The Expanse - 4.07: A Shot in the Dark

[ctg]

Naomi and Alex work to keep the Barbapiccola in orbit amidst a power outage. Avasarala faces a tough decision. Holden and Elvi race to find a cure for a disease spreading on Ilus.

 

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It is amazing to think that whole colony survived the shock-wave and the flooding. And they somehow managed to make a watertight patch for the hole they made in the alien mega-structure. Maybe it has something to do with Miller's fingers on the physics control. More curious thing is if that is so then isn't he providing more help to the humans?

He needs Holden to survive and Holden needs other survive. Where is the logic Mister ProtoMolecule Man? Why are you protecting only Holden?

Blinding the whole colony in two days is a horrible deal. To some it's more horrible deal than death, because blindness leaves you alive and helpless. Starvation afterwards cannot be far behind.

"Unless you need something stiffer?"

"How about cyanide?"

"We only have hemlock."

"How poetic."

"What if we take mining nets apart and make them one line? How long that would have to be?"

"A kilometer," Naomi answered. A freaking kilometer of towing cable that Barb's survivors has to make and not be able to test until the real thing. I cannot believe it will work because there are too many places where it could go wrong. And Alex doesn't look like a confident tugship pilot.

It's like they have never done this before. Anywhere.

This episode is super dark. There are so many elements that make this closer to horror than space opera. It is quite hard to talk about them. Murtry's betrayal just proved that greed is strong in the corporate circles. There is nothing humanity can do to cure it. Only the culture can cure it with time, but I'm afraid greed is going to stay with us until the end. Maybe it will doom us eventually.

If the green space slugs doesn't do it before.

Who exploded the pirate ship?

 

[Al Jackson]

I found it a bit jarring that the actor who played Avasarala's husband was replaced... tho Brian George did not have much of a role in past seasons. Of course Game of Thrones replace Daario Naharis* for the rest of the story. Boy they left Daario's (Essos completely hanging in seasons 7 and 8).

*Funny to see Ed Skrein starring in Midway recently.

 

[Al Jackson]

It is amazing to think that whole colony survived the shock-wave and the flooding. And they somehow managed to make a watertight patch for the hole they made in the alien mega-structure. Maybe it has something to do with Miller's fingers on the physics control. More curious thing is if that is so then isn't he providing more help to the humans?

I don't know how the books go …. in past seasons when the perils piled on top of one another they felt like logical consequences. Eros moving, Eros threatening all life on Earth, Eros going stealth, Miller's pet nuke, the Rocinante's limit on acceleration....
The later action on and around IO and the action at the Ring....

This season with this episode it gets to feeling like a Perils of Pauline pileup! Calculated cliffhangers everywhere … well I find it fun enough, but feels more contrived than in the last three seasons. That's even knowing that on Ilus the planet may be shot through with ancient alien technology.

I still find Bobbie and Drummer's stories short changed. Their stories feel more like outlines than story narrative.

 

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I still find Bobbie and Drummer's stories short changed. Their stories fell more like outlines than story narrative.

Well, I would call them sidelines, while the main story is in Avasarala's and Holden stories. Even Miller angle got diminished, and I suspect there was much, much more about it then what they let out. We know nothing about the protomolecule people.

 

[REBerg]

It is amazing to think that whole colony survived the shock-wave and the flooding. And they somehow managed to make a watertight patch for the hole they made in the alien mega-structure.

Yeah. The direction to go when a tsunami is coming is up, not down. Surely they had the means of getting to the top of the structure to wait out the flood.
No way would that metal flap have sealed the rough entrance they made in the alien structure. Water would be pouring in and would have to be draining somewhere in the structure. Neither going blind nor being poisoned by sea slugs would have been a problem.

This episode is super dark. There are so many elements that make this closer to horror than space opera. It is quite hard to talk about them. Murtry's betrayal just proved that greed is strong in the corporate circles. There is nothing humanity can do to cure it. Only the culture can cure it with time, but I'm afraid greed is going to stay with us until the end. Maybe it will doom us eventually.

If the green space slugs doesn't do it before

An infestation of slugs that can kill with a touch seemed, at first, a laughably mundane space monster. Yet, that threat seemed more real than the standard large, tentacled creature suddenly emerging from the depths of the alien structure to protect its realm.

Who exploded the pirate ship?

I think the pirates destroyed their own ship, denying the UN its prize target or confirmation that they had killed him. Apparently ship self-destruction in The Expanse universe does not include the senior officer protocol and long countdown suspense required by the Federation.

 

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No way would that metal flap have sealed the rough entrance they made in the alien structure. Water would be pouring in and would have to be draining somewhere in the structure. Neither going blind nor being poisoned by sea slugs would have been a problem.

Yeah. Exactly. I don't know how it was written in the novel, but I believe there has been some artistic freedom on making this reality. The flood alone would have been terrifying, even though the bacteria, microorganism infestation are real things. The question is, where they did come from in such huge numbers. The answer to that I believe is transpermia, and then evolution. More curious thing, what are they feeding upon, because there cannot be much to eat in the billions of years old alien structure.

I feel there is going to be a huge leap in the material science once they get to really study those structure and take samples from them. The advanced in the computer and analytic devices alone, but so far, we have not seen AI's in control on anything. Not general AI's. It's like it never happened in the Expanse universe, while in the real life, it's already happening and we can expect in 30s some sort of general AI having place in our society.

Another thing is, there are no androids, or even other robots, although they too are becoming more popular in our society. They could have helped with the slug problem. But there was none. Not even on corp side.

I think the pirates destroyed their own ship

Why would you scuttle your own ship? The reactor meltdown doesn't happen in an instant, and it's not a direct explosion. The UN used a railgun to take out the fusion drive, then they shocked the system with localised EMP bursts and possibly malware. The boarding operation was just a cleanup or tag and bag.

The explosion was instant. It was rigged and done by someone deliberately. The ship crew was clearly in shock and scared, while the fighters waited to open fire. Thing is, they took out ship in one go, which suggests that they had placed explosives everywhere, or then the bomb was humongous, suggesting the fusion drive.

A nuclear device could have done the damage, but where would they have got one, when Johnson surely didn't give them any. Did they got something from Mars?

 

[Al Jackson]

When we meet Drummer and Ashford this season , on patrol, …. Ashford is captain of the ? and Drummer is what? of Medina station? She still out ranks Ashford... is she a rear admiral … admiral?

 

[REBerg]

Why would you scuttle your own ship?

UN destruction of a ship carrying helpless refugees plays much better politically than capture and trial of nefarious nogoodniks.

 

[ctg]

UN destruction of a ship carrying helpless refugees plays much better politically than capture and trial of nefarious nogoodniks.

Sounds more like cult worship than pirate activity. Where's the booty?

 

[REBerg]

Sounds more like cult worship than pirate activity. Where's the booty?

 

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She still out ranks Ashford... is she a rear admiral … admiral?

I think Drummer is commander and Ashford just a captain ... of special projects. Admiral commands fleets, while commander is more suitable title for a base command position. But the thing is, there is no real command structure in the Belter Fleet. It is divided and they have all their own leaders, ranks and whatsits.

 

[Al Jackson]

I think Drummer is commander and Ashford just a captain ... of special projects. Admiral commands fleets, while commander is more suitable title for a base command position. But the thing is, there is no real command structure in the Belter Fleet. It is divided and they have all their own leaders, ranks and whatsits.

With these 50 min. episode lengths I find it hard to follow the solar system Belter story because there are details and complications that are only sketchily presented.

 

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With these 50 min. episode lengths I find it hard to follow the solar system Belter story because there are details and complications that are only sketchily presented.

I agree. It was done much better in the previous seasons. They could have given Belters and Mars more time or even extended the season to thirteen episodes instead of ten.

 

[Al Jackson]

Another 44 min. episode. They sure are leaving out a lot of OPA story material (goes for Mars too) that would help the narrative. Old complaint , I don't see why the episodes can't be 60 min. long.... I feel the budget is not the driver.