The Expanse Season 2 Episode 8 Review: Pyre

| March 16, 2017 |

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The Expanse Season 2 Episode 8 — THE Surface area -- "Pyre" Episode 208 -- Pictured: Terry Chen as Praxideke Meng -- (Photo by: Rafy/Syfy)

This The Surface area review contains spoilers.

The Area Season 2 Episode 8

Different people accept different ways of dealing with the protomolecule being out in the earth in The Expanse , and this week'southward episode highlights the contrast betwixt altruists, opportunists, and those with other things to worry virtually. With another honey character from the novels entering the mix and established characters revealing more details well-nigh their history, the show is starting to have on an emotional depth that seems to exist preparing viewers for some tough decisions alee. If Tycho can fall prey to rising tensions, where else might the seams be gear up to rip open up?

The instability has even reached farther into the Rocinante coiffure's family dynamic, every bit Alex chastises Amos for not helping with the refugee crisis. Although we may agree with the pilot when he says, "Nosotros assistance people, that'southward civilisation," Amos is clearly however distraught over the incident where the refugee child looked at him similar he was a monster. Many viewers may be mad at Holden for lying to Naomi nigh the protomolecule yet being out there or at Naomi for being dishonest about disposing of their sample, but watching Amos searching for his childhood caretaker, Lydia, may have been the most disheartening moment of all.

Luckily, anybody had their distractions to proceed them decorated. But even when Naomi suggests going out to the antenna array to see where Cortazar last heard the "shout" of the protomolecule's garbled vocalism, we might wonder whether she's secretly worried he might have spotted her hidden cache. Only equally each item about the new protomolecule danger unfolds, the backstory of several characters develops along with it. Drummer enticed us with the knowledge that Dawes nurtured Fred Johnson into the OPA leader he is today, simply what did she hateful when she told Naomi he did information technology with "more than just talk," and why are the two leaders so at odds now?

It's not surprising that the more radical elements of the OPA want to take reward of the missile stash Fred stole during the Eros incident, but information technology was interesting to see the groups stirred upwardly by Dawes' spoken communication enough to stage a coup even though they had no hope of removing the countermeasures. Fred has been shaped by his past into someone who isn't afraid to die for his principles, but what about Drummer? The hurting of seeing her shot in the gut equally a method of persuasion was balanced perfectly by her execution of the mutineers once rescued.

And what a rescue it was! Even Amos came out of his funk to cut off oxygen to the bridge; perhaps threatening lives was a task he felt more comfortable with given his sociopathic tendencies. Exit it to Naomi to have a monitor on the hangar bay that held the captured Globe nukes; it nigh makes the audience more comfortable with her still possessing the ace-up-the-sleeve protomolecule sample. Except, of course, we agree with Holden that she's key in reminding him who he is, and his promise of "no more than secrets" is a bit one-sided as a result.

But the heart of this episode, simply as perhaps Bobbie was in concluding calendar week's installment, was Praxidike Meng, the botanist who watched the mirror autumn on the domes of Ganymede and who awoke on a refugee transport without his girl, Mei. Bringing the consequences of the demolition in the outer planets downward to a personal level was a perfect way to emphasize the personal cost the political and corporate posturing takes on the general populace. Nosotros felt the helplessness of someone displaced from his lifelong home with no fourth dimension to gather his loved ones… merely a single soybean institute.

It was as well, of class, an ingenious mode to further the investigation into the source of the "shout" heard past Cortazar after Eros hit Venus: Ganymede itself. Seeing Holden and Naomi connect the dots between Protogen, pediatrician Dr. Lawrence Strickland, and Prax raised more than questions than information technology answered, but aside from informing the direction the Roci crew can now take, it gives the forlorn father promise he didn't take before. As Amos tells him once he's on board the ship, finding his child is "a skilful reason." How volition it relate to what Bobbie saw?

Combined with the horrific execution of inner planet refugees, including Prax's colleague and potential lifeboat, Doris, the pain of the state of affairs pulls the audience in in means the Belter mutiny under Fred could not, as action-packed as it was. What could take been some other political twist with casualties became a personal tragedy that motivates a crusade. This is what The Area does all-time: bringing a multi-planetary disharmonize downwards to a human scale. Like Prax, the audience is on board for what comes next, non as a prisoner or even a guest, simply being guided along by the emotional journey.