The Expanse review: “Babylon’s Ashes” delivers a powerful ending

Assault on the Ring Station

We now cut to the Rocinante and the assault on the Ring Station. After so long spent in our solar system and on distant Laconia, it’s great to get a bunch of action at the Ring. It’s such a powerful setting visually and makes a great backdrop for the action to come.

As Holden and the gang float toward the Ring, all of the small pods that are aboard the ice hauler Giambattista begin checking in. If some of the names of those marines in the drop pods sound familiar, it’s because The Expanse threw all of us nerds a glorious easter egg here. Each name on the list of marines is a reference to some sci-fi property or other. We have Hudson, Hicks, Ripley, and Vasquez from Aliens, Riker from Star Trek, D Idaho from Dune, K Thrace from Battlestar Galactica, C Shepherd from Mass Effect…the list goes on and on. At some point maybe we’ll break down every name on that list, but for now, it’s enough to just say that this is pretty awesome.

Anyway, we’re not here for the easter eggs, but for the absolutely insane action setpiece that occurs when the Rocinante and the Giambattista pass through the Ring and into range of the Ring Station’s rail guns. Between the Roci’s mad dodging to evade the rail gun fire, the dicey drop when the Giambattista releases hundreds of cargo containers (some of which contain marines, many more of which are decoys), and then the subsequent assault on the bunker on the Ring Station surface, this sequence is just perfection. If there’s one action scene in the entirety of The Expanse’s run that deserves to go down in film history, it’s this one. The shot of Amos dropping toward the Ring Station as cargo crates swarm the eerie blue space, rail gun fire blasts right next to him, and the Roci flies in the background is just mindblowing. And don’t get me started on Bobbie’s rush at the bunker in her Martian combat suit. I can’t remember the last time an action scene almost made me tear up, but between the music, Frankie Adams and Wes Chatham’s performances, and the sheer epicness of what was happening, this one came close.

There were a lot of close calls and tense moments throughout this sequence. At different points, I thought Bobbie, Amos and Clarissa all might get killed. But when the dust settles, all of our favorite heroes are still alive. The same can’t be said for the Ring Station’s rail guns, however. In order to win the fight, Bobbie had to blow up their one advantage over Marco Inaros.

“I have gods to kill”

It’s not all bad news though, at least not for the Rocinante. Marco Inaros, however, has quite a bit coming his way. The Free Navy commander gets a call from Admiral Duarte on Laconia, who announces that he will no longer be helping the Free Navy, that the Ring to Laconia is now closed, and that their alliance is at an end. “You’ve been a useful distraction, but I have gods to kill,” Duarte tells him. Talk about a mic drop line. So whatever Marco was hoping for from Duarte (that enormous protomolecule ship, maybe?), we’ll never know.

Regardless, Marco is as undeterred by Duarte’s rejection as he is by the news of Rosenfeld’s death. He rallies his crew with a rousing speech about reclaiming space for the Belt, while Filip watches with a haunted look.

Back aboard the Roci, Holden and company realize that they are now all that stands between Marco and control of the Ring Space. The combined fleet is too far away to help. They briefly consider fleeing until Naomi comes up with a daring plan: launch everything they’ve got into the Ring just as Marco Inaros’ ship is coming through it, triggering the sleeping entities that have been swallowing up ships at random. Holden points out that they might stay awake, but at this point, there’s not much other choice.

The plan works. As the Pella comes through the Ring, a reddish glow appears in front of it, and the ship disappears. We get a pretty cool shot of Marco Inaros being obliterated by some kind of liquid-y beings…and then the Pella and everyone aboard it is just gone.

Despite the happiness of most of the Rocinante crew, Naomi breaks down screaming and crying in Holden’s arms. This was her plan, and so far as she knows it also caused the death of her son. Holden refused to kill Marco when he had the chance earlier in the season because he couldn’t bear to be the one to kill Filip…and now Naomi has done it. As horrible as it may be, if anyone was going to kill Marco and Filip, it was going to have to be her. Or so she thinks…