WiC Watches: The Expanse season 4

Image: The Expanse/Amazon

Episode 407: “A Shot in the Dark”

With an ocean above them and supplies limited, the people of New Terra find themselves on the brink of chaos. With everyone jammed together inside the alien ruins, Holden must work overtime to keep conflict to a minimum. He and Murtry both attempt to put aside their differences, for the time being, to see that all their people make it out alive. As expected, though, danger looms. Within days, the RCE and Belters start experiencing green spots in their vision, and it’s soon discovered that there are microorganisms slowly eating their eyes, threatening everyone with blindness. The only one not affected is Holden, of course Holden. It’s now up to him and Elvi to find a cure and stop the entire camp from going blind.

Oh and there are slugs falling from the ceiling that kill humans instantly upon skin contact. You know, just in case the currant situation wasn’t deadly enough.

Avasarala is put into a corner when she gets info on the whereabouts of Marcos Inaros. She gives the command for a U.N. attack ship to breach the freighter ship Inaros is suspected to be on. Only the ship is bait, and it explodes once the U.N. forces are aboard, killing them as well as innocent civilians. Throughout the U.N. meeting regarding this mission, Avasarala looks for any way to avoid violence. She voices any possible argument against the mission and is supported by many of the advisers and generals in the room with her. The decision to proceed with the mission seemed inevitable, like there was no way they weren’t going to send Marines in, no matter the risk. This is the first conflict we’ve seen for Avasarala that doesn’t directly involve her reelection, though I assume this will tie into it.

Alex, Naomi and Lucia work together to come up with a solution to save the Barbapiccola before it falls out of orbit. With fusion still not working, they opt for an old school tow to pull the ship up from the planet’s atmosphere with the Rossi’s thrusters. Naomi must walk through the steps of creating such a tow with Lucia’s daughter, Felcia (Kyla Madeira). The threat that the maneuver could not only speed up the Barbapiccola’s free fall but pull the Rossi down with her is glanced over by Naomi and Alex without much thought. Are we to believe that Alex and Naomi are just that great of people, to put their own lives at stake so easily to help others, or is this a way to move the plot along smoothly, skipping over the moral dilemma to keep the story on pace. The former is more believable to me, as this wouldn’t be the first time any crew member of the Rocinante had staked their own lives for near strangers; it seems to be their theme.

Holden remains the key to surviving life is the ruins. Blood samples taken from him haven’t given Elvi what she needs for a cure, and the clock is ticking on everyone’s ability to see. Food and water supplies are dwindling and the ocean above them isn’t receding fast enough. Soon everyone will be blind, starving, and surrounded by certain death. It’s just another day on New Terra.