. On the ship, Amos tells Naomi that Melissa is right: they can’t open that door. They’d doom themselves if they did.
While Bobbie and Cotyar continue to bicker, she catches on to the fact that he served in the military, so that’s something they can bond over. They talk about his secret ops service, and he says he got Avasarala’s son killed.
Meanwhile, Captain Malick greets Avasarala and welcomes her to Mao’s ship. It’s very ornate, and Avasarala makes sure to mention it. Jules-Pierre Mao soon joins them, and while he starts with small talk, Chrisjen interrupts: “Just get to the f**king point.”
The Roci continues to search the AG dome for the hybrid. They’re also tracking the MCRN ship Karakum when it suddenly disappears from radar. Alex thinks someone blew it up.
On Ganymede, there are explosions outside, as something big has fallen out of orbit. The Karakum? Crisis and panic sets in, and Melissa tells Naomi to prepare to shove off.
Mao demands Avasarala stop persecuting his family and un-freeze its assets. He wants to keep Earth and Mars in balance re: access to the Protomolecule, to which Avasarala notes that what Mao really wants is to keep himself wealthy in the middle of Earth and Mars. Suddenly, there’s a video message from Errinwright, who announced both Minister Korsunov’s death and the destruction of the Karakum over Ganymede. Errinwright threatens to destroy Mao where he sits, but he also turns to Avasarala: “Chrisjen, you taught me that Earth comes first.” He tells her she betrayed her. He orders Mao to kill Avasarala and return to Earth alone, so they can resume their partnership. Mao’s people draw their guns on Avasarala, Cotyar, and Bobbie, as Mao exits.
On the Somnambulist, Naomi wants to try talking to the refugees. Amos tries to stop her, so she shoots him up with a double dose of painkillers. Naomi strides out to the doors and opens them; the hordes stream in. The muscle Melissa tried to hire tries to choke her out, but she tells him they need to get only 52 on the ship or they’ll all die. She says she didn’t do enough before she left Eros, and this is her chance to atone. He agrees to help, and they manage to get the Belters to put their women and children onto the ship first, followed by an orderly procession thereafter. The cutoff point is hard for everyone to take, but the Belters are strong. Naomi offers the crowd-control guy her place on the ship, but he pushes her onboard: “You’re not finished yet.”
The Roci continues to maneuver inside AG Dome when the hybrid appears. Prax wants to go make contact, but Holden says no. Alex says they need to rendezvous with the Somnambulist and defend it: “Our family needs our help right now.”
The Somnambulist gets a final no-fly warning from the MCRN, and then the Martians fire a torpedo at the ship. It’s about to destroy them when the Roci intercepts. Alex got it! More targets are now locked on the Roci, but Holden gets on an open channel and says any ship that opens fire on them, they’ll all die together. “Stay clear.” The Martians remove target locks.
Melissa tells Naomi they did well as the Somnambulist and the Rocinante fly off together. But we see the Roci has some company: the hybrid got onboard before it left Ganymede.
On Jules-Pierre Mao’s ship, his guards have been ordered to get rid of Avasarala, and they end up in a shootout with Cotyar and Draper. Cotyar gets shot in the midst of the gunfire.
Naomi and Amos return to the Rocinante and reunite with Holden, who apologizes for his maniacal fervor in trying to kill the Protomolecule hybrid.
As Prax tends to Amos’ wounds, he is haunted by the fact that the hybrid they have been hunting was once an innocent child.
As the Roci crew discusses plans to repair their damaged ship, they spot the hybrid in the cargo bay on the monitors. Naomi says, “We don’t have any choice this time. We have to kill it.”
Ignoring Prax’s pleas to let him communicate with the creature, Holden, Amos, and Alex go after the hybrid, after it removes an implant from its chest and throws it out of the ship. It throws a magnetic crate at the men, and it pins Holden to the wall. Alex and Amos are forced to retreat, as the bullets in the hybrid heal themselves.
Strangely, the hybrid ignores the trapped Holden and starts digging into the ship’s bulkhead. They realize it’s going after the ship’s radiation source, for food. If it reaches the ship’s reactor, they’re all dead.
Back at the shootout on Mao’s ship, Avasarala, Cotyar, and Draper are in trouble, though they’ve reached a stalemate. They spot an air vent, and Cotyar tells Draper to escape through the elevator shaft, retrieve her battle armor, and come back to save them.
As the hybrid continues to dig, the Roci crew needs to figure out a plan before Holden’s injuries become life-threatening. Amos speaks up with a plan to depressurize the cargo bay and shoot the hybrid out into space. But won’t that plan tear Holden apart? “Maybe not,” says Amos.
On the Arboghast, hovering over Venus, Dr. Iturbi says there is no doubt that the Eros crater is active, and he convinces Janus to descend to get a better reading.
On the Roci, Naomi gets Amos alone and apologizes for getting rough with him on the Somnabulist. He’s angry at himself for making her. He says he’s been making all the wrong choices. Naomi intuits that Amos was lying when he said Holden could survive the de-pressurization plan. She tells him he’s not to blow the doors on that hatch until she finds another way.
With the hybrid still digging, Alex turns off the ship’s reactor. But once the hybrid can’t sense the radiation anymore, it turns its attentions to Holden and begins advancing on him. Bad news. So Alex powers up again, and the creature resumes digging.
While Cotyar tries to negotiate with Mao’s men, Draper moves through the elevator shaft. Despite a close call, she makes it out.
Holden’s vital signs are fading, and Naomi hasn’t been able to figure out an alternative to Amos’ plan. So Holden wants to have a talk. Naomi refuses to let him say goodbye, but he presses on. He tells her that if he dies, let him go and find a place to hide out.
Cotyar is passed out from his wound, until Avasarala PRESSES ON IT to wake him up. They’re still trapped, but Mao’s men offer Cotyar a deal: give up Avasarala and he can walk. To Avasarala’s shock, he’s considering it. Why should they die for their boss’ conflicts, Mao’s guy asks. Avasarala tells Cotyar that if he is going to turn on her, he must take up her cause. Someone has to stop Errinwright.
Prax gets an idea: the hybrid is moving towards the energy source like a plant to sunlight. If they could offer it a new energy source, they could lure it outside the ship with a nuke and then blow it up.
Meanwhile, the only thing standing between Draper and her supplies is a dweeby electrician. He threatens to push a button and initiate a lockdown, but she calls his bluff. They strike up the same bargain being offered to Cotyar: why should they sacrifice themselves for Mao and Errinwright? Or Earth and Mars, for that matter? The electrician lets Draper pass, though he asks that she rough him up to make a good show of it.
As Prax and Naomi walk the outside of the Roci, preparing to toss the nuke, Holden makes Amos promise to blow the hatch in case the plan doesn’t work. “You were always trying to be a good man,” Amos tells Holden. “Not everybody does. Thank you.”
Alex shuts off the power source again, but this time as the hybrid moves towards Holden, Prax and Naomi expose the core of the warhead. The hybrid senses it and follows it outside the ship. It looks for a second like Prax will lose his nerve, but he doesn’t. He tosses the warhead, he and Naomi run, and Alex is able to roast the hybrid and the nuke with the Roci’s afterburners.
Just as Mao’s men are about to shoot Avasarala, Draper, armed with her battle suit, arrives to take them out.
The Arboghast descends to the surface of Venus and the Eros crater when suddenly, the sensors go crazy. The crater is moving! The Martian ship completely disappears, and we soon see why, as the Arboghast is surrounded by Protomolecules and then suddenly pulled apart.
Safe on the Roci, Naomi tends to Holden. She tells him they can’t have any more secrets between them, so she tells him the truth about the piece of Protomolecule she said she shot into the sun. Only she didn’t. She tells Holden that there’s no going back: the Protomolecule is a weapon they’ll all have to deal with. Earth has it; Mars has it; she needed to make sure the Belt had it. So she gave the Protomolecule to Fred Johnson.
Meanwhile, we see Dr. Strickland sealing up Mei — very much alive and not a hybrid — in a pod and telling her, “Sweet dreams.”
