Review: The Expanse – s05e1-3 – ‘Exodus’, ‘Churn’, and ‘Mother’

The long wait is finally over and season five of one of the greatest pieces of TV sci-fi, The Expanse returns!  Life continues on its new home of Amazon Prime, and we’ve been treated to an opening day of three episodes, ‘Exodus’, ‘Churn’, and ‘Mother’, before it starts its regular weekly doses. *Warning – Spoilers Ahead!*

Showing three episodes to start the season is actually highly beneficial, as with such a complex show universe it’s good to get a broad overview of where everybody is and the state of each of the main players.  There’s a lot of moving parts and trying to cram a season opener into one episode would shortchange the show’s many interesting storylines.

Our main protagonist in recent seasons has been Holden (Steven Strait), but in Exodus, he is held more in reserve, as their ship, the Rocinante, undergoes repairs.  It’s not until the following two episodes that he really gets serious screen time.  Instead there’s a lot of focus on Naomi (Dominique Tipper), and her search for her son Filip (Jasai Chase Owens – Loserville) who has been seen on Pallas Station.

Despite not having had any contact with him for many years, Naomi is driven to find him, as his father, Marco Inaros (Keon Alexander – Tyrant) is now the most wanted man in the galaxy and likely to get Filip killed.  This connection is undoubtedly going to become one of the things this season will hinge on, as Marco’s plan to attack Earth unfolds and the ongoing manhunt after him escalates. The first seeds of this occur in Exodus, where she follows the rest of the crew in leaving Tycho, and Holden behind. As a fantastically strong character, it’s going to be interesting to see Naomi thrive without Holden and in an environment where she grew up, so we’ll get to see new sides to her. I’m sure at some stage Holden and Naomi will crash back together, but for now, it’s an intriguing change.

As is usual for The Expanse, there are many threads running through all the stories, and one of the key ones this season has Alex (Cas Anvar) and Bobbie (Frankie Adams) front and centre.  Alex has generally been underused, so this is good to see and also allows us to get more of the dynamic between the two Martians, which isn’t something we get a lot of.  There’s far more Earther/Belter interaction throughout the show, so this different flavour is welcomed.  As this is also coupled with the apparent long term collapse of Mars that began to appear last season, there is a lot of scope here for fascinating plotlines. One of these is Alex trying to reconnect with his family on Mars, which initially seems fruitless. This means he has nothing to do, except help Bobbie.

Their primary focus is investigating whether Admiral Sauveterre (Tim DeKay – White Collar, Carnivale) is involved in selling weapons illegally.  It’s always a delight to see Tim DeKay, and he is excellent as usual, even if he is slightly upstaged by Sauveterre’s aide Lt. Babbage (Lara Jean Chorostecki – Designated Survivor, X Company), who ‘femme fatales’ Alex somewhat.

Like most of the seasons, the protomolecule is never far away, and it’s this that once again draws Holden back into the fray, against his better judgement.  Monica (Anna Hopkins – Shadowhunters, Defiance) has resurfaced and apparently has information about the protomolecule being kept in a secret lab owned by Fred Johnson (Chad L. Coleman), the Belter advocate on Tycho Station.  Monica always seems to have mixed fortunes, and here things really take a turn for her, as shortly after contacting Holden about some proof she has, she is abducted and wakes up in a cargo container.  As you’d expect this is likely to be a plotline that will wind its way towards Marco and the extreme side of the OPA.

Heading in that direction from another angle is Drummer (Cara Gee), who after leaving Tycho, set herself up as a pirate with a crew that appears to be a seven way marriage. This includes Oksana (Sandrine Holt – Homeland, MacGyver, House of Cards), who she gets close to.  As one of the great characters to appear after the first season, Drummer’s continued presence is a boost to the show, and it’s good she hasn’t just disappeared into the background.  In the third episode ‘Mother’, she even provides key evidence to Chrisjen (Shohreh Aghdashloo), via Fred Johnson about Marco’s plans.  This she discovers thanks to a message left behind by Ashford (David Strathairn), who was sadly lost last season.

Back on Earth, Chrisjen is somewhat chastened by the loss of her position and leaves for Luna, and takes the only opportunity available.  From here she continues to investigate Marco, but finds it increasingly hard to do so, despite help from Admiral Delgado (Michael Irby – Mayan’s M.C., The Unit).  It’s here that she sees Amos (Wes Chatham) as he returns to Earth to finalise some personal business.  This is a rare foray into Amos’ previous life, aka the ‘Churn’, and there are a number of details we find out which have only previously been hinted at.  It’s an intriguing look at his past, and also neatly tees him up to become more directly involved with Chrisjen when everything hits the fan in the future.

As you can see there are threads spread out all over the place, and complex politics at work, which is at the core of The Expanse.  It’s not a simple universe and continues to be one of the finest slices of hard sci-fi TV has produced.  That Amazon are continuing with it for a sixth season after this one, means that there is plenty more to come.  On the basis of these three episodes, it is as smartly plotted and written as ever, and we’re in for another quality ride.