1-02. "The Big Empty"
Written by Mark Fergus & Hawk Ostby
Directed by Terry McDonough
First aired 15 December 2015
SYNOPSIS
On Ceres, the already-tight water rations are made worse by the Canterbury's delayed arrival. Miller breaks into Julie Mao's apartment and learns that she and her father, Jules-Pierre Mao, are at odds over her choice to live in the Belt. Then, after investigating a rash of water thefts, Miller discovers that Julie Mao had hooked up with a man she apparently found on a dating service.
At the UN building in New York City, UN Undersecretary Sadavir Errinwright reprimands Chrisjen Avasarala for using gravity torture on the Belter she was interrogating. Later, she sends the prisoner to Luna for further interrogation, but the Belter commits suicide on the trip.
In the Belt, the shuttle Knight is damaged by debris from the Canterbury's destruction. While dangerously low on air as well as fuel, Holden and crew must make repairs to the shuttle's radio gear in order to call for help. Eventually they manage to transmit an SOS, which is answered by the Martian Congressional Republic Navy's flagship battle cruiser Donnager. When Nagata identifies the distress transmitter planted in the Scopuli as being Martian military technology, Holden broadcasts a message indicating the Martians were behind the destruction of the Canterbury. The MCRN Donnager arrives and captures the Knight, then Martian Marines take Holden and the others prisoner.
ANALYSIS
"It was a trap."
Episode 2 sets the hook deeper by posing even more plot puzzles. Screen time is almost evenly divided between Holden with his beleaguered crew on the shuttle Knight, and Detective Miller digging into the disappearance of Julie Mao on Ceres, with just some incidental glimpses of the deepening political quagmire at the UN building on Earth. Thus, I wasn't sure who the main character was: Miller or Holden. In the grand scheme of things, it didn't matter, because I was too busy struggling to unpack an hour of dense material. But at least I was becoming accustomed to the mercurial leaps between the disparate settings, and the swift pace of the action. I also began getting some sense of the relationships between the characters, which are mostly adversarial; the dynamic between Avasarala and Errinwright in particular is intriguing. All of the actors seem to own their parts well.
Technically it's more of the same, with a lot of money up there on the small screen, and I think the overall production value hooked me a tad deeper than the story, at least at this point. And that's fine; I still felt confident things would soon start clicking into place for me. Nice touch of humor: Holden asks what's up with what looks like a big hole in the side of the Scopuli. Naomi: "Lidar says it's a big hole in the side."
Best Scene: When Holden broadcasts his message about finding the transmitter planted aboard the Scopuli, suddenly the rest of his crew try to stop him as they realize what he's doing. It's a gripping, tense scene illustrating the messy, desperate situation they're in. It's also a signature scene that turns into the "Remember the Cant" chant and graffiti on Ceres.
Best Line: After determining a course of action to get the transmitter working, Naomi instructs the others to find batteries or other power sources in any system aboard the Knight. She notices that no one moves, and she glares at them. "What, you need a back rub, first?"
SCORE: 