By Jahkotta Lewis
In the season finale of The Expanse, Bobbie Draper does some saving, Naomi continues to surprise, and the solar system will never be the same again. Here’s what happened in “Caliban’s War.”
Major Spoilers! Major Spoilers! Major Spoilers
The episode opens with Chrisjen and her crew trying to shoot their way out of Errinwright’s mess as Jules Mao retreats into the shadows. Outnumbered and outgunned, it doesn’t look good for Chrisjen, Draper, and Cotyar. Errinwright has really done it this time.
As Chrisjen fights for her life, Naomi and Amos are reunited with their crew back on the Roci. After sharing some sweet moments with Holden, Naomi and Alex make plans to patch up the Roci since it was damaged protecting the Somnambulist. While scanning the ship for hull breaches, Naomi and Alex spy The Hybrid who appears to be searching for something in one of the ship’s bulkheads. Meng wants them to take some time to figure out whether the creature is sentient. The idea doesn’t go over well with The Roci crew. Naomi, Amos, and Alex wanting to kill the protomolecule creature before it can do real damage to the ship. Amos and Holden suit up in their sweet Martian space armor and head down to deal with The Hybrid, which seems like a pretty inadequate plan, especially since we know that one of these things took out Draper’s team plus a UN marine unit. When they confront the creature, it appears confused, scratches an explosive device from its chest and throws it off the ship. Holden and Amos open fire on The Hybrid, who responds by throwing a container at Holden, pinning his leg to the wall of the ship. After the Hybrid ignores Holden and starts to tear through the ship’s bulkheads, Naomi determines that the creature is after the radiation emitted by the ship’s power source. It needs to eat.
Meanwhile, Chrisjen, Draper and Cotyar are trying to get out of the treacherous situation Errinwright created when he murdered the Martian representative and blew up a Martian Black ops ship. Draper finds a way out, but it requires a climb. Cotyar, who has been shot, tells her to get her Martian mech suit from their transport ship and come back to save him and Chrisjen. Draper makes a run for it, crawls through an access hatch and disappears.
Back on The Roci, The Hybrid is punching through the bulkhead. Amos notes that they need to get Holden out before he dies from his leg injury. Amos figures out a way to pressurize parts of the ship so that it can blow The Hybrid into space. The problem with the plan is that it will likely kill Holden, a fact that Naomi has a hard time coming to terms with. She’s frustrated with the whole situation and Holden reaches out to her to say goodbye just in case he doesn’t make it. Naomi isn’t having it though and is more determined than ever to save her love. She meets up with Amos to see what can be done and the two have a heart to heart. Things have been weird between them ever since Naomi tranquilized Amos during their escape from Ganymede last episode. Amos apologizes to Naomi for trying to stop her from saving the Ganymede refugees. He confesses that he’s been trying to make decisions on his own but they don’t seem to work out.
On Venus, the scientists note that the crater where Eros crashed is active. They decide to fly their ship closer to the impact area to get a better look at Miller and Julie Mao’s final resting place. The UN science vessel notes that the Martian ship that was trying to reach the crater first is gone and the crater is moving. And if that wasn’t enough, the UN science vessel is suddenly filled with that dang protomolecule blue. Definitely not a good thing.
Meanwhile, Meng figures out a way to get rid of The Hybrid without killing Holden. Meng informs Alex that the Hybrid is following a nutrient gradient. He tells Alex to use a warhead to draw The Hybrid out with its radiation signature. Naomi and Meng prepare to toss the missile out and away from The Roci, hoping that The Hybrid goes out with it. In case their plan does not work, Holden tells Amos to blow the hatch. Meng and Naomi go for a spacewalk with the intention of luring the hybrid off the ship. Meng pulls the reactor out of the missile and prepares to throw it. He throws it at the last minute as the Hybrid comes barreling towards them. The creature leaps into space after the reactor and Alex torches The Hybrid with The Roci’s engines.
While The Roci is taking care of The Hybrid, Chrisjen is negotiating for her life. She ends up surrendering along with Cotyar to Mao’s men only to have Mao order their executions. Draper comes to the rescue in her mech gear (thank you, you Martian Goddess!) and saves them. It’s going to be interesting to see her relationship with Chrisjen next season and the dynamics back on Earth when they go after Errinwright’s ass.
The rest of the finale is filled with several major reveals that conclude the season. First, Naomi tells Holden about the protomolecule she has stashed in the asteroid belt. We’ve known this fact for the entirety of the seasonm, but what we didn’t know was that she gave it to Fred Johnson (Oh, Snap!). The second reveal involved Venus and the protomolecule happenings centered around Eros’ impact crater. Turns out that the protomolecule has some pretty amazing abilities, like disassembling the UN vessel in mere seconds as the ship made its descent. The last we see of the ship and its crew (who are somehow still alive), is it suspended in the atmosphere of the planet along with every screw and panel. And finally, we get to see Meng’s daughter (she still appears humanoid) as she is put in a capsule in a storage facility on Mars.
All in all, the season finale of The Expanse was epic. Loose ends were tied up, power dynamics were tested, alliances were made, and we got to see The Hybrid up close and personal. Season Two was just great and we can’t wait for Season 3 (thank goodness it was renewed!). Until next season, yam seng!
Jahkotta Lewis is a professional archaeologist, an amateur astronomer, and an aspiring writer. When she is not documenting Pacific Island archaeology, she spends her days hiking through native forests, spelunking within the depths of an active volcano, and watching/reading all things fantasy and science fiction. Follow her on Twitter @jahkotta
